Eyes of Blue were a Welsh psych-rock-soul band that released two singles as “The Eyes of Blue” on Deram, followed by the 1968/69 Mercury albums Crossroads of Time and In Fields of Ardath. A name-change to Big Sleep produced the 1971 Pegasus release Bluebell Wood. Keyboardist Phil Ryan became an on/off member of Man and its […]
Agincourt was the first group project of English musicians Peter Howell and John Ferdinando, who started with a pair of home-recorded soundtracks for the local production Alice Through the Looking Glass and the amateur film Tomorrow Come Someday (both 1969). In 1970, they teamed with singer Lee Menelaus in the folk-psych trio Agincourt and recorded […]
Pete Brown & Piblokto! were an English post-psych band that released two albums on Harvest in 1970: Things May Come and Things May Go, but the Art School Dance Goes on Forever and Thousands on a Raft. Brown fronted the Battered Ornaments on their first of two 1969 albums and served as lyricist for Jack […]
Steamhammer was an English blues-rock band that released the 1969/70 albums Steamhammer (aka Reflection), MK II, and Mountains. Guitarist Martin Pugh assembled a new lineup for the 1972 release Speech on the German Brain label, featuring original Renaissance members Keith Relf and Louis Cennamo, who regrouped with Pugh in the 1975 A&M one-off Armageddon. Members: […]
Third World War was an English rock band that released two albums between 1971 and 1973 on Fly and Track. Along with the Groundhogs, Pink Fairies, and the Edgar Broughton Band, they gave blues rock a fractious twist that presaged punk. Members: Terry Stamp (guitar, vocals), Jim Avery (bass), Paul Olsen (drums, 1971-73), Mick Liber […]
Gracious was an English symphonic/art-rock band that released a self-titled album on Vertigo in 1970, followed by This is…Gracious!! on Phillips in 1971. Each album contained one multi-movement sidelong suite and four short-to-medium-length songs and instrumentals. The band had already split by the time their second album hit the shelves. Drummer Tim Wheatley later surfaced […]
Fusion Orchestra was an English symphonic/art-rock-soul band that released the album Skeleton in Armour in 1973 on EMI. Members: Dave Bell (drums), Mick Sluman (bass, 1969-71), Dave Cowell (bass, harmonica, 1971-73), Paul Jennings (bass, 1973-75), Colin Dawson (guitar), Stan Land (guitar, synthesizer, percussion, horns), Jill Saward (guitar, synthesizer, flute, vocals) Background They sprung from a […]
The Greatest Show on Earth was an English brass-rock band that released the albums Horizons and The Going’s Easy on Harvest in 1970. All eight members initially grouped in the Ossie Laine Show, an R&B covers band that cut an album for the Spanish market. Bassist Norman Watt-Roy later surfaced in Ian Dury’s Blockheads. Members: […]
Trifle was an English brass-rock/funk band that released a standalone single on United Artists in 1969, followed by the album First Meeting on Dawn in 1970. Trumpeter Dick Cuthell became an in-demand sessionist in the years that followed, appearing on albums by Nasty Pop, Burning Spear, Delroy Washington, XTC, The Specials, Chaz Jankel, Linton Kwesi […]
The Masters Apprentices were an Australian rock band from Adelaide that emerged as one of the nation’s premiere beat groups. They issued five singles and one album on Astor between 1966 and 1968, including the Aussie rock classics “Undecided,” “Wars or Hands of Time,” and “Elevator Driver.” After a change in lineup, they advanced into […]
Archie Whitewater was an American brass-rock/soul band that released a self-titled album on Cadet Concept in 1970. Members: Bob Berkowitz (keyboards), Fred Johnson (vocals), Jim Abbott (drums), Lynn Sheffield (alto saxophone, percussion), Paul Metzke (guitar), Peter La Barbera (percussion), Sam Burtis (trombone), Tony Vece (bass guitar), Travis Jenkins (tenor saxophone, flute, vocals) Background Archie Whitewater […]
Aardvark was an English post-psych organ rock band from the Midlands that released a self-titled album on Deram in 1970. Members: Stan Aldous (bass), Frank Clark (drums), Steve Milliner (Hammond, recorder, vibraphone), Dave Skillin (vocals) Background Aardvark had its roots in psych-rockers Rusty Sunday, which featured bassist Stan Aldous (ex-Odyssey) and teenage drummer Frank Clark. […]
The Third Avenue Blues Band (spelled numerically after their first single) was an American brass-rock/soul sextet that released three singles on MCA-subsidiary Revue in 1968/69, collected with other material on the 1970 album Fantastic. Members: Bob Beasley (saxophone), Hadley Hockensmith (guitar, bass), Harold Jones (vocals), Bill Maxwell (drums), Harlan Rogers (vocals, organ, piano), Mark Underwood […]
4th Cekcion was an American brass-rock band from Bellaire, Texas, that released a self-titled album on local-press Solar Records in 1970. Members: Greg Isaacs (vocals, keyboards), Stewart Rojo (guitar), Mike St. Clair (bass), Louie Broussard (percussion), Richard Cantu (woodwinds), Gary Weldon (brass) Background 4th Cekcion formed in Bellaire when brass player Gary Weldon and reedist […]
Gas Mask was an American brass-rock band from N.Y.C. that released one album, Their First Album, on Tonsil Records in 1970. Members: Bill Davidson (lead guitar), Richard Grando (winds), David Gross (saxophone), Nick Oliva (keyboards), Bobby Osborne (vocals), Enrico Rava (trumpet), James Strassburg (drums), Ray Brooks (bass, ?-1970), Lynn Welshman (trombone, 1970-?), Michael Moore (bass, […]
Rumplestiltskin was an English hard-rock/psych studio band that released a 1970 self-titled album on Bell Records, followed by a 1972 second, Black Magician, on the German Bellaphon label. The members also recorded instrumental-psych albums as Hungry Wolf and Ugly Custard. Members: Peter Lee Stirling [Peter Charles Greene, aka Daniel Boone] (vocals), Alan Hawkshaw [aka Jeremy […]
Galliard was an English brass-rock band from Birmingham that released the 1969/70 Deram albums Strange Pleasure and New Dawn. Frontman Geoff Brown continued in the mid-’70s jazz-funk combo Muscles. Along with Colosseum, Heaven, Brainchild, the Greatest Show on Earth, and the Keef Hartley Band, Galliard represented a UK wing of the brass-laden jazz-rock-soul sound, reflecting […]
Elias Hulk was an English hard-rock-psych band from Bournemouth, Dorset, that released the album Unchained on Young Blood in 1970. Members: Peter Thorpe [Big Pete Thorpe] (lead vocals), Neil Tatum (lead guitar), Granville Frazer (rhythm guitar), James Haines (bass guitar), Bernard James (drums) Elias Hulk was instigated in 1968 by Bournemouth teenagers Peter Grenville ‘Gren’ […]
Killing Floor was an English hard-rock band that released a self-titled album on Spark in 1969, followed by Out of Uranus on Penny Farthing in 1970. Members: Bill Thorndycraft (vocals, harp, 1968-71), Mick Clarke (guitar), Lou Martin (keyboards, 1968-69, 1971, 2002-present), Bazz Smith (drums, 1968-71), Stuart McDonald (bass, 1968-69, 1970-71, 2002-present), Jon Taylor (bass, 1969), […]
Titus Groan was an English jam-rock band that released a self-titled album and a standalone single on Dawn in 1970. Members: Stuart Cowell (keyboards, guitar, vocals), John Lee (bass), Tony Priestland (saxophone, flute, oboe), Jim Toomey (drums) Background Titus Groan formed in late 1969 when guitarist Stuart Cowell and drummer Jim Toomey teamed with bassist […]
