History:

Pendulum surprsingly has a long and complicated history. The group originally formed as The Cobras and played around Berwick, PA. Several members were from the Millville area. The Cobras included Gene Sterner who was a constant in Pendulum. 

In the late 60's they changed their name to The Pendulums and then to The Pendulum. The group performed cover tunes and specialized in "pop and psych". They mainly played at The Varisty Grill but also played at Knoebel's, and several events in Millville. Membership around this period included Phil Weir on bass guitar, Gene Sterner on rhythm guitar, Bob Hock on lead guitar, Rick Dworsak on organ, Mike Swank on drums (replacing their original drummer Jim Reed) and Tony Racimas on lead vocals. The group had some regional succes from 1969 thru 1971. They auditioned for Mercury Records but were declined. They opened up for The Box Tops as well.  

In 1971 the group broke up and Weir and Dworsak formed a band called Juice. The group played for two years on the club scene before Dworsak left and randomly reformed Pendulum with Hock, Sterner, and Swank. The same year, rhe quartet recorded their only album, "Pendulum" on Baldwin Sound Productions. 

The album is a blending of lounge and prog rock. Several tracks have extended solo sections that are a bit uncharacteristic of the lounge genre. Though the band claimed Dworsak owned a piano, harpsichord, organ, and clavinet, only the latter two make appearances on the album. Hock handles the vocals and plays most of the guitar parts. Sterner mainly handled bass guitar but may have contributed rhythm guitar to a track or two. One original track is performed, "Journey To Nowhere", which was written by all four members. 

The band appeared to have broke up likely a year or two after the album was released. 

Review:

Pendulum (1974, Baldwin Sound Productions)

Rating: 6/10

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A solid affair that certainly made the local coal miners happy. Very good instrumentation and vocals however the cheesy levels are quite high on some tracks. The song selection is extremely notable and funny considering these guys were older than their contemporaries. 

I was revolted but still enjoyed their horrid cover of "Locomotive Breath" which somehow clicked despite singing the wrong lyrics. "Black Cloud", which was originally a country song by Eddy Arnold, is pretty good too and the long proggy breaks on "Give Me Good Lovin" are groovy.