John Cann, (left in picture) laid his claim to fame with the English keyboard, drums and guitar trio, Atomic Rooster in the early 70s. Rooster featured Vincent Crane, keyboardist for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, best known for the hit Fire.
Atomic Rooster's music was unique in a couple of ways. For one, they were one of the first bands to rely on the key player for the bass parts (accomplished with a device called the 'Piano Bass'). Mostly, though, they were as heavy as all get out, due primarily to Cann's absolutely killer Les Paul sound.
The 1971 albums, 'Death Walks Behind You' and 'In Hearing of Atomic Rooster' were miles ahead of their time. 'Death' is especially good, with Cann shining throughout. His guitar sound was chunky, warm, snarly, biting and very, very fat--typical of the classic 'Marshall Stack/Les Paul' combo.
In 1973, Cann formed a band called Hard Stuff with John Gustafson, formerly of another keyboard-oreinted trio, Quatermass and writer of the Rainbow hit, Black Sheep of the Family. The band went nowhere, and after one album, was never heard from again. Regardless, because of his brilliant work with Atomic Rooster, Cann emminently deserves a place in the Rogue's Gallery.
