Moroccan Roll

For their third studio album, Les Variations took their Jewish/Moroccan hard rock sound and pumped it through a hand-clapping, hip-shaking glam filter to create a sound that was indicative of the time. But 1973’s Moroccan Roll is unique in that it's also trimmed with Eastern European musical flourishes, as evidenced by the awesome opening title track. Although “I Don’t Know Why” rocked with the kind of western party-anthem flare that landed the band as a support act for KISS, Uriah Heep, Queen, and Aerosmith (to name a few), more Eastern-flavored songs like “Did It” and “Kasbah Tadla” sound like what would’ve happened had those Turkish psychedelic bands evolved from psych to glitter rock. The aptly titled “Growing Stronger” deviates from the neon to deliver heavy rock on par with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, but the Moroccan instrumentation that honks and squeals alongside those mammoth guitar riffs shows a band that was (and remains) absolutely peerless in originality and ethnic pride. Even when approximating a hardened Humble Pie boogie in “Lord,” Les Variations can only sound like themselves.