Spooky Tooth

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Spooky Tooth
Also known as Art
Origin England
Genre(s) Progressive rock, hard rock
Years active 1967-1970
1972-74
1998
2004
Label(s) Island Records, CBS
Associated acts The V.I.P.'s
Website spookytooth.co.uk
Members
Mike Harrison
Greg Ridley
Luther Grosvenor
Mike Kellie
Gary Wright
Alan Spenner
Henry McCullough

Spooky Tooth was an English progressive rock band from the late 1960s. They faded into obscurity afterwards.

Contents

[edit] Career

Crucial to their sound was their instrumentation; they were one of the few acts within the rock forum of the time to adopt the twin keyboard approach (both an organ and a piano player) alongside The Band (whose "The Weight" was recorded by Spooky Tooth as a single in 1968) and Procol Harum.

They formed in October 1967, out of a combination of The Ramrods (1960 - late 1963), The V.I.P.'s (late 1963 - April 1967) and Art (April - October 1967). The line-up changed several times, but typically was -

It was the latter's addition (after one album - see Discography) that signalled the name change from Art to Spooky Tooth.

1969's Spooky Two LP is generally considered to be the best effort by the group and was the last album release by the original lineup. It included the song "Better By You, Better Than Me", which was covered by Judas Priest. Ridley joined Humble Pie in 1969 and was replaced by Andy Leigh (in time for 1970's album Ceremony) who went on to Matthews Southern Comfort with ex-Fairport Convention vocalist Ian Matthews. The experimental nature of Ceremony received mixed reviews and following its release Wright also bowed out. The core of Harrison, Grosvenor and Kellie struggled on for one more album, aptly titled The Last Puff, completed with friends from Joe Cocker's Grease Band.

They broke up in the autumn of 1970, however after solo efforts Harrison and Wright reformed Spooky Tooth in September 1972 with a different (and frequently changing) line-up. The best known member of these line-ups (from March 1973 to September 1974) was Mick Jones (guitar / vocals), later in Foreigner and, from February - May 1974, Mike Patto (vocals) replaced Harrison for the 1974 release The Mirror. The group then split again in September 1974.

[edit] Post Spooky

Grosvenor later played with Stealers Wheel and Mott the Hoople; while Wright had an enduring hit with the radio-friendly "Dream Weaver". Harrison, Grosvenor, Ridley and Kellie briefly reunited in 1998 for an album (Cross Purpose) before Ridley died in November 2003. Harrison, Wright and Kellie reunited in 2004 with two concerts in Germany, resulting in a DVD release, Nomad Poets (2007).

[edit] Band members


1967 - 1969

1969 - 1970

1970 - 1971

1973 - 1974

1974

1998

2004

[edit] Discography

as Art (Mike Harrison (voc), Greg Ridley (b), Luther Grosvenor (guitar), Mike Kellie (drums))

as Spooky Tooth

  • 1968 - It's All About
  • 1969 - Spooky Two
  • 1970 - Ceremony (with Pierre Henry)
  • 1970 - The Last Puff
  • 1971 - Tobacco Road (=It's All About)
  • 1973 - You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw
  • 1973 - Witness
  • 1974 - The Mirror
  • 1999 - Cross Purpose
  • 1999 - The Best of Spooky Tooth: That Was Only Yesterday
  • 2000 - Comic Violence
  • 2001 - BBC Sessions
  • 2007 - Nomad Poets (DVD)

[edit] External links