Drop in the Bucket is a new series, created for the exploration of groups that only released one album before disbanding. These lonely discs, often riveting and sometimes mysterious, are the sole eternal output of an enormous range of artists that are more often than not left in the dustbin of history (dollar CD racks). Drop in the Bucket aims to investigate as many as possible, taking the good with the less than good, and giving these artists the consideration they deserve, because even getting one album out there is quite a feat. And who better to start with than one of the best-named: Mogul Thrash.
Mogul Thrash was a British progressive funk rock supergroup, formed in 1970 from members of such bands I've never heard of as Electron, Colosseum, Splinter and Brotherhood. The most recognizable name is John Wetton who would go on to found such groups as Wishbone Ash, Roxy Music and Asia*. I'll save you some search time and point you to the best information on the group I could find, an interview with member James Litherland (who as in Colosseum). The name apparently comes from a spoof of a British TV show called the Michael Miles Show by Spike Milligan, where he would wear a fake nose and be called Mogul Thrash. I think this band should be less spoken about and more listened to, so on with the songs. Soon after forming they dropped this single:
There's a fine art to minute-long noodle, and Roger Ball here has it down. The soprano saxophone is an unusual sound in rock music, and the groove it drops in to is unparalleled. All the tracks are groovy as all heck, bringing early 70's prog to the front steps of the hard groovers with ease. It's a fantastic album, one for all seasons and moods, and it invites repeat listens with memorable hooks and digressions both distinctive and nicely concise. As far as single albums go this is the one to do - hard-hitting and sumptuous. As the CD's get a bit pricey used, somebody was kind enough to put up the whole thing on YouTube so you to can thrash mogully. More entries are to come, so hold on to your socks - they will be blown off.
~PNK
*One particularly funny bio I found said that Mogul Thrash was primarily of interest to Asia fans. Just think about that for a second.
Miles Davis fans should spot at least a passing similarity to "Freedom Jazz Dance" there. Damn, that's a hard beat drop, and the horns just sell it. Why horn sections don't show up in rock more will forever be a mystery to me. Anybody who insists that every group in the early 70's was on drugs needs to shut up for a second, because you can't possibly be sub-sober and pull this off. They actually released this after the album had come out, flying in the face of most debut paths. There other tracks included saxophones to great effect, another indicator that Pink Floyd had the right idea with Wish You Were Here:
There's a fine art to minute-long noodle, and Roger Ball here has it down. The soprano saxophone is an unusual sound in rock music, and the groove it drops in to is unparalleled. All the tracks are groovy as all heck, bringing early 70's prog to the front steps of the hard groovers with ease. It's a fantastic album, one for all seasons and moods, and it invites repeat listens with memorable hooks and digressions both distinctive and nicely concise. As far as single albums go this is the one to do - hard-hitting and sumptuous. As the CD's get a bit pricey used, somebody was kind enough to put up the whole thing on YouTube so you to can thrash mogully. More entries are to come, so hold on to your socks - they will be blown off.
~PNK
*One particularly funny bio I found said that Mogul Thrash was primarily of interest to Asia fans. Just think about that for a second.
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