Mad Dog-Down Of The Seventh Sun (1969)

In 1969, amidst the burgeoning psychedelic movement in California, Mad Dog emerged. That same year, they released one of the most interesting albums of the era, "Down of the Seventh Sun". However, it remained merely a promotional single intended to secure a record deal, which ultimately never materialized due to the indifference of several record labels. Nevertheless, three tracks from this album were later used in an American B-movie, "Black Angels", an unofficial biography of the legendary Hell's Angels. The Mad Dog lineup consisted of guitarist and vocalist Howard Leese, bassist Terry Gottlieb, drummer Steve Goldstein, rhythm guitarist Vincent Murphy, and vocalist Gary Witkosky. During their early years, this band opened for acts such as Captain Beefheart and The Magic Bus, and their performances caught the attention of producers like Tommy Coe, a talented student of Phil Spector, who produced this album for them using a novel technology called "Phasing Sound", a system very similar to the "Wall of Sound" that Phil Spector himself had created around the same time. Mad Dog spent several weeks at Mark IV Studios in Los Angeles and completed "Down of the Seventh Sun", which features a guest appearance by Ray Charles' keyboardist, Bags Costello, as well as backing vocalists Clyde King, Venetta Field, and Maxione Waters. Once recorded, the rights to the album were purchased by various record labels, but for some reason, none of them decided to release it officially, despite its quality. Subsequently, without a record deal, the discouraged band decided to disband permanently. "Down Of The Seventh Sun" is composed of a series of tracks indebted to the Californian acid rock sound, leaving their mark on high-caliber songs like the sweaty "Military Disgust", the folk-rock tracks "Suite For Two Guitars" and "For Huachuca Blues", the psychedelic "Ala Ala", and the hard-rock tracks "Everything's Alright" and "The Fast Song". Disregarded and forgotten in record company archives, "Down Of The Seventh Sun" was shelved for decades until, many years later, RD Records did it justice and reissued this interesting, lost album in various formats such as CD and vinyl. Some years later, Howard Leese would become one of the founders of the legendary American band Heart, with whom he would release some of the best melodic hard rock albums of the seventies and eighties.