Road -

Road was an English-American hard-rock trio from Los Angeles that released a self-titled album in July 1972 on Motown subsidiary Natural Resources.

Members: Noel Redding (bass, vocals), Rod Richards (guitar, vocals), Leslie Sampson (drums, vocals, percussion)

Background

Road formed in Los Angeles, where Experience bassist–singer Noel Redding teamed with drummer–singer Leslie Sampson and former Rare Earth guitarist–singer Rod Richards.

Noel Redding was born on December 25, 1945, in Folkestone, Kent. He learned violin and mandolin before taking up guitar as a teenager. His first serious band, the Lonely Ones, played soul standards around Kent from 1961 to 1963 before he worked in Scotland and Germany. Redding later joined the Loving Kind. In 1966, Chas Chandler recruited him as bassist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience after a London guitar audition. He wrote and sang “She’s So Fine” and “Little Miss Strange,” then formed Fat Mattress in late 1968 as a guitar-and-vocal outlet. Redding left both groups in 1969 and later moved to Los Angeles.

Rod Richards joined the original five-member Rare Earth lineup as guitarist and singer. The group signed to Motown in 1968, then recorded Dream/Answers and Get Ready. Richards left after Ecology as Ray Monette assumed the guitar role.

Leslie Sampson played on the 1971 Eggs Over Easy sessions at Olympic Studios in London under producer Chas Chandler. The trio entered the Record Plant in March 1972 for a seven-song album.

Road

Road released their singular self-titled album in July 1972 on Natural Resources.

All three members take lead vocals across the album. “Friends” gives first release to a Redding song recorded earlier with Fat Mattress.

“I’m Trying” drifts across sunlit lead contours and marked section changes. “I’m Going Down to the Country” lopes through drowsy slide phrases and sparse accents. “Mushroom Man” grinds through fuzz-saturated distortion and streaks of feedback. “Man Dressed in Red” coils around syncopated accents, wah-wah spirals, and a cavernous undertow.

“Space Ship Earth” pounds through thick, muscular accents. “Friends” sprawls across an insistent riff and an extended drum solo, with brief sung passages at intervals. “Road” hurtles through torrid soloing and a prominent bass display.

A1. “I’m Trying” (6:28) – Richards
A2. “I’m Going Down to the Country” (2:39) – Redding
A3. “Mushroom Man” (4:12) – Sampson, Richards
A4. “Man Dressed in Red” (7:13) – Redding

B1. “Space Ship Earth” (3:08) – Richards
B2. “Friends” (6:50) – Redding
B3. “Road” (9:39) – Richards

Sessions occurred in March 1972 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Producer Tom Wilson shared production with the trio under executive producer Murray Roman. Bob Hughes engineered the sessions with assistant Doug Graves. Hughes also engineered the Bill Withers album Still Bill and remixed the US edition of the 1972 Fleetwood Mac title Bare Trees. Wilson also produced Gotham’s Pass the Butter, the preceding entry in the Natural Resources catalog.

Rod Dyer, Inc. designed the Unipak sleeve from artwork by Richards and photography by Ron Raffaelli. The front superimposes the trio over Monument Valley beneath the slogan “Save Our Open Spaces.” In 1972, Raffaelli also photographed the back cover for the Ten Years After album Alvin Lee & Company and assembled the Canadian Rock Theatre sleeve collage.

Relics returned the album to circulation on CD in December 2010 with historical notes. The label followed in August 2012 with a 180-gram gatefold LP.

Later Activity

Road split soon after the album. Sampson joined Stray Dog for their 1973 self-titled debut and 1974 follow-up While You’re Down There. Redding moved to Ireland and formed the Noel Redding Band with guitarist Eric Bell and keyboardist Dave Clarke. RCA issued Clonakilty Cowboys in 1975, followed by Blowin’ with Sampson back in the lineup.

Discography: