Edgar Broughton Band - Freedom (1972)

The Edgar Broughton Blues Band started out playing to a small following in the region around their hometown of Warwick, but soon began to lean towards the emerging psychedelic movement and dropped the 'Blues' from their name as well as their music. In 1968 the band moved to Notting Hill Gate in London, seeking a recording contract and a wider audience, and were signed to EMI's progressive rock label Harvest Records that December. Their first single was 'Evil'/'Death Of An Electric Citizen', released in June 1969, and it was also the first single released by Harvest Records. It was quickly followed by their debut album 'Wasa Wasa', which was a heavily blues influenced record, that was hard-driven and propelled by Edgar Broughton's gritty vocal style. Their live performances were beset by controversy, with fights breaking out between audience members, leading to violent police intervention, and at a show in Keele the audience vandalized the venue using paint given to them by the band. They continued to record, releasing their live reworking of The Fugs' 'Out Demons, Out!' as a single in 1970, with it becoming the song that the band would forever be remembered for. The delicately-titled 'Up Yours!' followed, and their next single 'Apache Drop Out' combined The Shadows' 'Apache' with Captain Beefheart's 'Drop Out Boogie', and reached number 33 in the UK charts. 'Hotel Room'/'Call Me A Liar' was issued in 1971, and once again was not featured on the then current album. Following the success of their third album, the band relocated to Devon to begin recording for their next, 'In Side Out', and after that, their fifth release 'Oora' in 1972, but that was pretty much the end of the golden period for the Edgar Broughton Band, although they continued to release records into the early 80's. This post collects all of their non-album singles and b-sides from that early period, for a retrospective of one of the great British 'free-festival bands'. 

Track listing

01 Out Demons Out! (single 1970)
02 Rag Doll (previously unreleased 1970)
03 We've Got The Power (previously unreleased 1970)
04 Up Yours! (single 1970)
05 Apache Drop Out (single 1970)
06 Freedom (b-side of 'Apache Drop Out') 
07 Hotel Room (single 1971)
08 Call Me A Liar (b-side of 'Hotel Room')
09 Someone (b-side of 'Gone Blue' 1972)
10 Mr. Crosby (b-side of 'Gone Blue' 1972)