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DAWN EXPLOSION (Original Recording Remastered) | 
 enlarge | Artist: Captain Beyond
Label: Friday Music
Category: Music
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $9.49
You Save: $5.49 (37%)
New (36) Used (6) from $9.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 25092
Format: Box Set, Single, Dualdisc, Enhanced, Hybrid Sacd, Ringle, Soundtrack
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.4
UPC: 829421108726
EAN: 8294211087260
ASIN: B001CISIBM
Release Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Do Or Die | | • | Icarus | | • | Sweet Dreams | | • | Fantasy | | • | Breath of Fire Part 1 | | • | Breath of Fire Part 2 | | • | If You Please | | • | Midnight Memories | | • | Space Interlude | | • | Oblivion | | • | Space Reprise |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In 1977, our super heroes of prog rock, Captain Beyond, regrouped and released their third album Dawn Explosion - considered by many fans to be a very solid comeback album. It also proved to be the quartet s final swan song during the classic rock era.
No holds barred, their new label Warner Brothers Records was quick in sending a strong message to the radio and retailer community, with the succession of merchandising materials that pre-promoted this fine release. An excerpt from one promotional poster at the time reads:
Captain Beyond is getting promoted. By airplay. By word of mouth. By its brand new record company. And rightly so. These ex-members of Johnny Winter and Iron Butterfly, whose first two albums left 300,000 people breathless, have made a bold new album. It s called DAWN EXPLOSION. So, when you hear about Captain Beyond s promotion, don t be surprised. THIS IS A MAJOR ROCK BAND WE RE TALKING ABOUT.
With newly enlisted lead vocalist Willy Daffern replacing Rod Evans of Deep Purple fame, the core original band members, Rhino (Iron Butterfly), Bobby Caldwell (Johnny Winter), and Lee Dorman (Iron Butterfly), put their creative energies together and nailed down an incredible grand finale fit for a king.
Along with their solid producer John Stronach, Captain Beyond s final sessions were recorded and mixed at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California in 1977.
Dawn Explosion netted them decent airplay throughout North America. Memorable tracks like the crowd pleasing opener Do or Die and the powerful Icarus, and the rocking Fantasy were staples on coveted play lists around the states, which also helped score them a tour to help support the album.
To this day, Captain Beyond s Dawn Explosion has had an active afterlife due to the undying support of fans and outlets like satellite and internet radio that still play all of their albums. Prog rock truly wins hands down with this historic release on Friday Music. The folks at Friday Music have gone back into the Warner Music vaults and have found the original session tapes, while providing you the listener with the best sounding version of this disc ever! Impeccably remastered by Joe Reagoso (Deep Purple, Johnny Winter), Dawn Explosion finally gets the royal treatment it deserves with this new edition.
Rock On!
Album Description
PROG-ROCK KINGS CAPTAIN BEYOND DELIVERED THIS MASTERPIECE IN 1977. OUT OF PRINT FOR THREE DECADES, FRIDAY MUSIC IS PLEASED TO OFFER THIS CLASSIC ROCK SWAN SONG FROM THIS AMAZING BAND WITH CHARTERED MEMBERSHIP INCLUDING PLAYERS FROM IRON BUTTERFLY, DEEP PURPLE AND JOHNNY WINTER. REMASTERED.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 A Very Good Comeback... September 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Dawn Explosion" was a very good comeback for Captain Beyond; armed with a new record deal with Warner Brothers & a new singer with Willy Daffern, the band was on a mission to come back strong, & in their way, they definitely succeeded. However, the wind of change was blowing hard through the music industry at the time of its' 1977 release with disco dominating the pop charts on one side & punk dominating the underground on the other. Classic & especially prog-rock bands like Captain Beyond were then regarded as dinosaurs & has-beens, so despite being a fine album, "Dawn Explosion" was caught in the middle & vanished without a trace. Had it been released a few years earlier, this might not have been the case.
New vocalist Willy Daffern's voice boasts a more throaty rock & roll voice & does some serious screaming at times on the album which is in direct contrast to the long departed original vocalist Rod Evans. The band had returned to its' original core lineup of guitarist Rhino, drummer Bobby Caldwell & bassist Lee Dorman for this release, & as was the case on their previous 1973 release "Sufficiently Breathless", the emphasis is once again on straight ahead song structures with only an occasional tip of the hat to the odd time signatures & prog-rock leanings that dominated their classic 1972 debut.
Most of the songs are good, with only "If You Please" not being a particular favorite of mine; its' subject matter dealing with, of all things, choosing your career path; it even includes a reference to being a paramedic! Needless to say, I generally skip over this one when listening to the whole album. The closest the band gets to recapturing the feel of their first album is "Space Interlude".
All in all, this is a good album but unfortunately was the last for the band. Should this be the last we hear from Captain Beyond, then they've gone out in a great way. On a side note, Amazon lists this as being a "box set", "enhanced disc" & "hybrid" for some reason, but it's not. It's definitely a single disc, & the "remastered" part is probably true.
 This is a great album! January 23, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I don't think any band could follow the sheer brilliance that Captain Beyond gave the musical world with their debut, but I think this album is a very respectable effort and it's always been a big favorite of mine. Willie Daffern has a great voice, just different from Rod Evans is all, and all the naysayers just aren't being open-minded. In fact hearing him on this record made me seek out anything else that he might have lent his voice to, and there's precious little that I can find: Gary Moore's
G-Force album, Pipedream (with Tim Bogert!), and a solo LP under the name Willie Dee. Too bad, I think he has a classic voice.
But back to this record: I think it's way better than the more laid back Sufficiently Breathless, and I can't help but wonder if that's due to the return of Bobby Caldwell. Even without attempting some more of those great odd time signatures that are all over the debut, there are some great tracks here, with "Do or Die" and "Fantasy" being two standouts.
Compared to the first record or not, you can't go wrong with this one.
Willie D, where are you, man?!!
 Daing Implosion !? October 26, 2007
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I see that there are a few Dawn Explosion album/CDs for sale for incredibly overpriced amounts.
But I guess its like Baseball cards & comic books, whatever the market will bear, right?
How long has the one for $50 been on sale & now theres one for $100!?
Personally, I think these are all the last old copies that Willie Daffern had in his closet & hes trying to save for his retirement.
Im just sayin'...
Better Than Generally Acknowledged August 14, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I think this album deserves better than the very average review it is typically given in most cases on most sites. One of the problems with successive albums released by groups which had an initial stellar album is that everyone typically compares the successive releases to the first release. While Captain Beyond's first album was indeed extraordinary, and while this album isn't of quite the same caliber, it is nevertheless an excellent musical effort and worthy of any serious collection of progressive rock. The songwriting is very fine, the instrumentals first class, the vocals by Willie Daffern (while notably different from Rod Evans' excellent vocals) are really very good. There are really no weak tracks and if one compares to efforts by other groups -- even to efforts by outstanding musicians like Robin Trower -- this album comes out smelling very nicely indeed. I think if one gives it several listens, most open-minded folk will become reasonably fond of it, and possibly outright enthusiastic about it.
 Captain Beyond - 'Dawn Explosion' (One Way Records) January 22, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Originally released in 1977,this was Captain's third and final record.I've heard several old time fans comment how this effort was pretty lame.Can't say that I at all agree with that.In fact,I was sort of impressed with 'Dawn...'.Vocalist Willy Daffern replaces Rod Evans,but I personally felt he had fit in pretty well there.Tunes that I liked best were "Do Or Die",the heavily played "Icarus","Midnight Memories" and the album's finale "Space Reprise".Decent '70's hard rock for the picking.
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