Hurdy Gurdy took shape in 1967 when three members broke away from the Danish ensemble Peter Belli & the B.B. Brothers. Guitarist Claus Bohling, drummer Jens Otzen, and English bassist Mac MacLeod—who was living temporarily in Denmark at the time—left Belli behind to launch a new psychedelic-hard rock trio. After MacLeod’s deportation the following year, the group relocated to England. Reports indicate that Donovan, an acquaintance of MacLeod’s from earlier sessions where Mac had served as a backing player, expressed interest in overseeing the trio’s rendition of the Donovan song “Hurdy Gurdy Man.” Instead, Donovan issued his own hit recording of the track, and Hurdy Gurdy remained silent on record during MacLeod’s tenure even though they cut material under the supervision of Chris White and Rod Argent from the Zombies. Two late-1960s performances by that lineup, “Neo Camel” and “Tick Tock Man,” surfaced decades later on the 2003 MacLeod collection The Incredible Musical Odyssey of the Original Hurdy Gurdy Man; both numbers stand out as loose, frenetic examples of era guitar psychedelia.
Bohling and Otzen soon returned to Denmark because they could not obtain work permits. Once home they recruited a replacement bassist and, during the early 1970s, completed a self-titled album for CBS Scandinavia. That routine early-1970s hard rock set, distinguished by Bohling’s Hendrix-influenced guitar lines, later received a CD reissue from Akarma.
