BLACKHORSE - LONG LOST SOUTHERN ROCK CLASSIC

Finally I found enough time to write something to go with this You Tube clip of the entire BLACKHORSE album, most of you are probably saying to yourself who the hell is that band. Plenty of good 70's rock albums, especially around 1978 and 1979 when disco and punk was 'sadly' all the rage, were passed up and ignored by radio and never stood a chance to attain commercial success.

Most probably the three members of BLACKHORSE weren't aiming for superstardom with their 1979 self titled album. GARY JAMES (lead vocals/guitar), JOHN TEAGUE (drums/vocals) and PAUL-ANTHONY MIDDLETON (bass/vocals) were chasing live gigs and in the beginning the album was only a private pressing and essentially a demos album, with the bulk of sales arising from what they sold at their live gigs.

The style of music which BLACKHORCE created was classic southern rock meets melodic hard rock, with beefy blues laden groove and leather lunged vocals from James, the album should have put the band on the map and into the same commercial league as the ALLMAN BROTHERS and LYNYRD SKYNYRD, but it wasn't to be. BLACKHORSE (1979) is an amalgam of rock, soul and melancholy which reminds me so much of the freewheeling BLACK CROWES 1990 debut album SHAKE YOUR MONEYMAKER. That is nothing to be ashamed of.