The dog

After the first album, there were slight line up changes, an orchestra and choir and several guests were included for the second album, At the Sound of the Bell.

Neither album sold as well as expected, the band split and that was that.

Well, not exactly. A few years later, a bootleg of their third album, previously unreleased, appeared but not even crediting the group (the St Louis Hounds). Eventually, it got a proper release as Lost in America.

By the 1990s there was still interest in the band, so some re-formed and did a new album, then later, some concerts. Other albums came out, live shows, then the demo version of their original first album that was never released, called The Pekin Tapes.

More recently, concert tours have happened (sadly I missed them in London) and a new CD much in the style of the first commercial albums and called Prodigal Dreamer. And that’s not bad at all, worth a listen.

But the disc I go back to is The Pekin Tapes. To me, the first two official albums are over produced. This is raw, showing what the band can really do, with different tracks and longer versions, especially of Preludin, which is amazing.

You may not like David Surkamp’s voice very much, but they are worth a listen for sure.

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