A Band Called O – Sleeping

27th October 2021 · 1970s, 1975, Music

Has anyone heard of these progsters from the Channel Isles? I haven’t. I saw their name while looking at a list of bands who played The Marquee in that transformative year of 1976.

It was that transitional time when prog ruled the album charts, disco dominated the singles charts, and the first rumblings of punk were beginning to be heard.

A Band Called O were very much in the first category. Their name rings no bells at all, despite their four Peel sessions and this performance on the OGWT from 1975, which may have taken place while I was still at school (and forbidden to stay up watching Bob Harris or listening to John Peel).

I’m posting this more as a piece of musical history than a passion for their music, which is the kind of thing I didn’t like then and don’t listen to now – prog with mannered vocals and meandering solo sections, including a nice guitar tone.

A Band Called O started out in their native Jersey and made one album under their original name, The Parlour Band, before moving to Leicester and assuming their new moniker (later shortened to The O Band).

I’d be curious to know if any of my more prog-inclined friends are familiar with their work, which seems to have come to an end after six albums in 1977.  I’m no expert on this kind of thing but they do seem rather good at what they do. Better than 50 years of obscurity would suggest.

Also: has anyone heard of this lot – a sample of other bands performing at The Marquee in just one month (April) 1976 – Asylum, Moon, Clancy, Giggles, Upp, Tea, Jailbait, Rococo, Halfbreed, FBI, D Dancer, The Weightwatchers, Sam Apple Pie, Graham Bell, Magna Carta, National Flag.