In Hearing of Atomic Rooster, 1971
Atomic Rooster were an English progressive
rock band,
formed by ex-Crazy World of Arthur Brown
members, Vincent Crane and Carl
Palmer in 1969. Their only hit singles
came in 1971 with "Tomorrow Night" (a UK
Number 11), and "The Devil's Answer" (UK Number 4).
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Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Discography
- 3 See
also
- 4 External
link
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History
In 1970, Atomic Rooster (at that time consisting of Crane,
Palmer and Nick Graham) released their self-titled debut album.
Between Palmer's departure (to be one third of Emerson, Lake & Palmer),
and the recording of a
second album,
guitarist
John
Du Cann (Andromeda) joined
them, giving a whole new dimension to the music with his distinctive guitar attack. Death
Walks Behind You featured Paul Hammond on drums, and
this album yielded "Tomorrow Night".
Having found success on the UK
Singles Chart, the band was augmented with singer Peter
French for their third effort on vinyl,
In Hearing of Atomic Rooster. It showed the band at
full throttle. The import version included the hit single "The Devil's
Answer", although this was strangely missing from the original UK
release. After this album, Cann, Hammond and French left the band.
French went to join Cactus, while John Du Cann and Paul
Hammond teamed up with ex-Quatermass bass
player John Gustafson and founded Hard
Stuff.
Crane put the band together one more time, recruiting 1960s British
R&B
singer and ex-Colosseum vocalist Chris
Farlowe. Along with old friends John
Goodsall, then known as "Johnny Mandala", and Rick Parnell
(who is the son
of orchestra
leader Jack Parnell, and composed
material on the last album, plus came up with the piano riff on "Tomorrow
Night") they released Made in England.
They managed to release one more album, Nice 'n'
Greasy, but the sound was somewhat diluted, although the
tracks "Voodoo in You" and "Take One Toke" reminded their fans
of past glories. It proved to be their last record in the 1970s.
The band ceased to exist until the early 1980s, when Crane
and Du Cann teamed up once again, going through a series of drummers.
During the New Wave of British
Heavy Metal, they almost had some presence in the charts
with "Lose Your Mind" and a re-make of "Tomorrow Night".
After this stint, Crane went on to join Dexy's Midnight Runners in
the mid 1980s, and also recorded A Case For The Blues
as part of Katmandu,
a one-off project with Peter Green of Fleetwood
Mac and Ray Dorset of Mungo
Jerry. Crane died on 14 February 1989 in Reading.
Hammond died of a drug overdose in 1992.
Du Cann recently licensed the release of the only existing
tapes of Atomic Rooster that featured Crane, Palmer and himself: some BBC
Radio 1 sessions recorded by John Peel in 1970 and 1971.
Discography
(Singles, lives, compilations and reissues are not listed.)
Studio albums
- (1970)
Atomic Roooster
- (1970)
Death Walks Behind You
- (1971)
In Hearing Of Atomic
Rooster
- (1972)
Made In England
- (1973)
Nice 'n' Greasy
- (1980)
Atomic Rooster
- (1983)
Headline News
- (1986)
Home to Roost
See also
- Progressive rock
- Roger
Dean - features two album cover images
- Richard Wahnfried - Crane recorded
one album with this project.
External link
