Spooky Tooth were one of Island Records' finest acts, yet never quite scaled the upper echelons of the late 60's / early 70's rock hierarchy. Always a band much loved by writers and fellow musicians, they lacked the commercial sucker punch that would've catapulted them to the top most of the charts. It didn't stop them making some corking records, however.
The Spooky Tooth story (for those of us who are into this sort of thing), if you want to wax analytical about it, provides the perfect paradigm of how various members of disparate 60's British Beat bands pooled their musical resources and mutated into a psychedelic / progressive outfit.
The story begins in summer 1963,
in Carlisle, Cumbria, in the far North-West of England. Jimmy Henshaw
(guitar, keyboards), Walter Johnstone (drums), Frank Kenyan (guitar)
and Mike Harrison (vocals) formed a beat combo, and dubbed themselves The VIPs. Not long after forming the
band, The VIPs added Greg Ridley on bass.
Henshaw, Johnstone and Kenyan were replaced by Luther Grosvenor (guitar), Mike Kellie (drums), and Keith Emerson (keyboards). Emerson left to form The Nice and line-up was changed by the addition of American Gary Wright in October 1967, which initiated a name change - they became Spooky Tooth.
(edited for brevity.....full story here....http://www.spookytooth.sk/)
Clips:
Live At The Downtown Bluesclub Hamburg 15/02/08:
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Satin Whale
Words can't describe the musical style of this truly magical band from Germany, it is so varied and encompasses so many influences - gorgeous Hammond organ a-la Uriah Heep, long improvised organ and guitar dominated jams (especially on the first two studio albums) not unlike Deep Purple, occasional Tull-ish flute, and a definite niche found, overall, in the progressive/symphonic/romantic sound reminiscent of their contemporaries Hoelderlin and Novalis.
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Clips:
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
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Clips:
