And more again... Another very
various artists collection of rare records and acetates from the
BRITISH SIXTIES BEAT ERA you'll hardly find anywhere else featuring Man, Mick Taylor, Ian Anderson, Bill Wyman, Chris Dreja, Mike Hart, Mike Harrison, Neil Landon, Sandy Sarjeant and the Rest of the Pest.
01- If You Knew - Thor's Hammer
(Parlophone,66)
02- Que Sera Sera - Dave Curtiss &
The Tremors (Karate,65, US-only 45)
03- Some Other Guy - Pete Best
(US-only LP "Best Of The Beatles, Savage, 66)
04- Top Girl - The Cymbaline
(Mercury,66)
05- Spooky - Gary Walker & The
Rain (Polydor, 68)
06- There's A Pretty Girl - The
Juniors (Columbia,64)
07- I Don't Need That Kind Of Loving -
The Onyx Set (EP, Sound Studio Wadebridge,66)
08- Looking For My Baby - King Size
Taylor (Decca, 64)
09- It's In My Mind - Moon's Train
(MGM,66)
10- Indian Hate Call - The Pink
People (Philips,64)
11- This Time - The Bystanders
(Pylot,65)
12- Big Black Smoke - Mick &
Malcolm (Piccadilly,67)
13- Mistletoe Love - Jaymes Fenda &
The Vulcans ( Parlophone,64)
14- You Make Me Go Ooh - The Dynamos
(VA-LP "Ready Steady Win", Decca,64)
15- Should I ? - The Rebel Rousers
(Fontana,68)
16- Pafff...Bum - The Yardbirds
(Epic,66, German-only 45)
17- Cant Stop The Want (I Got For You)
- Sandy Sarjeant (Polydor,67, German-only 45)
18- Hitch Hike - The Roadrunners
( Split-LP "Star-Club Show 2", Star Club,64, German
release)
19- I'm Thinking - Neil Landon &
The Burnettes (unreleased 64 studio recording)
20- Go Back To Daddy - Pat Wayne &
The Beachcombers (Columbia,63)
21- Bad News Feeling - The Vikings
(Alp,66)
22- What's Been Done - The Wimple
Winch (Fontana,66)
23- Hello Josephine - The Liverpool
Beats (VA-LP "Original Beat aus England Folge 6",
Vogue-Pop,65, German-only)
24- Mercy Mercy - The Vipps
(Philips,66, US-only 45)
25- Aeroplane - Jethro Toe
(MGM,68)
26- Daisy Chain - The Naturals
(Parlophone,64)
27- Hubble Bubble (Toil And Trouble) -
The Jaybirds (Embassy,64)
28- Shaking Postman -Force Five
(United Artists,64)
29- Follow Me - Eire Apparent
(Track,68)
30- What More Do You Want - Philip
Goodhand-Tait & The Stormsville Shakers (Parlophone,66)
31- It Hurts So Much - The
Liberators (Stadeside,65)
32- San Miguel - The Colts
(Pye,65)
33- Hey Baby - The Sonics
(Ariola,67, German-only 7")
Thor's Hammer were a group from
Iceland, known there as Hljomar, who've been sent to Lawnsdowne
Studios, London in 66 to record the music for a teenage flick called
"Umbarumbamba". The resulting eight tracks were pressed and
released by UK-Parlophone on an EP and two singles as export issues,
predominantly aimed at the Icelandic market, and are among the most
expensive UK pressings of the 60s nowadays. While the complete EP has
been compiled on various series, and the first 45 is a lame duck, the
second, "If You Knew", is something else and here we go.
We've met Dave Curtiss & The
Tremors from Essex on volume 4 & 13. Ain't got a clue about
how it happend that a fourth single was only released in the USA on
the Karate label, but better there than nowhere. I always thought
that our German Lords were the only ones who slaughtered Doris Day's
silly little ditty to tiny little beat pieces, but discoveries like
this are reason and reward for wacky old musical archaeologists like
you and us.
Another Pete Best appearance
wasn't really planned, but then I stumbled over his version of one of
our top 5 favourite songs of the beat era, and couldn't resist to
include another rendition of "Some Other Guy".
Read more about The Cymbaline
(formerly known as The Nomads, see vol. 17) on vol. 13, where you'll
find the other side of "Top Girl".
Gary Walker & The Rain
again. "Spooky" is the a-side of "I Can't Stand To
Lose You" (vol. 17) and was a US hit in the unbeatable version
of The Classics IV.
Another other side of a single we
already had on Tommy is "There's A Pretty Girl" by The
Juniors with a juvenile Mick Taylor on guitar. Check vol. 12 for
"Pocket Size", the a-side of their only record.
Before they dropped the Set and signed
with Pye as The Onyx, this Cornish band from Wadebridge was known as
The Onyx Set and recorded an EP that, with just a handful
"pressed", apparently wasn't much more than an acetate. The
best cut is "I Don't Need That Kind Of Lovin'", a song
written by yesterday man Chris Andrews for Adam Faith, and a minor
hit for Sandie Shaw in Germany.
Edward "King Size" Taylor
was something like the godfather of Merseybeat. The biggest name
besides Tony Sheridan on the early Hamburg scene, he spent so much
time and successfully released lots of records here with his
Dominoes, that the beat craze was almost over when he went back home
to record some domestic solo 45s after disagreements with his band. A
great entertainer on stage, but like Bill Haley he never had the
looks of a teenage idol and sounded outdated in 65 with all that
longhaired youngsters taking over.
Moon's Train from London suburb
Beckenham was the band of Peter "Moon" Gosling and Tony
Chapman, an old friend of Bill Wyman. Wyman had already produced and
proteged the only 7" of The Preachers, an R&B band with both
Gosling and Chapman involved. He did the same for the one and only
single by Moon's Train, but somehow lost interest and touch when his
duties as a Stone demanded all his time. It however wasn't his last
effort as a producer. His most ambitious project was The End in 68,
but again he wasn't much of a career booster. Strange enough, both
side's of The End's Wyman-produced Decca 7" in 68 were written
by Gosling and Wyman.
Who hides behind a name like The
Pink People is beyond my knowledge, and when I first heard
"Indian Hate Call", I mistook it for one of these American
novelty records. But it seemingly isn't, and a lot better than most
of these it is moreover. Totally nuts, but great. They had another 45
on UK-Philips called "Psychologically Unsound" and I'm
still after that one. All four recorded titles are written by Square
Four, which doesn't help much...
The Bystanders from Merthyl
Tydfil, Wales were Vic Oakley, Mickey Jones, Clive John, Ray Williams
and Jeff Jones, and the latter four (plus Deke Leonard) formed Man in
68. Before they were signed to Pye, where they recorded seven
singles, The Bystanders debuted on the local Pylot label with this
45, which is rare as an honest politician nowadays.
Nothing known about Mick &
Malcolm, who released two singles on Pye 66/67. The last one was
"Big Black Smoke", and you know that we can't resist to
post a Kinks cover here whenever we get hold of one.
Jaymes Fenda & The Vulcans
from South London were an R&B band, but tried to impress with a
wolves in sheep's clothing tactic, when they made it through the
"Ready Steady Win" semi finals with this cute, but harmless
chrismas song. At Parlophone someone was convinced enough to offer
them a one-off contract, demanding that they had to record exactly
that one. The flip is equally tame, but I've heard unreleased stuff
that shows the group in a rougher mood. Stay tuned.
The Dynamos from Portsmouth
didn't hide their pride at the same competition, didn't make it to
the finals and didn't get the chance to record a 7". Still one
of their songs, "You Make Me Go Ooh", was recorded in a
studio and included on the LP that documented the "Ready Steady
Win" battle of the bands in 64, won by The Bo Street Runners.
When Cliff Bennett went his own way -
some say he was ousted - The Rebel Rousers tried to keep on
alone, but only managed to release this single, which went down
unnoticed. Most of them reappeared in the group of the Rousers' piano
player at that time, The Roy Young Band. Rumour has it, that Ken
Hensley, later of Uriah Heep, is on guitar here, but I wouldn't bet
much on that.
For completists: The Yardbirds
with the flip of the German release of "Shapes Of Things".
In a different version it also was on the back of their worst record
ever, "Questa Volta", their contribution to the San Remo
Song Festival, released only in Italy. "Paff...Bum", an
English language version of a hit for Italian singer Lucio Dalla,
certainly isn't one of their best numbers, but has a short, but
pretty good Jeff Beck solo.
As the leader of the dancing girls on
German TV show "Beat Club", Sandy Sarjeant was quite
prominent here, and Polydor offered her a recording contract,
speculating on all the free promotion she would get, and indeed she
lip-synced to "Can't Stop The Want" in 67 with the girls
dancing behind her. No chart action whatsoever. Soon after she went
back to London, where she was the dancer in chief on "Ready
Steady Go" and married Small Face Ian McLagan. The song already
was on one of the "Hide And Seek" comps, where it was
dubbed from TV. Here is the real thing...
Liverpool's Roadrunners were one
of the few Merseyside groups that didn't play the typical Merseybeat
sound of the city. Their raw Brit R&B was very popular on the
Reeperbahn, and they had long stints at Hamburg's Star Club in 63 and
64. At home they only had an EP on the small Cavern Sound label (see
vol. 4), but in Germany they released an LP and two singles for
Ariola and this split-LP with Shorty & Them recorded live at the
Star Club. "Hitch Hike", originally a Marvin Gaye hit, was
recorded before The Stones' version was on the market.
Here's another of the unreleased studio
recordings Neil Landon & The Burnettes made in Germany.
For detailed information go to Tommyknockers vol. 6.
Pat Wayne & The Beachcombers
from Birmingham had three 45s on Columbia 63-64. You'll find the flip
of the second on Tommy 13 and the third on "Rhythm & Blues
At Abbey Road". This is the first, which didn't do much for the
band at home, but was a hit in Scandinavia. The band split in 64 and
Pat went on solo with two more Columbia releases, while The
Beachcombers already had two without Pat in 63 and 64, both
instrumentals.
Next is the other side of the only 7"
by Scottish band The Vikings, a pretty decent try at folkrock,
American style. The beat side of this rare single on the Alp label
can be found on vol. 3.
Wimple Winch, formerly known as
Just Four Men, are best known for the last of three singles for
Fontana, the freakbeat freakout "Rumble On Mersey Square South".
Mersey Square is a place in Stockport near Manchester, which
seemingly was their home base for a while, although they originally
came from Liverpool, I'm told. "What's Been Done" was the
debut. The b-side was compiled on "We Can Fly Vol. 4".
The Liverpool Beats as a name
only existed in Germany, and, as it seemed to be such a slip-proof
moniker for anonymous bands on cheapo labels, more than one group got
that stamp on a multitude of samplers on Vogue's subsidiary Pop
Records, called "Original Beat aus England", which
presented the latest UK hits re-recorded in the studio by no-names,
i.e. bands with fantasy names. The interesting stuff by The Liverpool
Beats are on volume 6, where we get six live tracks that really kick
ass. I meanwhile found out that they also had a German-only LP on
Vogue called "This Is Liverpool-Live At The Iron Door Club",
and "Hello Josephine" is on that one too. Two 45s on Vogue
also exist. Now I've been told by someone who was around back than,
that The Liverpool Beats actually were The Excheckers from Chester,
who had one 7" in England on Decca in 64 plus two in Germany on
Ariola in 65.
Here comes the other side of the
US-only single by the pre-Art, pre-Spooky Tooth Vipps from
Carlisle. See volume 10 for "That's My Woman".
Jethro Tull were not amused when their
first 7" came out mis-credited to Jethro Toe. But we
are...and, by the way, it's a surprisingly good one. Recorded in 67
with Mick Abrahams and Clive Bunker, who both came from the last
incarnation of The Toggery 5.
We've had The Naturals from
Harlow on vols. 1, 5 and 10, and they'll return once more. Here, on
the second of four singles for Parlophone, they try to do the Ska and
gloriously fail. Mucho funny, and still much better than The Migil
Five, but the Ska is round, boys, not square!
One more cheapo 45 from The Jaybirds
on Embassy, this time a cover of a an early, moderately successful
Manfred Mann number, and beat me if you will, but in my ears they rip
The Manfreds to shreds!
Next is the debut 45 of Force Five
from Canvey Island, still in proper beat style, as opposed to their
later freakbeat classics like "Yeah I'm Waiting". More of
Force Five can be found on vols. 3 & 6.
Eire Apparent from Northern
Ireland are best kown for having been Chas Chandler proteges with an
album produced by Jimi Hendrix for Buddha. (A lacklustre effort, if
you ask me.) Before that they released this single on Track, and it's
the best thing they've ever done. All of them later reappeared in
more successfull acts: Pete Tolson (Edgar Broughton Band, Pretty
Things), Henry McCullogh (Grease Band, Joe Cocker, Wings), Davy
Lutton (Heavy Jelly, Ellis), Ernie Graham (Help Yourself).
Philip Goodhand-Tait & The
Stormsville Shakers again. (See also vols. 3 & 11). "What
More Do You Want" is the flip of their second and last UK
release "No Problem", which can be found on "Mix A Fix
- UK Floor Fillers Vol. 2". More of them and their French-only
EP in this series in the near future.
The Liberators from Rugby only
had this 45, produced by Shel Talmy, before they changed the name to
Pinkerton's Assorted Colours and charted with "Mirror Mirror"
in 65.
This is the a-side of The Colts'
from Essex sole record. Sounds like the theme for an imaginary
Western, but on second thought it's not so imaginary at all. The
melody from "For A Fistful Of Dollars", if memory serves.
We had the other side on Tommy vol. 14.
We had the German-only LP by The Sonic,
half Scottish, half English, on Vol.11. Before that they recorded two
singles here as The Sonics. The first one is on one of the
early volumes of our "Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium", this is the
second. They19 never released anything at home and spent their whole
career in Deutschland.
Thanks to all downloaders who aren't
illiterate. You're getting scarce these days... More next month. The
LollyPope & westfauster: angry old men.
(direct download / 256 kbps / scans and much more included / 153 mb)
