The three albums that Cochise released between 1970 and 1972 were little gems of West Coast Country influenced British rock but sadly the band never got the recognition they deserved as forerunners of the Americana movement that we are enjoying in the 21st century.
The pedal steel and dobro of BJ Cole got their first serious airings in Cochise while Mick Grabham later joined Procul Harum and Rick Willis did stints with Roxy Music, Small Faces and Foreigner. There was no shortage of talent in the band and with Steve Marriot guesting on their second album and a number of other uncredited stars helping out they were never short of musical talent. Unfortunately their popularity with fellow musicians and as a support act for visiting stars never translated into massive sales but they have built a reputation over the years and now are being considered in far greater respect than they got from the paying public in the day.
Their music sits across a number of different genres from straight out country through Bread style harmonies and some fine hard rock and their first album included a very ‘unusual’ version of Paul Simon’s ‘59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)’ but their strength was in Americana and BJ Cole’s pedal steel showed that it didn’t have to be a pure country instrument. Mick Grabham was a fine lead guitarist – check out ‘Painted Lady’ for an example – and the reast of the band made a fine noise alongside them. Stewart Brown was the vocalist on their first album and he possessed a brilliant bellow but he a gone after the first album to be replaced by John Gilbert who had a more even sound but the band continued delivering fine country-tinged rock and Americana.
Their third album, ‘So Far’, was always my favourite Cochise album with tracks ranging from ‘Cajun Girl’ – a heavy Blues with Uriah Heep like smoking power – to the raunch of ‘Diamonds’ with BJ Coles’s steel twinkling and his dobro seemingly on its own in the background underpinning it all or to ‘Midnight Moonshine’, burning with understated power.
They were a fine band and sadly never got the plaudits they deserved but this collection has just about everything they recorded and is beautifully presented – a good listen and worthy of a really good band.
