The Doc Thomas Group

From the tangled tree around twelve ’60s bands that fed in to the eventual formation of Mott the Hoople, the Doc Thomas Group were perhaps one of the most important, chiefly because they actually released an album. Upcoming Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Pete W were both up to speed when the group documented their singular LP (released just in Italy, where these were based for a while) in past due 1966. Upcoming Mott drummer Dale Griffin (aka Buffin) became a member of the music group in the springtime of 1967, although he doesn’t show up on the record, which highlighted Stan Tippins as business lead vocalist. The self-titled LP consisted completely of R&B/spirit covers, performed derivatively and nearly competently, in the design of mod rings of the time like the Little Encounters. The Doc Thomas Group battled on until 1968, changing their name to Silence by adding organist Terry (shortly to be Verden) Allen; from that time, it was just a matter of recruiting Ian Hunter to displace Tippins to generate Mott the Hoople in 1969. The incredibly uncommon Doc Thomas Group record was reissued on Compact disc in 1998, on the disk that also included a Silence “reunion” program documented in 1990.