Thumping cowbell dominated groover from Switzerland based rockers
Label: Chapter One
Year of Release: 1973
Life's unfair. When unknown British groups score hits in the USA, we always make a huge fuss about it, marvelling at their superhuman ability to get to number 25 in the Billboard 100. "Bring out your Union Jack flags, British rock is back on the map again!" journalists cry, while people in the streets of Idaho claim never to have heard of whoever the hell it is we're celebrating.
When British bands score success in mainland Europe, on the other hand, we tend not to care and it seldom wins extra headlines or favours. This is probably how Duffy only managed to get one single out in the UK despite scoring some minor success across the Common Market with "Rock Solid".
There's no good reason for that, of course. Their sole UK 45, "Running Away", proves that Duffy were a powerful proposition, offering a thumping groover which owes as much to early seventies hard rock as it does the dominant rumble of glam. The flipside "The Joker" is even heavier and more impressive, moving into freak-rock territory with a pair of heavy hands.
The group consisted of Barry Coote on guitar, Joe Nason on keyboards, Stuart Reffold on lead vocals, Patrick Serjeant on bass and backing vocals, and Will Wright on drums. Reffold managed to put out a solo single in 1978 ("Kiss Your Lover Goodbye") and join groups such as Rock Island Live, Poker and The Fugitives, but apart from that, the group's activities as both musicians and a working group seemed to have petered out in all "territories" by the end of 1975.
I have to confess I haven't heard it myself, but several collectors (and indeed the "Tapestry of Delights" guide) have recommended their LP "Scruffy Duffy" as a particularly fine if obscure platter of seventies hard rock. Mint European copies tend to go for around £20-30 at the moment, so good luck on any eBay bids you want to make.
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