Plain and Fancy: Ursa Major - Ursa Major (1972 us, rough hard rock, 2000 reissue)

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Ursa Major - Ursa Major (1972 us, rough hard rock, 2000 reissue)

Ursa Major was a hard-rocking band that released one collectible album and may have been as well-known for its players as the music they made. The group's one and only album-Ursa Major (RCA 4777) was issued in 1972. Two singles were pulled from the release-Liberty And Justice (RCA 0791) and Let The Music Play (RCA 0874)-both in 1972.

While Ursa Major came and went in a relatively short period, the band's leader, singer and guitarist, Dick Wagner, would go on to work with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, helping write some of the shock rocker's biggest hits. Wagner had also worked with other bands before joining with drummer Ricky Mangon and bassist Greg Arama, who had earlier been in the Amboy Dukes, the raucous Detroit band fronted by outrageous guitarist Ted Nugent.

In the mid-'60s, Wagner had been in a Detroit band called The Frost. Their first two singles on Columbia Records' Date division-Bad Girl and Little Girl-were credited to Dick Wagner and the Frosts. In 1969, as the Frost, they signed to Vanguard Records, a label previously noted mostly for blues and folk acts like Joan Baez. They cut three albums-Frost Music, Rock And Roll Music and Through The Eyes Of Love-in '69 and '70. In 1978, the label issued Early Frost.'

In 1973, after leaving Ursa Major, Wagner was teamed up with fellow guitarist Steve Hunter to back Lou Reed. Wagner can be heard on both Rock 'N' Roll Animal and Sally Can't Dance. After moving on from Reed's group, Wagner began what would be the most successful phase of his career— playing guitar for and writing songs with Alice Cooper. Wagner joined Cooper in 1975 and they co-wrote the title track for his best-selling album Welcome To My Nightmare. A single of the song was a Top 50 success. Wagner and Cooper would team up for the hugely successful Only Women Bleed, which just missed the Top 10 in the spring of '75. They also wrote Department Of Youth and Never Cry, which went gold in the summer of 1976.

Wagner-who was joined on guitars by his old Reed pal Steve Hunter-worked with Cooper through most of the rest of the '70s, collaborating on hits like You And Me and How You Gonna See Me Now as well as other popular album tracks. He also used his experience in the studio to work with Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad on some of his solo ventures.

In the late '80s, Wagner teamed with Bob Ezrin, who produced many of Cooper's most successful records, overseeing the debut album of the much-touted New York City band, The Throbs. The project, The Language Of Thieves And Vagabonds, issued by Geffen Records, got some good reviews but the band was unable to deliver the same power in their live performances and soon broke up. While Wagner may be a good example of the talented sideman who helps other performers build their careers, he was also a strong leader, as his work with Ursa Major on this long-unavailable album demonstrates.

by Mark Marymont