Mirkwood was a 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...

 progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band formed in early 1971 by guitarists Mick Morris and Jack Castle. The band's ancestry can be traced to the original Dover-based, Rolling Stones, a skiffle

Skiffle

Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...

 and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 band formed in 1956.

When Mirkwood's original drummer Steve Smith left, his replacement was Nick 'Topper' Headon, who occupied the drum chair for a year and a half, during which time Mirkwood supplemented their own gigs by working as support to bigger name acts including Supertramp

Supertramp

Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...

. Topper Headon

Topper Headon

Headon was extensively interviewed for the Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten documentary film about the late Clash frontman. He related his experiences during this period, how he became addicted to heroin and how there were problems before his dismissal...

 eventually left Mirkwood and joined The Clash

The Clash

The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

. The band made its final appearance (at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury) in July 1978.

Mirkwood recorded one eponymous album of original material released on the Flams record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 (PR 1067). Some years later, the Mirkwood album had become the most expensive listed in Record Collector

Record Collector

Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...

magazine. It has since been re-released several times, most recently in 2008 on Red Admiral Records, (REDAD CDA556). A review of the album by Classic Rock Society

Classic Rock Society

Classic Rock Society, also known as the CRS, began life in 1991, originally as a society founded in Rotherham, England at the Florence Nightingale public house, which quickly progressed to become a large and well recognised organisation helping to forward the cause of Progressive rock, and Classic...

magazine described it as " ..... a fine piece of work .... (combining) slick guitar work, thrilling vocals and imaginative composition and arrangements ...... from a band that could have gone on to great things".

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