In the summer of 1969, keyboardist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer quit The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and returned to England to form their own band. They recruited bassist/lead vocalist Nick Graham and became Atomic Rooster. It was Crane’s band from the beginning — he wrote seven of the eight songs, with Graham and Palmer contributing to two; the other was a cover of John Mayall’s “Broken Wings.” His organ and Graham’s flute give the music a jazzy, proggy feel, but the lyrics are dark, even despairing: the chorus to “Winter” is just the line “What is the point of going on?” repeated several times. Palmer’s drumming is surprisingly restrained, though he goes off a few times, previewing what he’d be doing in Emerson, Lake & Palmer very soon.