The Gods – Genesis(1968)

Biography
The Gods were an English group founded in 1965. The original band members included Mick Taylor (later with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones), Brian Glascock, his brother John (later with Jethro Tull), keyboardist Ken Hensley (later with Uriah Heep) and Joe Konas. Lee Kerslake (drums) joined in 1967 and would later also play in Uriah Heep. Greg Lake (later of Emerson Lake Palmer fame) joined in 1967 and left the band after approximately one year.
Taylor, Glascock and Glascock were schoolmates from Hatfield and had been playing together as The Juniors (or The Strangers), a band they formed in 1962. Also part of this band were Malcolm Collins (vocals) and Alan Shacklock (guitar). They eventually signed with EMI / Columbia Records. Their first 7″ single (Columbia DB7339) appeared in 1964 (“There’s a Pretty Girl”/”Pocket Size”). In 1965, the line-up changed. Mick Taylor continued to play guitar and teamed up with Hensley (organ/vocals). They also added Konas (guitar/vocals) and changed their name to “The Gods”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_(band)

Album & Cover
Originally released on Columbia in 1968. Re-issued in 2015 by Warner. The Gods’ debut album was the sound of a band capturing the transition of British psychedelia into more ostentatious progressive hard rock. Ken Hensley’s heavy Hammond organ was the center of their sound, and both that and the sometimes overbearing vibrato vocals pointed toward the less psychedelic sounds he and drummer Lee Kerslake would pursue in Uriah Heep. Genesis is undoubtedly lighter than Uriah Heep, though, often employing characteristically late-’60s British vocal harmonies. Some tunes, like “Candles Getting Shorter” and “Radio Show,” even skirt a pop-soul sensibility. But the songs weren’t terribly memorable, though they were segued together by brief odd’n’goofy instrumental bits at the end of tracks in keeping with the modus operandi of the psychedelic era. The Mellotron in “I Never Know” does rather remind one of the way the instrument was used on King Crimson’s first album, though King Crimson inserted it into much better material. Review By Richie Unterberger.

Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK.
Who Did What: Cover Design – Hipgnosis. Photography – A. Powell/S. Thorgerson.
Label: Columbia SCX 6286(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Ken Hensley – Keyboards, Vocals
Joe Konas – Guitars, Vocals
John Glascock – Bass, Vocals
Lee Kerslake – Drums, Vocals
Producer – David A. Paramor
Engineer – Peter Vince