Formed
1967, Ilford, Essex, United Kingdom
Disbanded
1970
Members
Paul Gurvitz [aka Paul Curtis] (guitar, bass, vocals), Gearie Kenworthy (bass, 1967-68), Tim Mycroft (keyboards, 1967-68), Louis Farrell (drums, 1967-69), Adrian Gurvitz [aka Adrian Curtis] (guitar, vocals, 1968-70), Pete Dunton (drums, 1969-70)
A1 Race With The Devil 3:35
A2 The Sad Saga Of The Boy And The Bee 4:49
A3 Rupert's Travels 2:12
A4 Yellow Cab Man 4:15
A5 It Won't Be Long (Heartbeat) 4:26
B1 Sunshine 4:25
B2 Rat Race 3:55
B3 Take Off 11:01
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Masterpiece
Awesome debut album by Gun. I think that they inspired many of the 70s heavy metal bands with that heavy rock and awesome riffs like in "Race With The Devil"
My favorites songs from this album are "Race With The Devil" and "Sunshine"
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There are a couple songs with some ridiculous string sections and grandiose orchestral ballad arrangements and horn charts, but the brunt of this is very well written and well played heavy psych. It's not ridiculously heavy, but it gets near, and "Take Off" is absolutely amazing, as is "Yellow Cab Man". I can actually take or leave "Race with the Devil".
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Outstanding power trio with great fuzzy electric guitar. Toe tappers abound and the material, for the most part, is top notch. Visceral testosterone classical hard rock. PLAY IT LOUD!
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Some pretty kick ass psychedelic blues music to be heard here. I'm finding more and more the albums which were so clearly inspired by Disreali Gears from Cream have turned out to be so much more fulfilling than their predecessor. Gun, the debut album from Gun back in 1968 to be one of those albums.
'Race With The Devil' starts things off when one of the coolest guitar riffs the world has never heard. 'It Wont Be Long' is one serious freak out, and the horn-fueled 'Sunshine' is the greatest psychedelic bluesy freak out this side of 'Sunshine Of Your Love.'
What a solid and forgotten album. It's sad that most people don't know about this one and what they are missing out on.
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Gun's self-titled debut is one of those obscured psychedelic albums that you just got to hear. It was released in 1968 and it has always been compared to Cream, because there are some similarity in the sound of those two groups.
Once you've heard this record, you'll probably love it. At least I did so. In my rating system this album almost reaches the level of 'perfect'.
The album kicks off with stunning "Race With the Devil" which is also the most "well-known" song here. In my opinion, the A-side is pretty much worth 5 stars.
The album does also have it's weakness: I think it is the first song of the B-side, called "Sunshine". Without the flaming guitar solo that track would be absolutely average. And I think it's still pretty unnecesessary in all its repetitiveness.
Anyway, let's not focus on that. The rest of the B-side is absolutely fantastic, offering that beautiful "Rat Race" and as a dessert we are pleased to hear the 11-minute jam, called "Take Off". If that doesn't impress you, I think you must be braindead or something.