This group was formed by singer/guitarist Paul Eastment (formerly of Velvett Fogg) in Birmingham during 1969. Drummer Charlie Grima was formerly with the Wellington Kitch Jump Band. The original name for the band was "Holy Ghost" but was soon shortened in order to avoid negative publicity. Local singer/songwriter Shirley Kent later joined the group and they started recording an album in 1969 with a single being released from it entitled 'When You're Dead' was strong song with a clear US West Coast influence. It was hardly Chart material, though, so predictably sales were poor. The album came out in January 1970. on the Gemini Records label in the UK and in 1971 on Ekipo Records in Spain put The Ghost in the "progressive" music category although there was also a strong folk influence that was probably due to Shirley Kent's involvement.
There's a clear contrast between the folk pieces that Shirley Kent sings on like 'Hearts And Flowers' and 'Time Is My Enemy', which in style recall Sandy Denny's heyday in Fairport Convention, and the blues-rock numbers contributed by the rest of the band, of which For One Second sounds the strongest. Also worth checking out is the powerful 'Too Late To Cry' and 'Night Of The Warlock' just sat there stunned, a stupid slack jaws expression on my face, stabbing at the repeat button over and over. The album has now become a major collector's item, partly on account of its rarity but also on account of the breadth of its appeal to fans of both blues-rock and folk,it is overall a really good combination of fast paced psychedelic rockers and more gentle, folk-influenced tracks. The music is mostly pretty organ driven and the bass guitar is just dope on every track. There is also a lot of great guitarwork and that is what I like. The vocals of Eastment, Shirley Kent and Dan MacGuire are mostly really good and the instruments sound awesome.
The band returned to the studio in Spring 1970 to record a second Ghost single was released later in 1970 'I've Got To Get To Know You'. Another track from their album, 'For One Second', was put on the flip, but when the 45 failed to sell the band slowly began to fall apart.
Eventually Shirley Kent left the group soon after to start a solo career,released an album in 1975, 'Fresh Out', under the pseudonym Virginia Tree. I haven't heard it but it's reputedly folkier than Ghost's output and featured former band members Paul Eastment and Terry Guy on three of the tracks. The remaining members continued after changing the band's name to Resurrection but later split up with no further recordings being released. Charlie Grima went on to join Roy Wood's chart-topping group Wizzard (see The Move) and later embarked on an acting career.
Credit
*Daniel MacGuire - Bass Guitar
*Charlie Grima - Drums, Percussion
*Paul Eastment - Lead Guitar
*Terry Guy - Organ, Piano
*Shirley Kent - Vocals
http://rockasteria.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/the-ghost-when-youre-dead-one-second.html
