Speech was the fourth and last album of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 blues-rock

Blues-rock

Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...

 band Steamhammer

Steamhammer (band)

Steamhammer was a blues-rock band from Worthing, England. The band was founded in 1968 by Martin Quittenton and Kieran White...

.

In 1971, Kieran White

Kieran White

Kieran Raymond White was a British vocalist and guitarist. He sang and played in the blues-rock band Steamhammer, formed in 1968. Their debut album Steamhammer was released in 1969, on which he co-wrote many of the songs and also played harmonica. He left the band in 1971...

 and Steve Davy left Steamhammer, and bassist Louis Cennamo

Louis Cennamo

Louis David Cennamo was bass guitarist with an early line up of The Herd, the original line-up of Renaissance and later Colosseum, Steamhammer, Armageddon and Illusion . He also worked with Jim McCarty in Stairway. The song "Bullet", on the first Renaissance album, includes an extended...

 joined guitarist Martin Pugh

Martin Pugh

Martin John Pugh is a British guitarist who came to prominence after joining blues-rock band Steamhammer in 1968, staying with that band through five years and four albums. Their debut album, Steamhammer, was released in 1969 and yielded a minor hit single in Europe, "Junior's Wailing"...

 and drummer Mick Bradley. This lineup, together with session vocalist Garth Watt-Roy, recorded this album, which was released in 1972. It consisted of three long and mostly instrumental songs.

Due to the Bradley's untimely death from leukemia, shortly after the album's release, Steamhammer dissolved, and Speech ended up being their final album. After Bradley's death, the remaining members, guitarist Martin Pugh and Cennamo later joined up with former Yardbirds vocalist Keith Relf

Keith Relf

Keith William Relf , was a musician best known as the lead singer and harmonica player of The Yardbirds. After the Yardbirds broke up Relf formed the acoustic duo Together, with fellow Yardbird Jim McCarty, followed by Renaissance, which also featured his sister, singer Jane Relf, then hard rock...

 (who also contributed uncredited lyrics and background vocals to this record) and drummer Bobby Caldwell

Bobby Caldwell

Bobby Caldwell is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who, despite a prolific musical output over his 30-year career, is still best known for his 1978 hit single "What You Won't Do for Love". While he has always maintained a devoted fan base in the United States, a legendary...

, formerly of Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...

's band and Captain Beyond

Captain Beyond

Captain Beyond was an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1971.-History:The original line-up for Captain Beyond were singer Rod Evans, drummer Bobby Caldwell, guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt, bassist Lee Dorman and keyboardist Lewie Gold...

, to form Armageddon.

Track listing

Side 1:

1. Penumbra (22:42)
   • a.) Entrance
   • b.) Battlements
   • c.) Passage To Remorse
   • d.) Sightless Substance
   • e.) Moral Thought

Side 2:

1. Telegram (12:00)
2. For Against (10:58)

Band members

• Martin Pugh
  Martin Pugh
  Martin John Pugh is a British guitarist who came to prominence after joining blues-rock band Steamhammer in 1968, staying with that band through five years and four albums. Their debut album, Steamhammer, was released in 1969 and yielded a minor hit single in Europe, "Junior's Wailing"...
  
   - guitar, vocals
• Louis Cennamo
  Louis Cennamo
  Louis David Cennamo was bass guitarist with an early line up of The Herd, the original line-up of Renaissance and later Colosseum, Steamhammer, Armageddon and Illusion . He also worked with Jim McCarty in Stairway. The song "Bullet", on the first Renaissance album, includes an extended...
  
   - bass, vocals
• Mick Bradley - drums

Session musicians

• Garth Watt-Roy - clarinet, vocals
• Keith Relf
  Keith Relf
  Keith William Relf , was a musician best known as the lead singer and harmonica player of The Yardbirds. After the Yardbirds broke up Relf formed the acoustic duo Together, with fellow Yardbird Jim McCarty, followed by Renaissance, which also featured his sister, singer Jane Relf, then hard rock...
  
  (uncredited) - lyrics, background vocals

Product details

• Audio CD (November 14, 2002)
• Original release date: 1972
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Repertoire
• ASIN: B00000743R

Also:

• Audio CD (October 11, 2005)
• Original release date: 1972
• Number of discs: 1
• Label: Akarma Italy
• ASIN: B00009Y34Y

External links

• Prog Archives information
• Steamhammer official website by Martin Pugh