Atomic Rooster

In the summer of 1969, keyboardist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer quit The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and returned to England to form their own band. They recruited bassist/lead vocalist Nick Graham and became Atomic Rooster. It was Crane’s band from the beginning — he wrote seven of the eight songs, with Graham and Palmer contributing to two; the other was a cover of John Mayall’s “Broken Wings.” His organ and Graham’s flute give the music a jazzy, proggy feel, but the lyrics are dark, even despairing: the chorus to “Winter” is just the line “What is the point of going on?” repeated several times. Palmer’s drumming is surprisingly restrained, though he goes off a few times, previewing what he’d be doing in Emerson, Lake & Palmer very soon.