Mighty Grahame Bond

Mighty Grahame Bond is a fairly innocuous collection of psychedelic hard rock and jazz-influenced rhythm and blues. What makes it such an appealing candidate for The “I-Own-Every-Record-You’d-Never-Buy” CD Consumer’s Guide—outside of the fact that you’ve never heard of it—is the fact that Bond’s first name is misspelled; Graham doesn’t have an “e” at the end of it. Oops. Bond got his start as the leader of the Graham Bond Organization, a two-record band that coughed up both Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce to Cream. He eventually dissolved the group and signed with Pulsar Records for two solo albums, the second of which is represented here. “Water Water” is an effective opener, Bond’s rough, unpolished vocals offset by his trademark keyboard work, and while “Baroque” and “Freaky Beak” are respectable slices of ‘70s-era pop rock, the remaining tracks sound like a hastily assembled set of largely instrumental compositions (this probably has to do with the fact that the entire album was recorded in a mere 15 hours). Bond eventually recorded a couple of solo albums for Vertigo before teaming up with Cream lyricist Pete Brown to record the lp Two Heads Are Better Than One. Coda: Drugs, financial struggles, deteriorating mental health and a burgeoning interest in the occult culminated in Bond’s suicide in May of 1974. He was 36 years old.

Notes: From 1969, here is an audio-only YouTube clip of a song called “Water Water” from Mighty Grahame Bond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf6pepysYYo.