The band consisted of keyboardist Michael Brown, bassist/vocalist Ian Lloyd, guitarist Steve Love, and drummer Bryan Madey, and had a Number 1 hit with a cover of Hot Chocolate's "Brother Louie.
Brown had already experienced substantial mainstream success, having led and performed with his group The Left Banke, which had made the U.S. charts with the Brown-penned singles "Walk Away Renee" (No.
They recruited New Yorkers Steve Love and Brian Madey and located an interested record label in Kama Sutra.
Too bad he voices the same old male sentiments—don't let me down, push me 'round, or complain when I leave at the dawning—because the music is special: dense, clean, kinetic, almost mid-Beatles in spirit, but contemporary."
The song about a black woman and her white boyfriend had been a UK hit for Hot Chocolate earlier that year.
(The group's soon-to-be new bassist, Kenny Aaronson, was responsible for the Motown-like bass line that helped give the song its funky character.)
Bassist Kenny Aaronson (b. April 14, 1952, Brooklyn) (formerly of Dust), who had performed bass on the "Brother Louie" cover, and keyboardist Ken Bichel (b.
He was co-founder (with Carmine Appice's brother Vinnie) of Axis, and he did sessions for Hall & Oates, Billy Squier, ex-Mountain Leslie West, Foghat, Bob Dylan, Tom Guerra, and Rick Derringer.