Bands that should have made it.

Any body got any comments on bands they think should have made it but didn't quite grasp the elusive tail of stardom? One of my choice is a band called Thurman who did one album called Lux then disapeared.

IQ is the first thing that comes to mind. These guys have been making fantastic symphonic rock since the 80's and still have regular daytime jobs to this day. They have quite a discography and are still active though. Their latest album Dark Matter is a masterpiece.

It depends on what you mean by 'made it'? Lots of bands managed to get a big hit single, and faded away quite quickly, whilst others managed to do quite well selling albums but were virtually unknown by the great unwashed public. However a few bands spring to mind, such as Ducks Deluxe, Chicken Shack and Robin Trower. Ducks Deluxe were considered to be a pub band, but christ they couldn't half belt out a tune, without the need for any fancy gimmicks. It was just good old rock n roll, and I’ll tell you they would wipe the floor with a lot of bands nowadays. Chicken Shack was well known by British blues enthusiasts and although they had a few hit singles and did quite well with album sales, they never really got the recognition they deserved. Stan Webb (guitarist) is still doing the rounds and if you get a chance to see him play, it’s well worth it. An outstanding blues guitarist. Robin Trower is another accomplished musician who never got the recognition he deserved. I saw him at the Reading Festival many years back, and he was f**king amazing.

I saw him at The Royal Court in Liverpool many years ago and he was f**king awful! We left before the end as I recall, it's the only gig I've ever left early.

well there's no accounting for taste!

...and I'm even going to see him on 11th November and I don't part with my money easily!!

Los Straitjackets

robin trower brought home the bacon in the 70's when he had james dewar on vocals, & " no time " was a big comeback song ;


60's act Love was a real contender for R&R aristocracy but they had an issue abt not wanting to tour & promote themselves (just into the music man)
+ band leader arthur lee turned into a syd-style acid casualty.
conspiracy theory ppl believe the band was sabotaged by govt spooks b/c of their mixed racial makeup...

It was all a bit tedious and dull as I recall.

You must have caught him on an off night, or perhaps as a young punk at the time he wasn't your cup of tea? Anyway when I saw him at Reading ('75...I think) he had the whole crowd on their feet . I can't see how someone so talented should be thought of as awful, but heres a snatch of a recent review by a BBC bod at the Guildhall

'However if I had to describe Robin Trower's playing style to anyone who knows less about the bloke than me I would say he ekes the cleanest sounding, harmonic, most laid back chords from his Fender Stratocaster coupled with crisp well defined riffs which provide the hooks.

However a friend, whom I mentioned earlier does a nifty line in phraseology, poetically described RT's repertoire as consisting of: "The most heart achingly beautiful chords".


What is more he never uses more than he needs, often letting one chord carry the tune across many bars, a rare quality these days.'

You pays your money and takes your choice.

I was completely unfamiliar with his work when we went to see him so maybe that's why I didn't like him, it's true I was into punk at the time but I was also listening to Floyd, metal, T. Dream etc etc so it's not like I was thinking "what's all this hippy shite" or anything. However it did leave a lasting impression of him as a bit of a boring twat so I'll leave my money in my pocket on this occasion thanks all the same.

On a similar note, I remember going to see Tony 'TS' McPhee', the legendary guitarist from a band called The Groundhogs. They had a couple of albums out which were thought to be quite good (amongst the hippy fraternity). He was shite and I left quite sharpish!

Are you quite sure about that?

Any shoutouts for the seahorses

oh god..here we go..it depends on what you regards as 'legendary' . Legendary is probably too strong a word, but he had many drug induced antics on the road and some were 'legendary'.We met Tony at one of his gigs (nice bloke), and I recall that as young longhairs we thought he was a legend for that very reason...so there! In the early 70's he was thought of as being a very highly rated guitarist and I seem to recall him winning some guitar poll in NME ahead of the usual candidates. He was played regularly by John Peel, and the Groundhogs album 'Split' would have made No 1, had it not been for a cock up by the record company. As I recall ( Im vague on this) I think it got to No5 or 6 in the charts . He played and collaborated with many musicians such as
John Lee Hooker
Champion Jack Dupree
Eddy Boyd
Big Joe Williams
Hapshash & the Coloured Coat
John Dummer Band
Andy Fernbach
Billy Boy Arnold
Blue Cheer
Amon Duul
Dick Heckstall-Smith

Possibly the names mean nothing nowadays but they were all talented musicians and well known in their time.

Stop taking the piss.