Watch Cozy Powell and Bedlam play Dance With The D…
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After stints with the Jeff Beck Group and session work for Mickie Most’s RAK label, legendary drummer Cozy Powell formed his own band, Bedlam, in 1973. They hit the ground running with Dance With The Devil, a drum-led instrumental based on Jimi Hendrix‘s Third Stone From The Sun.
“The idea for Dance… was all Mickie’s – he gave us a rough drum riff,” said Cozy. “It took about 20 minutes and I didn’t think any more of it until a month later when I was asked to do Top Of The Pops, and it became this massive thing.”
An unlikely UK hit in late 1973, Dance With The Devil – which originally featured RAK labelmate Suzi Quatro on bass – was performed on Top Of The Tops alongside guitarist Bernie Marsden, keyboard player Don Airey and bassist Neil Murray, all who’d have important roles to play in Cozy’s future.
The song also crept into the Top 100 in the US, and in February 1974 Powell – now accompanied by bothers Dave and Denny Ball on guitar and bass, plus singer Frankie Aiello – headed across the Atlantic for a tour supporting Black Sabbath.
While in the US the band stopped by the studios of The Midnight Special and filmed two songs – Dance With The Devil and Set Me Free – for an episode broadcast in early May, and footage of the former is the latest clip to find its way into the show’s ever-growing YouTube archive.
Bedlam disintegrated later the same year due to disagreements about their musical direction, but Powell was only getting started.
He formed Cozy Powell’s Hammer (joined by Bernie Marsden) before becoming a member of Rainbow (briefly playing alongside Don Airey) and then Black Sabbath (including two stints with Neil Murray). Murray would also join Powell in a new version of Cozy Powell’s Hammer, and the two would play together in Brian May’s band.
Powell ended up playing on more than 60 albums, recording with everyone from Robert Plant to Cinderella and becoming one of rock’s most beloved drummers. But for those who don’t even know his name, they’ll surely remember those rattling, chart-scaling drums on Dance With The Devil.
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