How different rock history might have been if Leaf Hound had formed a couple of years earlier. They might well have stolen Led Zeppelin’s thunder and become rock legends.

But they didn’t, and they didn’t. And instead of acclaiming them as founding fathers of heavy metal, and their solitary album Growers Of Mushroom as a classic, they remain a footnote in the archives of early seventies heavy rock.

Which is more than a little unfair – because this equally curiously titled track, Freelance Fiend, deserves a much wider audience. And not just among us self-employed folk. You might say it’s their Whole Lotta Love.

Leaf Hound came together in 1970 out of the ashes of a heavy blues rock band called Black Cat Bones (who once included Paul Kossoff of Free), who had released their only album, Barbed Wire Sandwich, in early 1970 but promptly lost their vocalist and lead guitarist Rod Price when he joined Foghat.

With a new singer (Peter French), a new guitarist (French’s cousin Mick Halls) and a new drummer (Keith Young) joining the Brooks brothers (Derek and Stuart) on rhythm guitar and bass, it was only natural for them to choose a new name as well.

They chose Leaf Hound from a Ray Bradbury horror story and I’m not sure where they came up with Growers Of Mushroom; probably the same place where they created Barbed Wire Sandwich.

It was recorded in London in late 1970 but soon afterwards the Brooks brothers left the band and by the time the album was released, following a tour of Europe as a quartet, French had also left to join Atomic Rooster, effectively bringing the band to a close.

As is the way with such obscure things, since then the album has become a collectors’ item and was once voted the No.1 most collectible album by Q magazine.

Boosted by his newfound cult status, Peter French reformed the band with a new lineup, including Luke Rayner on guitar, in 2004. They finally put out their second studio album in 2007… just 36 years after their debut.

And in 2012 they recorded Live In Japan with this new version of Freelance Fiend: