TOMMYKNOCKERS BEAT CLUB VOL. 15 - MODS AND KNOCKERS: THE CONTINUING STORY OF UNCOMPILED BRITISH SIXTIES BEAT ON 45. RARE UK BEAT 7-INCHERS. WUNDERBAR: More of the same is never enough! The Beat goes on and on... Tribute to Jon Lord included.

 

Cheers... this is the 50th compilation of rare, strange and long lost treasures the lolly pope and westfauster puzzled together since 1992 for your pleasure. Some of these can be found either on vinyl or CD, all of them can be found either on this here blog or somewhere else on the worldwidewipeout. Use your favourite search engine to find: A Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium, Electrick Loosers, Exploiting Plastic Inevitable, KRAUT! DEMONS! KRAUT! (and offsprings), Mercy!Sound!!UK!!!, Tommyknockers and some we have forgotten about. And if you look deeper down into the abyss you will find us obscurely connected to Kim Fowley, The 39 Clocks, Sturclub, Throbbing Gristle, Graf Von Luxburg or even The Society For The Abolition Of Gravitation. Lucky us and lucky you!

And some more forgotten 60s UK Beat is what you will get today:

01- Short Shorts - Freddie & The Dreamers (EP "What A Crazy World", Columbia,64)

02- Tell Me What You're Gonna Do - The Bo Street Runners (Columbia,65)

03- Not Guilty - The Falling Leaves (Parlophone,65)

04- I Can't Get Any Joy - The End (Philips,65)

05- Say You're Mine - The Emeralds (Decca,65)

06- Throw My Love Away - The Honeybus (Deram,67)

07- The Touch Of Your Hand - Karl Stuart & The Profile (Mercury,65)

08- Someday - Mark Peters & The Silhouettes (EP "Take 6", Oriole,63)

09- (You've Got) The Gamma Goochie - The Checkmates (Parlophone,66)

10- Small Talk - The Dave Clark Five (Columbia,69)

11- One Girl City - Fleur De Lys (Atlantic,69)

12- Your Friend - The Nightriders (Polydor,66)

13- Lazy Man - The Mirage (Philips,67)

14- City Girl - The Koobas (Columbia,67)

15- I'm A Hog For You - Dave Curtiss & The Tremors (Philips,64)

16- Hold On - One In A Million (CBS,67)

17- Misfit - Marc Bolan (Parlophone,66)

18- How Long Is Time - The Odyssey (Strike,66)

19- Dream About You - The Pineapple Chunks (Mercury,66)

20- Satisfied - The Peacemakers (EP, s.t., Herald,65)

21- I'm Happy - The Love Affair (CBS,68)

22- No Other Guy - Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders (Columbia,63)

23- Let Your Hair Hang Down - The Tremeloes (CBS,67)

24- A Little Bit Of Sunlight - The Majority (Decca,65)

25- Just Because - The Dee-Tees (EP "Just Because", Philips,66. Released in Singapore)

26- I Like It Like That - The Farinas (Fontana,64)

27- Get On The Right Track - Kris Ryan & The Questions (EP "On The Right Track", Mercury,65)

28- A Love That's Died - Herbal Mixture (Columbia,66)

29- My Heart Is Tied To You - The Dimples (Decca,66)

30- A-Minor Explosion - Don Shinn & The Soul Agents (Polydor,66)

31- Stupid Girl - The Attraction (Columbia,66)

32- In The Deep End - The Artwoods (Parlophone,67)

33- Anuffa Coco Jingle Agin - Freddie & The Dreamers

Ah...Freddie & The Dreamers. It took me decades to understand how great Manchester's fidgeters really were. Why Columbia missed the chance to release "Short Shorts" - their most outrageous stage routine and always a crowd pleaser - as a single is hard to understand, but perhaps stripping off to their panties on stage was a bit too much for EMI executives back then. The number was a US hit for The Royal Teens in 58.

Read about The Bo Street Runners on vol. 8 and 13. This is the second Decca 7", and again an interpretation of a James Brown song.

The Falling Leaves obviously were from Oxford, and (if this is the same group after all) released a second and last 45 on Decca 15 months later.

 

Most members of The End already were around a while as The Tuxedos (Bobby Angelo's backing band, which is an intersting fact, because it most likely means that the Swedish 7" by Bobby Angelo & The End on vol. 6 of Tommyknockers actually was recorded with this End.) and The Innocents, before they made friends with The Stones, especially Bill Wyman, who produced their magnum opus, the wonderful album "Introspection". But before they signed with Decca, they managed to release this debut single on Philips, which sounds a lot more mod than psych. After that they spent a year in Spain, where they had a handful of pretty good records before Wyman tried to establish the band as the next big thing in England. But the ambitious LP didn't sell as expected, and by the turn of the decade the group, still under Bill's wings, changed name to Tucky Buzzard and churned out boring hard rock by the score for the next four years.

The Emeralds from Hampshire recorded three remarkable singles for HMV and Decca before they started calling themselves Wishful Thinking in 66. (See vol. 14) In 71 they had an international hit with "Hiroshima", which was a far cry from their beat roots.

London's Honeybus are best remembered as a harmony pop-outfit with elaborate four-part vocal arrangments led by Pete Dello, and their only hit "I Can't Let Maggie Go". On the flip of the second 45 they pull all stops and rock it out with even a nod to Jimi's "Crosstown Traffic". Great, but definitely not repesentative.

We've been talking about The Profile on vol. 9. Here is the b-side of the 7" on which they accompanied Karl Stuart, while they had the a-side, "Haven't They Got Better Things To Do", (see "That Driving Beat Vol. 1") for themselves.

Liverpool's Mark Peters & The Silhouettes are here because this song was on the original edition of Oriole's "This Is Merseybeat 1", but omitted on Edsel's reissue in 1989. During the process I found out that it also was on a 45 EP called "Take 6" in 63, where Oriole crammed six titles from their Mersey repertoire on a 7". I just wonder whether this is the same guy who had this extemely tough to find 7" on Unicord in 65 credited to Mark Peters Method. (Haven't heard it yet.)

The Checkmates, presumably Britain's first interracial beatgroup, recorded six singles for Decca and Parlophone 63 to 66, and they probably more or less were the same band who started as Original Checkmates and worked as Emile Ford's backing band. "Gamma Goochie" is the a-side of "It Ain't Right", a number you can find on "Mod Meeting 2" and "That Driving Beat 4".

No need to introduce The Dave Clark Five. The amazing "Small Talk" was found on the back of the mediocre "Mulberry Tree" (No, not "The Mulberry Bush"), and it demonstrates that they had the beat roots still intact in 69. And forget about oversouling noodlers like Farlowe, Baldry, Chapman or Cocker. Mike Smith had the most powerful throat in British Rock n' Roll till Noddy Holder came along.

Fleur De Lys, originally from Southampton, are one of the most respected among the freakbeat no-hit-wonders of the 60's. They recorded classics like "Moondreams", "Circles" "Mud In Your Eye" or "Gong With The Luminous Nose" for Immediate and Polydor without much chart action, before they switched to the UK branch of Atlantic, where they - again without success - underwent a half-baked effort of remodeling the band as some kind of hipper-than-the-rest blue-eyed UK soul act. But on the flip of the second Atlantic 45 they showed that there still was a lot of life in a meanwhile written off group. It's a Hendrix tribute, not a rip-off, and they obviously had listened to all four sides of "Electric Ladyland".

Birmingham's Nightriders started as Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders (see track 22 here), but on the only record Jeff Lynne had replaced Roy Wood. "Your Friend", b-side of the better known "It's Only The Dog" ("Electric Sugarcube Flashbacks 1 & 3), is - for me at least - one of these slow ballads that take time to grow, but you can't get that sad song out of your mind soon as you allow it to creep into your brain. Two or three run-throughs should do the trick. In 67 The Nightriders emerged as Idle Race, and Lynne and Wood finally came together in the last incarnation of The Move, before they fell out with each other over the musical direction of ELO.

The Mirage from Hertford recorded seven singles for CBS, Philips and Page One between 65 and 69, before they mutated to Portobello Explosion and had a last one on Carnaby.

Liverpool's Koobas, formerly known as The Kubas, were part of the Brian Epstein management stable, but never were in need of a Lennon-McCartney composition for the next attempt at the charts like so many others tried. They had no hit, but still were given the chance to record a wonderful album in 69. Undeservedly it flopped and was their swan song. Bassist Keith Ellis later joined Van Der Graaf Generator, but left again after the first LP.

Dave Curtiss & The Tremors from Clacton again. See vols. 4 & 13. The often covered "I'm A Hog For You" was the flip of the third and last 7" in 64.

One In A Million from Glasgow had two singles, and both are among the more expensive artefacts of the freaky psych-beat genre. "Hold On", not another version of the song of the same name made famous by Sharon Tandy, was the b-side of "Use Your Imagination", the follow-up was "Fredereek Hernando" on MGM. On guitar we have a 14 year old Jimmy McCulloch, who later joined Thunderclap Newman and Stone The Crows, before he played for decent wages in McCartney's Wings. Also in the band was his older brother Jack, who later went from Thunderclap Newman to Andwella.

Even before he lifted some skirts in John's Children, Marc Bolan's attempts at stardom were a bit bizarre, and his three solo singles 65/66 for Decca and Parlophone are collectibles of the highest order. "Misfit" was the flip of "Hippy Gumbo", his last effort before he joined the Children. No need to mention T. Rex, I guess...

The Odyssey are said to be the remains of The Sons Of Fred from Great Yarmouth, but if so, not many of them joined the new outfit. Others say that there were relations to Jimmy Powell's Dimensions, but after all this seems to be guesswork. Nothing more was ever heard of the group after this one-off on Strike, which also was released in various picture sleeves throughout Continental Europe.

Still no info about The Pineapple Chunks. Go to vol. 14 for the a-side of their only record. Here on the flip they surf a bit on the wrong side of the wave.

Next are The Peacemakers with their roughest, toughest track ever. British 60s Xian Garage Punk to remind all latecomers of our compilation "Mercy! Sound!! UK!!! 64-69" here on this blog. Satisfied?

Love Affair from London originally were a competent mod band, but written off as another pop-schlock-fake project designed by a major company, when it turned out that only singer Steve Ellis was present on the five top 20 hits, among them the charttopper "Everlasting Love". In fact most of the a-sides were overproduced, overorchestrated happy-go-lucky-tralala pop ditties, but they had some great flips on which the original Love Affair played. "I'm Happy" on the back of the lacklustre "A Day Without Love" is a fine group composition with Morgan Fisher on keys, who, after an illfated attempt with his own band Morgan, was in a late line-up of Mott The Hoople. Ellis also had a band called Ellis in the early 70s before he formed Widowmaker.

Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders were one of Birmingham's top groups in the early 60s and released four singles on Columbia 63 to 65, before they changed the name and had another two as Mike Sheridan's Lot. Most prominent member was Roy Wood, but on "No Other Guy", the flip of the debut, we still hear founding member Big Al Johnson on lead guitar. When Sheridan gave up disillusioned in 66, they carried on as The Nightriders and had a last 7", which is track 12 on this here volume. Mike Sheridan re-emerged in 1970 as a solo artist and as one half of Sheridan & Price with Rick Price, The Move's bass player in the late 60s.

With Brian Poole The Tremeloes were successful since 62, but taken with a pinch of salt by hardcore beat fans. On their own they had 13 top 40 hits and again it were some of the flipsides (plus the first album) where the goodies were to find. This is the b-side of the number 1 hit "Silence Is Golden", a record so annoying that I didn't bother turning it over for decades. Not rare, but a hidden treasure.

The Majority from Hull had eight 45s on Decca 65 to 68, but none charted seriously. I just thought that we didn't have a Kinks cover for quite some time, so here it is, although The Kinks only recorded a rough demo of "A Little Bit Of Sunlight" and never released this Ray Davies song on their own. Rumour has it, that two members went to Holland in 69 where they formed a new group called Majority One.

More of The Dee-Tees on vol. 1, where I put on a track that already was on the great "Nothing Comes Easy" comp. Sorry 'bout that. Here comes an uncomped song from the EP of these Brits stuck in Singapore.

The Farinas from Whitney are known as the germ cell of Family, and indeed they had Roger Chapman, Ric Grech, Jim King and Charlie Whitney in the ranks, but only the latter two already were members, when they recorded the one and only 7" in 64. Chris Kenner's US R&B hit "I Like It Like That" charted everywhere but in the UK (where it wasn't released as a single) in the version of the Dave Clark Five in 65, but did nothing for the Farinas in 64.

We've already met Kris Ryan & The Questions from the Greater Manchester area on vols. 7 & 9. This here is the title track of their EP. They also had two singles on Mercury, and Kris released two more as a solo artist a year later.

The Groundhogs, formed in 63, changed the name to Herbal Mixture in 66 for a couple of months to release two superb psychy 45s on Columbia under that would-be hipper moniker. When both flopped badly they went back to their blues roots and the appropriate old name. They were Tony McPhee, Pete Cruickshank and Mike Meekham, who was replaced by Dave Boorman in 67, before Ken Pustelnik was recruited a year later to build the classic line-up of thee mighty Grounghogs.

Now here is a nice example for the helpfulness of comments and requests. A couple of weeks ago we had someone calling in for The Dimples, and here is the (slightly) better side of the only 7" by this London-based soulful mod band, who went there from Scunthorpe. (Took me a day to dig up that one in my chaotic archives and the other side probably will be part of a future volume.) Three of the members later were in the short-lived prog band Methuselah in 69, and two of them formed folk rockers Amazing Blondel a year later.

We all know the three fantastic 45s of The Soul Agents from the South Coast on Pye. But they had another one on Polydor, credited to Don Shinn (their organ player) & The Soul Agents. This is a two-sided killer, and the best record without vocals ever released in Great Britain. In my book, at least. Now I understand why Keith Emerson quoted Don Shinn as a major influence, and Vince Crane must have heard this 66 release too. Sounds like the blueprint for his solos in The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown.

I always thought that this was comped, but it's not. The Attraction, reportedly from Romford, had two singles on Columbia in 66. One was a sharp cover of The Kinks' "Party Line", the other is this respectable version of the Glimmer Twins' "Stupid Girl" from "Aftermath".

Now I've just heard that Jon Lord passed away on monday. We change our program in order to pay homage to the man, and to the first (professional) and BEST band he ever played with, The Artwoods. "In The Deep End" is the b-side of the last of seven 45s, and we also hear Art Wood on vocals, Keef Hartley on drums, Derek Griffiths on guitar and Malcolm Pool on bass. (And don't gimme no lip 'bout deaf purple and other shades of pinkees...)

More next month. Stay tuned and tell us what you think about the project in the comments please. Yours, the Lolly Pope & westfauster: Two half-clean old men who'll join the Lord someday. Next century would be fine with me... (10 more volumes of TommyKNACKERS in the can already. We need the time!!!)

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as a very special bonus we created a video for the boston dexters and their 1964 version of matchbox: