HERE WE GO-GO: TOMMYKNOCKERS BEAT CLUB VOLUME 14 - KNOCK ME, STUPID! ANOTHER COLLECTION OF YET UNCOMPILED RARE (and sometimes raw) UK SIXTIES BEAT TREASURES ON 45.

Well, here we go again... apologies for sound quality, but many of these rare singles are only saved in my archives on tapes and reels which didn't age too well. And of course in many cases we can only use the uncompiled side of a 7", which often is the lesser frantic one. But we start with a real killer that slipped through the net of compilers after all these years:

01- Loving Eyes - Troy Dante & The Infernos (Fontana,64)

02- Drive My Car - The Pineapple Chunks (Mercury,66)

03- Now That It's Over - Rey Anton & The Pro Form (Parlophone,65)

04- Talk About My Baby - The Blue Aces (Columbia,66)

05- Here, There, Everywhere - The Interns (Philips,64)

06- Don't Let Her Be Your Baby - The Boomerangs (Fontana,64)

07- It Just Won't Work - The Wranglers (Parlophone,64)

08- Rockin' Berry Stomp - The Rockin' Berries (Decca,63)

09- I Know - The U.K.'s (HMV,64)

10- You're Making Me Blue - The Mods (RCA,64)

11- Go Away - The Classmates (Decca,64)

12- It Is - The Nerve (Page One,68)

13- Somebody Told My Girl - The Marauders (Fontana,65)

14- I Know All About Her - Page Five (Parlophone,66)

15- Where Has Our Love Gone - The Colts (Pye,65)

16- Here She Comes - The Addicts (Decca,64)

17- So In Love With You - Bobby Allen & The Commanches (Fontana,63)

18- Choc Ice - The Long And The Short (Decca,64)

19- Cherry Cherry - Wishful Thinking (Decca,67)

20- No Message - The Zephyrs (Columbia,64)

21- And I Cry - The Four Sights (Columbia,64)

22- Good Lovin' Never Hurt- The Bluechips (Pye,66)

23- You're A Wonderful One - Martin Raynor & The Secrets (Columbia,65)

24- Come On Let's Go - Wayne Gibson & The Dynamic Sounds (Decca,64)

25- It Was Love - Peter & The Headlines (Decca,64)

26- The Promised Land - The Admirals (Decca,65)

27- Come On Up - Timebox (Deram,68, French-only 7")

28- Money And Love - The Pan Pipers (Pye,69)

29- There He Goes - Linda Laine & The Sinners (Polydor,65, German-only 7")

30- Hey You - Allen Pound's Get Rich (Parlophone,66)

31- I Love You - Tony Rivers & The Castaways (Columbia,64)

32- Baby Jane - The Applejacks (Decca,64)

33- Kansas City - Pete Best (Cameo Parkway,66, US-only 7")

34-Will You Be There - The Shadows (Columbia.66)

 (45s only this time)

Troy Dante & The Infernos' "Loving Eyes" sounds like the best song The Cramps never covered. We've already had the band with the debut single on vol. 1. This is the third of three, but Troy released another seven in the 60s without The Infernos. And without any chart action.

Probably from London, but that might be guess work, as no one seems to know anything about this sole 45 by The Pineapple Chunks, who had the guts to try and beat The Beatles at their own game.

Another one from the intensely underrated Rey Anton, this time again with The Pro Form. (See vols. 4 & 13.)

There were at least two groups operating under the name The Blue Aces, but the one that recorded five 7"s for Pye and Columbia were from Waterford, Ireland. This is the flip of the last, the often comped "That's All Right".

We had The Interns from Wales on vol. 8 with "Don't You Dare", the first of four 45s. Here's the flip.

Not to be confused with the Irish band of the same name, this Boomerangs came from Manchester and released two singles. This is the first, a cover of a minor hit for the Motown group The Contours.

The Wranglers seem to be the group who later accompanied Kenny Bernard. Under own flag they only had this one 7", and if you could turn it over, you could listen to their wild version of "Liza Jane". But you might as well pick out your copies of "Demention Of Sound", "Maximum R&B", or "English Freakbeat 6".

As promised on our last edition, here comes the flip of The Rockin' Berries' debut on Decca. Again a far cry from the tame sound they later used to produce for Pye.

The U.K.'s are another mystery of British beat history. This is the second of two singles on HMV Pop in 64. You'll find the first one on "English Freakbeat 3".

Even less is known of The Mods and their one-off for RCA. But that's alright with me, as I really don't have much time for writing liner note this time. Gotta keep the wolf from the door, you know, and this is just a hobby...

Medway beat: The return of The Classmates, who've already crossed our paths on vols. 1&2. "Go Away" is the a-side of their fourth and last record, the mighty "Pay Day". (See "That Driving Beat 2") We had another version of "Go Away" by Trendsetters Ltd. on vol. 8.

Casted as The Lovin' by Larry Page as a somewhat hipper version of The Troggs, they changed name to The Nerve in 67 and lost the punch a bit. For the better or the worse, Reg Presley produced three of their four singles on Page One. "It Is" was written by Van Dyke Parks, the Brian Wilson co-operator on "Smile".

Due to the appearance on the "Live At The Cavern"-LP, The Marauders often are listed as a Liverpool group, but they came from Stoke on Trent. They even had a minor hit with "That's What I Want", but the following three records went down rather unnoticed. This is the b-side of the last one.

Page Five from Cornwall only had one 45. You'll find the other side on vol. 5 of Tommyknickers.

Another empty page in my book: The Colts, reportedly from Essex, with their only known 7", one of the few uncompiled beat records on Pye.

From Widnes, Lancashire came The Addicts, another one-off wonder of BritBeat.

Before they released a record of their own on Pye, The Commanches backed Bobby Allen on this, his only 45.

For The Long & The Short from Ashton-in-Makerfield see also vols. 1 & 12. "Choc Ice" was the a-side of "Here Comes The Fool", the first of two singles for Decca.

Wishful Thinking from Hampshire started as The Emeralds and recorded three singles 63 to 65 under that name, among them the wonderful "King Lonely The Blue". With the new moniker they had a hit in 72 with "Hiroshima", but from 66 to 68 they released five pretty good, but overlooked 45s on Decca. "Cherry Cherry" is a Neil Diamond song that sounds like tailormade for the Monkees, but Neil kept it for himself and had a hit with it.

The London-based Zephyrs were an R&B group, who suffered a while from a blow below the belt, when The Stones called their rendition of "I Can Tell" crap in an interview. They had six singles, most of them produced by Shel Talmy, before they called it a day in 66. Guitarist Pete Gage later reappeared in Vinegar Joe.

Nothing known about The Four Sights from Leicester, who only had this 7".

We had the second and last record of The Bluechips on our last volume. Here's the first one. They reputedly came from somewhere along the Mersey.

Martin Raynor & The Secrets debuted with this 45, before they were known simply as The Secrets and a bit later as Simon's Secrets. Clifford T. Ward was the musical leader. (See also vol. 12) "You're A Wonderful One", a hit for Marvin Gaye, should sound more familiar to your ears in the version of The Flamin' Groovies, who covered it on "Jumpin' In The Night" in 79.

We had the first 7" of Wayne Gibson & The Dynamic Sounds on vol. 9. Here's the second of six. Wayne later went solo and recorded another six until 75.

Peter & The Headlines had two records on Decca in 64. Probably the same band that, without Peter, recorded two more for the label in 65 as The Headliners.

 

The Admirals from Stockport were quite popular in the Greater Manchester area, but only managed to release this single. "Promised Land" isn't the well known Chuck Berry song, but an origial written by guitarist Phil Smith.

Timebox, one of the less obscure Brit bands in the 60s, were formed in Southport. They had seven 45s in the UK, and it was the weakest, "Beggin'", that charted. The style changed from blue-eyed Soul to Psychedelia of the softer kind when they switched from Pye to Deram in 67, and songs like "Gone Is The Sad Man" or "Walking Through The Streets Of My Mind" are among the real gems of that genre. Why Deram released "Come On Up", a strong version of The Rascals hit, only in France is hard to tell, but it possibly sounded too rough after the success of the lightweight Pop of "Beggin'". They went prog in 1970 under the flag of Patto, the family name of singer Mike Patto. Drummer John Halsey later was Barry Wom in The Rutles, and guitarist Ollie Halsall, while not one of the impersonators in the movie, was heavily involved in recording the fantabulous sounds of The Rutles.

The Pan Pipers were an Irish group to my knowledge, and this Troggs soundalike 45 seems to to be their only release.

British Surf anyone? Linda Laine & The Sinners only had two singles in the UK after The Sinners already had another two without Linda. (See vol. 4) They were bigger here in Germany, where they had three more 45s, one on Hansa, two on Polydor.

The mysterious Allen Pound's Get Rich with their only 45 "Searchin' In The Wilderness" is one of the most expensive UK major label releases nowadays. The flip, "Hey You", isn't half the killer that the a-side is, but still worth a spin.

For Tony Rivers & The Castaways from Dagenham see vols. 9 & 5. "I Love You", b-side of "I Love The Way You Walk", was the second of eight 45s from 63 to 68 on Columbia, Immediate and Polydor.

We had The Applejacks on vol. 6, where I wrote that the flip of the first and biggest hit "Tell Me When" might be too familiar for inclusion. A couple of people convinced me that this is not the case, so here we go with The Applejacks' finest, "Baby Jane".

Pete Best again. This is his only 7" for a proper American record label. His other US singles were cash-in products on fantasy labels like Original Beatles Drummer, Mr. Maestro or Happening. He was credited on the Cameo label as Peter Best (formerly of The Beatles). On both sides were songs the Beatles had already covered, and you'll find the other side, "Boys", soon here on this pages.

The always underestimated Shadows with one of many overlooked b-sides close the procedure for this month.

DOWNLOAD TOMMYKNOCKERS #14

(mp3 / 256 kbps / 151 mb / direct download / liners, scans and more included)

We had a lot of kind and inspiring comments for the last volume, and I also try to dig up the stuff our followers request, even if that's impossible in some cases, as some of the 45s on your want list are on mine as well. Keep writing in, please, your reaction is the only reward we get. 

The Lolly Pope & westfauster.