Crazy Horses

Not exactly what one expects from America’s Favorite Pre-Reality TV Mormon Family, this fourth studio album from the Osmonds (actually the eleventh in their extensive discography if you count their work under the name The Osmond Brothers) finds these legendary squares dipping their many toes into the raging waters of hard rock and proto-metal. Succesfully, no less! There’s no shortage of schlock, especially towards the back half of the record — you can lift the needle after the acid-drenched “Life is Hard Enough Without Goodbyes” — but the “Immigrant Song” groove of “Hold Her Tight” shows they’re ready to get heavy. A lot of their rock riffs come from the Beatles, sure, but at least it’s later-period Beatles! And the unhinged title track has such a wild rhythm it was borrowed by Venom — about as far as you get from clean-cut religious folk — a decade later.