Heron (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
This article (or section) may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article, especially its section layout, and relevant internal links. (help)
This article has been tagged since January 2007.

[edit] History

Heron are a band from Berkshire, England. They formed in 1967 when Roy Apps, Tony Pook and guitarist Robert Collins played gigs at the Dolphin folk club in Maidenhead.

Influenced by Bob Dylan and The Incredible String Band, with the addition of Martin Hayward they were signed to Essex Music by the late legendary producer Gus Dudgeon. Heron were among the first bands signed to Pye Records' progressive rock label Dawn Records. Keyboard player Steve Jones and Gerald T Moore joined the band for their first album.

Uniquely, Heron's eponymous first album was recorded outdoors - in a middle of a field by the Thames - but it failed to gain the same amount of attention as other folk rock bands of the early seventies. In 1971, the band released the double album Twice as Nice and Half the Price, also recorded outdoors. It featured original material and several covers. This album, however, also went unnoticed. Most of the band members went on to join Shusha, while GT Moore later formed GT Moore and the Reggae Guitars. Steve Jones, Tony Pook and Roy Apps continued to play together in the folk club scene in the late seventies and a cassette-only album released in 1981 was effectively the original band's swansong. A further album, Hystorical was released in 1991.

In 1997 the three remaining band members recorded in the same Devonshire back garden as 1971's Twice as Nice and Half the Price. The recordings were released through Steve Jones' Relaxx label with a video which traced the band's thirty-year history. The albums River Of Fortune and Black Dog came out of these sessions. The band was joined on these recordings by guitarist Gerry Powers.

[edit] Discography

Albums:

  • Heron (DAWN DNLS 3010) 1970
  • Twice as Nice and Half the Price (DNLS 3025) 1972
  • Open Up the Road 1981
  • Hystorical (Crazy Hill CHCD 100) 1994
  • River of Fortune (Relaxx RH001) 1998
  • In Concert (Black Dog) 2002
  • Odznenz 2003
  • Black Dog 2005

Singles:

  • Only a Hobo (Maxi Single DNX 2509) 1970
  • Take Me Back Home (DNS 1015) 1972
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/e/r/Heron_%28band%29.html"