Bubble Puppy
One of the last groups signed to the legendary International Artists label, Bubble Puppy also gave the company its most substantial hit, Hot Smoke And Sasafrass. More mainstream than many of their contemporaries, this Texan quartet's debut album, A GATHERING OF PROMISES, showed traces of Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Moby Grape. An unstable unit, Bubble Puppy moved labels to ABC in 1970 and changed their name to Demian. Their eponymous album relied on progressive styles at the expense of melody and this aggregation was allowed to wither away. Rod Prince, the Puppy's lead guitarist, re-established the group in 1977 under the title Sirius, and the resultant release, ELECTRIC FLOW, recalled something of the old group's erstwhile fire. Ten years later he re-emerged with a reconstituted Bubble Puppy and an album, WHEELS GO ROUND, which bore a kinship with Z.Z. Top.