I first heard about May Blitz two weeks ago, at the Mosae Zappa festival, while talking to Henry. He described the cover of their debut album in fine detail...
This can't be a coincidence, so here's a track from their 1970 debut album:
Taken from the album May Blitz, Selftitled 1970
May Blitz were formed in England during the early part of 1969. Tony Newman ex Jeff Beck Group actually formed the band recruiting James Black & Reid Hudson. Black and Hudson were Canadians from Victoria, British Columbia who pioneered Canadian West Coast music prior to moving to England. The band played extensively on the UK college circuit in 1969 before signing to Vertigo. Their debut album 'May Blitz' in 1970 was heavy and featured a grotesque cartoon cover. The first album sold moderately and a follow up 'The 2nd Of May' was recorded in 1971. Unfortunately despite being an excellent album full of heavy original numbers the album flopped. The band were dropped by Vertigo shortly after.
Remember them from the time and amongst my fellow hard rock fans they were not thought of as having a huge amount of credibility - much in the same way as Hawkwind or the Edgar Broughton Band were not taken seriously. I saw all of these bands as I always attended a couple of gigs a week - irrespective of who was appearing. As a CD collector of Classic Rock I have now got to the point where I have collected the complete catalogues of my favourite bands (Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa, Budgie, The Groundhogs, Mahogany Rush, Ten Years After, Blue Oyster Cult, Man, Spirit, Captain Beefheart). The result is that I am now buying 'second division' rock music from the late '60's early '70's and recently purchased the May Blitz/The 2nd May cd. Pleasantly surprised that both titles were so good, but also aware that hundreds of titles from that era were better. At that time if you had 100 titles in your collection you had to have more money than most other people did - so you always had to be very selective. There's also the question of relativity - so relative to Black Sabbath, May Blitz were poor. Compared to the guff that's been churned out since the late '70's they are absolutely magnificent. The only good thing about the soulless, talentless load of crap that currently passes for music is that it greatly heightens and enhances your appreciation of the Golden Age of Rock.
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