Blues Series#21: Steamhammer-MK. II

[joe]

Steamhammer was yet another band from the second wave(or third?) of the British blues revival. Thier s/t album(1969) was the standard blues rock with prog leanings. Led by vocalist/harp/guitarist Keiran White and guitarist Martin Pugh, the band made some line up changes for thier second album Mk. II(1969) adding the great technical drummer Mickey Bradley and Steve Jolliffe(woodwinds, brass, harpsichord) who both would bring some prog/jazz influences to this album.

Quite different from thier first album this recording has some excellent melodic and instrumental textures. Martin Pugh's guitar work is astounding working and blending well with Jolliffe's jazzy sax and flute. The drumming of Bradley rivals any of the greats of the day.

Jolliffe left the band to join Tangerine Dream as a result the third album, Mountains(1970) went back to the blues rock formula of thier first album. Kieran White left the band as did the original bassist and enter bassist Louis Cennamo(The Herd, Jody Grind, Colesseum, Renaissance) as the band was now a trio and released the experimental,sonic, hard rock/heavy psych Speech(1972), with Cennamo incorporating a bow on his bass.

Sadly, Mickey Bradley died of leukemia and Martin Pugh and Louis Cennamo went to the US and teamed up with former Yardbird's vocalist Keith Relf and ex-Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell to form Armageddon.



This is one of the best instrumental acoustic tracks I've heard:

 

[hawk11]

I actually like their debut album the best, though MK II and Mountains have some good songs on them. I first heard about them back in the early 80's after reading an article in a Circus (or was it Creem?) magazine about obscure bands. The writer said that their sound was similiar to Blodwyn Pig's only weirder (that's debatable).

This is my favorite song from MK II....very trippy.




BTW Joe, my Groundhogs CD "Split" arrived in the mail today and look forward to listening to it .

 

[Nololob]

Steamhammer as it's best. One of the greats of blues rock of 60s/70s.

BTW Joe, my Groundhogs CD "Split" arrived in the mail today and look forward to listening to it .

Gah, you hooked me to play this CD.

 

[hawk11]

Steamhammer as it's best. One of the greats of blues rock of 60s/70s.

Gah, you hooked me to play this CD.

Really liked "Thank Christ For The Bomb" and hoping "Split" will be just as good.

 

[DaKillerWolf]

Really liked "Thank Christ For The Bomb" and hoping "Split" will be just as good.

I like Split even better ..both great.

I need to pick this Steamhammer up. I only have the debut so far .Sounding awesome,Joe.

 

[joe]

I actually like their debut album the best, though MK II and Mountains have some good songs on them. I first heard about them back in the early 80's after reading an article in a Circus (or was it Creem?) magazine about obscure bands. The writer said that their sound was similiar to Blodwyn Pig's only weirder (that's debatable).

This is my favorite song from MK II....very trippy.




BTW Joe, my Groundhogs CD "Split" arrived in the mail today and look forward to listening to it .

Right on hawk. Let me know what you think.

I like Split even better ..both great.

I need to pick this Steamhammer up. I only have the debut so far .Sounding awesome,Joe.

Split and Thank Christ run neck and neck for me Wolf.

Steamhammer's third album, Mountains is somewhat a combination of thier s/t and Mk. II.

I'm not sure if you have Speech or not. I was blown away the first time I heard it 30 years ago. At that time I had really heard nothing like it. Doesn't even sound like the same band.

 

[Nololob]

I do have their compilation CD "Junior's Wailing".



The best track? No, it's not Junior's Wailing.

Riding On The L&N is amazing, long solo is a good solo.

 

[joe]

A great tune. Show cases the band's improvisations as does "Down Along The Grove/Another Travellin' Tune from Mk. II.

 

[hawk11]

I listened to "Split" today Joe and was really impressed yet have to admit that I like "Thank Christ For The Bomb" a little more. Though like Wolf said, two great albums! And it's amazing how many great unknown CDS are out there.

Getting bact to Steamhammer I don't have Speech but have been meaning to get it. To be honest when I first heard MK. II I was a little disappointed being I was expecting it to sound like their first album, though it grew on me after a while.

 

[DaKillerWolf]

Split and Thank Christ run neck and neck for me Wolf.

Steamhammer's third album, Mountains is somewhat a combination of thier s/t and Mk. II.

I'm not sure if you have Speech or not. I was blown away the first time I heard it 30 years ago. At that time I had really heard nothing like it. Doesn't even sound like the same band.

Both are great as I said .Two excellent effects for sure

I only have Reflection I have been meaning to get more but I am all over the place buying stuff of different genre's I'm into. I spend far too much money on music ..something I'm sure you can relate to.

Anyway, I am kind of on an old time black bluesman trip at the moment buying wise but I will get the other two mentioned here soon.