The Artwoods: Art Gallery Mono Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

This Guerssen reissue is the first ever in mono, limited to 315 copies. Art Gallery is the band's one album, with "I Keep Forgettin'" and a Hammond-driven "Walk On The Wild Side."

This edition

Mono
Limited to 315 copies

About the album

Before Deep Purple, before the Faces, there was a sweaty London club band with a gift for organ-powered rhythm and blues. Singer Art Wood, an alumnus of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, formed the Artwoods with a young Jon Lord on keyboards and Keef Hartley on drums, and by late 1964 they had a residency at the 100 Club and a deal with Decca.

They were a huge live draw, rivalling the Animals, and they played the first live edition of Ready Steady Go! and toured behind the Iron Curtain. Art Gallery catches that energy: Lord's Hammond swirls through "Walk On The Wild Side," "I Keep Forgettin'" swaggers, and "Can You Hear Me" and "Work, Work, Work" show off the band's punchy soul side, with Derek Griffiths' guitar biting at the edges and Malcolm Pool's bass holding it all together.

Lord went on to Deep Purple and Hartley to his own big band, which makes this a treat for record hunters tracing British rock's roots. Art's little brother Ronnie did rather well with the Rolling Stones, but at Christmas dinner it was presumably still Art who carved.

Also at Kops: more The Artwoods on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Side A
1. Can You Hear Me
2. Down In The Valley
3. Things Get Better
4. Walk On The Wild Side
5. I Keep Forgettin'
6. Keep Lookin'

Side B
1. One More Heartache
2. Work, Work, Work
3. Be My Lady
4. If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody
5. Stop And Think It Over
6. Don't Cry No More