atomic rooster

Atomic Rooster was a British Progressive rock group formed by ex-Crazy World of Arthur Brown members, Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer in 1969. Their only hit singles came in 1971 with "Tomorrow Night" (a British number 11 hit), and "The Devil's Answer" (which reached number 4 in the British charts). Between Palmer's departure (to be the third part of Emerson, Lake & Palmer), and the recording of a second album, guitarist John Cann (also credited as John Du Cann) joined the Rooster giving a whole new dimension to the music with his distinctive guitar attack. "Death Walks Behind You" featured Paul Hammond on drums, and this record yielded the aforementioned "Tomorrow Night". Now with certain success in the charts, the band was augmented with singer Peter French for their next effort on vinyl, "In Hearing Of", the third album. It showed the band at full throttle, and yielded the also mentioned "The Devil's Answer". After this album Cann, Hammond and French left the band. Peter French went to join Cactus, while John Cann and Paul Hammond teamed up with ex-Quatermass bass player John Gustafson and founded Hard Stuff. Vincent Crane put it together one more time recruiting 1960s British soul singer and ex-Colosseum vocalist Chris Farlowe, along with old chums Johnny Mandala and Ric Parnell (who contributed with some composing on the last album) for a totally fresh incarnation of Atomic Rooster. They released "Nice and Greasy" but the sound was somewhat diluted, although the tracks "Voodoo in You" and "Take One Toke" reminded their fans of past glories. They managed to release one more album, "Made in England", and though it was a better effort than "Nice...", it proved to be the last record in the 1970s. The band ceased to exist until the early 1980s, when Vincent Crane and John Ducann with several drummers teamed up once again, and during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, had some hits in the charts, like "Lose Your Mind" and a remake of "Tomorrow Night". After this stint, Crane went on to join Dexy's Midnight Runners in the mid-80s. He died on February 14, 1989. John DuCann recently licensed the release of the only existing tapes of the Rooster that featured Crane, Palmer and himself - some BBC sessions recorded by John Peel in 1970 and 1971.

Atomic Rooster

See also