Various We're An American Band - A Journey Through The USA Hard Rock Scene 1967 - 1973 (3-CD Box)

(Grapefruit Records) 62 tracks, digisleeve in gatefold box, incl. 47 pp. Booklet with pictures and details of all bands

A four-hour 3CD set documenting the birth and early development of American hard rock.

Hit singles, important album tracks and great rarities of a genre that became a dominant force in US music.

In the late '60s, pop evolved into rock with the parallel emergence of psychedelia and the blues-based power trio format. In America, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, street drugs, and increasingly powerful amplifiers, bands became harder, heavier, rougher, and louder. Commercially successful bands like Vanilla Fudge, Steppenwolf, Blue Cheer and Iron Butterfly pioneered a new wave of bands whose sound would later be called heavy metal.

In three CDs and four hours of music, "We're An American Band" shows the evolution of hard rock in the late '60s and early '70s, culminating in Grand Funk's single of the same name, which topped the charts in late 1973. In addition to the bands already mentioned, Alice Cooper, The Stooges, ZZTop, MC5 and Love, hard rock dilettantes (Todd Rundgren, Kim Fowley, even Muddy Waters) and pioneers like Kurt Cobain-backed Satanic rockers Coven and early metallers Sir Lord Baltimore make appearances. We have tracks from some of the most valuable vinyl LPs on the planet (Bolder Damn, Brigade), extremely rare local singles (The Mass Confusion Rock Band, Wildwood) and important music that was unreleased at the time (B. F. Trike, Cold Sun, etc.).

"We're An American Band" is housed in a gatefold box set with a 48-page accompanying booklet and offers a fascinating glimpse into the epic journey of American rock from the depths of the underground counterculture of the late '60s to mainstream acceptance in the mid-'70s.