Orphan is a group from Kansas City, Missouri, led by brothers Lance and Kevin Merenbruch. This is their first album, released in 1977 as a private press self-release on USA's OMI Records, and features four members: the Merenbruch brothers, Hugh Rudick, and Tom Sutherland. The sound is generally pop-hard with a progressive tone, and it is a strange combination of pop-ness and rockin' hardness, which can be heard in melodic hard music and AOR hard music, as well as in the melodious hard music and AOR hard music.
The lead guitar, which is sometimes shaky but generally fluent, plays throughout the solos and between stations, and the cool acoustic guitar and gentrified vocals are not bad either. The rhythm section is steady and the playing is not broken, and the West Coast-style catchiness of the music is on the straight and narrow. The guitar riffs and phrases are rather cool, and the arrangements are well thought out, suggesting that the band must have been reasonably competent locally. I think this is a good album in the sense that it is very much an independent release. After releasing the second album in 1980, the band broke up, and Kevin went on to play in YDL at the end of the 80s.
Tracks
1. You What You Do - 3:40
2. Open Skies - 3:40
3. I Believe - 5:07
4. Burning Red - 3:40
5. Blind - 3:42
6. Morning Sun - 5:32
7. Everyday Searchin - 5:02
8. Directed - 5:24
9. Stop The Rain - 6:43
All songs by Hugh Ruddick, Kevin Mellenbruch, Lance Mellenbruch, Tom Sutherland
Orphann
*Hugh Ruddick - Lead Guitar
*Kevin Mellenbruch - Bass, Vocals
*Lance Mellenbruch - Guitar, Vocals
*Tom Sutherland - Drums
With
*Mike Holliger - Synthesizer
*J. Craig Sherry - Synthesizer