PAST TREASURES // HERBAL MIXTURE

Formed in London, England in 1966, Herbal Mixture consisted of Tony McPhee (guitar/vocals), Pete Cruickshank (bass) – both ex-members of John Lee’s Groundhogs – and Mike Meekham (drums). The new act’s name was inspired by McPhee’s interest in alternative medicine. Herbal Mixture secured a contract with Columbia Records, for whom they recorded two inventive singles. ‘A Love That’s Died’ married pop and psychedelia through McPhee’s fuzz guitar playing, while the atmospheric ‘Machines’ opens with startling effects, before progressing through contrasting moods heightened by further compelling guitar work. Herbal Mixture split up in 1967 having failed to achieve commercial success either on record or as a live attraction. In 1968 McPhee and Cruickshank were reunited in the Groundhogs, leaving Herbal Mixture being McPhee’s least blues/R&B-oriented project, drawing more from early British mod and psychedelic influences.