Rose - A Taste of Neptune

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Ride Away	04:26
	2	Snakes and Ladders	05:13
	3	Marie (Where Have You Gone?)	05:41
	4	Bangin' My Head Against the Wall	05:34

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Aquarian	03:33
	2	Don't Surrender	04:26
	3	Yet it Follows Me Still	04:56
	4	A Taste of Neptune	07:13

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Information/Write-up

A Taste of Neptune marked a turning point for Rose, the Brentwood, Ontario outfit whose scrappy, genre-hopping debut gave way to a more focused, arena-ready sound under the guidance of Polydor Records. With Fraser Kaufman in the producer’s chair and recording duties handled at Toronto’s Phase One Studios, the band entered the major label system with ambition and polish, delivering what would become their most cohesive and fully realized release.

Gone were the rustic textures and folksy detours of their GAS Records debut. Instead, A Taste of Neptune leaned confidently into melodic hard rock territory, blending radio-friendly hooks with precise arrangements and polished multi-part vocals. The presence of American drummer Jim Fox—bringing with him a tighter rhythmic backbone—helped push the group toward a more muscular, streamlined sound, one that fit comfortably alongside Canadian AOR acts like April Wine, Prism, and pre-breakout Triumph.

Despite its commercial leanings, the album never feels anonymous. Ron Glatley’s keyboard textures provide a distinctive melodic counterpoint to Brian Allen’s assertive guitar work, and the group’s vocal interplay gives the songs a layered richness that hints at more progressive aspirations, even if the band never fully crosses that threshold. Kaufman’s production, while clean and clearly geared for mass appeal, avoids the excessive gloss that plagued many late-’70s rock records. There’s still just enough grit in the guitars and air in the mix to give the album some dynamic range.

The Korean CD remaster, unfortunately, fails to capture that nuance, with distortion and compression of the original mix. For archival listening purposes, a high-quality digital transfer from vinyl remains the superior source and preserves the album's original analog warmth and balance.

A Taste of Neptune was Rose’s moment of clarity—an album that balanced their evolving artistic identity with the demands of a changing industry. While it didn’t produce a breakout hit or secure long-term label support, it stands as a snapshot of a talented band that, for a brief time, managed to harness their strengths into a compelling, marketable sound.
-Robert Williston

Ron Glatley: vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, percussion, vocals
Brian Allen: lead guitar, vocals
Gary Lalonde: bass, vocals
Jim Fox: drums, percussion, autoharp, vocals

Produced and mixed by Fraser Kaufman
Engineered by Dixon Van Winkle

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