Home ● Pause for a Hoarse Horse

This album is called Pause for a Hoarse Horse, a strange, truly awkward title that almost immediately qualifies it for The “I-Own-Every-Record-You’d-Never-Buy” CD Consumer’s Guide. It gets better. Despite three record’s worth of commercial failure, including a somewhat strange concept album called The Alchemist, and a sound rooted in both acoustic-flavored country rock and progressive-tinged pyschedelia, Home managed to produce not one but two musicians who found fame and fortune elsewhere. First released in 1971 on CBS Records, Home’s debut is an interesting combination of US-influenced west coast pop and UK-based hard rock. Songs like "Tramp," "How Would It Feel" and "Mother" accentuate the band's finerpoints--strong vocal harmonies, impressive lead guitar fills and intricate song structures--while the title track briefly explains the somewhat morbid cover art: "Goodbye horse/you know you served us well/right to the end/we'll have to find another friend." The band called it quits in 1973, but that was hardly the end of the story. Guitarist Laurie Wisefield joined Wishbone Ash, a group for which he played with until 1985, while bassist Cliff Williams found himself down under in Australia; he’s been the bass player for AC/DC since 1978.

Notes: Third time lucky: In between his stint in Home and his success in AC/DC, Cliff Williams played with another obscure rock bandt called Bandit. They released two albums between 1976 and 1978, including a record called Partners in Crime. Here is an audio-only YouTube clip of Home’s “Tramp:” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZIP9dlx5I.