Indian Summer - S/T Self-Titled (1971, UK) 12" Vinyl LP Album

- Neon NE 3 gatefold: the UK prog cult LP collectors still chase today in the wild

Album Front cover Photo of Indian Summer - S/T Self-Titled (1971, UK) 12-inch Vinyl LP Album https://vinyl-records.nl/

False-colour desert scene: a huge pink cactus dominates the foreground, rooted in purple gravel. A pale shoreline cuts across the middle under a dark sky, while a small fox-like animal prowls at bottom left. RCA and Neon logos sit above the title.

Indian Summer didn’t “break through” in 1971 so much as sneak into the British progressive rock underground and squat there forever. This Neon one-off is a collector’s favourite because it feels like damp Midlands ambition turned into sound: organ mist, sharp guitar flares, and drums that shove the long songs along. “God Is The Dog” sprawls, “Half Changed Again” bites back, and “Black Sunshine” smoulders in that uneasy hard-prog glow. Rodger Bain produced it (yes, that Rodger Bain), and on a rainy Sunday needle-drop it still sounds stubbornly alive.

Indian Summer's Self-Titled Debut: A Glimpse into British Progressive Rock

Album Description:

Indian Summer’s self-titled LP (Neon NE 3, 1971) is one of those British prog records that doesn’t kick the door in. It just appears — quietly, confidently — like it expects you to lean in. Gatefold sleeve, proper UK Neon aura, and that Keef artwork doing the classic early-’70s trick: make a landscape look like it’s been photographed through a dream and then turned inside-out.

I always picture this one living in a slightly battered rack in a Midlands record shop — Coventry band, formed in 1969, and you can hear that mix of factory-town seriousness and “let’s get weird with it” ambition. No glitter. No Los Angeles nonsense. Just four guys trying to stretch a song until it tells the truth.

Historical Context
Neon as a label had a taste for the slightly left-of-centre, and this album fits like a glove that’s been worn in rain. It shows up in 1971, right when prog wasn’t a punchline yet — before it got swallowed by stadium bombast and keyboard castles. Indian Summer don’t sound like they’re chasing fame. They sound like they’re chasing the next idea, even if it runs off into the bushes. :

Musical Exploration
Side one opens with “God Is The Dog”, and it doesn’t so much start as it unfurls — organ and guitar circling each other, then locking in like two blokes arguing politely in a pub. “Emotions Of Men” and “Glimpse” have that classic UK prog habit of switching moods mid-sentence. Then “Half Changed Again” turns the screws a little tighter, because apparently nobody here is interested in staying comfortable.

Flip it over and the darker colours come out: “Black Sunshine”, “From The Film Of The Same Name”, “Secrets Reflected”. Titles that sound like they were scribbled at 2 a.m. on the back of a gig flyer — and honestly, good. The closer, “Another Tree Will Grow”, lands softer, but not sweet. More like the record finally exhales after holding its breath for forty minutes.

Producers and Engineers
Rodger Bain produced it, and that matters — not because we need a name to salute, but because he knew how to capture a band without sanding off the edges. Robin Cable engineered, and the whole thing was recorded and mixed at Trident Studios in London, which explains why it sounds like proper money without sounding polite.

Album Cover Design
The sleeve is Keef doing what Keef does: false-colour photographic weirdness that makes you stare too long and then question your eyesight. It’s not “pretty”. It’s not meant to be. It’s Neon-era Britain in a single image — slightly alien, slightly scorched, and stubbornly memorable.

Legacy
They didn’t last — the band were essentially done by early 1972 — so this album sits there like a one-and-done statement. I respect that. One proper shot, no filler career arc, no ten reunion tours with “special guests.” Just NE 3, a gatefold, and eight tracks that still feel like they’re trying to prove something to the room. And sometimes… that’s exactly what I want to hear.

References

Collector Notes:

The value of the album "Indian Summer" can be estimated at least 120€ (2015)

Music Genre:

Progressive Rock 

Album Production Information:

The album: "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" was produced by: Rodger Bain for Big Bear, Birmingham

  • Rodger Bain – Record Producer

    The man who bottled early heavy metal before anyone dared call it that.

    Rodger Bain was the sharp-eared architect behind the birth of British heavy metal, and I still tip my hat to the way he captured raw volume without sanding off its teeth. Between 1969 and 1971 he produced Black Sabbath’s first three albums, forging that ominous, down-tuned thunder at Regent Sound and Island Studios. In 1970 he also helmed Budgie’s debut, giving Welsh hard rock real muscle. He worked with Judas Priest on “Rocka Rolla” in 1974, steering their early sound before the twin-guitar assault fully ignited. Bain didn’t polish bands—he framed their menace and let the amps breathe fire.

    Rodger Bain Wiki

    • Sound/Recording Engineer(s): Robin Cable

    This album was recorded at: Trident Studios, London

    Album cover design: Keef

    Record Label & Catalognr:

    NEON NE-3, Essex Music International

    Album Packaging:

    Gatefold/FOC (Fold Open Cover) Album Cover Design with artwork / photos on the inside cover pages

    Media Format:

    12" LP Vinyl Stereo Gramophone Record
    Total Album (Cover+Record) weight: 280 gram  

    Year & Country:

    1971 Made in England
    Personnel/Band Members and Musicians on: INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3
      Band-members, Musicians and Performers
    • Bob Jackson - keyboards, lead vocal
    • Colin Williams - guitars, vocals
    • Paul Hooper - drums, percussion, vocal
    • Malcolm Harker - bass, vibes, vocal
    Complete Track-listing of the album "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3"

    The detailed tracklist of this record "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" is:

      Track-listing Side One:
    1. God Is The Dog 6:38
    2. Emotions Of Man 5:44
    3. Glimpse 6:45
    4. Half Changed Again 6:27
      Side Two:
    1. Black Sunshine 5:25
    2. From The Film Of The Same Name 5:53
    3. Secrets Reflected 6:50
    4. Another Tree Will Grow 6:06

    Collector’s Note: Neon NE 3: the Gatefold That Never Ages Gracefully

    Neon was RCA’s blink-and-you-miss-it UK prog experiment: a reported nine-month sprint that still managed to spit out eleven LPs before the lights went off. Indian Summer’s debut sits right near the front of that run as NE 3, which is why collectors circle it like sharks pretending they’re calm.

    The album wasn’t a chart-conquering hero in 1971; it was the kind of record that got ignored, then quietly turned into a problem decades later. Most copies I see wear the standard black Neon label, but it’s the matt gatefold that takes the beating—soft, scuff-prone, and allergic to careless shelving.

    I’ve learned to check the spine first, because “Near Mint” isn’t a grade here, it’s a unicorn. Prices? Clean originals can flirt with £200+ when the market’s in one of its moods—same collector sickness as a Vertigo swirl, just with different wallpaper.

    High Quality Photo of Album Front Cover  "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3"
    Album Back Cover  Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3"
    Album Back Cover  Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3"  
    Inner Sleeve   of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Album
    Inner Sleeve   of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Album
    Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Album's Inner Sleeve  
    Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Album's Inner Sleeve  
    Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" 12" LP Record
    Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" 12" LP Record  
    Close-up Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Record Label 
    Close-up Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Record Label   
    Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" 12" LP Record
    Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" 12" LP Record  
    Close-up Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Record Label 
    Close-up Photo of "INDIAN SUMMER - Self-Titled NEON NE 3" Record Label   

    Note: The images on this page are photos of the actual album. Slight differences in color may exist due to the use of the camera's flash.

    Indian Summer (Coventry, 1969–1972): the prog band, not the ’90s emo one

    Coventry, 1969. Four musicians with more ambition than petrol money: Bob Jackson on keys and lead vocal, Colin Williams on guitar, Malcolm Harker on bass, Paul Hooper on drums. They called themselves Indian Summer and started doing what Midlands bands did back then—lugging gear into colleges and clubs, pla

    The lucky break (and it really is luck, don’t let anyone sell you a destiny myth) was Jim Simpson. Same Jim Simpson who was managing Black Sabbath at the time. When that kind of orbit pulls you in, you don’t argue—you show up, you play, you try not to blow it.

    That connection put Indian Summer in with producer Rodger Bain and engineer Robin Cable. Trident Studios, London. Recorded and mixed there. Neon Records released the self-titled LP “Indian Summer” (catalogue NE 3) in March 1971, and the sleeve design is credited to Keef. Proper UK prog paperwork, not hand-wavy fan-fiction.

    Here’s what I like about that record: it doesn’t posture. It doesn’t sprint toward a chorus like it’s begging for radio. It just unrolls its long ideas and lets you decide whether you’re coming along. Gatefold in your hands, damp British air in your imagination, and that Neon-era visual weirdness staring back at you like it knows something you don’t.

    Then reality did what it always does. Shortly after the album, Harker left to take over his father’s engineering firm. For live work, the bass slot was filled by Wez Price (ex-The Sorrows), and there are accounts of promo duties and dates in Switzerland. The most telling detail isn’t Switzerland, though—it’s the “we came back with no money and a bag of chips between us” story. That’s not a rock biography. That’s Britain.

    By early 1972, Indian Summer were finished. Not with a grand farewell. Just… done.

    What happened to the members (the “life happens” bit)

    Bob Jackson is the one who kept popping up in other people’s stories. After Indian Summer (and Ross), he ended up in Badfinger—most notably 1974–75 and again around 1981–83. Later he spent years with The Fortunes (1995–2019) and has also been associated with projects like the Dodgers and The Searchers. He’s the working musician model: learn the songs, do the miles, keep your head down, survive the chaos.

    Paul Hooper did the drummer thing properly: he kept the engine running for decades. His own bio talks about Indian Summer, the Dodgers, and “the best part of three decades” with The Fortunes, plus later work with the reformed Prelude and media/community projects. That’s not glamorous. It’s just solid. I respect it more than the usual “lost genius” narrative.

    Colin Williams stepped away from the music business and moved into the motor industry—about as Coventry as it gets, honestly. Prog fans always want a tragic twist here. Sometimes there isn’t one. Sometimes it’s just Monday morning and a payslip.

    Malcolm Harker left to run the family engineering firm and later moved to the United States. His longer reminiscences include the very specific kind of detail you only get from someone who was actually there—like being on the night shift at Trident while bigger names had the daytime bookings. That’s the real texture of it: not legend, not “importance,” just hours, rooms, and pressure.

    Why they still matter (without the museum plaque)

    Indian Summer didn’t “change everything.” They didn’t need to. They made one properly recorded UK prog album on Neon, then vanished into the ordinary machinery of life. And somehow that’s the point: one clean statement, no endless sequels, no brand management. Just NE 3 sitting on the shelf, quietly daring you to pretend you don’t care. Try it.

    References