Creepy John Thomas - "Brother Bat Bone" 1968 / s/t 1969

A guitarist named John Thomas seems to have as much chance of being recognized as an individual as a fire hydrant in an urban setting. . An attached nickname can sometimes be helpful when faced with such a challenge, and this Australian performer came up with a good one when he dubbed himself "Creepy" John Thomas after moving to London. Still, not everyone who hired him wanted to call him a creep in the liner notes so, for example, he is sometimes mistaken for the British guitar player John "J.T." Thomas, who joined Budgie in '78. Neither one of these commonwealth blokes have anything to do with the John Thomas who plays guitar on hip sides with Joe Henderson and Jimmy McGriff.

Creepy John Thomas also made use of the stage name Johnny Driver. His first professional success took place as a songwriting member of The Flies, a combo based out of Melbourne that had Australian chart hits. The Flies were known to land support gigs for some of the biggest 60's attractions touring down under. Such as The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison. British RCA put out his self titled Creepy John Thomas in 1969, a follow up enchantingly titled Brother Bat Bone ensuing on Teldec. A firm entitled fingerprint has apparently reissued both of thees masterworks, yet Thomas himself warns fans that there are bootleg

productions.

Thomas spent a year in San Francisco following the original release of these solo albums, but by the early 70's, had returned to London and a position in the Edgar Broughton Band. Two albums with this outfit feature Thomas, a particularly practically titled "Bandages", seeing it's the album that has cuts on it, that is -- combining him with studio mastermind Mike Oldfield. The artist also collaborated with Dave Stuart and Annie Lennox prior to their Eurythmics success. During the late 70's, the artist took up another location shift, heading to Berlin and starting up his own Johnny & the Drivers band. Thomas enjoyed Berlin, Where creeps are popular, for a decade. Again, the project netted him two more albums on as many labels, in this case Polydor, and Phonogram. He relocated again to London, where he became a producer.
Artist Bio: Eugene Chadbourne for Allmusic.

Svanfridur - "What's Hidden There?" 1972

Icelandic prog rockers Svanfridur formed from the ashes of various rock bands in the early 70's and released only one album, 1972's "What's Hidden There?" Strikingly, the band doesn't sound especially Icelandic. These guys could have been from San Francisco or London given the careful lyric phrasing or slavish devotion to the musical conventions of the era. (right down to the "to be played loud" injunction in the liner notes).  After playing gigs abroad, the band ended up at London's Majestic Studios, yet after failing to gain any label support resorted to releasing the album on their own. Only a few hundred copies were pressed and although recorded in London, and sung in English, it was made available in Iceland only in late '72. (the band's entire lifespan was over the coarse of one year!) Heavily influenced by English psych bands, the band sounds more of a late 60's ensemble rather than heavy prog on parts. Other moments are consistent with great heavy prog of the era. The band sound best when playing more of the straight forward rock type material in the album. Although there are hippy/mellow portions, but yet being essential and done quite well, makes for a well rounded release. This band would have done well on Decca at the time.
After selling but a few hundred copies, having not achieved much from the effort, the band split in early/mid '73. Very good psychedelic rock with discrete signs of proggy texture. Full of well-played, secure arrangements.

Bang - s/t 1971 / "Death of a Country"+ 1971

Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, American heavy metal band Bang were active for only a brief time in the early 70's. The group released three albums for Capitol and had one minor hit single with "Questions", which reached #90 on the Billboard Hot 100. They were strongly influenced by Black Sabbath and are considered to be forerunners of the doom-metal genre. The group briefly reformed in the 2000's and recorded two more CD's worth of music. In 2004 the concept album "Death of a Country" was released on L.P. and CD. This album was recorded in 1971 and intended to be released as the bands debut full length, but it was shelved by Capitol who did not feel releasing a "Heavy Concept Album" as the band's debut was commercially viable. Later that year, their self titled sophomore album was released as their debut instead.
Briefly hyped as top contenders for scene supremacy, and once praised as America's Black Sabbath, the power trio quickly saw it's promise squandered, instead, by their own inexperience and overbearing managerial intervention that diluted Bang's original vision, and derailed their bid for success within a few short years.

Jo Jo Gunne - s/t 1972 / "Bite Down Hard" 1973 / "Jumpin' the Gun" 1974 / "So...Where's the Show?" 1974

Borrowing their name from a Chuck Berry song about a meddlesome monkey, Jo Jo Gunne were signed to David Geffen's Asylum records, as an antidote to the 'singer-songwriter' trend of the early 70's. The band had a top 10 hit in the U.K. charts with "Run Run Run" from their self titled debut L.P. (1972). The album peaked at #27 in the U.S. charts and received airplay in heavy rotation on the FM album oriented stations. They soon dispensed with any of the esoteric directions favored by Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes in their previous life as members of Spirit. Taking brother Matt Andes and drummer Curly Smith along for company, Jo Jo stared out of a hot-rod looking every inch like golden California stoner Gods on their '72 debut, a brisk affair, kicked into gear by the catchy "Run Run Run."
The group did not maintain the commercial

momentum of their first release. "Bite Down Hard" struggled to retain similar momentum; frequent lineup changes and "Jumpin' the Gun's" tasteless album cover backfired on the band, are contributing factors that can be blamed for drastically falling sales, the band broke up in 1975. Their 1974 swansong depicted them as late-comers to the glam rock ball, and lazy tracks like "S&M Blvd." didn't suit them. Jo Jo ran out of gas. A case of too much too fast.
The original lineup temporarily reformed around 1992, but not much more happened of it. All four L.P.'s have been reissued in 2000 by Rhino titled "The Asylum Years Vol.1 & Vol.2" along with five bonus tracks. It rapidly sold out, and was issued again by Wounded Bird, minus the booklet that came with the Rhino release. And again on British Edsel records minus the bonus tracks.

Les Variations - "Nador" 1969 / "Take it or Leave it" 1971

Les Variations was a French rock band formed in 1966 through the 70's, who sang in English and was known for it's guitar driven music. Frances first band to headline the legendary Olympia Theater, the first to tour America, The first to sign with an American label (Buddah), and the first to achieve hit records in America. (you might say the "First Rock Band" of France!) They developed an impressive following touring through Europe playing song by their favorite artists, Little Richard, The Stones, Elvis Presley, & Chuck Berry etc. On their last two albums (of four) "Moroccan Roll" and "Cafe de Paris", their compositions, arrangements, and lyrics contained sounds and stories of North African and Jewish Sephartic culture as well as Hebrew songs of the band members youth growing up in North Moroccanroll music, which is played throughout Northern Africa and has influenced many western rock bands over the last four decades. (three of the four members were Moroccan Jews, the fourth was Italian)

Africa. With this sound, they achieved a new rock fusion which is now referred to as
Their first album, "Nador", is impressively loud and heavy for 1969, and so sounds years ahead of it's time. The band was pretty much hard rock right out of the gate. The second, "Take it or Leave it" is equally impressive. Both of these releases are outright guitar rock, basically a prelude to what was in store for the guitar rock drivin' 70's.
Unfortunately, just as they were beginning to gain measurable success in America, members began leaving for solo projects and on December 7th 1975, gave their last performance at Phillidelphia's Academy of Music and two weeks later, disbanded.
In 1977, the band reformed for a historic recording session for CBS and it wen't to #1 in Isreal, Egypt, and Jordan.

Granicus - s/t 1973

American hard rock band Granicus formed in 1969 in Cleveland, Oh. Formed by drummer Joe Battaglia, the group would rehearse in his home but later moved into a jail-like warehouse. A better environment suited to compose their music with a high energy. Commenting on coming of age in a Vietnam back-dropped America, the groups music was influenced by late 60's psychedelic bands like Cream, Hendrix, and Blue Cheer, as well as early 70's major rock acts like Deep Purple and Zeppelin. Their influence greatly showed when their singer Woody Leffel would sing in a high register much like Robert Plant or Ian Gillian. They spent a few years gigging around the Cleveland area and were signed by RCA in 1973. That same year saw both the release of their eponymous debut, and their demise as the band split up shortly
thereafter.

Scorpions - "Lonesome Crow" 1972

Okay, I realize that the Scorpions aren't considered "under-ground" per se, Then again, neither are the Stooges, Deep Purple, and yes, even Blue Cheer. Truth is, in 1972 The Scorpions was a 'Hard-Psych' band (if one must apply labels). And just as many people knew of them as Freedoms Children, Leaf Hound, or even Shinki Chen. It was still light years away from where Black Sabbath was at the time, or Zeppelin, Hendrix, et-al.
This, the Scorps'  1972 debut full length, is the only album featuring Michael Schenker as a full time member. He departed after this release to form UFO. As would become standard in their catalog, Lonesome Crow had a few different covers (although, in this case, NOT for controversial content) , and was even titled "Action" in some markets. All in all, a good fit for what this blog is about.

Scrubbaloe Caine - "Round One" 1973

The six members of Scrubbaloe Cain spent their formative years as Cannonball, playing venues in Calgary, Winnipeg, and Quebec City. It was when the band was in Winnipeg that Don Hunter, The Guess Who's manager, took an interest in the band. Hunter sent out Jim Kale, who had just been released from The Guess Who, to check on the band's progress. At the time, the band had been playing steady at the Electric Circle in Quebec City. Kale was impressed, and gave Hunter a good report. Sometime later, the bands bass player wasn't strong enough, and Kale, being the ex-bassist for the Guess Who, joined the band.
The band released singles from their debut album in 1973 & 74, but to little success. Plans to record a 2nd album tentatively titled "Street Level" never materialized. The band split up broke and far from home in Toronto in '76.

Jericho - s/t 1972

This 1972 album marked the end of the road for what began in 1965 halfway around the world in the Independent State of Isreal when the band released their first works as The Churchills, a beat-pop group that enjoyed moderate success on the beat circuit, and was responsible for recording the first Hebrew sung rock album in 1969. They later changed their name to Jericho Jones and released the L.P. "Junkies, Monkeys, & Donkeys" in 1971. After this, they changed their name once more simply to Jericho. The band released this album in 1972. After spending some time in the U.K., the band split up shortly after it's release. This has a "good time sunny day rock n roll" kind of vibe. It makes me wanna load up my "boogie van" and head down to the beach to engage in a stereo war with other impressive mobile hi-fi systems and chase chicks. Total party album.

Tarkus - s/t 1972

Tarkus was a Peruvian hard rock band formed in Lima, Peru in 1972. Peruvians Alex Nathanson (singer & acoustic guitar), Wallo Carillo (drums and percussion), Argentina born Dario Gianella, and Guillermo Van Locke.
It was Van Locke, the bands bass player who approached Carillo and Nathanson, both members of the group Telegraph Avenue, who had just finished recording their first L.P., an album that would become the best seller of all Peruvian rock groups in the 70's.
Nathanson and Carillo took a break from Telegraph Avenue to join Van Locke to explore mixing progressive with hard rock. The new group was baptized Tarkus, based on a mythical creature that lives deep within the soul. The group were pretty successful in concert but lacked a melodic element. That would change with the arrival of Dario Ginella, an Argentinian guitar player and prolific composer.

After months of playing together the band was signed to MAG, a Peruvian label. Their sole album was recorded in 1972 and the band was awarded total creative control. Fifty copies were made, all promos on the MAG label. Only a few were sold in stores.
The L.P. had heavy rock, good compositions, good musicianship, and a futuristic vision, but was too advanced for Peruvian rock fans. I would have sold well in the U.S., but in Peru, the label decided not to release the album due to low demand. (making copies of this L.P. EXTREMELY rare). At the end of 1972, the band went their own ways and Carillo and Nathanson regrouped with Telegraph who went on to record a second L.P. and continues to perform in Peru today.