A collectors wet dream in regards to rarity. This privately pressed 7" was made to publicise the 1971 Hartlepool Rock Festival. Four local artists appear on the 45, all of them in the Hard Rock vein of the time period. Some great riffage!
Bedemon was an off-shoot of Pentagram. The band was an outlet for the songwriting sometime Pentagram guitarist Randy Palmer. Palmer and drummer Geof O'Keefe recorded a series of demos throughout the 70's. Most featuring bassist Mike Mahews and singer Bobby Leibling, but because Palmer never wanted to pursue Bedemon as a serious act, the group never recorded a proper studio album. After years of having tapes bootlegged, a proper collection was issued in 2005, 3 years after Palmer had been killed in a car crash. Geof O'Keef and Mike Mathews plan to continue the band.
The Name "Bedemon" was formed from a combination of "Behemoth" and "Demon", which had been Palmers initial ides for the groups moniker.
Recorded in 1971 and posthumously released by Rockadelic in 1995, Sudden death remains extremely obscure. Their LP "Suddenly" released kinda 25 years later, questions arise. Were they too heavy and gloomy for their era? For some strange reason, the band was unable to catch a buzz with their music and get that illusive album contract. It's a shame really, and a sad indication that the music industry wasn't much less retarded back in the early 70's, than it is now because the material presented here is outstanding.
This is the most gut-wrenching, slamming heavy rock I've had since first hearing the once obscure but now classic "Satori." Unbelievably heavy proto-NWOBHM with totally over the top caterwauling banshee vocals. This is just dripping with evil. Like pretty much all heavy bands of the era, there are at least some noticeable traces of the blues rock that metal evolved from, but for the most part this is much closer to a late 70's metal sound. The 1972 vintage makes it a major historical curiosity in the history of metal.
I have a special affinity with the exaggerated ,wailing raw vocals, and raw 70's jamming sound of this album. But it is an essential listen for anyone who drools over the likes of Flower Travellin''Band, Pentagram, Budgie, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Blue Cheer, etc.
Frijid Pink is a Detroit area blues rock band formed in 1967, best known for their version of "House of the Rising Sun" released in 1969. The initial lineup of the band included drummer Richard Stevers, guitarist Gary Ray Thompson, bassist Tom Harris, lead singer Tom Beaudry (a.k.a. Kelly Green), and later added Larry Zelanka as off-staff keyboardist.
Frijid pink was formed when members of the Detroit Vibrations Stevers, and Harris, were joined by guitaist Gary Ray Thompson ,(who convinced Vibrations manager Clyde Stevers that he was a better candiidate for a guitarist), and singer Tom Beaudry, who later took the stage name Kelly Green. They spent their first two years touring throughout the southeast Michigan/Detroit area and eventually signed with Parrot Records. Their first two singles, "Tell Me Why"and "Drivin' Blues" (both released in 1969)ailed to attract much attention, but their third 1969 effort, a distorted guitar driven rendition of ''House of the Rising Sun" reached the top ten on the U.S. Billboard "Hot 100" Chart in winter of 1970. This disc sold over one million copies, thereby earning a gold disc.
The band was so popular in their native Detroit area that a fledgling Led Zeppelin (who were just then getting started from the remnants of the Yardbirds) opened for them at Detroit's Grande Ballroom. Frjid Pink often shared billing with the likes of The MC5, The Stooges, The Amboy Dukes and others.
