Track of the day - Steamhammer

Way back in 1989 I borrowed an old copy of the compilation "Fill Your Head With Rock (CBS 1970).
That record opend up many new musical doors for me and I decided to invest further into the more obscure bands that was featured.

One perticular favorite was the track Passin Through by british bluesrockers Steamhammer.

Formed in Worthing, they soon were hired as backing band for Freddie King for a European tour.
In 1969 they released their debut album Reflection. By the time the band made their second album MKII they had become a hot live band in Europe.
Their line-up had settled on Marin Pugh -Guitars, Kieran White -Guitar, Lead Vocals, Mick Bradley-Drums, Steve Davy-Bass and Steve Jolliffe-Sax, Flute, Keyboards.

Through Jolliffe the band got more of a jazz-folk feel mixed in with their take on bluesrock formula..

The album also has a some realy good jams with some great guitar and flute palying. Passin Through is one of those.
It has this "1969" feeling all over it. Hard to discribe but it is heavy rock before Sabbath hit the sceen.:)
The band made two more albums, loosing one member per album. Mountain (1970) has some great live tracks and they were down to a trio for their last effort Speech in 1972.  

Jolliffe later joined Tangerine Dream for their Cyclone album in 1978 and Pugh was a member of Armagedon with ex-Yardbird Keith Relf and plays on that bands 1975 self titled debut album.

Passin Through
As a bonu, here is the 16 minute jam Another Traveling Tune from the same album.


Enjoy!