Horse

Horse was an English hard-rock band that released a self-titled album on RCA Victor in 1970. The album was reissued, along with six songs from an uncompleted second album, on the 2016 CD For Twisted Minds Only on the Rise Above Relics label. Two members formed the folk-psych combo Saturnalia.

Members: Adrian Hawkins (vocals), Rod Roach (guitar), Colin Standring (bass, 1968-71), Steve Holley (drums, 1968-69), Rick Parnell (drums, 1969-71), Jim Mercer (bass, 1971)

Formation

Horse formed in London in 1968 when singer Adrian Hawkins and guitarist Rod Roach teamed with bassist Colin Strandring and drummer Steve Holley, who soon cleared out for Rick Parnell.

Strandring came from the pop-psych act Just Plain Smith, which issued the 1969 single “February’s Child” (b/w “Don’t Open Your Mind”) on small-press Sunshine.

Horse were among a string of post-psych underground signings to RCA Victor.

Album

Horse issued their self-titled album in August 1970 on RCA in the UK and Germany. Hawkins and Roach co-wrote nine of the 10 songs, including “Freedom Rider,” “Lost Control,” “See the People Creeping Round,” and “Gypsy Queen.” One track, “The Journey,” is a Roach-arranged traditional.

Roach produced Horse with engineer George Chkiantz, who also worked on 1970/71 albums by High Tide, Family, and BB Blunder. The cover shows a pen sketch of a winged horse against a burgundy backdrop with sinewy green letters. It was illustrated by Roger Wootton, leader of folk-psychsters Comus, who used that name for his visual works. German copies display five stars above the horse’s head.

Reissues, Bonus Material

Horse was first reissued in 1988 on the German label Buy or Die Records.

In 2016, archivists Rise Above Relics re-released Horse as part of an expanded set titled For Twisted Minds Only, released with six bonus tracks on CD (66 minutes) and a two-record set. The newly unearthed songs (27 minutes) consist of two cuts from the Horse lineup (“Autumn,” “Winchester Town / Dreams Turn to Ashes”), two tracks with drummer Jess Lidyard (“Born to Be Wild,” “Picture of Innocence”), and two tracks with pre-Horse drummer Steve Holley (“She Brings Peace,” “Anthems to the Sea”).

After Horse

Hawkins and Roach formed the folk-psych combo Saturnalia, which issued Magical Love with 3-D packaging in 1973. The album features re-recordings of the Horse leftovers “Winchester Town” and “She Brings Peace.”

Standring played on the 1975 jazz-funk release Veit Marvos And His Red Point Orchestra on the German Bellaphon label.

Parnell played in the 1972/73 lineup of Atomic Rooster and did stints in the Italian bands Ibis and Nova. He was also involved with Alan Ross‘s Stars. During the 1980s, Parnell played on albums by Lisa Dal Bello, Toni Basil, and Taka Boom.

Lidyard surfaced on multiple albums by his nephew Gary Numan.

Holley did stints in G.T. Moore and the Reggae Guitars, Vapour Trails, and the final lineup of Wings. He also played on ’70s albums by Kiki Dee, Paul Brett, and Arthur Brown. During the ’80s, he notched credits with Tommy Shaw, Philip Rambow, Elton John, Martin Briley, Julian Lennon, and Sheena Easton.

Discography:

• Horse (1970)

Sources:

• Discogs: Horse