Mixed Up Minds, Part 8: Obscure Rock And Pop From The British Isles, 1970-1974



Please note that there are at LEAST three acts/bands with the name Graphite: 1) Alexander F: A Downtempo or Chill artist from Romania who has released the lovely The Lost World EP featuring the tunes Atlantis, Sensuality, Strongest which was released on Bonzai Elemental label (2009). Graphite has also released the Beautiful Nights EP featuring the tracks Beautiful Nights, Romantic Dreamer, Seagulls Singing Your Name (both mixed songs). It was released on STRANAMENTE MUSIC label (2009) ambientmusicgarden.com 2) Jacob Wise: A trip-hop/downtempo artist from the UK. 3) A rock band from the early 1970s which was formed at Reading University in the late sixties. They gigged professionally on the rock circuit from 1970 to 1973, supporting many big names of that era such as Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Mott the Hoople and even T-Rex. Amazingly, Graphite got a billing above Queen at a festival in Truro, Cornwall in 1971. The band's musical approach dwelt on the imaginative use of sleepy melotron, drifting vocals and spacey guitar effects, laced with melancholic overtones, establishing them as exponents of downbeat, hedonistic prog-rock. Ever present in the line-up were the band's three songwriters, Keith Allen (vocals), Chris Gore (keyboards) and David Hook (guitar) but the rhythm section underwent a succession of changes. The group recorded a considerable amount of material using a selection of top studios including Rockfield, Command, CBS and Nova Sound but only two singles were ever released. The first Gimmie Your Number/Chestnut Loke came out on the BEACON label in 1972 and was followed by Come Back/Good Time Woman issued by EMI in 1974 (the year the band split up) under the curious pseudonym of Sinbad. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.