The Gods

The Gods are probably better known for including a few famous British rock stars as members -- before those musicians went on to international recognition -- than they are for the two albums they actually released. Two future <a href="spotify:artist:45O9BwPMyywM755SYUK0sP">Uriah Heep</a> stalwarts, keyboardist/singer <a href="spotify:artist:60ztBo3v68OYEaicdHnutg">Ken Hensley</a> and drummer Lee Kerslake, both played on those albums, and prior to the first Gods band album, both <a href="spotify:artist:4tkgLX1wdWoOu2lyeQNYAi">Mick Taylor</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6Uw88LgaxdanDItfR0JyJ8">Greg Lake</a> had passed through the lineup. The two Gods albums were undistinguished, keyboard-based rock that were midway between late-'60s British pop-psychedelia and early-'70s heavy progressive rock. They were less histrionic than <a href="spotify:artist:45O9BwPMyywM755SYUK0sP">Uriah Heep</a> by a long shot, but nor were they very distinguished, settling into the second or third class of late-'60s British rock music.

The Gods started in Hatfield, England, in 1965 as a blues-based band including <a href="spotify:artist:60ztBo3v68OYEaicdHnutg">Hensley</a> and future <a href="spotify:artist:22bE4uQ6baNwSHPVcDxLCe">Rolling Stones</a> guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:4tkgLX1wdWoOu2lyeQNYAi">Mick Taylor</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:4tkgLX1wdWoOu2lyeQNYAi">Taylor</a> left in 1967 to join <a href="spotify:artist:2ScuQMRWThcifBRIvNDFDC">John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers</a>, and the Gods disbanded for a few months before re-forming, with only <a href="spotify:artist:60ztBo3v68OYEaicdHnutg">Hensley</a> left from the first version. <a href="spotify:artist:6Uw88LgaxdanDItfR0JyJ8">Greg Lake</a> played in this lineup for a while, but he quit before the Gods' debut album, Genesis, was recorded in 1968; soon, of course, <a href="spotify:artist:6Uw88LgaxdanDItfR0JyJ8">Lake</a> would resurface in <a href="spotify:artist:7M1FPw29m5FbicYzS2xdpi">King Crimson</a> and then <a href="spotify:artist:0nCiidE5GgDrc5kWN3NZgZ">Emerson, Lake & Palmer</a>. Genesis didn't make much of an impact, nor did some non-LP singles, including a 1969 cover of "Hey Bulldog," quite possibly the only attempt at making that obscure <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a>' song into a hit. The Gods disbanded in early 1969, though a second album, To Samuel a Son, was posthumously released in 1970. Both Gods' albums have been reissued on CD by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Repertoire%22">Repertoire</a>, with the non-LP 45's added as bonus tracks. Drummer Lee Kerslake died on September 19, 2020, at the age of 73. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi