Cozy Powell - The Road To Bedlam (1974)

Colin Trevor Flooks (aka Cozy Powell) was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire and was adopted, never knowing his birth parents. He started playing drums aged twelve in the school orchestra, and his first band was The Corals, who played each week at a youth club in Cirencester. During this time the band broke the world record for non-stop playing, and by the age of fifteen Powell had already worked up an impressive drum solo, showing his influences by taking the name Cozy from jazz drummer Cozy Cole. The semi-professional circuit was next, and his first semi-pro band was The Sorcerers, who formed around 1965 in his hometown of Cirencester, and lasted until April 1968. They were lead by keyboardist Pete Ball, who had met up with Powell in Germany in 1967, and hired him to play in his band. They toured Germany and Turkey, before going back to England, and Powell stayed with Ball and his two brothers in their family home. After a couple of unsuccessful singles The Sorcerers changed their name to Young Blood, and signed a record deal with Pye records, where they released several more singles before disbanding. Powell's friendship with Pete Ball and his brothers, guitarist Dave and bassist Denny, led them to form a new band called Ideal Milk, but this time without Pete. The band recorded some demos, and also managed to score a BBC radio session, and rehearsal tapes of the music would later be used when they reconvened some years later as Bedlam. 
Before that, though, they were joined on vocals by ex-Move bassist Ace Kefford, and changed their name again to The Ace Kefford Stand, recording a single for Atlantic Records. 'For Your Love' was a cover of the Yardbirds classic, backed by their own 'Gravy Booby Jamm'. In mid '69 Kefford quit the band, and the remaining members formed Big Bertha, but as they'd already recorded their follow-up single 'This World’s An Apple', it was released under the name of Big Bertha featuring Ace Kefford. Big Bertha consisted of Powell and all three Ball Brothers, with Pete French on vocals, although he was soon replaced by Dave McTavish. The band signed to United Artists and recorded a couple of singles, and when 'Munich' was released in Germany it did reasonably well, but after some weeks of inactivity, Powell was approached by Jeff Beck’s management company to meet with the guitarist in London. Powell suggested that Denny went with him, and they played together as a trio at a rehearsal venue in north London, and Beck was impressed enough to suggest that they both stay at his cottage in Kent for further rehearsals. By April 1970, they still had no other members in mind for the band, so Beck and Powell went to America to cut several songs at Motown Studios with local sessionmen, although these legendary 'Motown Sessions' remain unreleased to this day. In January 1971, a promoter in Germany wanted to book the now defunct Big Bertha, so United Artists agreed to limited funding for the band to go over and perform, reuniting Powell with two of the Ball brothers. At the end of the tour, the trio vowed to reform at some point and 'do it properly', but for now Powell went back to the Jeff Beck Group, Denny Ball joined Long John Baldry, and Dave Ball joined Procol Harum. By April 1971, Beck had recruited keyboardist Max Middleton, Clive Chapman on bass, and Bob Tench on vocals, replacing the short-lived Alex Ligertwood, and so finally Beck had a band that would record the 'Rough And Ready' album for Epic as The Jeff Beck Group. 
However, a month after the release of their second album 'Jeff Beck Group', Beck disbanded the group so that he could team up with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice for the power-trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. This left Powell free to re-unite the Ideal Milk/Big Bertha line-up, adding vocalist Frank Aiello, to form The Beast, although this was quickly changed to Bedlam to avoid confusion with a similarly named US band. They signed to Chrysalis Records, and in August 1973 they released their debut eponymous album, helped out on keyboards by old band-mate Max Middleton, and produced by Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi. It's a great heavy rock album, and deserved a higher profile than it received at the time, but it was successful enough for sessions to start for a follow-up, although before that could happen Powell had a surprise hit single with 'Dance With The Devil' in January 1974, and when he had another with 'The Man In Black' later that year, Bedlam fell apart before a second album could be completed. We're lucky that some of Powell's early bands had their concerts recorded, and so you can hear a Big Bertha gig from 1970, and also a Bedlam concert from 1974, where they supported Black Sabbath on tour in the US, and the show was broadcast on the radio. As the title of the album suggests, this album will show Powell's journey to putting together his ideal band Bedlam, and so will stop before he formed Cozy Powell's Hammer, and was then recruited by Rainbow, for what was undoubtedly the most successful part of his career, followed by stints in Emerson, Lake & Powell, and Black Sabbath. What we do have are examples of his work with all of his early bands that made a record, including singles by The Sorcerers, The Ace Kefford Stand, and Big Bertha, an example of his work with Jeff Beck, and most importantly, three tracks from the proposed second album by Bedlam. Powell died in a car accident in April 1998, aged just 51, but in that short time he had become one of the most influential drummers in the world, with musicians today still citing him as the drummer they aspire to emulate.    

Track listing

01 Love Is A Beautiful Thing (single by The Sorcerers 1967)
02 The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill (single by Young Blood 1969)
03 Stepping Out (demo by Ideal Milk)
04 SWLABR (demo by Ideal Milk)
05 For Your Love (single by The Ace Kefford Stand 1969)
06 Gravy Booby Jamm (b-side of 'For Your Love')
07 This World's An Apple (single by Big Bertha Featuring Ace Kefford 1969)
08 Munich City (single by Big Bertha 1970)
09 Funky Woman (b-side of 'Munich City')
10 Situation (from 'Rough And Ready' by The Jeff Beck Group 1971) 
11 Ring Of Fire (recorded for proposed second Bedlam album)                  
12 At The Gateway (recorded for proposed second Bedlam album)  
13 Candy (Rainbow Over New York) (recorded for proposed second Bedlam album)