Bull Angus-Bull Angus (1971)

Bull Angus was a hard rock and psychedelic blues band formed in Poughkeepsie, New York, in the late 1960s. Their lineup consisted of guitarists Larry LaFalce and Dino Paolillo, Geno Charles (drums), Frankie Previte (vocals, flute, and percussion), Ron Piccolo (keyboards), and Lenny Vendetti (bass). In 1971, they signed a contract with Mercury Records and, under the production of Vinniy Testa, recorded their debut album, which went largely unnoticed due to minimal promotion from their record label. A year later, they released "Free For All", which would serve as the epitaph for the brief but interesting career of this little-known American band. With a style akin to Grand Funk Railroad, Groundhogs, and Titanic, and bearing certain similarities to bands like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, their sound was infused with heavy hard rock, blues, psychedelic music, and progressive influences. All these styles are perfectly represented on their first two albums, as demonstrated by the bluesy "Uncle Duggiés Fun Bus Ride", the southern rock "Miss Casey", the progressive hard rock tracks "A Time Like Ours" and "Pot of God", and the folk rock "Cry". With their second album, the band displayed an even more ambitious approach, as evidenced by tracks like "Loving Till End", which leans towards progressive folk, and the psychedelic "Train Woman Lee". Bull Angus is considered another of those cult bands, who despite the enormous quality of their two devastating and superb albums, passed without fanfare through the often unfair world of rock music and have become one of the most sought after by vinyl collectors and fans of proto-prog and early 70s hard rock.