These are the sleeve notes that appear on the original copy from CBS.

A race riot shook the nation's pop charts recently. It was a "Race With The Devil"   A noisy, punch up hit that blasted Gun into the Top Ten. And Gun are, by their own admission, a noisy, violent group. They brought back a shot of excitement at a time when gloom and depression had hit the pop scene and groups were breaking up in al directions. But sheer exuberance is not enough to survive under the critical glare directed at today's groups. Fortunately two of the brothers Gun, Paul and Adrian Curtis, have developed talent for writing.

Their original compositions and arrangements are the basis of this first album. Paul (bass guitar) devised the arrangements that equal the creativity of Adrian's (lead guitar) tunes. With the hard hitting drums of Louis Farrell to spur them on, and the addition of one of those brass sections that fire on all cylinders, they have produced a programme of sustained interest   mixing their hit appeal with solid musical ideas. "We are a rock group", states Louis firmly. "No, I don't mean rock and roll   do me a favour. I mean a hard rock group. We're trying to play rock, in our own way". And hear them rock on tunes like "Yellow Cab Man" with it's honking car effects, and fuss tone guitar, with Paul's tough vocals. Violins are added to "Rat Race", a slower paced Adrian composition, and you can hear the backing vocals of Barry St John and Sunny of Sunny and Sue team.

 Most unusual and proof of their originality is "The Sad Saga Of The Boy And The Bee" and the purely instrumental track "Rupert's Travels", somewhat in a "Classical Gas" vein. But the arrangement the group are most proud of is "Take Off", an extended freak out. Lights must be turned off and volume controls set to maximum to absorb this property. "Watch your eardrums" an engineer yelled at a hearing at London's CBS studio's one influenza ridden day in January. Visiting elderly men and small children were warned to evacuate during playback, but they stayed in the control room to hear Gun roar into an explosion of musical adjectives. Listen to Louis thunder his bass drums, and the guitar and bass hurtle into an odyssey of sound and emotion! The Men and children survived and my ears were unscathed, but a final warning    the GUN are aiming at you!

These are the sleeve notes that appear on the re issue copy from Repertoire.

There were few more hard hitting, aggressive bands than the Gun. When the power packed trio blasted their way into the charts with ‘Race With The Devil, ’(CBS) a U.K. Top Ten hit in 1968, it looked like the new British band were going to be a major force in rock music.

They had a lot going for them. The highly talented Gurvitz brothers fronted the band. Paul played bass, and wrote the arrangements and Adrian hammered out fiery lead guitar solos.

During their first brush with pop stardom they adopted the name of Curtis, but later reverted to their family name Gurvitz. Louis Farrell backed them on drums, who provided just the right mixture of drive and flexibility.

When ‘Race With The Devil’ got to number 8 during a four week run in the charts, it seemed like the Gun had arrived just in time. The group scene had just been hit by a succession of splits, and the trio brought back some much needed excitement. With the release of their debut album, they showed they had the song writing ability to build on their early chart success.

They used a well drilled brass section to boost the sound, but the emphasis was on attacking guitars and drums.

‘We are a rock group,’ Louis Farrell told me, back in the days when I wrote sleeve notes for their original album release. "No, I don’t mean rock and roll do me a favor. I mean a hard rock group. We’re trying to play rock, in our own way."

The group had its origins in an outfit called the Knack, which was a four piece. The band’s roadie in those days was John Hammel, who later worked with Humble Pie and has since worked for Paul McCartney for the last 20 years.

Recalls John: "They started out as a four piece with an organ player called Tim. The band toured Germany and played at The Star Club in Hamburg. Then the keyboard player left around 1968 and that’s when they become The Gun."

Paul and Adrian were from Gants Hill in Essex and were involved in the music business from an early age. While Adrian was regarded as the ‘difficult one’ in the team, as he had a rather prickly attitude, Paul tended to play the role of peacemaker and mediator.

Their father Sam was a road manager for The Shadows while Paul Gurvitz played guitar with Gene Vincent’s British backing band.

Adrian, who was 17 when the Gun started, had previously played with Screaming Lord Such when he was only 15 years old.

The Gun were managed by Pete King and Ronnie Scott the famous London jazz club proprietors. "What happened was Adrian wrote ‘Race With The Devil’ and recorded it at CBS studios with producer Mike Smith and it was a big hit. Then they went on a tour supporting Scott Walker who was backed by the Ronnie Scott Orchestra. ‘Race With The Devil’ was just beaten by Dave Edmund’s band Love Sculpture. They were Number Six with ‘Sabre Dance’ and we were Number Eight. But the Gun made quite a lot of money because quite a few bands covered "Race With The Devil’ including Black Oak Arkansas who had a big seller with the song.

"We were going to appear on the Woodstock Festival but in the end the Gun never made it to America. The band were huge in Germany though and the fans loved that powerful sound. Although it was only a three piece they used eight 4 x 12 speaker cabinets on stage and four 100 watt Marshall Amplifiers.

John has fond memories of life on the road with the band, but there were quite a few dramatic incidents. "That’s when I learned never to put guitars in the back of a van. I was driving along Belgium when a car came along and smacked straight in the back of the van and literally split the Mustang bass guitar in half as if somebody had done a Karate chop! Three people were killed in the accident, caused by a drunken driver."

On another occasion John was speeding through Paris late at night when in was hotly pursued by a police car. "I was trying to dodge away from him and screeching around corners, when he finally caught me up, and thought: ‘I’m gonna get busted.’ Instead the copper had a bass drum in his hand. It had fallen out the back of our van!"

One night during a tour of Germany, a local promoter thought that as they were a three piece the Gun wouldn’t need much space. "When we arrived we had a Ford Transit load of equipment including a 300 watt WEM PA and a double bass drum kit.

The size of the stage turned out to be eight foot by eight, which is just about the size of the drum riser. So we ended up just doing an acoustic set. I loved it because I only had to take half the gear in. We also did another gig in Holland with the Pretty Things and there was a big riot, and we had to escape with all the gear through a window.

As well as carting all the equipment, John had to change into a suit and become the tour manager, checking the takings at the door. "The tour with Scott Walker was mayhem, and even me as the roadie got all my clothes ripped of by the girls. They thought I was the lead singer, and I got more fan mail than Adrian, which really pissed him off! But they were the wrong sort of act for that sort of show, which included pop bands like Love Affair and really the Gun were part of the underground scene. But going on that tour sold their record and gave them a hit. They appeared ‘live’ on Top Of The Pops and it was a great time. Everyone was young and it all seemed new and exciting. Now it’s all part of everyday life."

It’s 27 years since ‘Gun’ was originally released but it still packs a punch. It kicks off with the noisy, and riotous ‘Race With The Devil,’ but ‘The Sad Saga Of The Boy And The Bee,’ swiftly established their desire to experiment and try out unusual ideas. On ‘Yellow Cab Man,’ they mixed honking car horn effects with Adrian’s fuzz tone guitar, to back Paul’s tough vocals. Violins were added to ‘Rat Race,’ a slower paced composition by Adrian, and the vocal harmonies were courtesy of Barry St. John and Sue of the famed Sue & Sunny vocal team.

‘Rupert’s Travels’ a purely instrumental track, was somewhat in the style of ‘Classical Gas,’ but the band were most proud of their extended freak out arrangement ‘Take Off.’

This new CD version of the original vinyl album has been boosted by the inclusion of additional tracks, ‘Drives You Mad,’ ‘Don’t Look Back,’ and ‘Runnin’ Wild.’

The Gun released some further singles, including ‘Drive My Car,’ ‘Hobo,’ ‘ Rupert’s Travels,’ and ‘Drown Yourself In The River.’ But were unable to repeat the success of ‘Race With The Devil.’

I still have the Gun cigarette lighter, in the shape of an antique pistol, they sent out with the original album. Alas it no longer works broken by my son in a furious game of cowboys and Indians.

The Gun suffered a similar fate, shot to pieces in the crossfire of the highly competitive sixties rock scene.

Paul and Adrian were determined to fight back, and formed a new group called Three Man Army. "I had left earlier and they brought in a different drummer. It had all changed," recalls John Hammel who was by this time with Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Humble Pie.

They replaced their original drummer and brought in Ginger Baker, a refugee from Cream, Blind Faith and Ginger Baker’s Airforce, whereupon it became the Baker Gurvitz Army, formed in 1974. The new group released three albums, before personality clashes and lack of success in America resulted in their final bust up in 1976, after which Adrian Gurvitz embarked on a solo career. He is now a very successful writer and producer, based in Los Angeles, and has written for such artists as Whitney Houston. Paul faded from the scene, while Louis, their original drummer now runs a confectionery shop in Theydon Bois, Essex.