Forgotten heavy bands from late 60's to early 70's

The "Frost"

Great call sonofjim! I may just have to play "Black Cloud" this evening.

Trapeze. Members went on to Deep Purple and Judas Priest. Medusa may be their best album.

Pehare - It goes to show that the song is the key to great music. Take away the great songs and all you get is bad music played well. Reminds me of Rush.

good one chayro...i used to have an 8-track (cutout) of Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends w/Nicky Hopkins & basically led zep minus plant backing him.

Lord Sutch. There should be a law.

Crack the Sky "Live Sky"

Vanila Fudge...............

-Stongly second the 1st Sir Lord Baltimore.
-1st Trettioariga Kriget (genius brain melting stuff)
-John McLaughlin - Devotion
-Patto 1st
-High Tide - Sea Shanties
-Budgie - 1st or Squawk
-Steamhammer - Speech, (also check out Armageddon)
-Captain Beyond
-Skid Row (w/ Gary Moore)
-Guru Guru - UFO
-Groundhogs - Split
-Pink Fairies - Never Neverland
-Deviants 3
-Ursa Major - Ursa Major (Dick Wagner before R&R Animal)
Fortunately there are lots of others... have fun hunting em' down!

I always thought Witchfinder General was pretty cool. They sounded a lot like Sabbath

Not a Heavy Metal band but a Heavy Classic Rock band, Spooky Tooth made a classic album, "Spooky Two", great album. That's the only one I can recommend. They put out others you might want to explore if you like Spooky Two.

Hawkwind and Spirit

Some more familiar names from the early 70's:
Uriah Heep
Try Live, Demons and Wizards, the Magician's Birthday
Wishbone Ash
Try Argus and live Dates.
While not as acid drenched as 13th floor elevators, these two are definately very heavy. Uriah Heep Live is an all time classic and Wishbone Ash was one of the first bands to use a dual lead guitar approach which definately inspired Iron Maiden, Priest, etc.

Terry Reid. A forgotten legend.

Here's some (on the more obscure side) heavy LP's I'd recommend you to check out for starters...from memory so hopefully correct...

Blue Cheer - Outside Inside (1968)
Bloodrock - same (1971)
Lucifers Friend - same (1970)
Pulse - same (1968)
Highway Robbery - same (1972)
Demian - same (1972)
Bolder Damn - Mourning (1971)
Night Sun - Mournin (1972)
Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come and same (1971-72)

...and if you dig this - also check Masters Of Reality - same (1988 i think)...

Roky Erickson (13th floor elevators) is IMHO one of the great, quirky artists to emerge at that time. I really love the way that he's rooted in the blues and how that lends substance to his music. There's a 2 disc compilation that covers a lot of the good stuff..otherwise you can pick up the individual releases and live with the bad as well as the good.

Moby Grape is the other name that immediately comes to mind, but their stuff, while good, never IMHO rises to the level of Roky's best work. You could also look at Iron Butterfly, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and a bunch of others that each have their own charm.

Caveat: Definitely not for every taste.

Marty