Leaf Hound - Growers Of Mushroom (1971)

Year: October 1971 (CD 2005)
Label: Repertoire Records (UK), REPUK 1079
Style: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 48:06
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 365 Mb

Growers of Mushroom is the debut studio album by English hard rock band Leaf Hound. It was originally released in 1970 as Leaf Hound by Telefunken in Germany only. It was re-released in 1971 in the UK by Decca as Growers of Mushroom. It is the only album by the original line-up of the band. Consisting of original material, the album is often cited as a pioneering example of heavy metal, hard rock, psychedelic rock and stoner rock.
Leaf Hound came together in 1970. They signed a contract with management agency Lynton Maitland, who arranged an album deal with Decca and one day of studio recording time. Growers of Mushroom was recorded in one 11-hour session at Spot Studios in Mayfair, London.
All but one of the tracks were composed by members of the band. Most of the material was written by vocalist Pete French and lead guitarist Mick Halls, who were cousins. According to French, late in the recording session they realised that they had run out of songs and time was limited, so he and Halls composed "With a Minute to Go" on the spot. According to an interview with French in 2019, the impromptu composition was "Sawdust Caesar". Another telling has it that "With a Minute to Go" and "Sawdust Caesar" had their titles mistakenly swapped on the record, and were left that way. The title track "Growers of Mushroom" was named after a story from the Pan Book of Horror Stories, about a woman slowly poisoning her husband with toadstools, although the lyrics were more about having a hallucination. The song not composed by the band was "Drowned My Life in Fear", written by Peter Ross.
(full version: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growers_of_Mushroom)

01. Freelance Fiend (03:10)
02. Sad Road To The Sea (04:16)
03. Drowned My Life In Fear (03:00)
04. Work My Body (08:11)
05. Stray (03:48)
06. With A Minute To Go (04:18)
07. Growers Of Mushroom (02:17)
08. Stagnant Pool (03:58)
09. Sawdust Caesar (04:30)
10. It's Gonna Get Better (bonus track) (03:05)
11. Hipshaker (bonus track) (03:32)
12. Too Many Rock 'N Roll Times (special bonus track) (03:56)

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Leaf Hound - Unleashed (2007)

Year: 2007 (CD Nov 12, 2007)
Label: Repertoire Records (UK), RAR 1020
Style: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 48:00
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 332 Mb

After Repertoire Records reissued the 1971 debut Growers of Mushroom from British hard rock legends Leaf Hound a few years back, it was only appropriate that they also release the first new recordings from this band in 36 years. 2007's Unleashed, which sees original singer Peter French fronting the new line-up of guitarist Luke Rayner, bassist Ed Pearson, and drummer Jimmy Rowland, successfully hones in on that bluesy heavy rock style that the original Leaf Hound spearheaded all those years ago. It's modern sounding, but still containing those classic elements that are near and dear to so many fans.
French, who also went on to play with both Atomic Rooster and Cactus after leaving Leaf Hound, is in surprisingly very good form vocally here, and he has quite the find in young guitar stud Rayner. Heavy rockers like "The Man With the Moon in Him", "One Hundred and Five Degrees", and "Stop, Look and Listen" contain plenty of beefy, snarling heavy rock riffs that will appease any fan of the original Leaf Hound album, as well as other acts like Humble Pie, Bad Company, Mountain, and Foghat. "Barricades" and "Nickels and Dimes" have a fun, blues-rock vibe to them that's not unlike some of the Rolling Stones '70s output, while "Too Many Rock 'N' Roll Times" mixes Cream & Ten Years After styled swagger thanks to French's great vocal and some scorching blues-rock riffs from Rayner. The band even does a great heavy cover of the Atomic Rooster song "Breaththrough", paying tribute to the late Hammond organ master Vincent Crane, with Rayner tossing in some massive riffs and solos to cover all the original organ parts.
Honestly, this is as pure a '70s styled heavy rock album as you are going to get in this day and age. French, who I must once again stress, sounds fantastic here, has done a great job assembling a red-hot band of younger guys to help him carry out his current vision of Leaf Hound. If you like this sort of thing, don't miss out on Unleashed, and we can only hope the band have something else new up their sleeves, as this one is now six years old. Word has it that they are working on a live album to be released sometime in late 2013, which should really be something to look forward to.
(seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=14443) Review by Pete Pardo. 4/5. April 25th 2013

01. One Hundred And Five Degrees (04:36)
02. Barricades (04:55)
03. The Man With The Moon In Him (05:31)
04. Nickels And Dimes (05:49)
05. Stop Look And Listen (06:01)
06. Overtime (03:23)
07. Too Many Rock N Roll Times (03:59)
08. Deception (06:14)
09. Breakthrough (07:26)

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