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For a shortwhile in the late 60's-early 1970's they didn't come much "heavier" than Spooky Tooth.....not exactly "metallic" heavy, just plain ol' HEAVY......their twin keyboard/twin vocal attack was fairly unique, and they blasted out blusey numbers for a while there that, while many have forgotten today, REALLY DO sound good in 2014 (I was actually fairly surprised).
The original lineup: keyboardist/vocalist Michael Harrison, keyboardist/vocalist Gary Wright (later of "Dream Weaver" fame), guitarist Luther Grosvenor, bassist Greg Ridley, and drummer Mike Kellie (rising from the remnants of the band Art).....this lineup would give us 1968's pretty fair period piece, "It's All About'' (which, for some reason, was later re-released with the title "Tobacco Road")....it's pretty much a mish mash, they were developing their sound, as it were, with dopey moves like covering Janis Ian's "Society's Child" (Gawd), and, honestly, pretty much ANYONE can make "Tobacco Road" sound good and heavy.
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The real winner is "Spooky Two" (1969), LOVED this record as a kid, pulled it out the other night and you never know about such things, but FUCK YEAH......the blusey "Feelin' Bad", the rockin'"Better By You Better Than Me" (later covered by Judas Priest), and more, all of which are window dressing for the monsterous nine minute "Evil Woman".......one of the truly forgotten classic songs of that era, the dueling blues vocals, droning organ and heavy guitar make it a classic piece of HEAVY music (although, again, NOT exactly "metal").
A lot of music from these discs appears on the "1968 Masters Series", which I am going to include here so you can also enjoy thier versions of "The Weight" and "I Am the Walrus", among others.....hey you aren't PAYING me for this!
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OK.....then came 1970's "Ceremony".......it, uh, sucks in my opinion, I am including it here just to show how pretentiously BAD this kind of thing can be (as wonderfully dated as "Spooky Two" is, this one is equally horrifically dated)......French electronic musician Pierre Henry joined the boys for this one, and I guess it is supposed to sound like a church service or something.....guess what? It does......a very, very bad idea, check it out, sometimes it is FUN in retrospect to document the "Road Suckville", no question where it began for Spooky Tooth.
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Later in 1970,the band released "The Last Puff", which sucks as well....Wright is long gone, and the cover actually credits the album to "Spooky Tooth Featuring Mike Harrison", a clue to "suckville" if ever there were one......Harrison, Gosnover, and Kellie were all that were left of the "Evil Woman" crew, and Gosnover would leave after this (actually to change his name to Ariel Bender and join Mott the Hoople in time for "The Hoople", not the greatest effort in that band's category, but compared to the crap Spooky Tooth was churning out it was "Forever Changes" or something. He was replaced by Mick Jones who eventually founded Foreigner, OBVIOUSLY not a positive sign, and the reformed Spooky Tooth (Harrison, Jones, Wright who returned, bassist Chris Stewart, and drummer Bryson Graham) released the horrendously titled "You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw" (what WERE they thinking?), a bit more psychedelic, and actually, quite forgettable.
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Original drummer Mike Kellie returned for 1973's "Witness", but the stain of future-Foreigner members was by now ingrained......so let's wrap this up......basically these guys made one kickass album ("Two"), and maybe another hour worth of decent material, despite some fine musicians. Harrison left after this, they released something called "The Mirror" in 1974 which I don't have, but, trust me, it doesn't matter much.
These talented musicians evidently could put out on stage, as "BBC Sessions (Live In Europe)" which was recorded in 1966 verifys, with good early versions of "Feelin' Bad", "Better By You", and more......we also have 1970 "Live at Berlin Wall", a really good one with what should be an obligatory live "Evil Woman"......
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I've been pretty hard on them here, I guess, BUT so fucking what? Suckville is suckville, and sometimes the documentation of the downhill road to that place is interesting (OBVIOUS,even, when you're hiring guys who are going to wind up in Foreigner)......but the first album has its moments, "Spooky Two" is fairly essential for of early 1970's hard rock, and both live albums are worth your time.......they are (deservedly) relatively forgotten today, and I tried to paint a picture of them from start to "finish" (even though evidently some of them try to go on with it even today, pity them they know not what they do)........so, the first two, the two lives are some good blues-rocking stuff, and there is almot a comedy factor in the rest of it.......grab what you want, but play "Evil Woman" LOUD, it's part of my Junior High soundtrack "WOOOOOOOOOOOMAN, I offer to ya My SOOOOOOUL".........ahhhhhhhhh!
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IT'S ALL ABOUT-01 Society's Child/02 Love Really Changed Me/03 Here I Lived So Well/04 Too Much Of Nothing/05 Sunshine Help Me/06 It's All About A Roundabout/07 Tobacco Road/08 It Hurts You So/09 Forget It, I Got It/10 Bubbles
SPOOKY TWO-01 Waitin' for the Wind/02 Feelin' Bad/03 I've Got Enough Heartaches/04 Evil Woman/05 Lost in My Dreams/06 That Was Only Yesterday/07 Better by You, Better Than Me/
08 Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree
THE MASTER SERIES-01 The Weight/.02 Love Really Changed Me/03 I Am The Walrus/04 Feelin' Bad05 Tobacco Road/06 The Wrong Time./07 Do Right People/08 Something To Say/09 Sunshine Help Me/10 Down River/11Things Change/12 Nobody There At All/13Society's Child/14 That Was Only Yesterday/15Son Of Your Father/16 Cotton Growing Man.
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CEREMONY-01 Confession/02 Have Mercy/03 Credo/04 Offering/05 Hosanna/06 Prayer
THE LAST PUFF-01 I Am the Walrus/02 The Wrong Time/03 Something To say/04 Nobody There at All/05 Down river/06 Son of Your Father/07 The Last Puff
YOU BROKE MY HEART SO I BUSTED YOUR JAW-01 Cotton Growing Man/02 Old As I Was Born/03 This Time Around/04 Holy Water/05 Wildfire/06 Self Seeking Man/07 Times Have Chagned/08 Moriah
WITNESS-01 Ocean of Power/02 Wings On My Heart/03 As Long As the World Keeps Turning/04 Don't Ever Stray Away/05 Things Change/06 All Sewn Up/07 Dream Me a Mountain/08 Sunlight of My Mind/09 Pyramids
1970 LIVE AT THE BERLIN WALL-01 Something To Say/02 I Am the Walrus/03 The Wrong Time/04 I Wanna Be Free/05 Son Of Your Father/06 Better By You Better Than Me/07 Along/08 Soulful Lady/09 Love Really Changed/10 Pretty Woman/11 Feelin' Bad/12 I Can't Quit Her/13 Evil Woman
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BBC SESSION LIVE IN EUROPE-01 Sunshine Help Me/02 Too Much of Nothing/03 Feelin' Bad/04 The Weight/05 I Can't Quit Her/06 Blues Town/07 Pretty Colours/08 Sunshine/09 How/10 Better By You Better Than Me/11 Soulful Lady
Been pretty much stuck in an early 70's groove for a little while, still working on the Au Pairs mega-post (patience, tomorrow or Friday), but anyway, so WHAT? We can make the arguement that the rock n roll music of the early 1970's (1970-75 roughly) was the BEST five year period.....there is no "right" or "wrong" answer, here, obviously, and it depends on many subjective factors, such as where you "were" in life during the given period, but for me, personally, with a gun to my head, give me the 70-75 era......much MORE interesting to discuss would be the WORST such period, one might argue we are in such a period currently, but I'll go mid-1980's on this one (hair-metal is a HUGE points deduction, regardless of whatever the positives.
Sleep well, my lovely ladies and my wonderful friends......it is because of all of YOU that this blog exists!