Stray - Saturday Morning Pictures (1972 uk, stupendous hard/psychedelic rock, 2006 Japan reissue) Flac

Stray are a British band formed in 1966. Vocalist Steve Gadd (born 27 April 1952, Shepherd's Bush, London), guitarist Del Bromham (born Derek Roy Bromham, 25 May 1951, in Acton, London) (ex Tradera), bass player Gary Giles (born Gary Stephen Giles, 23 February 1952, in London) and drummer Steve Crutchley (born c 1952) formed the band whilst all were attending the Christopher Wren School in London. Richard "Ritchie" Cole (born 10 November 1951, in London) replaced Crutchley in 1968. They signed to Transatlantic Records in January 1970.

The group's brand of melodic, hook-laden hard rock proved to be a popular draw on the local club scene during the early 1970s. However the band did not have commercial success with its record releases. At one stage Charlie Kray (brother of the Kray twins Ronnie and Reggie), was their manager. Gadd left the band in 1975 due to artistic differences and was replaced on vocals by Pete Dyer.
The original Stray finally dissolved in 1977, although Bromham later continued to play in various resurrected versions of the project well into the 2000s.

There are two Iron Maiden connections to Stray. The early song "All in Your Mind" from the Stray 1970 debut album was covered by Maiden, and Maiden bassist Steve Harris's daughter Lauren has covered "Come On Over".

From late 2006 until early 2007, the band's back catalog of eight studio albums issued originally during the 1970s were re-released by the UK-based Sanctuary Records in compact disc format. The new releases are remastered and add bonus tracks culled from single B-sides, studio outtakes and BBC broadcast sessions.

The Universal Music Group have just bought the entire back catalogue and Stray are touring again with Del Bromham (guitar and vocals), Stuart Uren (bass guitar and vocals) and Karl Randall on drums.

One of the great records of the early 70's by one of the great bands who should have been massive. Saturday Morning Pictures starts with Our Song acoustic intro followed by crashing power chords enter Steve Gadd's super vocals and anthemic chorus and you have a classic rock song. 

Track two is yet another classic the Hendrix inspired After The Storm both of these opening two tracks are so good that they are still in the band's set list at the time of writing some 37 years later. Track three is the harmony driven space rock of Sister Mary followed by the brilliant Move That Wigwam.

Next up and live favourite is Leave It Out great riff, country violins, slide guitar that could peel paint,Steve Gadd again excelling on vocals (as he does on the whole album) WHAT A SONG this ends and we are straight into the dirty opening riffs of How Could I Forget You which gives way to some blues country-folk with some terrific vocal interplay between Gadd and guitarist Del Bromham (Del Bromham - what a guitarist, his playing has soul - what a songwriter - what a showman live).

Last track on the original album is the melodic Queen Of The Sea again great guitar work by Bromham. This re-issue has bonus tracks including single B-side to opening track Our Song called Mama's Coming Home another great track it is fast and very catchy with a great little piano fade out (My 18 year old son can't understand how it did not make the album). Georgia is classic dirty down blues with fantastic slide guitar and Gadd's brilliant vocals. Get Out Right Away is a catchy slice of roots rock and we also have a BBC session version of Sister Mary and the 45 r.p.m. version of Our Song.So in conclusion this is a masterpiece, not a bad track on it (personally i find Zeppelin,Sabbath,Purple etc boring and dated) go and seek this band out or go and see them live if you like rock music you will probably love this - Stray rock but with soul and intelligence.

01. Our Song (6:03)
02. After the Storm (6:45)
03. Sister Mary (4:19)
04. Move That Wigwam (5:20)
05. Leave It Out (4:33)
06. How Could I Forget You (5:50)
07. Mr. Hobo (2:39)
08. Queen of the Sea (6:25)
09. Our Song (Single Edit) (4:05) *
10. Mama's Coming Home (3:49) *
11. Georgia (3:14) *
12. Get Out Right Away (3:01) *
13. Sister Mary (Radio 1 Session) (3:52) *