Human Instinct: Peg Leg (Rajon)

 |   |  <1 min read

Human Instinct: Peg Leg (Rajon)

As interesting for its back-story as the contents, this period piece has been rescued from dusty vaults.

Auckland band Human Instinct scored with a couple of much sought-after classic Kiwi rock albums in the late Sixties/early Seventies, notably Stoned Guitar and Pins In It.

In '75 the band - guitarist Phil Whitehead, keyboardist Steve McDonald and bassist/singer Zaine Mikkelson, and with founder-drummer Maurice Greer still firmly at the helm - recorded these tracks at Stebbings, which were promptly filed then subsequently thought to be lost. They were rediscovered a couple of years ago and given studio polish for this first-time release.

Kicking off with Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird doesn't make for the smartest of tracking orders, but from there on it's mid-Seventies, lightly exploratory progrock with pop-awareness (and sometimes dippy lyrics like "don't leave your mind on the shelf") which references Floyd, glam-era Bowie, King Crimson, Space Waltz, and the Elvin Bishop Group whose Struttin' My Stuff of the same year might have been among their favoured listening.

One for collectors and old fans, most likely, but also proof these musicians - Whitehead especially - were the equal of any at the time. And what a ripe old mind-expanding time it was.

The kazoo solo seems a little uncalled for however.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak (RocAFella)

Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak (RocAFella)

Because I don't listen to much of the over-produced, schmaltzy, ululating music that passes for r'n'b these days (in my old-fashioned definition I still link r'n'b to the soul of Otis, Sam Cooke... > Read more

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2008 Lucinda Williams: Little Honey (Universal)

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2008 Lucinda Williams: Little Honey (Universal)

After her last, quite exceptional but largely melancholy album West (in part influenced by death in the family) it is almost as if Williams is here staking her claim again to some sassy rock'n'roll... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Big Boy Groves: Bucket o Blood (1962)

Big Boy Groves: Bucket o Blood (1962)

Most songs inviting you to club promise a great night with dancing and drinking and fun times to be had. Ervin Groves from San Diego promising nothing of the sort with this song. In fact... > Read more

YEAH YEAH YEAHS. COOL IT DOWN, CONSIDERED (2022): NYC, you mean something to me

YEAH YEAH YEAHS. COOL IT DOWN, CONSIDERED (2022): NYC, you mean something to me

Those who receive Elsewhere's weekly newsletter would know of what befell us in January 2023: flooding through the office which took out about 500 record albums, scores of CDs, books, travel... > Read more