Head Machine: Orgasm (1970)
No, not Machine Head ... Head Machine.
For the length and breadth of the 1970s, Ken Hensley was primarily known as the guiding force (keyboardist, guitarist, chief songwriter) behind seminal head-bangers Uriah Heep, but at the start of the decade he was quite the musical mercenary!
Even as he was nearing the end of his late ‘60s association with The Gods (which, at one point, also featured Greg Lake and Mick Taylor), Hensley kept himself busy moonlighting with blues-rockers Toe Fat, secretly contributing to German Heep impersonators Weed, and partaking of the puzzling musical orgy known as Head Machine.
Originally intended for release as The Gods’ third long-player, Orgasm (which was tellingly credited to Taboo Productions) took a sharp turn into novelty status under the direction of producer (and sometime vocalist) David Paramor, whose ‘brilliant’ idea it was to craft a semi-conceptual album full of sexually suggestive songs housing downright crass, even creepy lyrics such as:
“I know how to hold you;
I know how to touch you now ...
I told you I would;
Give you such delight.”
No wonder all those involved took cover behind pseudonyms, and so Hensley became Ken Leslie, future Heep drummer Lee Kerslake became Lee Poole, bassist John Glascock (later of Chicken Shack, Jethro Tull, etc.) became John Leadhen, and his drummer brother Brian became Brian Pole.
You probably would too if you were knocking off salacious hard rockers like the Hammond organ-driven “Climax/You Tried to Take it All” and “The First Time,” bump-and-grind riff-poundings like “You Must Come With Me” and “Scattering Seeds,” as well as post-coitus flower pop like “Make the Feeling Last” and “The Girl Who Loved, The Girl Who Loved.”
And in case you’re wondering, my perfunctory summaries reflect the formulaic ingredients in these songs, none of which -- save perhaps for the eight-minute title track -- really adds anything new or exceptional to the era’s abundant harvest of either ‘70s heavy rock seedlings, or the overripe fruits of ‘60s psychedelia.
Point being that I’ve heard a lot of better obscure hard rock from this era (Cactus, Bloodrock, Budgie, Trapeze, Leaf Hound, Lucifer’s Friend, etc., etc.), but I’ve also heard worse (Warhorse, Light of Darkness, Crushed Butler, etc.), and at least the 'heads’ in Head Machine were wise enough to keep their identities hidden!
Plus, by the time the sessions for Orgasm wrapped up in November and December of ‘69 and the album’s limited pressing (*) dribbled into record stores the following year, those involved were lending their real names to far more promising projects, most notably Hensley and Kerslake with Toe Fat and Uriah Heep.
But the curious origin story of Head Machine’s brief dalliance was obviously enough to eventually elevate Orgasm to minor cult status among unkempt, crate-digging vinyl nerds with an interest in this pivotal and oft-under-reported time in music history.
* Available in two pressings: the altogether plain, black-and-white vertigo-like clitoris overhead and the colorful seashell variation shown in this reissue’s inner gatefold.
More Obscure Early ‘70s Heavy Rock: A.K.A.’s Do What You Like, Ainigma's Diluvium, Alamo’s Alamo, Ancient Grease's Women and Children First, Asterix’s Asterix, Atlee’s Flying a Head, Bang’s Mother/Bow to the King, Birtha’s Birtha, Blackwater Park’s Dirt Box, Bloodrock’s Bloodrock 2, Blues Creation’s Demon & Eleven Children, Bolder Damn’s Mourning, Boomerang’s Boomerang, Buffalo’s Volcanic Rock, Bull Angus’ Bull Angus, Cactus’ Cactus, Captain Beyond’s Captain Beyond, Charlee’s Charlee, Copperhead's Copperhead, Cradle’s The History, Curly Curve’s Curly Curve, Dies Irae's First, Fanny Adams’ Fanny Adams, Flied Egg’s Dr. Siegel’s Fried Egg Shooting Machine, Flower Travellin’ Band’s Satori, A Foot in Coldwater’s A Foot in Coldwater, Fuse’s Fuse, Gift’s Gift, Hard Stuff’s Bulletproof, Haystacks Balboa's Haystacks Balboa, Head Over Heels’ Head Over Heels, Heavy Cruiser’s Heavy Cruiser, High Tide's High Tide, Highway Robbery’s For Love or Money, Incredible Hog’s Volume 1, Irish Coffee's Irish Coffee, Jericho’s Jericho, Jerusalem’s Jerusalem, Jody Grind’s Far Canal, Kahvas Jute’s Wide Open, Leaf Hound’s Growers of Mushroom, Lucifer’s Friend’s Lucifer’s Friend, Luv Machine's Luv Machine, May Blitz’s May Blitz, Night Sun’s Mournin’, Nitzinger’s Nitzinger, Orang-Utan’s Orang-Utan, Pink Fairies’ Never Neverland, Pluto’s Pluto, Poobah’s Let Me In, Power of Zeus’ The Gospel According to Zeus, Road’s Road, Sky’s Don’t Hold Back, Sir Lord Baltimore’s Kingdom Come, Steel’s Steel, Stray’s Stray, Stray Dog’s Stray Dog, Tapiman’s Tapiman, Tempest’s Tempest, Thundermug’s Thundermug Strikes, Tiger B. Smith’s Tiger Rock, Tin House’s Tin House, Titanic’s Sea Wolf, Toad’s Toad, Trapeze’s Medusa, Truk’s Truk Tracks, Tucky Buzzard’s Tucky Buzzard, Ursa Major’s Ursa Major, Warhorse’s Warhorse, Warpig’s Warpig, Weed’s Weed.
