Dog Soldier-Dog Soldier (1975)

Another of those hundreds of bands with a dark past was Dog Soldier, formed by the legendary drummer Keef Hartley in 1975 along with other talented musicians from the British blues and rock scene. It's certainly not easy to find a group with more collective experience than this band, which, in addition to Hartley, included singer and guitarist Miller Anderson (Jon Lord Blues Band, Savoy Brown, Keef Hartley Band, and Spencer Davis Group), bassist Paul Bliss (The Bliss Band and The David Essex Band), keyboardist Mel Simpson (Gerald Wilson & His Orchestra), and guitarist Derek Griffiths (Argent and Chuck Berry Band). However, despite the undeniable quality of the group, such collective talent resulted in a fleeting feeling that they could have achieved something far more brilliant with more continuity. All five members contributed to the compositions of this single album, which in some ways lent the group considerable musical diversity. Tracks of great blues rock such as the opening "Pillar To Post", the restrained rock songs "Several People" and "You Are My Spark", the tender country ballad "Long and Lonely Night", the catchy "Giving As Good You Get", the excellent and melodic "Thieves and Robbers" or the progressive blues "Looks Like Rain", surprise with their enormous quality, but unfortunately it did not serve to allow this band to continue exploring the talent of all its members with new releases and ended up falling into the immense obscurity of the short-lived groups of the late 60s and early 70s.