S$# 027 Fludd | What An Animal
This week's feature song is the 1975 hit What An Animal by Fludd, a Toronto glam rock group that enjoyed some success in the 1970s.
The core of the group were vocalist Ed Pilling and his brother, guitarist Brian Pilling. Several personnel changes (more than a dozen people were in the group during its run in the early and mid-70s) plus Brian's health problems (he would ultimately succumb to leukemia at age 29), as well as rows with their record label(s) over musical direction, probably meant the group never got to realize its full potential. They released just three studio albums, and about a dozen singles between 1971 and 1977.
(Interestingly, various personnel from the group went on to greater fame and fortune with Goddo, Trooper and Saga. But perhaps that's the subject of another post.)
While their hit Cousin Mary probably gets the most airplay on oldies or classic rock stations nowadays, the bizarre What An Animal was their biggest hit, reaching the top 10 in Canada.
What An Animal is a great rocker with keen guitar work, keyboards and synthesized horns and strings. Ed Pilling's sort-of-creaking vocals lend atmosphere to what appears to be a commentary on the folly of the human race:
What An Animal was on the the group's third album, Great Expectations, and the 1977 collection From The Attic '71 - '77. On CD, it was issued on the Greatest Expectations disc in 1994.
The core of the group were vocalist Ed Pilling and his brother, guitarist Brian Pilling. Several personnel changes (more than a dozen people were in the group during its run in the early and mid-70s) plus Brian's health problems (he would ultimately succumb to leukemia at age 29), as well as rows with their record label(s) over musical direction, probably meant the group never got to realize its full potential. They released just three studio albums, and about a dozen singles between 1971 and 1977.
(Interestingly, various personnel from the group went on to greater fame and fortune with Goddo, Trooper and Saga. But perhaps that's the subject of another post.)
While their hit Cousin Mary probably gets the most airplay on oldies or classic rock stations nowadays, the bizarre What An Animal was their biggest hit, reaching the top 10 in Canada.
What An Animal is a great rocker with keen guitar work, keyboards and synthesized horns and strings. Ed Pilling's sort-of-creaking vocals lend atmosphere to what appears to be a commentary on the folly of the human race:
Love's cast an old man
Who sees life cast off for me
Life grows very little if you're bending on one knee
Call out, call out the masses cry, but seldom they are heard
Well well, we're only human
What an animal too absurd
What An Animal was on the the group's third album, Great Expectations, and the 1977 collection From The Attic '71 - '77. On CD, it was issued on the Greatest Expectations disc in 1994.
posted by droppingpin at 9:04 PM
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