Bloodrock was an American hard rock band based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had success in the 1970s. The band emerged from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid-1970s.
Bloodrock initially formed in Fort Worth in 1963, under the name the Naturals. This first lineup featured Jim Rutledge on drums and vocals, Nick Taylor on guitar and vocals, Ed Grundy on bass and vocals, and Dean Parks on guitar. They toured the region playing at battle of the bands, opened locally for national acts like The Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and The Five Americans, and released their first single in 1965 “Hey Girl” b/w “I Want You” (Rebel MME 1003). In 1966, they changed their name to Crowd + 1, and released the single: “Mary Ann Regrets” b/w “Whatcha Tryin’ to Do to Me” (BOX 6604), that same year they signed a deal with Capitol Records and released two more singles: “Don’t Hold Back” b/w “Try,” and “Circles” b/w “Most Peculiar Things.”
Despite a growing regional fanbase, the singles failed to chart and Capitol dropped the group, not long after Parks left Crowd +1 to become the musical director for The Sonny & Cher Show (the beginning of a long career as a session musician). He was replaced by Lee Pickens on guitar. It was also at this time that Stevie Hill joined the group on keyboards and vocals. They continued as Crowd + 1 until 1969 when they changed their name to Bloodrock, a name conceived by Grand Funk Railroad manager/producer Terry Knight, who signed the band to Capitol almost within two weeks of hearing them. They also recorded their first album with Knight as producer, Bloodrock (Capitol ST-435). The album, released in March 1970, peaked at 160 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Shortly after the first album was recorded, Rutledge (at Knight’s behest) moved from behind the drum set to take on lead vocal duties exclusively. Austin-area drummer Rick Cobb took over the percussive duties and added his voice to the group as well. This lineup recorded their next four albums: Bloodrock 2 (ST-491), Bloodrock 3 (ST-765), Bloodrock USA (SMAS 645), and Bloodrock Live (SVBB-11038).
Nick Taylor and Ed Grundy in 1971:
Bloodrock 2 was their most successful album peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart in 1971, mostly on the strength of their single “D.O.A.”, which reached number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 6, 1971. “D.O.A.” also gave the band considerable regional exposure throughout the Southwest and West, particularly in Texas and Southern California. “D.O.A.” was probably the band’s most well-known and well-remembered single. However, some radio stations would not play the song because of its explicit, gruesome description of fatal injury and the use of sirens, the latter out of concerns that the siren sound would confuse motorists. The motivation for writing this song was explained in 2005 by guitarist Lee Pickens. “When I was 17, I wanted to be an airline pilot,” Pickens said. “I had just gotten out of this airplane with a friend of mine, at this little airport, and I watched him take off. He went about 200 feet in the air, rolled and crashed.” The band decided to write a song around the incident and include it on their second album.
In May 1972, both Lee Pickens and Jim Rutledge left Bloodrock, with Pickens forming the Lee Pickens Group (LPG) and released the album LPG in early 1973 on Capitol Records. Meanwhile, Rutledge released a solo album in 1976 on Capitol Records titled Hooray for Good Times. Bloodrock replaced Rutledge on vocals and Pickens on guitar with Warren Ham on vocals, flute and saxophone. Stevie Hill on keyboards adjusted to Ham’s presence by shifting his own style. These changes to personnel and style moved the hard rock sound of the band in a lighter direction, more toward progressive rock, pop and jazz, alienating some fans.[4] The subsequent album, Passage was the last time Bloodrock visited the charts. It peaked at number 104 on the Billboard 200 in 1972.
1973 brought another personnel change: Rick Cobb left the band, he was replaced by Randy Reader. This lineup recorded one album: Whirlwind Tongues (1974).
The end of the road for Bloodrock came in 1975. Nick Taylor quit the group, he was replaced by Warren’s brother, Bill Ham, and Randy Reader was replaced by Matt Betton, and an album, Unspoken Words, remained unreleased until 2000, when it was included as part of the CD release Triptych (along with Passage and Whirlwind Tongues).
A reunion concert featuring all five members of the original lineup (Jim Rutledge, Lee Pickens, Ed Grundy, Nick Taylor, and Stevie Hill), plus Chris Taylor (Nick’s son) in place of drummer Rick Cobb III from the classic six-member lineup, was held on March 12, 2005, in Fort Worth, for the benefit of their keyboardist Stevie Hill, to help with medical costs related to his combating leukemia. The reunion concert was filmed and released on DVD.
Nick Taylor (born Doyle Taylor in Texas on October 29, 1946) died on March 10, 2010, after a car accident in Cleburne, Texas, at age 63.
Stevie Hill died on September 12, 2013, from leukemia.
Bloodrock’s music has been categorized primarily as hard rock.[1] Bloodrock’s 1970 self-titled debut album was described in the context of hard rock and early heavy metal by AllMusic’s Donald A. Guarisco. Bloodrock 2 was not as gloomy and heavy, and more of a chart success, while Bloodrock 3 and Bloodrock U.S.A. saw the band introduce progressive rock elements. The band’s 1972 personnel changes shifted them toward prog rock (like Jethro Tull), jazz and pop music (wikipedia)
Whirlwind Tongues is the sixth and final studio album by the Texan rock band Bloodrock released on Capitol Records in February 1974. Drummer Rick Cobb III was replaced on this release by Randy Reeder.
I like my rock hard on occasion, but early Bloodrock always reminded me of Black Oak Arkansas at their toothless faux Southern rock, ‘sure do got a perty mouth’ worst. Throw in a little Grand Funk mindlessness (their final Frank Zappa produced album from ’76 aside) and well, let’s just say I have never been a fan. That was until I picked up a copy of Whirlwind Tongues at a used record store and my opinion changed.
This would be Bloodrock’s final album and its excellent early progressive rock. Seems the boys were influenced by the, er’ boys from England and one can detect clear Yes influences as on It’s Gonna Be Love in the guitar parts and Jethro Tull on Parallax with excellent flute work from vocalist Warren Ham. Their version of The Beatles Eleanor Rigby is certainly different with a jazzy, and again sounding like early Jethro Tull feel not heard on any version of this classic song I have come across. Stilled by Whirlwind Tongues sounds like Kansas on their debut album and both bands played together on Bloodrock’s tour for this album. Perhaps an influence, who knows?
I have always felt this and the previous Bloodrock album Passage were easily two of the best American progressive albums released and I still feel this way. Often overlooked for their hard rock past, I suggest picking these albums up, or on the recent 2 CD set released on One Way Records called Triptych which also includes material for their unreleased album from the same period Unspoken Words, but that’s for another review…. (by Eric)
Personnel:
Ed Grundy (bass)
Warren Ham (vocals, flute, saxophone, harmonica)
Stevie Hill (keyboards, synthesizer, melodica)
Randy Reeder (drums, percussion) (Titel: A2, A4, A5, B3, B4),
Nick Taylor (guitar)
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Rick Cobb III (drums on 01., 03., 06. + 07.)
Tracklist:
01. It’s Gonna Be Love (W.M. Ham/W. Ham) 3.25
02. Sunday Song (Cobb/Hill/W.Ham) 4.22
03. Parallax (Hill/W.Ham) 3.43
04. Voices (Taylor/Ham) 3.40
05. Eleanor Rigby (Lennon/McCartney) 3.17
06. Stilled By Whirlwind Tongues (Taylor/Cobb/W.Ham) 5.39
07. Guess What I Am (Cobb/Hill) 3.00
08. Lady Of Love (B.Ham/Hill/W.Ham) 3.59
09. Jungle (Hill) 4.30
More from Bloodrock in this blog:
Bloodrock was an American hard rock band based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had success in the 1970s. The band emerged from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid-1970s.
Bloodrock was an American hard rock band, based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had considerable success in the 1970s, and was one of the earliest of a number of significant bands to emerge from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid-1970s.
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