Leaf Hound: Growers of Mushroom (remastered, laminated cover) [REPERTOIRE]

Why you'll love it

This Repertoire pressing is a half-speed remaster on 180g vinyl, in a laminated cover. The original Decca LP is very rare and much sought after by collectors, and the album is often cited as an early landmark of heavy metal and stoner rock.

This edition

• Remastered
• Half-speed master
• 180g vinyl
• Laminated cover
• Stereo mix

About the album

Leaf Hound were given one day in the studio and used every minute of it. Cousins Pete French on vocals and Mick Halls on lead guitar wrote most of the material, their management fixed a deal with Decca, and the band cut the whole album in a single 11-hour session at Spot Studios in Mayfair, with Derek Brooks on rhythm guitar, his brother Stuart on bass and Keith Young on drums.

Late in the session they ran out of songs, so French and Halls wrote one on the spot; accounts differ on whether it was "With A Minute To Go" or "Sawdust Caesar," and one telling has the two titles swapped on the label. The title track takes its name from a tale in the Pan Book of Horror Stories, "Drowned My Life In Fear" came from Peter Ross, and "Freelance Fiend," "Stray" and "Stagnant Pool" are thick with fuzz, wah and heavy blues swagger. It first appeared in Germany as Leaf Hound before Decca issued it in the UK as Growers of Mushroom.

Eleven hours in Mayfair, and record hunters have been chasing the results for half a century since. Time well spent, all round.

Also at Kops: more Leaf Hound on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Repertoire (cat# REP 2208), a reissue of the 1971 album.