Ah yes, the fabled Leaf Hound. Many have spoken of this mythical record in the most glowing terms. But is all the hype true? Only you can decide that, but I am going to add my 2 cents to the debate.
The late 60's London blues scene is where it all began. It was a bubbling cauldron of blues that would become the new rock. Cream and Hendrix. Free, Zeppelin and Jeff Beck. And right in the middle of it all, a band called Black Cat Bones that boasted at one time or another as members, Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke, who later started Free, and Rod Price who became a member of Foghat. Black Cat Bones alums Peter French, Stuart and Derek Brooks, Mick Halls, and Keith Young formed Leaf Hound. Peter French later replaced Rusty Day as the singer for the American rock behemoth Cactus(on the 'Ot and Sweaty album), and also later sang with Atomic Rooster. The lone Black Cat Bones recording, Barbed Wire Sandwich, is a hard and heavy blues romp. Sticking closely to blues forms, like Free's first, Tons of Sobs, it was also looking to the future, with some heavy electric guitar riffing, especially on songs like Chaffeur and Save My Love, which believe it or not always makes me think of the nasty gut punch riffs of Church of Misery. It is not, however, fully realized heavy rock. Like I said, it is very much a straight ahead blues record in form.
Leaf Hound Growers of Mushroom takes the next step. It has moved beyond the standard blues format into solid riff rock, albeit for only about half the album. The opener, the brutal Freelance Fiend, is worth the price of admission on it's own. It's a tough swaggering tune based on a wicked driving riff. The heaviness is then ramped down for Sad Road to the Sea, which brings in the acoustic guitars for a Zeppelin meets May Blitz kind of vibe. Drowned My Life in Fear steps it back up with a very cool Dazed and Confused-like blues. The album continues it's pattern of alternating heavy for not-so-heavy with Work My Body, which is a bit like the somewhat funky Free self titled 2nd album. Clean guitars, mellow groove, soulful vocals, building to a couple of rockin' guitar solo workouts. It doesn't quite have the Stax soul funk that is more present with Free, though. Again bringing to mind May Blitz. Then we're back to Riffland with the smokin' Stray, which, by the way, was covered by Unida. Great riffage on this one. A little too short though.
The late 60's London blues scene is where it all began. It was a bubbling cauldron of blues that would become the new rock. Cream and Hendrix. Free, Zeppelin and Jeff Beck. And right in the middle of it all, a band called Black Cat Bones that boasted at one time or another as members, Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke, who later started Free, and Rod Price who became a member of Foghat. Black Cat Bones alums Peter French, Stuart and Derek Brooks, Mick Halls, and Keith Young formed Leaf Hound. Peter French later replaced Rusty Day as the singer for the American rock behemoth Cactus(on the 'Ot and Sweaty album), and also later sang with Atomic Rooster. The lone Black Cat Bones recording, Barbed Wire Sandwich, is a hard and heavy blues romp. Sticking closely to blues forms, like Free's first, Tons of Sobs, it was also looking to the future, with some heavy electric guitar riffing, especially on songs like Chaffeur and Save My Love, which believe it or not always makes me think of the nasty gut punch riffs of Church of Misery. It is not, however, fully realized heavy rock. Like I said, it is very much a straight ahead blues record in form.
Man, check out dude's wicked vest!
"Freelance Fiend"
"Freelance Fiend"
With a Minute to Go unpacks the acoustic guitars again for an uplifting, light gospel rock song with a pretty cool minor key Zeppelinesque guitar/vocal vamp at the end. The title track, Growers of Mushroom, sounds quite dated compared to the rest of the album. It's a very 60's hippy-ish trip.
Stagnant Pool ratchets the rock back up. Killer riffage once again. If only they could sustain this level of Rock throughout. Sawdust Caesar goes back to the funky Free territory, even sounding a little Trapeze-like, yet lighter.
Bonus tracks on the Repertoire reissue that I have are It's Going to Get Better, which is another gospel rock piano/organ driven song, and Hip Shaker, that starts of with a slammin' riff but then turns into just a straight ahead boogie blues.
As I said, about half the album is a hard rockin' kick to the groin. The rest is good quality welterweight rock. Freelance Fiend, Drowned My Life in Fear, Stray and Stagnant Pool make the whole thing worth checking out. They are completely riff based and if you can get past the pretty thin, piercing mix, are pure rock goodness. The album was recorded in 11 hours according to the liner notes and it does kind of sound like it. With a better mix, this would have been a much more powerful record. It's too bad they didn't stick around for a followup effort. Given the prevailing vibe of the times around them, I think they would have pounded out some harder heavier tunage the second time around.
Here's my rating:
Riff Density-5
Riff Caliber -10 (though somewhat few and far between, the riffs that are present slay)
Post-Blues Factor - 8
Groove Factor - 7
Dig it Factor - 6
Stagnant Pool ratchets the rock back up. Killer riffage once again. If only they could sustain this level of Rock throughout. Sawdust Caesar goes back to the funky Free territory, even sounding a little Trapeze-like, yet lighter.
Bonus tracks on the Repertoire reissue that I have are It's Going to Get Better, which is another gospel rock piano/organ driven song, and Hip Shaker, that starts of with a slammin' riff but then turns into just a straight ahead boogie blues.
As I said, about half the album is a hard rockin' kick to the groin. The rest is good quality welterweight rock. Freelance Fiend, Drowned My Life in Fear, Stray and Stagnant Pool make the whole thing worth checking out. They are completely riff based and if you can get past the pretty thin, piercing mix, are pure rock goodness. The album was recorded in 11 hours according to the liner notes and it does kind of sound like it. With a better mix, this would have been a much more powerful record. It's too bad they didn't stick around for a followup effort. Given the prevailing vibe of the times around them, I think they would have pounded out some harder heavier tunage the second time around.
Here's my rating:
Riff Density-5
Riff Caliber -10 (though somewhat few and far between, the riffs that are present slay)
Post-Blues Factor - 8
Groove Factor - 7
Dig it Factor - 6
