Stray

The 1973 debut from a band who became cult figures on the blues-rock scene, mainly because there was a real crunch to the music. Greg Lake (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) signed them to the bands Manticore label, and he produced three of the tracks on this album. Walden was a spectacular Hendrix-influenced guitarist who managed to pull a unique, watery sound out of his instrument (recall he was picked to replace Paul Kossoff in Free). There's hardly a song here that doesn't showcase a first-rate Walden lead. He also had a surprisingly enjoyable voice.

After parting ways with Transatlantic Records and signing on with Pye subsidiary Dawn in 1975, English heavy prog veterans Stray briefly expanded from a quartet to a five-piece with the addition of rhythm guitarist Pete Dyer – a move which had been intended to allow vocalist Steve Gadd the chance to focus on his frontman duties, but wound up driving the already disgruntled singer out of the band for good, instead. Into the breach stepped the already present Dyer, who proceeded to share vocals with lead guitarist and longtime band architect Del Bromham on the band's sixth long player – and Pye debut – Stand Up and Be Counted. Ironically, the album was composed predominantly of tracks originally slated for Bromham's first solo record, but when faced with Gadd's departure, he decided to re-purpose them for what proved to be a typically eclectic, if slightly chaotic-sounding LP.