Saturday, June 20, 2015

Methuselah - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John 1969


"Methuselah was one of a handful of English bands signed to Elektra Records in the late 60's, when the New York based label, flush with cash (courtesy of the Doors and Judy Collins) tried to expand on rock music and world stages. Their roots lay in a pair of earlier 60's bands The Dimples and Gospel Garden formed by John Gladwin and Terry Wincott, two school friends, drummer Mick Bradley of The Sorrows, and guitarist Les Nicol joined the psychedelic/pop outfit Gospel Garden and the group renamed itself Metuselah. Influenced by folk and gospel, the quintet managed to put all of that together a a coherent whole in an electric rock context. , and landed a three album deal with Elektra. Only one album ever saw the light of day, astonishingly in the U.S. only, mixing folk gospel, and R&B and wrapping it all up in a hard rock sound. With the group absolutely unknown in the U.S. the album went completely unnoticed and died an instant death. Methuselah turned right around and recorded a second album in 1969 which was similarly eclectic."

The band ended up splitting due to the members getting sick of which instruments they played and John and Terry got sick of their vocals being buried by the loud electric sound of the band and went off and started a Medieval Folk band called The Amazing Blondel. Mick Bradley ended up a member of Steamhammer, while Les and Craig formed a psych band called Distant Jim. Methuselah was only active for two years. ('67 to '69).




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