Locomotive

Locomotive was a Birmingham-based band that went through some serious evolution in the final years of the 1960's, releasing consistently good music in several genres during their three-year history. Their early line-up included future Traffic flautist Chris Wood. In contrast to Mike Sheridan & the Nightriders, the Moody Blues, the Move, and the Idle Race, all Birmingham bands that aimed for what--variously--was perceived as the mainstream, whether it was British beat, r&b, or mod-punk, Locomotive started out playing Ska. With Norman Haines (late of a band called The Brumbeats) handling the songwriting, they picked up on Bluebeat as it developed in 1967, but rather than evolving along the next natural step to reggae, Locomotive hung a 90-degree turn into psychedelia. After recording initially for the Direction label with the single "Broken Heart" b/w "Rudy A Message To You" in late 1967, they moved to EMI's Parlophone label in 1968 and charted in the top 30 with their first single, the lyrical and low-key melodic "Rudi's In Love." In 1969, they released a single called "Mr. Armageddon," a piece of tight, big-band psychedelia that never managed to chart despite a unique sound for its time, doomsday rock with a heavy brass component. The band cut one album, We Are Everything You See, for Parlophone in 1969, with Dick Heckstall Smith on sax and Chris Wood (by then a member of Traffic) on flute augmenting the core line-up. The album failed to ignite any fires under the public, although it was interesting, containing a pair of songs that had been written for and recorded by the band the United States of America, as well as "Mr. Amageddon." The group also recorded a single incognito for the Transatlantic label under the name Steam Shovel, which resurfaced in the 1990's on...