What Are You Listening To?

[SteveO]

Interesting that the band Budgie is mentioned! They have an adequate following and are often cited by critics when talking about hard rock and metal! They are on hiatus since 2010!

The band was assembled by Mick Fleetwood and the Fleetwood Mac manager in order to fulfill touring comitments in America. Typical of him, Fleetwood claimed he would join them later, but, when it was clear to audiences this was not the real band, he announced he had never heard of them. Hence, the later song title, 'Why Did You Do It?'

The core of the touring band was Elmer Gantry on vocals, Kirby Gregory (from Curved Air) on guitar and Paul Martinez on bass, along with keyboard player John Wilkinson and drummer John Collinge. Afterwards, they sacked Martinez, who went on to play bass for Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin at Live Aid. They had various drummers, the best of these (imo) was Jeff Rich, who later joined Status Quo. After this inauspicious start, Why Did You Do It? was a hit single and Stretch got good reviews for their first album, Elastique, in the music press. Their second album You Can't Beat Your Brain for Entertainment was brilliant, but a follow-up single elluded them and the album was ignored. It included an excellent version of You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover.

Stretch soldiered on through the seventies, even without the distinctive voice of Gantry, but eventually faded away. There are some bands who should have been big but it never worked out for them, like Captain Beyond, Budgie, Gamma . . . and Stretch! Especially when there are performers who achieve fame and fortune without any musical talent whatsoever.

One of the early Stretch drummers was Nicko McBrain from The Pat Travers Band, who went on to commercial success with Iron Maiden. He seems to have had a charmed life.