A Few of ChrisGoes(Rocks)īs Favourite Rock Albums (6) 1965-76 (kbps 256)
The Vagrants - The Great Lost Album (Leslie West) (1965 - 1968)
Truth And Janey - Erupts (Superb Hardrockers Live Performance 1976)
Tucky Buzzard - Warm Slash (Superb Hardrock 1971)
Twentieth Century Zoo - Thunder On A Clear Day (US Fuzzy Bluesrock 1968)
Zakarrias - Zakarrias (UK Psychedelic-Flavoured Heavy Rock) (1971)
Virus - Remember (live) - German Heavy Progressive 1973)
The Vagrants - The Great Lost Album (Leslie West) (1965 - 1968)
Most famous for featuring Leslie West on guitar in his pre-Mountain days,
the Vagrants were extremely popular in their home base of Long Island, NY in the mid-60s, and recorded some decent singles without approaching a national breakout. Like fellow New Yorkers the Rascals, the Vagrants prominently featured a Hammond organ, and often played soul-influenced rock. The Vagrants were far more
guitar-based than the Rascals, however, as well as projecting a more garagey, less mature outlook; their later material lands somewhere between the Rascals and Vanilla Fudge.
One of the few rock bands signed to the folkie Vanguard label, the Vagrants cut some fair singles between 1965 and 1968 that suffered from a lack of identity: a Zombie-ish number here, a punk stomper there, a soul-rock thing here. "I Cant Make a Friend," which shows up on some garage compilations, is the most well-known of their initial efforts, but the group took their closest swipe at stardom after Felix Pappalardi helped them sign to Atco.
A rock version of Otis Reddings "Respect" (which surfaced on the Nuggets compilation) was a hit in some Eastern regions, but couldnt compete with Aretha Franklins rendition, also released in 1967. After a couple of other singles on Atco, the group broke up in late 1968, when West formed Mountain (which also included Pappalardi). M
