Heavy Cruiser "My little Firefly" 1972 Canada/US Heavy Psych Blues

  • 9 years ago
Heavy Cruiser "Heavy Cruiser" 1972 Canada/ US Heavy Psych Hard Rock

full album...........................http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x3etzi_dragonsk273_heavy-cruiser/1#video=x27b19n

Canadian rock luminary Neil Merryweather took members from Californian blues rock band Mama Lion into the studio and, somewhat accidentally, recorded two great albums as Heavy Cruiser. The band’s Heavy Cruiser and Lucky Dog albums were gatherings of ideas more than albums of firm intent, but the session engineers and the band were impressed with the eight-track demos and improvised tunes (and management got a sniff of success) so the songs were duly bound in jacket covers.

The band’s eponymous 1972 debut was a heavy, psyched-out guitar and organ duel—with in-studio jams and distortion-soaked covers making up an exuberant and buoyant LP. While contractual obligations caused the band members’ names to go unlisted on both Lucky Dog and Heavy Cruiser, word soon got out about both LPs’ commitment to fuzzing things up, and rolling with the result—and thus, Heavy Cruiser finds itself in the pantheon of obscure collectable rockers...

This heavy psych rock blues album has remained underground until now. Originally released in 1972, it is only available on this site.

Neil took the band members from Mama Lion into a studio to demo some songs. They recorded half-dozen songs and a few days later, Mama Lion went on a tour and wound up in New York City to play Central Park with Billy Preston. The engineer in LA made an acetate of Neil’s songs and sent it to Neil in care of Famous Music. The band went to a meet and greet at Famous Music and Neil played the acetate at the party. The head of A&R loved the music and bought it from Artie Ripp. Neil called the project “Heavy Cruiser”. When Mama Lion returned to LA, Neil took the band back into the studio and they recorded a few more tracks to complete the “Heavy Cruiser” record.

Artie Ripp stopped the band from putting their names on the record cover because he didn’t want it to interfere with his main act, Mama Lion. The same thing happened when Neil did more of his songs with the band and produced a second “Heavy Cruiser” album called “Lucky Dog” – band members’ names were left off the cover...

Neil Merryweather – vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
James Newton Howard – organ and piano
Coffi Hall – drums and percussion
Rick Gaxoila - guitar