Three dudes from Scotland and a German drummer form a little-known blues-rock band from the ashes of an even lesser-known 60's bubblegum act (The Tremors) which released a couple of singles in mainland Europe. The weird thing is, despite all of the blatant thievery in the tones and style and delivery, this one and only album from LOD turns out to be a bit of a charmer to listen to - especially if you dig the late 60's-early 70's "blooze rock" scene. Key tracks include a hypnotic cover of Tony Joe White's "Soul Francisco", "Movin' Along", and "Down 'n' Out".

A fairly strange conglomeration of then-popular rock and pop trends, in one package, from the Industrial Midwest (Youngstown, Ohio, to be exact), with a funny-sounding British name, and the misfortune of releasing their one album just before disco took the country by storm. To be fair, there are a lot of good, groovy tunes here – some of on the glam, and some of them on the grumbly, hard rock side – and the lead singer, Dennis T. Menass, was out of the Steve Marriott school of vocalizing. “Bad Talkin’ Lady” – a vicious mix of thuggery and glam – was the single, but they weren’t above poppy, bubblegum stuff like “Mary-Jo”, or a cover of The Beatles’ “Every Little Thing”, either.

For the longest time, Growers of Mushroom was known more for being a collector's item than anything else, and a good chunk of this band was carried over from blues-rock stalwarts Black Cat Bones. With screamer Peter French as frontman, they attempted to move into realms then occupied by the likes of Sabbath and Led Zep with this one-off. Instead, it ended up occupying a strange little "tweener" niche, as French's macabre lyrics met up with a clumsy yet unpretentious approach musically which would be cited as a precursor to the 90's stoner rock scene. The opening "Freelance Fiend" is pointed out as a highlight, most likely due to its rough resemblance to Zep's "Black Dog", but my pick is the second track, "Sad Road to the Sea", which really does unwind like a tension-filled high-speed ride down a winding road. "Work My Body" is the big, dark epic here, but it is not all blackout shades and candlelight only - the title track is an off-kilter, '60's-pop loving flashback reminiscent of the Small Faces. Pretty much as soon as the album was recorded, the project splintered, with French moving on to some more immediate high-profile gigs - first, Atomic Rooster, then Cactus.

I guess British blues rock had to come to this - a giant send-up of the scene (intentional or otherwise) from a band with a transatlantic lineup. Not that Juicy Lucy doesn't have merits - it's just hard to take it at face value as they gallop through a furious, often self-effacing take on blues rock.

In the wake of the band Spirit's first breakup, Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes decamped to this tweener project which released a slew of albums in the early 1970's, with the debut being the most successful from a commerical standpoint. Under their new name (taken from a Chuck Berry song) Ferguson and Andes cook up a sound that finds a comfortable void somewhere between Joe Walsh's escapades around the same time, and the British glam rock movement. Other than the final track "Flying Home" it's an upbeat record filled with its' share of hooks and interesting guitar passages, yet there is something about the overall approach that misses the mark as well. Then again, Spirit was a talented band with all the ability in the world, and they never connected with a mass audience, either. So, my best guess is, most people will readily relate to the lead-off sing-a-long track "Run Run Run" (which was a chart hit) and then slowly lose interest as they progress through the rest of this eminently solid, but not overwhelmingly impressive record.