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In the winter of 1973 Keith Relf(Yardbirds) phoned up bassist Louis Cennamo who he had played in with Renaissance in '69-'70, a UK progressive band. Cennamo was sharing a flat in London with guitarist Martin Pugh both who were in Steamhammer, a British blues/psych band. Relf invited both them out to California were they teamed up with drummer Bobby Caldwell from Captain Beyond.
After a month with no record contract Peter Frampton gave a phone number for a guy at A&M and soon after hooked up with Dee Anthony, manager for ELP, J. Geils Band and Peter Frampton and then followed a contract with A&M. The band stayed in Hollywood for six months where Jerry Moss, the head of A&M paid for everything for the band.
The band returned to London to record thier s/t debut in the fall of 1974 at Olympic Sudios. After a few months they came back to California where the band did a few live shows and the album was released in 1975. Certain band members were having drug problems along with Keith Relf's health issues as he had emphysema. By the end of the year some of the band members went back to England. Keith Relf died due to getting electrocuted while practising his guitar at home and was planning a new band with old friend Jim McCarty from the Yardbirds day.
The album sold fairly well and recieved airplay but the band recruited a new vocalist Jeff Fenholt and recorded a few tracks for the second proposed album but A&M lost interest and the group called it quits.
The album is now considered a "lost classic" and critics rave over it's often eerie and sometimes freaky mixture of hard rock and melodic '60's psychedelic.
One of greatest guitar albums of the 70's IMO. Bobby Caldwell's drumming is better than of Captain Beyond's s/t debut. That damn good. The real highlight is Martin Pugh's chords and riffs and manic solos. 9/10
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