TOMMYKNOCKERS BEAT CLUB VOLUME 19: NINETEENTH NERVOUS KNOCKDOWN! UNCOMPILED UK SIXTIES BEAT NUGGETS UNEARTHED. AND THE END IS NOT IN SIGHT...

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.

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