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Sun Dragon - 1968 - Green Tambourine
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)
