This is another of my "slipped through the cracks," choices. I really liked Home in the early seventies, and then they sort of fizzled out. One thing about them that definitely stands out is Laurie Wisefield's guitar work. You can hear (especially on Dear Lord, I think) why he got invited to join Wishbone Ash. There are definite echoes of The Ash's Pilgrimage in parts of this album.

Home was formed by Cliff Williams and Laurie Wisefield in 1970 after their first group together, 'Sugar', split. They teamed up with guitarist and vocalist Mick Stubbs and drummer Mick Cook. They signed to CBS Records in 1971 and released their first album, Pause for a Hoarse Horse, in August. They started touring in November when they supported Led Zeppelin at the second Electric Magic Show at the Empire Pool, Wembley. From then on, they opened for groups such as Argent, The Jeff Beck Group, and The Faces. In September of the same year, they went into the studio again to record the Home album. The LP reached number 41 in the UK Albums Chart.

The band went on to support Mott the Hoople's UK tour at London's Rainbow Theatre on 14 & 15 October 1972. The NME wrote in their review of the show on 15 October that "Those who went to see Mott the Hoople that night came back talking about Home instead." In January 1973, the NME named them the fifth 'most promising new name' in their readers poll. In March, the group did two shows opening for glam rock band Slade at Empire pool Wembley . Then in July they released the concept album The Alchemist. The band said it was inspired by the novel Dawn of Magic by Louis Pauwels. It was hailed by the Disc magazine as 'a work of genius' but did not make an impact commercially.

After Mick Stubbs left the band, they toured the United States as a backing band for Al Stewart (another huge plus for me, as a "nod" from Al means a lot.) from May to June in 1974. Sadly, no recordings exist of Al with Home to the best of my knowledge.

A fourth Home album was recorded, but never released. After that the group split.

Following the 1974 split, Cliff Williams went to join Bandit from 1975 to 1977. After he left them, he was asked to replace AC/DC bassist Mark Evans and remained with the band until his retirement in 2016.

Laurie Wisefield joined Wishbone Ash and stayed with them until the mid-1980s.

Mick Cook joined the new lineup of The Groundhogs in late 1975 where he replaced Clive Brooks on drums and in the 80s played with Lickmalolly.

Mick Stubbs was a member of the short lived Paradise in 1975 and continued as a performer and writer (including the Lulu single "I Love to Boogie" 1979), and re-uniting with Cook for gigs.

Give 'em a go, and tell me what you think.