Wild Turkey-Battle Hymn (1971)

In 1970, bassist Glenn Cornick left Jethro Tull, with whom he had recorded the formidable albums "This Was", "Stand Up", "Benefit", and "Living in the Past", and with whom he had played from 1968 to 1971, being considered the best bassist to have ever been part of the legendary British band. In early 1971, he formed his own band, Wild Turkey, in which he moved away from the blues and progressive folk style of the group led by Ian Anderson. For this new venture, Cornick recruited vocalist Gary Pickford-Hopkins, drummer John Weathers, and guitarist Jon Blackmore. However, in the middle of recording their first album, Jeff Jones replaced Weathers on drums, who left to join Gentle Giant. Wild Turkey would go on to release two interesting albums that achieved little commercial success, but their debut was nonetheless a good example of the hard rock being made in the British Isles at the time of its release. "Battle Hymn", as this first album is titled, is a work geared towards the powerful sound of hard rock with certain progressive elements, as demonstrated in tracks like the biting "Twelve Streets of Cobbled Back" and "One Sole Survivor", the passionate "Sentinel", the commendable "Butterfly", the bucolic "To The Stars", and the melodic "Sanctuary" and "Gentle Rain". After this first album, the band released the modest "Turkey", which marked the end of the group's run. Later, some of its members went their separate ways, such as Cornick himself, who would end up joining the German band Karthago, while Gary Pickford-Hopkins would actively participate as a vocalist in Rick Wakeman's albums "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "The Myths and Legends Of King Arthur and the Knights of The Round Table", among other collaborations, and finally Jeff Jones would end up joining the psychedelic and avant-garde rock group, Man.