Pentagram - Hurricane 7":
Hurricane // Earthflight
200 on black vinyl (no PS)
Boffo Socko RI3859, 1973
Lineup: Bobby Liebling - vocals / Vincent McAllister - guitar / Greg Mayne - bass / Geof O'Keefe - drums
Label notes:
Recording Info: Recorded at Bias Strudios, June 13, 1973. Produced by Skip Groff, Engineered by Bill McElroy.
Notes: The labels were disintegrating when this record was pressed--I've seen three copies now, and on all of them bits of the label are smeared all over the vinyl. The copy pictured isn't too bad.
Skip Groff (label): There was a local heavy metal band called Pentagram just starting out, and I had a heavy metal show on a local station down the street, WINX AM, called Heavy Metal Thunder. Nobody else was playing heavy metal at the time. There was no DC101 in those days. HFS was playing Grateful Dead, Little Feat, and things of that nature--Bonnie Raitt. So Pentagram were fans of my show and I went over and produced a six song demo by them, and then a year later I put out a 45 by them, and a year after that I put out another 45 by them.
They were on my label Boffo Socko Records, which was going back to my comic book roots, you know. It's the sound that the comic book guys would always make when they hit somebody. That was also the name of my production company. In sheer stupidity, because now those records go for several hundred dollars each, I only pressed 200 of the first record and gave 100 away to a local distributor to give out and I never saw them again. And the second record I only made about 100 copies. They were basically meant as demos to try to get the band a deal.
The first release was in '73 and that was on a purple label. There were two songs, Earthflight and Hurricane. Earthflight was more of an early Deep Purple, moody sort of piece, and Hurricane was a real over the top, just a slamkiller heavy metal tour de force.
The second single came out the following year, right before I moved to St Louis to work for RCA, and that was Under My Thumb, a cover of the Rolling Stones song. The group had briefly expanded to a five piece and at that point in time DC101 had become a big force in the market and Kiss was big, so we did Under My Thumb in a sort of glam rock Kiss-type style to get airplay. On the B side they put an early demo of one of their songs, When the Screams Come. It was a bad idea, but I was sort of pressured into it. I was real good friends with one of the guys in the group and I was not using my best judgment at that point.
The complete five song demo was released a year or two ago by an Italian label called Relapse on an album of early material. I think it was the finest stuff I ever did with them.
It was done over at Bias Recording Studio in Virginia with a guy named Bill McElroy. It was really fine, textured heavy metal stuff in more of an English style, like early Jethro Tull if you've ever heard Jethro Tull from like the Inside period or stuff like that.
Reviews: Okay, okay, ostensibly this discography only goes from 1975 to 2005, but I'm gonna list this record because:
- I like it
- Pentagram would be a big influence on the later DC scene
- Skip Groff (Limp/Yesterday and Today) produced and pressed it
- This is my website, I can do whatever I want
Anyway, musically the A is very loud and grungy, but not terribly original--these guys were obviously into Sabbath. The sound is also kinda flat, compare it to the recent reissue on First Daze Here and you'll see what I mean. The B is great--the bassline and echoey guitar intro/outtros are very creepy and evocative. Unfortunately the powerchord guitar is typical metaloid pablum.
And since I haven't bothered to do pages for any other Pentagram records, I'll ask here: are there any recordings of the band with Vance Bockis? And does anyone have a stamped copy of the Under My Thumb 7" for sale or trade? Email me!
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