Formed in London in 1970, Home were a band that never quite made it into the top division. Yet the three albums they released are highly prized today as examples of British Seventies rock that display all the energy and eclecticism the genre and era could offer. Two of their members also went on to carve reputations for themselves in larger bands - but Home remains a treasured memory for fans and musicians alike. It was Laurie Wisefield's fluent, inventive guitar work and vocals of Mick Stubbs, the main songwriter, which represented Home's musical calling card. Bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Mick 'Cookie' Cook comprised a funky yet driving rhythm section. 'It was my first serious band,' Wisefield explains, 'though I'd been in a few. Cliff and I had been in one before Home called Sugar, based in London. Cliff and the drummer had come down from the north and we got a flat in Tooting where I met them through a Melody Maker audition; I was at school at the time. When Sugar broke up Cliff and I stayed together. I'd worked with Mick Stubbs before and said, "I know this singer"; Mick knew Cookie and that was the band.' Home, as they were simply christened, recorded their first album, 'Pause For A Hoarse Horse', in Decca Studios in Hampstead; it was supposed to have come out on the Decca label, who funded the sessions, but CBS saw their potential, bought the album and released it in August 1971.
Often erroneously credited as a full band member, Clive John from Welsh prog wizards Man made a guest appearance on keyboards and Mellotron. This would have been at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, but at four decades' distance Laurie is unsure why the band was actually there! 'Maybe we mixed it down there, maybe we recorded a couple of extra tracks.' He recalls Clive 'coming down and playing. He had a beard and long hair - looked like Jesus as I remember.' Producer Mel Baister had just helmed Man's eponymous third album on which Clive John appeared, so he was the obvious connection. Another additional musician employed was John Weider on violin. 'Willie', as he was known, was at the tail end of a two-year stint with Family and had played with such legendary names as Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, Steve Marriott and Eric Burdon's New Animals. He and Cliff Williams would rub shoulders again in 1974 when Cliff auditioned for and briefly joined Moonrider, a group Weider had formed with Keith West that shared many of Home's influences. The sleeve of 'A Pause for a Hoarse Horse' was an elaborate gatefold, evidence of CBS's faith in the band they had snatched from a rival label.
The bold wraparound cowboy illustration on the outside was reminiscent of the Norman Rockwell covers boasted by the likes of the Pure Prairie League in the United States. A short note attributed to TW' in the gatefold opined that 'Home's musical background, although worlds apart, has enabled them to arrive at a standpoint that is a weld of attitudes - the resultant sound is good, without being repetitive or pretentious. "The band worked closely together for six months,' it continued, 'to ensure that their musical direction was well defined before going into the studio. It is this attitude towards their music, coupled with the fact that their music is entirely original, that gives this, their first album, true distinction.' All songs were credited to Mick Stubbs bar two: the brief 'Welwyn Garden City Blues', a Stubbs / Wisefield - credited hoedown reminiscent of Heads Hands and Feet's Albert Lee and named after the Hertfordshire new town just north of London, and the band- composed 'In My Time', in Wisefield's words 'a funky, country-influenced kinda thing', that ended side one of the vinyl release. Only Moses' breached the five-minute mark in studio form, though certain stage favourites could be extended to nearly eight minutes' length.
Two of these were 'Red E Lewis And The Red Caps' and 'How Would It Feel'. The former was inspired by one of Mick Stubbs' older brothers who fronted a late-Fifties/early-Sixties band of that name through whose ranks Jimmy Page and future members of the Pirates Mick Green, Johnny Spence and Frank Farley passed. Live, Laurie Wisefield recalls, this 'big-time favourite of ours' could explode with guitar pyrotechnics: 'After the moody build-up, anything used to happen - and often did, as I got to open up and let go at the end!' 'How Would It Feel' and 'Family' in particular betrayed the influence of Bob Dylan's one-time backing outfit the Band. The riff Mick Stubbs came up with was one of Laurie Wisefield's favourites, and the song was routined at the Wisefields' home where early rehearsals were, staged.
Home were great favourites on BBC Radio One, for whom they would play many sessions. An audition was always required before approval was given, and the quartet received a unanimous pass. Producer Malcolm Brown was unstinting in his praise: 'I get the impression,' he reported, 'that when they settle down they will become quite a force in the business. The guitarist is only 17!' Stuart Henry, John Peel, Bob Harris and Pete Drummond would all feature Home sessions on their shows before the year was out.
Home started touring to promote their album and hit an early highpoint in November 1971 when they supported Led Zeppelin at the second Electric Magic Show at Wembley Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena). It was rare for Led Zeppelin to engage support bands, so it is a measure of Home's reputation that they got the gig. From then on, they opened for a series of established groups including labelmates Argent and the Jeff Beck Group, as well as Rod Stewart's Faces.
Home went on to record two further studio LPs, the eponymous second released in the autumn of 1972 and concept album "The Alchemist' which appeared in June 1973. A fourth Home long-player was started but didn't reach fruition as a disillusioned Mick Stubbs left both the band and the music business. After backing Al Stewart on a 1974 US tour, the remaining trio went their separate ways. Laurie Wisefield was headhunted by Wishbone Ash's Andy Powell as replacement for Ted Turner, while Cliff Williams eventually joined AC/DC, where he remains to this day. Mick Cook played with a re-formed Groundhogs and then Latin-jazzers Gonzales but, while Mick Stubbs played briefly with a local band called Paradise, he did relatively little musically thereafter. Both Mick Cook and Mick Stubbs sadly succumbed to cancer within a couple of years of each other around the turn of the millennium.
To describe 'Pause For A Hoarse Horse' as simply 'US-influenced country-rock' is to underrate an album that is comparable to the likes of Help Yourself, a band that also created some fantastic and underappreciated music around this time, or even the ever-eclectic Family. Other comparisons to have been thrown into the mix include Man, The Dog That Bit People and, unsurprisingly, early Wishbone Ash. At any rate, Home were far more inventive than they were imitative. Internet blogger SilverainTR hits the nail on the head by describing this debut album as 'a quiet gem, one that reflects and refracts subtle shades and colours in the setting sun rather than dazzling the listener with pyrotechnic displays
by Michael Heatley with thanks to Laurie Wisefield and Alan Kinsman
Tracks
1. Tramp - 3:13
2. Family - 3:33
3. Pause For A Hoarse Horse - 3:02
4. Red E Lewis And The Red Caps - 5:39
5. In My Time (Cliff Williams, Laurie Wisefield, Mick Cook, Mick Stubbs) - 3:58
6. How Would It Feel - 3:26
7. Bad Days - 4:04
8. Mother - 3:03
9. Moses - 5:04
10.Welwyn Garden City Blues - 1:19
11.You're No Good (Laurie Wisefield, Mick Stubbs) - 3:03
All songs by Mick Stubbs except where indicated
Home
*Mick Stubbs - Lead Vocals, Electric, 12-String Guitars
*Laurie Wisefield - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Cliff Williams - Bass Guitar, Vocals
*Mick Cook - Drums, Percussion
With
*Clive John - Keyboards, Mellotron
*John Weider - Violin
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