by adamus67 Bedlam (originally known as Beast when it formed in 1972) was a British hard rock band featuring singer Frank Aiello (from Truth), guitarist Dave Ball (from Procol Harum), bassist Dennis Ball (formerly with Long John Baldry), and drummer Cozy Powell (formerly with Jeff Beck). They made one self-titled album produced by Felix Pappalardi (producer of Cream, member of Mountain) in 1973, before breaking up in 1974. allmusic.com This band should have been as big as Led Zeppelin. The signs were all there, moody and magnificent blues guitarist of the highest caliber in the form of Dave Ball (from Procol Harum) a firm rock, thunderous bass - Dennis Ball (formerly with Long John Baldry) - the voice of a banshee cockney Frank Aiello (from Truth) and Mr Cozy Powell on drums. Bedlam were signed to Chrysalis Records and released their self-titled debut in 1973 remains a classic,a true gem of hard rock, Powell broke up the band in 1974 to pursue other projects. The self-titled studio album is a very solid slice of bluesy, funky hard rock, produced by Felix Pappalardi (Mountain), that surprisingly didn't garner more attention than it did. Not too far removed from what was coming out of the Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Cactus, Mountain, Budgie, Free, or Nazareth camps at the time, Bedlam showed a penchant for memorable, heavy rocking songs that featured the stellar musical interplay of Powell and the Ball brothers, plus the powerful vocals of Aiello. Though many tunes have a blues background, Ball's riffs are heavy, especially on tracks like "Believe in You", "Hot Lips", and "Seven Long Years", but there's also a funkiness at times that reminds of what Deep Purple where soon to jump into on the Burn and Stormbringer albums. For those who crave those heavy rockin', blues & boogie sounds of bands like Cactus and Mountain, check out the monstrous "Whiskey and Wine" and the hard driving "Putting On the Flesh" for some distorted riffs and crashing drum fills. "Set Me Free" is a bruising heavy rock track, with Aiello sounding a bit like Jack Bruce and the rest of the band really getting down and dirty for some fine proto-metal. It's songs like this that makes it mind boggling that this band didn't get more attention. Considered one of England's best drummers and a lot of demand for rock and pop Cozy Powell was almost legendary for a heavy hit style that could be done to work with many types of rock music, whether for the thundering pop productions helmed by Mickie Most Black Sabbath Emerson Lake & Powell or even his own solo work (notably "Dance with the Devil" which was a major English hit in 1973) Powell began his professional music career in 1965 with sorcerers eventually decommissioning work with Jeff Beck after Beck left the Yardbirds in 1971, Powell formed Bedlam, but eventually abandoned this project to produce singles such as "Dance with the Devil" He later imageas Cozy Powell's Hammer, which broke up in 1975 after a brief sabbatical, he joined Rainbow helps to give the band a section thunderous rhythm before exiting after four years and four albums in 1980, always in demand for the drum seat, he alternated between session work and working in different bands, including the Michael Schenker Group, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath never staying in one band for very long In 1996, he worked with former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green on his long-awaited comeback tour at the time of his death on April 5, 1998 he was recovering from a foot injury which had sidelined him from touring work with guitarist Yngvie Malmsteen He was driving on the M4 towards Bristol when he apparently lost control of his car (due toto bad weather) slamming into the center divider of the highway, he died some hours later in hospital.