Page Title

When the shock of losing Jim Morrison finally began

to abate, the remaining three Doors took the first

tentative steps of piecing the facets of their

shattered diamond back together. How to replace a singer

of the stature and charisma of Morrison was the

only problem they had to overcome. Strangely enough

they looked to England for a solution.

The late 60's and early 70's had produced a plethora of

weird and wonderful groups with equally strange

singers. Whether any of them had the required extra spark

to replace Jim remained to be seen. Rumours that

Jess Roden, Terry Reid or rock-crazy Kevin Coyne were

to join the Doors abounded but the name that seemed to

crop up the most was the unique vocal talent of a

gentleman by the name of Howard Werth.

To American Doors fans the name meant little but to

the knowledgeable English rock fan he was

synonymous with a neat little Charisma label band

The late great "uncle" Tony Stratton-Smith made them

one of his early Charisma signings along with bands of

the caliber of Van Der Graaf Generator, Capability

Brown, Lindisfarne and Genesis which made his label one

of the finest ever for introducing fresh talent to the

British public.

Formed from the ashes of a bizarre psychedelic soul

band called "The Lloyd Alexander Blues Band" in 1969

and based around a loose concept dreamt up by Howard

two years previously, their debut album attracted

little interest except for "uncle" Tony snapping them up

for Charisma. The outstanding track on this first effort was

"Maidens Cry", a "Stairway to Heaven" rip off the

cynic might say except that in 1969 when it was

released Audience were supporting Led Zeppelin and

the Zepp lads were never averse to "borrowing"

other peoples ideas. (bless 'em)

The band was based around Howard Werth's amazing

voice and his, then, unique electric nylon string

guitar technique. The driving rhythm of Trevor

Williams bass and Tony Connor's clever drum

work provided Audience with substance but it was

the unbelievable talent of Keith Gemmill's saxophones

and woodwinds that made them special. The first

"real" Audience album "Friends, Friends Friend"

was released on Charisma in 1970. (cont'd)