Canadian-born guitarist has led a multifaceted career in psychedelic music, heavy metal, proto-punk, and progressive rock. He entered the music history books in 1969, when he replaced in the lineup of , the renowned late-'60s British underground band, in time to appear on their album No. 3. It wasn't long after this that singer departed and , bassist , and drummer reorganized the band as . cut an incredible swathe across their first two albums and innumerable concerts with his free-flowing blues-based playing, he and generating a sound of laser-like precision and intensity at their best moments, while and held the beat as well. The group's music was a cross of psychedelic and heavy metal, yet also embraced elements of what would later be labeled punk rock; even in the absence of a name for exactly what they were doing, their reputation soared like 's playing, and it seemed as though it would only be a matter of time before the group broke through to wider, even international recognition.

Instead, departed after the first album, and left after its follow-up — the highly successful — and the group went on to success without him before splintering. Meanwhile, had jumped to , a metal band with underground roots similar to (and rather closely intertwined with) , who had just fired their bassist, ; for the next two years his bass work illuminated their space-borne metal rock on both stage and record, though his past associations with / still occasionally caught up with him. One of 's great, transcendent on-stage moments was captured for posterity when he returned to lineup for a July 13, 1975, show at the London Roundhouse that put together the group's original lineup and paired him with his successor, , with appropriately scintillating results — it's worth hearing just for the interaction between the two of them and 's bass.

Finally, in 1977, and drummer decided to form their own band, after a short stint in a group called Kicks alongside ex- bassist and ex-/Cochise/ alumnus . And amid all of that heavy metal/proto-punk activity from 1973 onward, he also recorded extensively with on the latter's albums throughout the decade, which put him in the august company of et al. has participated in various reincarnations of and , and subgroupings from their respective orbits, in the decades since. ~ Bruce Eder

Paul Rudolph

Top Tracks

EP & Singles