[2][3] After recruiting Bobby Jones as the new bass player, the group changed their name to Aorta in 1967, for a short period also adding Dan Hoagland (born Daniel Hoogland) on tenor sax.
With Jim Donlinger on lead vocals, the band recorded a single, "The Shape Of Things To Come", a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and included on the soundtrack to the movie Wild in the Streets by the fictional group Max Frost and the Troopers.
Aorta signed to Dunwich Productions, a company formed by Bill Traut, and the single was leased for release on Atlantic Records.
[3] The album has been described as a "startling record which was a mix of psychedelia, soul, jazz, folk, and rock... housed in a beautiful, graphic sleeve that has always overshadowed the great music from within.... Aorta is solid throughout, featuring strong musicianship, inventive studio wizardry, superb songs with a healthy dose of fuzz guitar and wonderful string and horn arrangements.
"[6] Neither the album nor the single "Strange" (a track written by Hoagland before he left the band)[1] c/w "Ode to Missy Mxyzosptlk" achieved significant sales.
[7] The group toured in support of bands such as Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and The Mothers of Invention, and were given a major showcase opportunity to impress music industry leaders at the Fillmore East in New York City.