Aorta

Do you think these guys regret not calling themselves Heart? I’m not sure such a decision would have changed their commercial fortunes—Aorta only briefly scraped the lower reaches of the Billboard Top 200 album chart—but it might have made them a bit more palatable to the record-buying public (this is assuming clinical descriptions of arterial systems and chest x-rays don’t help sell albums). As it turned out, the Heart moniker was picked up a few years later by a couple of sisters named Wilson, ultimately securing them the edge in the internal-organ-as-band-name sweepstakes. First released in 1969 on Columbia Records, Aorta, complete with cardiac-related song titles—“Main Vein,” “Main Vein II,” “Main Vein III,” “Thoughts and Feelings/Main Vein IV” and “Heart Attack”—is one of the era’s more effective examples of late ‘60s psychedelia. The band’s sizzling concoction of strong vocal harmonies, razor-sharp guitar work and churning organ play is best heard on songs like “Strange,” “Ode To Missy Mxyzosptik” and the aforementioned “Heart Attack.” Elsewhere the band alternates between lengthier, progressive-influenced numbers (“Catalyptic”) and mellower, more melodic soft-rock material (“A Thousand Thoughts”). Sadly, commercial success eluded this Chicago-based quartet. The band moved to the Happy Tiger label to record a second album; the aptly titled Aorta 2 did not chart and the group disbanded.

Notes: An early incarnation of Aorta featured future Chicago vocalist/bassist Peter Cetera. Here is an audio-only YouTube clip of Aorta’s “Heart Attack:” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRBah1Sa1M&NR=1.