![The Day After The Sabbath 160 British Wiles [Hard Rock, Prog & Psych Album Nuggets of 1973]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguc-XGMDifwLsx1qItWunsGMGix2PtN3xi9lTfFmTps-hqZ49D8jMc39kanrBPByf9a4rnWasNNDazedRosNS9eJ62ukXHjABwU6zk7NgjoMQYZqRwgdp5as_sVvcSjuDzU0dMnksDJmmHPQIa-SRzfAypxcg7lWqGoCGAJPednd9dccx1sCZu2CqrnO4/s500/The%20Day%20After%20The%20Sabbath%20160%20British%20Wiles%20%5BHard%20Rock,%20Prog%20&%20Psych%20Album%20Nuggets%20of%201973%5D.jpg "The Day After The Sabbath 160 British Wiles [Hard Rock, Prog & Psych Album Nuggets of 1973]")
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Welcome to volume 160! Concentrating my searches on a single region and a single year unearthed some real gems in a previous volume, #142, hard rock in the USA in 1970 (link), so here is an attempt to do the same thing for the British Isles in 1973. Every track here is an album cut and all the acts are brand-new to TDATS.
So, here's a bunch of fresh sounds and some nice variety; rough 'n ready obscure heavy blues from Caliban, The Equinox and Charge, instrumental oddities from Funky Junction, Mandingo and Projection, a pair of progs from Earth Band and Public Foot The Roman, a soupçon of psych folk from Saturnalia, some unexpected heaviness from a TV comedy gang, plus some glam and pop fun from Silverhead and Hudson-Ford. Almost all of these are homegrown British Isles names, the couple of exceptions like Curtis Knight and Joe Jammer had moved their careers over here to work with British players in the industry.
1973 was a strange year for the kind of bands that I usually feature here. Aside from famous, big-name acts of the time, there is a mystifying black hole in the discographies of many TDATS-suitable bands in 1973, especially apparent in the UK. It was business as usual in the adjacent years, but 1973 is very noticeably absent. A few reasons that I can only postulate are, the oil crisis, which must have hit smaller acts harder with the spike in costs of vinyl production and distribution, and changing trends of the time.
I have often mentioned that '69-'72 are by far the most frequently occurring years for music featured here on TDATS, maybe 1973 was the year when a corner was turned. The echoes of the psychedelic era were fading out and studio technology had become a lot more advanced. The age of by now, very experienced players, super-groups and prog rock was here to stay. The establishment of heavy metal as a genre of its own was getting under way too, from '74 onward with the new intensity of bands like Judas Priest and Motörhead revving into action.
TRACKS
01. Caliban - Hard Bitten Woman (1973)
from album Insane Mentality
02. The Equinox - Black Mike (1973)
from album Hard Rock
03. Blackfoot Sue - The Spring Of '69 (1973)
from album Nothing To Hide
04. Saturnalia - She Brings Peace (1973)
from album Magical Love
05. Funky Junction - Rising Sun (1973)
from album Play A Tribute To Deep Purple
06. Hudson-Ford - Crying Blues (1973)
from album Nickelodeon
07. Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Messin' (1973)
from album Messin'
08. Mandingo - Fever Pitch (1973)
from album Sacrifice
09. Curtis Knight Zeus - Mysterious Lady (1973)
from album Sea Of Time
10. Silverhead - Heavy Hammer (1973)
from album 16 And Savaged
11. Joe Jammer - Look Before You Leap (1973)
from album Bad News
12. Public Foot The Roman - Don't Bite The Hand (1973)
from album Public Foot The Roman
13. The Goodies - Taking You Back (1973)
from album Sing Songs From The Goodies
14. Charge - Glory Boy From Whipsnade (1973)
from album Charge
15. Projection - Mantis (1973)
from album Beats And Ballads
Let's welcome the bands!
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| Caliban 1973 |
album: Insane Mentality
[Seelie Court SCLP 024]
We begin with some raw, driving blues rock from Liverpool. Caliban played the last ever show at the original Cavern Club, made famous by The Beatles, before it was demolished. Then they became regulars at the New Cavern Club over the road, where a newer band called Judas Priest supported them.
Guitarist Keith Hubbard put some of their recordings out on a self-made CD in 2011, and in 2022 Seelie Court released two LPs of Caliban’s music; demos and a live recording. ‘Hard Bitten Woman’ is on both records, in studio and live format. The recording quality of both are not perfect, but they are good enough to convey the Stack Waddy-like power of the band. The Seelie Court label doesn’t have a website, so take a look at Discogs for more info (link). caliban70sband.blogspot / Facebook
 |
| The Equinox - Hard Rock LP |
album: Hard Rock
Continuing with the obscure blues rock, The Equinox was a young quartet from Chesterfield, they formed in 1972 and played the club circuit before signing with Boulevard Records, a budget label known for exploiting artists.
They recorded the album 'Hard Rock' in 1973 in the engineer’s basement for £25 each, only to see unrelated people depicted on the cover when it was released, excused by the label due to a “cardboard shortage”. They disbanded by January 1974. Vocalist Mick Shedd now plays with cover band Hellhound, and keyboardist Jon Stoppard performs Celtic music, with a solo album, 'Secret Gardens'. The other members’ whereabouts are unknown.
 |
| Blackfoot Sue - Nothing To Hide LP |
album: Nothing To Hide
‘The Gift’ was started in 1966 in Birmingham by twin brothers Tom and David Farme. They relocated to London in the ‘70s and became ‘Blackfoot Sue’. Their first album, from which springs ‘The Spring of 69’, is a solid glam rock effort. Possibly one of the unluckiest bands I have come across so far, they recorded two more albums in ’74 and ’75 which were hampered by various issues and both received very late, low-key releases.
In the case of the final album, 'Gun Running', 42 years late! It has some great tracks such as ‘Cruising The Highway’ (youtube) which were heading in a B.O.C. direction. While reading their defunct website (link), I was surprised to see that the final gasp of Blackfoot Sue, a pub band featuring the Farme brothers called Cry Wolf, had played in a pub near me in the past, but they never recovered from the covid lockdowns and have since called it a day.
 |
| Saturnalia - Magical love LP |
album: Magical Love
There are a few interesting things about the Saturnalia album. I find the dark psych-folk vibe quite ahead of its time, reminiscent of other English acts like Axe (vol94), and something that contemporary bands like 40 Watt Sun have run with. Two foundational members, singer Adrian Hawkins and guitarist Rod Roach, came from Horse (vol66), this explains the similar approach and the fact that ‘She Brings Peace’ first appeared on the Horse album.
 |
| Funky Junction Play a Tribute to Deep Purple |
album: Play A Tribute To Deep Purple
A lot has been written about Funky Junction so I’m sure many listeners will be aware that the record is the result of a two-day session by three original members of Thin Lizzy, plus two guys from the Irish band Elmer Fudd (youtube). Eric Bell has mentioned in interviews that Lizzy was paid £1000 for the session and they bunged friends Benny White (vocals) and Dave Lennox (keyboards) a few quid to join in.
The album is from the school of infamous budget / exploitation producer Leo Muller (real name David Leonard Miller) who’s labels would employ studio musicians to sell popular sounds of the time to lesser-discerning music buyers. In some cases, good music resulted, such as The Amazonas record that I used back on the latin flavoured vol 118 (link).
The Junction’s Deep Purple covers are fairly lacklustre to be honest, understandable in the circumstances. I think the best track on the record is this House Of The Rising Sun interpretation, with nice guitar from Eric Bell and organ work from Dave Lennox. I'm going to take a guess that Lizzy were more at home playing that song. The band pictured on the front cover of the UK/USA edition is in fact Hard Stuff (vol2), who coincidentally were signed to Deep Purple's Purple Records label. Another coincidence is the fact that Hard Stuff guitarist John DuCann was briefly a member of Thin Lizzy during a German tour in 1973.
 |
| Hudson-Ford - Nickelodeon LP |
album: Nickelodeon
‘Hudson-Ford’ was John Ford and Richard Hudson, who had both just left The Strawbs in 1973. They were also both in Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera before that (see TDATS v112). The duo made four albums in the ‘70s with various lineups of accompanying musicians. ‘Crying Blues’ is a very infectious bit of hard rockin’ pop! They re-invented themselves as 'The Monks' in 1979 with an updated sound, but were criticised by Johnny Rotten himself for being inauthentic punks (wiki).
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| Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Messin' LP |
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - 'Messin'
album: Messin'
The next evolution of keyboardist/singer Manfred Mann’s (real name Manfred Lubowitz) various acts after a successful pop act and a short-lived jazz outfit, by 1973 his Earth Band were on a fourth LP, ‘Messin’. I have read a few mentions of some good heaviness from Earth Band over the years but this is the first time I have checked them out, and they are a solid band with prominent moog/keys and prog rock and hard rock, as the mood took them.
This ten minute title track is a real trip, well-endowed with Mick Rogers’ great vocals and guitar. Mick had previously been Adam Faith’s guitarist and played in Australian bands The Playboys, Bulldog, and Procession. Drummer Chris Slade has played with a who’s-who of acts including AC/DC, Uriah Heep, The Firm and David Gilmour.
Mandingo - 'Fever Pitch'
album: Sacrifice
I vaguely remember a copy of the Geoff Love Orchestra ‘Star Wars And Other Space Themes’ LP knocking around at home when I was a kid…I wish I knew where it was now! Geoff was one of those big-band & orchestra conductors who masterminded what seems like and endless array of records, from soundtrack renditions as mentioned above, to easy-listening pop music cover LPs you’d see in Woolworths. ‘Mandingo’ was one of his many exotic pseudonyms, under which he made four funky albums, ‘Sacrifice’ being the first. You just gotta love this early ‘70s time period, when such things contained fuzz guitar as standard!
Curtis Knight Zeus - 'Mysterious Lady'
album: Sea Of Time
Curtis Knight Zeus enters with an attention-getting rocker, fronted by Curtis Knight. The lead guitarist is Eddie Clarke, in his first professional band, three years before he would join the ‘classic’ line-up of Motörhead. Drummer Andy Beirne would later be in Dirty Tricks (See vol65) and keys man Nick Hogarth was briefly in ‘Blue Goose’ with Eddie, just after the demise of Zeus.
Curtis Knight (b.1929 - d.1999) started-out singing in the Harlem R&B scene and recorded a number of singles and demos with Jimi Hendrix before Jimi moved to London in 1966. After a sting of post-Hendrix solo albums, with some good heavy stuff that will probably show up here in TDATS at some point, Curtis tried his own luck in London, and Curtis Knight Zeus was the result, with two LPs, Sea Of Time (used here) and the modestly-titled ‘The Second Coming’ in 1974.
album: Messin'
The next evolution of keyboardist/singer Manfred Mann’s (real name Manfred Lubowitz) various acts after a successful pop act and a short-lived jazz outfit, by 1973 his Earth Band were on a fourth LP, ‘Messin’. I have read a few mentions of some good heaviness from Earth Band over the years but this is the first time I have checked them out, and they are a solid band with prominent moog/keys and prog rock and hard rock, as the mood took them.
This ten minute title track is a real trip, well-endowed with Mick Rogers’ great vocals and guitar. Mick had previously been Adam Faith’s guitarist and played in Australian bands The Playboys, Bulldog, and Procession. Drummer Chris Slade has played with a who’s-who of acts including AC/DC, Uriah Heep, The Firm and David Gilmour.
 |
| Mandingo - Sacrifice LP |
album: Sacrifice
I vaguely remember a copy of the Geoff Love Orchestra ‘Star Wars And Other Space Themes’ LP knocking around at home when I was a kid…I wish I knew where it was now! Geoff was one of those big-band & orchestra conductors who masterminded what seems like and endless array of records, from soundtrack renditions as mentioned above, to easy-listening pop music cover LPs you’d see in Woolworths. ‘Mandingo’ was one of his many exotic pseudonyms, under which he made four funky albums, ‘Sacrifice’ being the first. You just gotta love this early ‘70s time period, when such things contained fuzz guitar as standard!
 |
| Curtis Knight Zeus - Sea Of Time LP |
album: Sea Of Time
Curtis Knight Zeus enters with an attention-getting rocker, fronted by Curtis Knight. The lead guitarist is Eddie Clarke, in his first professional band, three years before he would join the ‘classic’ line-up of Motörhead. Drummer Andy Beirne would later be in Dirty Tricks (See vol65) and keys man Nick Hogarth was briefly in ‘Blue Goose’ with Eddie, just after the demise of Zeus.
 |
| Curtis Knight |
 |
| Silverhead - 16 And Savaged LP |
Silverhead - 'Heavy Hammer'
album: 16 and Savaged
Michael Des Barres was the front man of Silverhead, a London hard rock and glam band formed in 1972. Before music, Des Barres already had an acting career going back to the early 1960s and has since worked in many well-known TV shows and films. He was inspired to enter the rock world and start a band after performing in ‘The Dirtiest Show in Town’, a musical revue from the same producer as Hair.
In 2021 a documentary about him was released called ‘Who Do You Want Me to Be’, the tag line being: "The son of a junkie aristocrat and a schizophrenic showgirl becomes a master of reinvention on a 50+ year journey through rock and roll, TV, and movies."
Joe Jammer - 'Look Before You Leap'
album: Bad News
Chicagoan Joe Jammer (real name Joe Wright) established his session-player career in the UK, where he resides now. marsbardot.com writes: “Joe was given his name [Jammer] by Jimmy Page when he started working for Led Zeppelin in 1969 on the USA tour promoting their first album; first as a drum roadie, then as Page’s guitar tech.
So impressed were Zeppelin with Joe’s musical abilities that they recommended to their manager Peter Grant that he manage young Joe, and Peter promptly invited him to move from Chicago to London, where he recorded his first solo album ‘Bad News’, on the infamous Regal Zonophone label”.
Joe then spent most of his first stint in the UK in successful funk & disco act Olympic Runners. According to the above source, he returned to the States for a period, “when the Punk movement pissed him off”. This seems a shame to me, as his faster tracks on Bad News have punkish, power pop energy! Maybe he could have capitalised on it? According to x.com/joe_jammer, Joe has played as recently as March this year (2025) and there’s a huge amount of info at his website (link) detailing his associations with countless famous acts, and his own exploits & projects over the years.
Public Foot The Roman - 'Don't Bite The Hand'
album: Public Foot The Roman
I first came across Public Foot The Roman ten years ago when researching for TDATS v112 (link), a collection of British acts that adopted a US country & southern rock sound. There is some of that sound in PFTR, but they are more-so a prog band and every description I read about them compares them to Wishbone Ash and Yes. I am far from a prog expert so I will leave that to TDATS readers to validate, though I can see the Wishbone Ash comparisons in the dual guitars.
They are probably the most obscure name in this set that was on a major label, a band that emerged in Cambridgeshire and had a single self-titled LP released in the UK and USA. In the Detroit Rock City facebook group there is a discussion around a poster that billed PFTR in support of Iggy & The Stooges, along with White Witch (v12) in 1973. A strange matching of bands there but what a show! Three PFTR members went on to ‘The Movies’, who apparently achieved more success, with five albums. Read more at themovies.org.uk
The Goodies - 'Taking You Back'
album: Sing Songs From The Goodies
The Goodies were a well-known comedy trio in the UK, with a TV show lasting thirteen years. They were Cambridge University friends with the guys that would become Monty Python's Flying Circus, all members of the university’s ‘Footlights’ comedy troupe and sharing the same surreal sense of humour. Noticing that the Goodies made an album in 1973, I figured it was worth a listen and was very happy to discover this piece of glammy psych!
album: 16 and Savaged
Michael Des Barres was the front man of Silverhead, a London hard rock and glam band formed in 1972. Before music, Des Barres already had an acting career going back to the early 1960s and has since worked in many well-known TV shows and films. He was inspired to enter the rock world and start a band after performing in ‘The Dirtiest Show in Town’, a musical revue from the same producer as Hair.
In 2021 a documentary about him was released called ‘Who Do You Want Me to Be’, the tag line being: "The son of a junkie aristocrat and a schizophrenic showgirl becomes a master of reinvention on a 50+ year journey through rock and roll, TV, and movies."
The rest of the band on ’16 and Savaged’ was guitarist Robbie Blunt (Chicken Shack, Robert Plant), guitarist Rod Rook Davies (The Sorrows), bassist Nigel Harrison (Blondie) and drummer Pete Thompson (Robin Trower). The dual guitars in 'Heavy Hammer' are cool, foretelling the sound of later-seventies metal. It would seem that Silverhead made a big push in the USA and most of the band have made their individual careers there since.
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| Joe Jammer - Bad News LP |
album: Bad News
Chicagoan Joe Jammer (real name Joe Wright) established his session-player career in the UK, where he resides now. marsbardot.com writes: “Joe was given his name [Jammer] by Jimmy Page when he started working for Led Zeppelin in 1969 on the USA tour promoting their first album; first as a drum roadie, then as Page’s guitar tech.
So impressed were Zeppelin with Joe’s musical abilities that they recommended to their manager Peter Grant that he manage young Joe, and Peter promptly invited him to move from Chicago to London, where he recorded his first solo album ‘Bad News’, on the infamous Regal Zonophone label”.
 |
| Joe in the UK recent years |
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| Public Foot The Roman LP |
album: Public Foot The Roman
I first came across Public Foot The Roman ten years ago when researching for TDATS v112 (link), a collection of British acts that adopted a US country & southern rock sound. There is some of that sound in PFTR, but they are more-so a prog band and every description I read about them compares them to Wishbone Ash and Yes. I am far from a prog expert so I will leave that to TDATS readers to validate, though I can see the Wishbone Ash comparisons in the dual guitars.
They are probably the most obscure name in this set that was on a major label, a band that emerged in Cambridgeshire and had a single self-titled LP released in the UK and USA. In the Detroit Rock City facebook group there is a discussion around a poster that billed PFTR in support of Iggy & The Stooges, along with White Witch (v12) in 1973. A strange matching of bands there but what a show! Three PFTR members went on to ‘The Movies’, who apparently achieved more success, with five albums. Read more at themovies.org.uk
 |
| Sing Songs From The Goodies LP |
album: Sing Songs From The Goodies
The Goodies were a well-known comedy trio in the UK, with a TV show lasting thirteen years. They were Cambridge University friends with the guys that would become Monty Python's Flying Circus, all members of the university’s ‘Footlights’ comedy troupe and sharing the same surreal sense of humour. Noticing that the Goodies made an album in 1973, I figured it was worth a listen and was very happy to discover this piece of glammy psych!
Bill Oddie was the Goodie who wrote and presumably sung on this one, with John Marshall (Nucleus, Centipede) on drums, Chris Spedding (Nucleus, and about 50 more bands!) on guitar and Gary Boyle (Brian Auger & The Trinity) on bass. Clem Cattini of Ugly Custard and Rumplestiltskin played drums elsewhere on the album. Not a bad find for this volume, seeing as I have included tracks from Nucleus (v13), The Trinity (v60), Ugly Custard (v40) and Rumplestiltskin (v8) here on TDATS in the past!
album: Charge
This was one of those mystery records that had been bootlegged since the ‘90s. By the time I started TDATS it had already been doing the rounds on obscure rock blogs. The bootleggers made sure to leave out most of the original label details, so the band’s true identity was still a mystery to the world at large when I first heard it. The first officially authorised re-issue happened in 2013, on the Wooden Hill label.
That was made possible after bass player Ian MacLaughlin found one of the bootlegs at a record fair and recognised that it was the long-forgotten album he had made with friends Dave Ellis (vocals, guitars) and Pete Gibbons (drums) as ‘Charge’. Sadly Pete Gibbons had long-since passed by that time, but Ian & Dave were able to contribute an earlier record they had made as ‘Baby Bertha’ for Wooden Hill’s re-issue, making for a comprehensive historical document of both Charge and Baby Bertha. Read more at the old Wooden Hill website (link). Seelie Court has since picked them up and re-issued them again in recent years.
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| Projection - Beats And Ballads LP |
album: Beats And Ballads
Closing this volume is a rocking library music nugget composed by Peter Smith & Phil Chilton. Their names both show up in ‘60s pop psych act 'Rhubarb Rhubarb' who made one well-regarded single ‘Rainmaker' b/w 'Moneylender’ in 1968. Other than that they seem to have stayed behind the scenes in production and library / soundtrack composition. After very much enjoying a voyage into Italian library rock with TDATS vol 158 (link), I can see a lot of potential for more exploration in the intriguing labyrinth of library music!
If you liked this please explore this site further, with 150+ similarly researched collections, articles and interviews. My social links are below, I also have a youtube channel (link).
Thanks for reading!
Rich
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If you liked this please explore this site further, with 150+ similarly researched collections, articles and interviews. My social links are below, I also have a youtube channel (link).
Thanks for reading!
Rich
Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 40: King Richard the Second [first all-English collection]
The Day After The Sabbath 112: UK Country Rock and Southern Rock Special
The Day After The Sabbath 142: Sweet Marie [1970 in the USA]
The Day After The Sabbath 142: Sweet Marie [1970 in the USA]
TDATS social links
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