Chillum - Chillum...Plus (Reissue) (1971/2001)

Named for an Indian pipe often used to smoke marijuana, Chillum were a progressive rock band from Great Britain formed by keyboard man Ken Elliott and drummer Kieran O'Connor. Elliott and O'Connor had previously worked together in the group Second Hand, whose sound suggested a fusion of psychedelia and early prog rock; Second Hand released two albums, in 1968 and 1971, and were working up material for a third when guitarist Moggy Mead and vocalist Rob Elliott left the band. (Mead was already a replacement, signing on after original guitarist Bob Gibbons left the group, as was bassist George Hart, who came on board after the departure of Nick South.) When Ken Elliott and Kieran O'Connor began looking for new guitarists, an audition session with Tony McGill went so well that recordings of their jam session found their way onto the group's next album. With Hart returning on bass, the group opted to concentrate on instrumental material exclusively, and chose to change their name to reflect their new guitarist and new approach. Second Hand became Chillum, and Mushroom Records issued their debut album in late 1971. Chillum proved to be no more commercially successful than Second Hand (who never made much of a dent in the charts), and the group split up without recording a second LP. Several years later, Elliott and O'Connor would collaborate again in the synthesizer-based project Seventh Wave. An expanded edition of Chillum's sole album was released by Sunbeam Records in 2010.