Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Gun: The Gun 1968 + Gunsight 1969

 

The Gun were a late 1960s British rock guitar trio who had a single British Top Ten hit, "Race with the Devil" and recorded two albums before disbanding. The band included brothers Paul


Gurvitz and Adrian Gurvitz. Evolving from the Ilford-based band, The Knack, which included guitarist/vocalist Paul Gurvitz (born Paul Anthony Gurvitz, 6 July 1944, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (although he was known by the surname Curtis until the early 1970s), his brother Adrian Gurvitz and drummer Louie Farrell, the trio changed their name in early 1968 to The Gun.
                 

The full Knack lineup had been Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar and vocals, Louie Farrell (born Brian

John Farrell, 8 December 1947, Goodmayes, Essex) (who had joined The Knack in mid 1966) on drums, Gearie Kenworthy on bass guitar (born 17 October 1946), Tim Mycroft playing organ (born 1949, Purewell, Christchurch, Dorset died 1 January 2010), and for a short while, Jon Anderson of Yes.
               

The Knack had regularly performed at the UFO Club, supporting bands such as Pink Floyd,

Arthur Brown and Tomorrow.
Recording sessions at Olympic Studios produced the unreleased single "Lights on the Wall", while in November 1967 they recorded for the BBC alternative music radio programme Top Gear[2] and twice played on air. In early 1968, the band changed its line-up to a trio, with Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on bass, Louie Farrell on drums and Adrian Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar.
                   

After being signed to CBS Records in early 1968, the band scored a hit with the opening track from their eponymous album (1968), "Race with the Devil". Issued as a single in October 1968, it reached

the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, number 35 on the Australian Singles Chart and number 1 in many UK territories in March 1969. Their debut album's cover is noteworthy as it was the first by Roger Dean (credited as "W. Roger Dean" on the back of the sleeve). AllMusic described it as having a "distinctive psych-flavoured proto-metal" sound. Their second album, Gunsight included "cover design + photos" by Hipgnosis and was released in 1969.
               

After a short time working separately, the Gurvitz brothers formed Three Man Army in 1971 and recorded three albums. Between 1974 and 1976, Three Man Army became the Baker Gurvitz Army with Ginger Baker, the former drummer for Cream, in the line-up.
              

LINE - UP

Adrian Gurvitz – guitar, vocals
Paul Gurvitz – bass guitar
Louie Farrell – drums

The Gun - Gun / Gunsight
Label: BGO Records – BGOCD459
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: UK
Released:    
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS
             


THE GUN    1968    

                    


01. Race With The Devil    3:35
02. The Sad Saga Of The Boy And The Bee    4:50
03. Rupert's Travels    2:14
04. Yellow Cab Man    4:17
05. It Won't Be Long (Heartbeat)    4:30
06. Sunshine    4:25
07. Rat Race    3:57
08. Take Off    11:00

GUNSIGHT 1969        

                        

  
09. Head In The Clouds    4:40
10. Drown Yourself In The River    2:56
11. Angeline    5:35
12. Dreams And Screams    5:16
13. Situation Vacant    4:06
14. Hobo    3:40
15. Lady Link Part One    0:52
16. Oh Lady You    5:25
17. Lady Link Part Two    0:39
18. Long Hair Wildman    3:50

Flac Size: 490 MB

Baker Gurvitz Army on Urban Aspirines HERE

8 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot, dude. Regards from Sorocaba, Brazil

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    Replies
    1. Many thanks for your comment. Greetings from Athens, Greece

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  2. loved this obscure band back in the day ...actually bought it for that cover art....fell in love with the album

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    Replies
    1. Yes. I love too that cover of the first album.

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  3. Many thanks for this. I don't have their 1st album. I do have Gunsight, but the tracklisting is significantly different. Some extras (The Lights On The Wall, Drives You Mad, Don't Look Back, Runnin' Wild), some missing (Drown Yourself, Angeline), the rest in another order. Do you know anything about it? I have no information beyond the tracklist.

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  4. Hello, greetings from Lithuania, though it's a shame that your download links consists of individual files for songs and not just one whole piece as an album, other than that its an absolutely mesmerizing website that i spend a couple hours each day browsing astonished at the love for music you share. Thanks!!!

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    Replies
    1. Hello from Athens. What do you mean with " My download links consist of individual files for songs and not just one whole piece as an album?" In my blog, every link is for one album. For the band GUN, I shared the 2 albums in one link.

      Delete