Wet Willie is an American band from Mobile, Alabama, U.S. They were best known for their hit "Keep On Smilin'", but had a number of charted songs in the 1970s utilizing their soulful brand of Southern rock. Drummer Lewis Ross assembled the musicians for a group called "Fox" in the summer of 1969, which a year later became known as "Wet Willie". Wet Willie was a versatile, high-energy Southern rock band that, from 1971 until 1978, produced an array of albums awash in good-time music, rollicking high-energy blues-rock, and white Southern soul, but racked up just one Top Ten hit and a lot of admirers. The core members of the band during that period were Jimmy Hall, vocals, harmonica, saxophone; Jimmy's brother Jack Hall on bass; John Anthony on keyboards; Ricky Hirsch on guitar, and Lewis Ross on drums and percussion. 01 - Thats alright 02 - Mule to ride 03 - No Good woman blues 04 - Red Hot Chicken 05 - Airport 06 - I'd rather be blind 07 - Macon hambine blues 08 - Shout Bamalama LINK
Sweet (originally The Sweet) was a British rock band that formed in the late 1960s and rose to prominence as one of the main glam rock acts in the 1970s, with the classic line-up consisting of Brian Connolly, Steve Priest, Andy Scott, and Mick Tucker. During the early years of 1971 and 1972, Sweet's musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of the first hit, "Funny Funny", to a Who influenced heavy rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals. The band achieved notable success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone. Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be was Sweet's first official album, released in 1971 on RCA Records in the UK. 01 - Coco 02 - Chop Chop 03 - Reflections 04 - Honeysuckle Love 05 - Santa Monica Sunshine 06 - Daydream 07 - Funny Funny 08 - Tom Tom Turnaround 09 - Jeanie 10 - Sunny Sleeps Late 11 - Spotlight LINK
Formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bead Game's original line up consisted of rhythm guitarist K. Westland Haag, singer/drummer Jim Hodder, keyboardist R. Gass, bassist Lassie Sachsand, and lead guitarist Jim Sheldon. Even though they apparently weren't big on rehearsals, the group managed to attract a local following on the Boston club circuit. Luckily, the group somehow captured the attention of AVCO Embassy Records, which promptly signed them to a recording contract. 1970'a "Welcome" was produced by Gary Kannon and recorded at New York's Record Plant. Featuring all original material, tracks such as 'Punchin Judy' and the fuzz guitar propelled 'Wax Circus' showcase an engaging mix of hard rock with occasional jazz touches. That may not sound particularly original or appealing, but their performances were actually quite attractive. Elsewhere, Hodder had a voice that was well suited to the group's attack (anyone into early Steely Dan will instantly recognize him). Highlights include the rocking 'Amos & Andy' and 'Mora'. (RDTEN1) 01 - Punchin Judy 02 - Lady 03 - Wax Circus 04 - Mora 05 - Natural Song 06 - Country Girls 07 - Amos & Andy 08 - Slipping 09 - Sweet Medusa 10 - Echoes Of Sweet Medusa 11 - My Life In Review LINK
They started out as The Others in 1963, later as The Army, then as Sands. They were managed by the Marquee Organisation and enjoyed a residency at the esteemed London venue in late 1966/ early 1967 before being snapped up by Brian Epstein and Robert Stigwood at NEMS who put them on stage at his one of their infamous Saville Theatre nights as support to Cream and Edwin Starr. Following Epstein's death, interest in Sands disappeared and half the band quit, leaving just two members, Robert Freeman and Anthony James to forge ahead as Sundragon. Signed to MGM and assigned to producer Derek Lawrence, they were convinced to cover The Lemon Pipers' recent US smash "Green Tambourine" as their debut and Sundragon's excellent version became a minor UK hit in 1968. The album that followed features further US covers ("So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Windy") alongside strong psych-orientated originals ("Five White Horses", "Look At The Sun", "Peacock Dress") with muscular musical support from the nascent Deep Purple. As was so often the case, neither the album nor the follow-up singles fared very well. A handful of pseudonym singles (High Noon, The Cruisers, McClintock) followed before the close of the decade.
01 - Green Tambourine 02 - I Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star 03 - Seventeen 04 - Peacock Dress 05 - Five White Horses 06 - Far Away Mountain 07 - Blueberry Blue 08 - Love Minus Zero 09 - I Need All The Friends I Can Get 10 - Windy 11 - Empty Highway 12 - Look At The Sun 13 - Blueberry Blue (Stereo Single Mix) 14 - Far Away Mountain (Stereo Single Mix)
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based glam rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney." Not long after the release of Electric Light Orchestra's first album, Wood found himself at odds with co-leader Jeff Lynne who would argue frequently about the direction of the band. Wood decided he wanted to head off in a different musical direction and left, taking band members Bill Hunt (keyboards and french horn), Hugh McDowell (cello), and ELO's sound engineer, Trevor Smith, with him, to found Wizzard. Also in the line-up were former Move bassist Rick Price, drummers Charlie Grima and Keith Smart (all taken from Birmingham group Mongrel), plus saxophone players Mike Burney and Nick Pentelow; son of actor Arthur Pentelow. Hunt was later replaced by Bob Brady. Wizzard Brew is the first album by Wizzard, released in March 1973. In the US it was released by United Artists Records as 'Wizzard's Brew' (with a different cover photo) and failed to chart. 01 - You Can Dance The Rock 'n' Roll 02 - Meet Me At The Jailhouse 03 - Jolly Cup Of Tea 04 - Buffalo Station-Get On Down To Memphis 05 - Gotta Crush (About You) 06 - Wear A Fast Gun LINK
Black Widow were a rock band that formed in Leicester, England in September 1969. The band were mostly known for its early use of satanic and occult imagery in their music and stage act. The band were often confused with the better-known heavy metal band Black Sabbath, but the bands were only superficially similar. The band originally formed in 1966 as Pesky Gee! with Kay Garrett (lead vocals), Kip Trevor (lead vocals, guitar and harmonica), Chris Dredge (guitar), Bob Bond (bass guitar), Clive Box (drums and piano), Jess "Zoot" Taylor (organ), Clive Jones (saxophone and flute). Disbanded in 1972 01 - Jesus And Wine 02 - The Gypsy 03 - Bridge Passage 04 - When My Mind Was Young 05 - The Journey 06 - Poser 07 - Mary Clark 08 - Wait Until Tomorrow 09 - An Afterthought 10 - Legend Of Creation
