Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Atomic Rooster-Atomic Rooster



Info By Wiki:

Atomic Rooster formed in summer 1969 when the Crazy World of Arthur Brown disbanded on tour in the US,and keyboardist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer returned to England to form Atomic Rooster with bassist/vocalist Nick Graham.By 1970,they would release their self-titled debut album Atomic Rooster. While this happened,Vincent Crane had hired John Du Cann(At the time using his name without the 'Du') of Andromeda ,on guitar. With him they would release the single Friday the Thirteenth.However,soon after John joined, Nick departed leaving Rooster without a bassist or vocalist. This was no problem for the Rooster, as Crane would cover bass lines with a combination of left hand and foot-pedals. John emphasised on the lower range of his guitar,and take over vocal parts.

The band resumed gigging until the end of June 70 when Carl announced his departure to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Through July,Ric Parnell would fill the drum kit,and in August,the band would recruit Paul Hammond on drums,and begin working on their second LP.They would release Death Walks Behind You in September 1970,and from it the single "Tomorrow Night" was released, eventually peaking at Number 12 in the charts in January 1971. The band would continue touring and in June,they would recruit Pete French on vocals for their next LP, In Hearing of Atomic Rooster, released in July 1971. Prior to this a third single, Devil's Answer, was released, reaching No.4 in the UK, in June 71. During the recording of In Hearing Of, it became clear that the band were yet again moving in a different musical direction, away from the harder and heavier-edged Death Walks Behind You, and by August both John and Paul had left to form Hard Stuff.Soon after, Vincent, along with vocalist Pete French recruited drummer, Ric 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") and Steve Bolton on guitar.This line-up would tour and play some choice places,but by the end of the year,vocalist Pete French left Atomic Rooster,and joined Cactus.French was replaced by experienced R&B singer Chris Farlowe from Colosseum. They would release Made in England in 1972,with the single Stand By Me.By now,the band was moving in a more funk/soul direction.In late 1972,guitarist Steve Bolton left the group.Bolton would be replaced by a friend of Vincent Crane's,John Goodsall,under the name John Mandala. This line up toured and recorded a fifth LP, Nice N Greasy, in 1973. A single from the LP was also released, Save Me, a reworking of Friday 13th.This proved to be their last album of the 1970s.By 1974,this line-up came to an end,and any outstanding dates were completed by Vincent Crane and members of the band Sam Apple Pie.In February 1975,Atomic Rooster did one more show,a benefit gig for the RSPCA,before Crane called time on the band.


(1980–1989) Latter Years
In 1979, John Du Cann(by now using his full name) released a solo album with the single, Don't be A Dummy.This gave Vincent Crane the idea to reform the Rooster with John. They would get together with session drummer Preston Heyman ,and release another self-titled album, Atomic Rooster in 1980. The singles here would be Do You Know Who's Looking for You? in June 1980.However Preston's prior session and touring commitments caught up with him and by the time of the gig at the Marquee, 23rd October 1980 Paul Hammond was once again behind the drum kit.Touring continued until EMI pulled the plug on the band.Fortunately Polydor picked the band up for two singles in 1981, Play it Again(September 1981) and End of the Day(February 1982).During these sessions reworkings of Tomarrow Night and Devils Answer were recorded (John McCoy adding bass).However,more record label problems struck,resulting in the departure of John Du Cann,prior to a sixth LP,Headline News,in late 1982.The guitar parts were added by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd,John Mizarolli and Bernie Torme.Tour dates in Italy and Germany were undertaken with Bernie on guitar,and the UK dates were with John Mizarolli.Crane took over on vocals,not only on the LP,but even the live work. Headline News was released June 1983,following the single Land of Freedom,in May,1983.Not long after,Crane called time on Atomic Rooster once more,and in 1985,assisted Dexys Midnight Runners by playing piano on their LP,Don't Stand Me Down.Crane 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.Vincent and John were talking about making the Rooster crow again into the 90's, but Vincent's poor health intervened and, sadly, Vincent passed away on Feb14th,1989. Paul Hammond also sadly passed away, an accidental death, in 1992. Of the band that recorded Death Walks Behind You, only John Du Cann remains with us. 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

Atomic Rooster is their first album

Atomic Rooster-Atomic Rooster @320


1) Friday The Thirteenth

2) And So To Bed
3) Broken Wings
4) Before Tomorrow
5) Banstead
6) S. L. Y
7) Winter
8) Decline And Fall
9) Play The Game bonus track

pt1: rapidshare.com/files/121722462/AR-AR__pt1.zip.html
pt2: www.zshare.net/download/1346443570fd2e60/

ps: echoesof-the-past.blogspot.com

1 comment:

ferdw said...

Cool post; I would love to check it out, but part 2 appears to be dead.