tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84999496140932192662024-03-19T08:34:15.284+00:00Left and to the BackDigging for nuggets from the dusty old storerooms of pop.23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.comBlogger1656125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-65035432508372959032024-03-17T14:46:00.001+00:002024-03-17T15:17:36.308+00:00The End<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrFJ3O80NwZ7u4Flc26hj1wXAIey94kOUzIn1ECW7XxxVs8WwXToWgu4TIgxJduKL56D30TRS38HCCG7QNLvuxVQVFv_38Cscyct72KPxtdAv0n13kdb0rDo5hgf6QRzuPP0V41eeaqjFnN_PHJk_qrXcsLBc_qu2M0riyCUkBlIDT8yKop_qaBV7STeb/s500/no%20through%20road.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrFJ3O80NwZ7u4Flc26hj1wXAIey94kOUzIn1ECW7XxxVs8WwXToWgu4TIgxJduKL56D30TRS38HCCG7QNLvuxVQVFv_38Cscyct72KPxtdAv0n13kdb0rDo5hgf6QRzuPP0V41eeaqjFnN_PHJk_qrXcsLBc_qu2M0riyCUkBlIDT8yKop_qaBV7STeb/w400-h400/no%20through%20road.jpg" width="400"></a></div>I was sifting through the "Left and to the Back" Facebook mail the other day, and was reminded that somebody once sent me a message with the subject line "Never Quit". They're not going to like this blog entry...<p></p><p>Because unfortunately, I am quitting. I have taken the decision to draw a line under this blog and there will be no further new entries. We'll come on to the reason why in a minute, but before that, let's get the practicalities out of the way, because in the months and years which follow that's going to matter to casual readers most.</p><p><b><u>The mp3s</u></b></p><p>I'm going to keep all the mp3s on this blog live until the end of June 2024, after which point my subscription to Box will be cancelled and they will be removed. If there's anything here you want but haven't got around to downloading yet, please do it as soon as possible, as it will evaporate after that point.</p><p>Still, this isn't necessarily the end of the world. If any of the music is currently unavailable on YouTube I'll probably <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnMVeVsvKb4M_rySGRQ2O8g" target="_blank">upload it on my channel there</a> in the not too distant future - so this isn't as drastic as it probably sounds on first reading. Nothing should be wiped completely from existence. </p><p>After the end of June, the blog will exist in a mothballed state with all the writing, sleeve art and scans of record labels remaining available online but all sound files removed. No further updates to existing entries will be run beyond that point, so all very old entries declaring that "nobody knows who this band are" should obviously be treated with a pinch of salt. Share corrections in the comments for the benefit of other readers by all means, but I won't be acting on any of them. <span></span></p><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-end.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-14263690737567481392024-03-10T08:00:00.008+00:002024-03-10T11:13:51.351+00:00Bandylegs - Silver Screen Queen/ Lonely Girl<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIcStlDm7VHvtmQOFNrDDNCIQCUsUc0Y4GwxSEvpUoxDWFP6kECCrveXQ8r3urxYbXqqceqhSAyweXCmZ3h2YZxtwTUttSWjz5DztWLZhyGFl4zNl74GRdPULUCni5AFiHm0QKk-Z0ZJvkt_d6uXaq6-X8ODp-FjBr9_7t5aCdPk29qHf5CRWJSbyk8S5d/s1986/2024-03-03_160757.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1960" data-original-width="1986" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIcStlDm7VHvtmQOFNrDDNCIQCUsUc0Y4GwxSEvpUoxDWFP6kECCrveXQ8r3urxYbXqqceqhSAyweXCmZ3h2YZxtwTUttSWjz5DztWLZhyGFl4zNl74GRdPULUCni5AFiHm0QKk-Z0ZJvkt_d6uXaq6-X8ODp-FjBr9_7t5aCdPk29qHf5CRWJSbyk8S5d/w400-h395/2024-03-03_160757.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZIZibx-R8yRQpzELvWpqU8XD5CzmNyoZwtVCS-zVpB9AmcKYl09kSa6M5lSPjTiVkFK6MtStqnYAvwONp6-hYUw91gZX-tnIHyClj0U3jmpXMEmBVY9VBxhUkEqFknttDZVGR64P9nU5RKQ_sokNKdF9yVnHKY3HsTFbpw_4AO7I-CP3txHQqXV8gUf_/s1982/Photo_2024-03-03_161024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1982" data-original-width="1968" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZIZibx-R8yRQpzELvWpqU8XD5CzmNyoZwtVCS-zVpB9AmcKYl09kSa6M5lSPjTiVkFK6MtStqnYAvwONp6-hYUw91gZX-tnIHyClj0U3jmpXMEmBVY9VBxhUkEqFknttDZVGR64P9nU5RKQ_sokNKdF9yVnHKY3HsTFbpw_4AO7I-CP3txHQqXV8gUf_/w398-h400/Photo_2024-03-03_161024.jpg" width="398"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Pye</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1975</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A huge number of metamorphoses occurred in the seventies as everyone jumped aboard the glam rock juggernaut. It saw everyone from old rock and rollers to balladeers to Denmark Street desk jobbers suddenly wearing make up and trilling and pouting to a trucker's beat. As such, very few stylistic jumps from the period are especially surprising, but nonetheless, the one this group took at the tail end of their first lifespan is quite breathtaking - and not at all glam.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bandylegs were from Birmingham and consisted of Derek Arnold on bass, Geoff Nicholls on keyboards, Malcolm Cope on drums, Mick Hopkins on guitar and Mike Taylor on vocals. Mike Taylor will be familiar to a number of readers of this blog as the singer for The Lemon Tree who released a psychedelic pop masterpiece in "William Chalker's Time Machine". This record really doesn't match up to that dayglo performance, and nor should we really expect it to given that it was released in 1975. Instead, the Bandylegs ensemble ooo-weee-oooo their way through a piece of fifties fantasy, singing about the good old silver screen. Its melodies feel replete with soda pops, ice cream and tootsie rolls which surely can't have been very prevalent in Birmingham in the mid-70s, but the band do a fair job of giving you the impression that it's all they've known.</div><span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next steps the group took, however, were alarming. One reason this single has become relatively collectible since is that the group eventually morphed into the Heavy Metal band Quartz, who issued several albums between 1977 - 1983. To be fair to them, the break wasn't entirely sudden - their final single as Bandylegs, "Bet You Can't Dance", has a glam rock fuzz in its grooves, and acts as a reasonable bridge between their middle-of-the-road leanings and the future. By the time their debut single as Quartz emerged, under the name "<a href="https://youtu.be/mSSUvMvZNG0?si=d17lD4VnnZXWyFGe" target="_blank">Street Fighting Lady</a>", it's safe to say they had changed from delicate pop caterpillars to heavy hawk moths. <span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/03/bandylegs-silver-screen-queen-lonely.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-27153462163475033422024-03-03T08:00:00.006+00:002024-03-03T08:00:00.344+00:00The Bunch - Red Rover Red Rover/ Happy Like This<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SjsSKKtdjeCwDF-hBBcW8nv9JPIjotm_dclqlhMwN43_p6SI3JJ_uueSlS6ohFc95YVpi4H3I3GB-HGc07XHI_EGPaM1xMMg5pqwnLkji_k2kApqwkcu9kO4QKqALpKRB1IhWkWBobs0P8Np6MuAK19nCUxyjh_JavzUPiGY522AW8gLRJO4FBORTEBw/s1992/2024-01-27_183959.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1972" data-original-width="1992" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SjsSKKtdjeCwDF-hBBcW8nv9JPIjotm_dclqlhMwN43_p6SI3JJ_uueSlS6ohFc95YVpi4H3I3GB-HGc07XHI_EGPaM1xMMg5pqwnLkji_k2kApqwkcu9kO4QKqALpKRB1IhWkWBobs0P8Np6MuAK19nCUxyjh_JavzUPiGY522AW8gLRJO4FBORTEBw/w400-h396/2024-01-27_183959.jpg" width="400"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_mfkoGkeVFnhMqZqs0zAs-plKBqB3geBhyphenhyphenNz5zAYFzbq0thEzxbKJrpAdMS_Zz1xg5QNCpQ5in4mHhHjymRLfwMqmnm5ReDyHQmA7VuGx53eix6RtrfFANO-Qxt9dhY0QDPv9Ytuchedc2DZJ9foLprd5cxBji-RCxqdYqV2r-KSTKIYBGh39nf0HtO1/s1976/Photo_2024-01-27_184242.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1968" data-original-width="1976" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_mfkoGkeVFnhMqZqs0zAs-plKBqB3geBhyphenhyphenNz5zAYFzbq0thEzxbKJrpAdMS_Zz1xg5QNCpQ5in4mHhHjymRLfwMqmnm5ReDyHQmA7VuGx53eix6RtrfFANO-Qxt9dhY0QDPv9Ytuchedc2DZJ9foLprd5cxBji-RCxqdYqV2r-KSTKIYBGh39nf0HtO1/w400-h399/Photo_2024-01-27_184242.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Beacon</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1969</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>"Happy sounds are really happening and Red Rover Red Rover is right in today's idiom, a stomping "bubblegum" number with driving bassline and a catchy sing-a-long chorus.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Of course, the heart of the "bubblegum movement" is in New York and that's where The Bunch come from.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>They're a talented foursome who generate a great feel both on record and in live performance. Discovered in their home city by the forward-thinking Sire Records company, this lively group are sure to win a powerful British following too with this strong chart challenge".</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thus spake Beacon Records on their press release for this 45, but can you spot the deliberate mistakes, readers? Firstly, there was never really a "bubblegum movement" as such, with neither kids storming city hall demanding more frothy pop discs, or groups of teenagers swanning around the town centre dressed up as members of The Archies. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Secondly, there was to be no strong chart challenge either here in the UK or the USA for this one. In fact, Beacon getting their mitts on it is a bit of a mystery - they certainly weren't picking up a track with a proven success rate, so we can only assume they bought the rights for it cheaply, crossed their fingers and hoped it would take off here as an exotic and of-the-moment North American disc. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thirdly, even if it had been a chartbound sound Stateside, Sire Records weren't directly responsible - rather, the track saw its release on the Candy Floss label across the pond, and far apart from <i>that</i>, the group weren't actually called The Bunch in America but The Puddle. It's not altogether clear why Beacon changed their name for the British market, especially as there was already a group called The Bunch operating here of "<a href="https://youtu.be/utZ9R3FnaX4?si=_jhb7T7wb2GnNdtS" target="_blank">We're Not What We Appear To Be</a>" fame; were they ignorant of the other band or hoping to potentially cadge a few of their sales from confused fans? Your guess is as good as mine. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hopefully the above facts can serve as a statutory lesson as to how unreliable press releases are as historical documents. Naughty Beacon Records. <span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-bunch-red-rover-red-rover-happy.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-27635480900861146532024-02-28T08:00:00.001+00:002024-02-28T08:00:00.133+00:00Reupload - Solent - My World Fell Down/ The Sound Of Summer's Over<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARmmZBQgLijm5bzRqiVYXnMnaEBesA03IQdtqsPgCl1M4U3hcl1N97Jl95l9Yg9gAQsLdODPaKvWOp941HFmIUpvAQJHWMNN134lsNlgFmWQmUsqcnBTnzx-zY1Akq-OYGHYzz_dE-voV/s1600/IMG_20200222_0001.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1589" data-original-width="1600" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARmmZBQgLijm5bzRqiVYXnMnaEBesA03IQdtqsPgCl1M4U3hcl1N97Jl95l9Yg9gAQsLdODPaKvWOp941HFmIUpvAQJHWMNN134lsNlgFmWQmUsqcnBTnzx-zY1Akq-OYGHYzz_dE-voV/s400/IMG_20200222_0001.jpg" width="400"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LJ-z-clk7sTiKFHEQq9XYPKFAa3n0kpVcOWd6hFtbZo7bacFeg4m6p4cSHqTXK6jG4YHa5lcAwtOVhfcAtyKDuqbQ3auDKqpfeQnG3tE7Nf6k36pszvlIU9lPbGZBxbfTN7wD7tpifrR/s1600/IMG_20200222_0002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1594" data-original-width="1600" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LJ-z-clk7sTiKFHEQq9XYPKFAa3n0kpVcOWd6hFtbZo7bacFeg4m6p4cSHqTXK6jG4YHa5lcAwtOVhfcAtyKDuqbQ3auDKqpfeQnG3tE7Nf6k36pszvlIU9lPbGZBxbfTN7wD7tpifrR/s400/IMG_20200222_0002.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Label: Decca</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Year of Release: 1973</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The fact that the John Carter and Geoff Stephens penned "My World Fell Down" failed to chart when <a href="https://youtu.be/mQ6Pl4UEONs">issued by The Ivy League</a> is probably one of the great injustices of the sixties. Seldom has one song approximated the West Coast sound so faithfully and so well, and with such a sumptuous melody, only to fall by the wayside.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It was improved upon further in 1967 by Americans <a href="https://youtu.be/aprDkTOtSww">Sagittarius, who fleshed its sound out further still</a> with disorientating sound effects which seemed to be knowing nods to Brian Wilson's Smile sessions, all acting as the cherry on the top of an utterly superb song. That fared somewhat better, climbing to number 70 in the US Charts, but its failure to become a significant hit doomed the track into being swept up by Nuggets, Rubble and other rarities compilations in the decades down the line. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Whoever Solent were - that's not entirely clear, though someone called "Bobby S" has claimed vocal duties over on the 45Cat website - they obviously couldn't believe the song's lack of luck, and had another crack at it. This time round, the song is given a politer, smoother mix and almost more nostalgic, sorrowful harmonies. The track by now seems to be harking back to a sixties surfing shoreline as a distant memory (not that such things were that common in the UK to begin with) and the flipside adds to that mournful air, asking very gently where those surfing summers went to. "Don't worry baby" one of the singers sighs, and you almost get the sense they're mopping Brian Wilson's brow, trying to get him down to the south coast of the UK to work his magic. </div><br><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/02/reupload-solent-my-world-fell-down.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-40801779161836554422024-02-25T08:00:00.013+00:002024-02-25T08:00:00.131+00:00Carl Gresham - It First Began/ Comedy Version<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6omERJBrtdFzJmNKiwTBz15p9eqPt6p9dbKTLDKGcuUMYM8gQo49oMsrFxLU1t8FYTiArM0gRuXA765yeCcuh1pjYecP3TegZrj68mgzwkYrdIfha2dwH31DJA1ZTJUANIHeIk1mm-XoYut0LG-VPZ30StqDXDZZstxYbDu8HkbTvHRagIk6nf3OnW7i/s1752/Photo_2024-01-27_185417.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="1752" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6omERJBrtdFzJmNKiwTBz15p9eqPt6p9dbKTLDKGcuUMYM8gQo49oMsrFxLU1t8FYTiArM0gRuXA765yeCcuh1pjYecP3TegZrj68mgzwkYrdIfha2dwH31DJA1ZTJUANIHeIk1mm-XoYut0LG-VPZ30StqDXDZZstxYbDu8HkbTvHRagIk6nf3OnW7i/w400-h389/Photo_2024-01-27_185417.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYTpP5YWNjh3xbWmJHj41j3E2-JXuNCXJyP1lFxqqlE1v7O1SPcbhbtcGaJ0VbL01AXk6Qv73K9l8e3mknqel7LV4bLwYGuK5p6lvwuyawSKT3FqwmnzaOjD0oNwh2sLALy7cRsDMKpcxjjqzfwlsrqbCKomBP3Y-QmfZKsd46_t-3tExay6uJLLQ5JRx/s1752/Photo_2024-01-27_185629.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYTpP5YWNjh3xbWmJHj41j3E2-JXuNCXJyP1lFxqqlE1v7O1SPcbhbtcGaJ0VbL01AXk6Qv73K9l8e3mknqel7LV4bLwYGuK5p6lvwuyawSKT3FqwmnzaOjD0oNwh2sLALy7cRsDMKpcxjjqzfwlsrqbCKomBP3Y-QmfZKsd46_t-3tExay6uJLLQ5JRx/s1752/Photo_2024-01-27_185629.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1748" data-original-width="1752" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYTpP5YWNjh3xbWmJHj41j3E2-JXuNCXJyP1lFxqqlE1v7O1SPcbhbtcGaJ0VbL01AXk6Qv73K9l8e3mknqel7LV4bLwYGuK5p6lvwuyawSKT3FqwmnzaOjD0oNwh2sLALy7cRsDMKpcxjjqzfwlsrqbCKomBP3Y-QmfZKsd46_t-3tExay6uJLLQ5JRx/w400-h399/Photo_2024-01-27_185629.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br></div></div><b>Label: None<br>Year of Release: not issued</b><br><br>Acetates are an expensive folly in the average record collector's life. If you see one in a second hand record shop or on Discogs or eBay, the price is usually ratcheted sky-high, the seller knowing that the scarcity and uniqueness of the offering is going to make it very enticing. Yet when you do purchase one, what you usually get is a songwriter warbling over some basic piano melody they've written, or a half baked beat idea from some smalltown group whose ideas and style hadn't moved on from 1962.<p></p><p>And then, of course, there's stuff like this which surely had a backstory, but I'm damned if I know what it is. Carl Gresham was a highly influential man about town in Bradford, being a record store manager and club DJ at the turn of the sixties, and occasional actor - he was Tom Courtenay's stand-in for "Billy Liar" - and a "personal appearances" agent to the stars, offering them work opening supermarkets and department stores (which begs some serious questions about that 'supermarket opening' scene in the film "Billy Liar", which does not feature in the novel at all. Was this a sneaky, knowing nod to Gresham's sideline business?)</p><p>Gresham - or "The Gresh" as he was known to friends and associates - gradually grew into something of an establishment figure in Bradford, appearing in pantomimes and having his own weekend breakfast radio show on Pennine Radio, so it wouldn't have been unexpected to see him pushing out a novelty single at some point.</p><p>The trouble is, though, this sounds like a very early sixties demo with very simple Freddie & The Dreamers styled melodies, which dates it ahead of Gresham's rise to minor fame. On the A-side you've got a frivolous, cheery melody buried in a terrible mix which he chirps along to serviceably. It's a pleasant enough early beat offering but nothing to crack open the cheque book for. </p><p>Over on the flip, however, is a very strange "comedy" version of the song, which was apparently arranged and conceptualised by the director and producer David Mallet, who worked with Les Dawson and Kenny Everett later in his career, as well as becoming one of the most successful music video directors of all time. In this The Gresh whacks out, screaming and shouting, making panicky asides about "falling down the hole in the middle of the record" and generally acting the giddy goat. It's not clear what this piece of work is connected to or why an acetate of it was pressed. It's possible it was to accompany a comedy show or idea which never got commissioned, but equally likely it was just Gresham dicking around in his remaining studio time.<span></span></p><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/02/carl-gresham-it-first-began-comedy.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-46864349171209559712024-02-18T08:00:00.024+00:002024-02-18T08:00:00.127+00:00The Going Thing - Sweet Sunday/ Windy Day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXq5df8IMYIe-dEpGyEef7NMJaWlhn7vuJ5pEB_NblYV92MQDCg959qKnf6sfVtRwM4cJlPoez_o_Hkq5EL6liTyViw_u5X5JPvPGhK2K1g7x8pz9I3jEhWU6M0o8NUeItP6MeDiU3oqn_B0e8UuC3_EEf1fXOQZl7ZI82cRkKJHFjnxYldMWMujMEGGHM/s1996/Photo_2024-01-27_184507.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1996" data-original-width="1992" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXq5df8IMYIe-dEpGyEef7NMJaWlhn7vuJ5pEB_NblYV92MQDCg959qKnf6sfVtRwM4cJlPoez_o_Hkq5EL6liTyViw_u5X5JPvPGhK2K1g7x8pz9I3jEhWU6M0o8NUeItP6MeDiU3oqn_B0e8UuC3_EEf1fXOQZl7ZI82cRkKJHFjnxYldMWMujMEGGHM/w399-h400/Photo_2024-01-27_184507.jpg" width="399"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNs5AgVnqYmGmTxKjzZqqirB-z_L424a2kWg3zyxqKhtRS65BRKxyoXyeHv4JUxztcYvFpYXS0F6Wynv5Cg1q1o3iACdn0-oNSHrW5Fbx2IuAp8lHkG91vWapxh0zYzXzQAGF6eEXWzKvQhMXNvPJABHyk_UXqxgy-XqO6AY93XRUndxDsJzXh8-9JwE4/s2022/Photo_2024-01-27_184716.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2022" data-original-width="1994" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNs5AgVnqYmGmTxKjzZqqirB-z_L424a2kWg3zyxqKhtRS65BRKxyoXyeHv4JUxztcYvFpYXS0F6Wynv5Cg1q1o3iACdn0-oNSHrW5Fbx2IuAp8lHkG91vWapxh0zYzXzQAGF6eEXWzKvQhMXNvPJABHyk_UXqxgy-XqO6AY93XRUndxDsJzXh8-9JwE4/w395-h400/Photo_2024-01-27_184716.jpg" width="395"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Decca</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1971</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Say hello to the only group (to the best of my knowledge) ever to emerge from the Ford manufacturing line - unless, of course, we're counting Ford Timelord of The Timelords. Back in the sixties, Ford were seemingly keen to make their cars seem sexy, zingy and a little bit more rock and roll; less "any colour you want, so long as it's black", and more "all the colours of the swinging rainbow, baby".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In Australia, the group The Going Thing were pulled together to groove and bop on a <a href="https://youtu.be/TnGyXI10nGQ?si=YrBTleifBCd0nk2C" target="_blank">popular television advert</a> to make cars seem more like something to dance about. There was nothing special about the ad, particularly not by modern day standards, but the zesty young folk in it clearly caught the public's imagination well enough that Ford began pumping out LPs by them for promotional use. "Christmas 1968 With The Going Thing", "The Going Thing 1969" and "1970" all appeared on Ford's own record label, and included gems such as "<a href="https://youtu.be/q6uXTVqF2bc?si=aTNC3od4vKOMlpBW&t=63" target="_blank">The Warranty Song</a>" (please <i>do</i> click on the link to hear that one), "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" (where they sadly don't <a href="https://youtu.be/orXzwY2C2so?si=FVom_TPWOcjnU4do" target="_blank">sing about loving "Duane Bleeding Eddy"</a>), "Ford - It's The Going Thing" (of course) and an array of sunshine covers of popular hits.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">American producers Tom and John Bahler were responsible for the group's sound and approach at this point, and offered $50,000 a year to Karen and Richard Carpenter to work on the project, which the pair sensibly refused, choosing to instead continue with their own work. Nonetheless, even without any contributions from the Carpenter siblings, the outcomes of this period were likably fluffy and pie-eyed enough to become of interest to collectors - the "1970" LP in particular goes for some inexplicably eye-watering sums given its contents, frequently attracting eBay bids upwards of £100. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Once the Ford gig was up, the Australian label Sweet Peach picked them up and attempted to market them as a group with things other than family cars on their minds. The resulting LP "Good News" is a less kitschy collection of songs, and as such is seemingly of less interest to collectors. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Following that album's disappointing performance, Decca surprisingly chose to give them a leg up with this single, which was issued not just in Australia but the UK as well. Like a lot of their material, its quality does belie its somewhat naff origins. "Sweet Sunday" is an intriguing cross between gospel and technicolour harmony pop, and while it's difficult not to sing The Velvet Underground's "Oh Sweet Nuthin'" over the first few bars, the group manage to carry the cheer of the ditty in a manner that wouldn't embarrass The Fifth Dimension. It's feelgood music handled with incredible care and some UK journalists even predicted a hit.<span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-going-thing-sweet-sunday-windy-day.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-69543351375362800832024-02-11T08:00:00.001+00:002024-02-11T08:00:00.129+00:00C.T.A.-102 - More Strangers (In The Cave Again)/ A Thousand Days<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXLKeNSff95A2DtnPVv0TSvO6mxLbapirWkLHSxeu7XUMONmvPxb7CmJB158mFzvIMQQTms80wofhQJoaejPaoVjh4XRg8Hf-gMsLryT-hF1ga7oq0kqV7t7w4JUPK4OsiPf-MOpqAdtvBbJVZ6keZnGn6TduTejoLsen4DYZTQfEH1Z1-7Kr5v22UTsos/s1940/2024-01-27_191152.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1940" data-original-width="1924" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXLKeNSff95A2DtnPVv0TSvO6mxLbapirWkLHSxeu7XUMONmvPxb7CmJB158mFzvIMQQTms80wofhQJoaejPaoVjh4XRg8Hf-gMsLryT-hF1ga7oq0kqV7t7w4JUPK4OsiPf-MOpqAdtvBbJVZ6keZnGn6TduTejoLsen4DYZTQfEH1Z1-7Kr5v22UTsos/w396-h400/2024-01-27_191152.jpg" width="396"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUV2T-GaR_1E_DrRbhpmxYe9HZ-GFA10SWUTk5HAteeX83We0O7fvmOKGsYVSCxAKaMF4LUBz3wPwH6oKHJcUTImZcPeLpKoeMnAlJRE52OvUqzHWiBkFD6Cnw74GNLcgv_EAY34luWwNRPYH5XQigindwgkfNQ563QPHulLDpcDtrqAX28u9eFJq5gVOY/s1878/2024-01-27_191408.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1878" data-original-width="1858" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUV2T-GaR_1E_DrRbhpmxYe9HZ-GFA10SWUTk5HAteeX83We0O7fvmOKGsYVSCxAKaMF4LUBz3wPwH6oKHJcUTImZcPeLpKoeMnAlJRE52OvUqzHWiBkFD6Cnw74GNLcgv_EAY34luWwNRPYH5XQigindwgkfNQ563QPHulLDpcDtrqAX28u9eFJq5gVOY/w396-h400/2024-01-27_191408.jpg" width="396"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Gale</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1980</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Paul Carman was an unlucky chap, recording a lot of music in the seventies under the "Dolphin" moniker (<a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/08/reupload-dolphin-hey-joe-dubby-dubby.html" target="_blank">we covered his rocksteady version of "Hey Joe" some time ago</a>) which tended to take existing hit singles and tear them apart, forcing them into new shapes and guises. When it worked, it worked unbelievably well. His smooth FM take on "<a href="https://youtu.be/kMHrqQTj-7U?si=InO8iwc7YJsuArAd" target="_blank">Goin' Back</a>", for example, is an interesting version which adds a small droplet of sixties trippiness to the otherwise slick hug of the mid-seventies production.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He was a perfectly good songwriter in his own right, though, as this single - issued under the strange C.T.A.-102 moniker - proves. "More Strangers (In The Cave Again)" is a shimmering, pulsing New Wave track which in places sounds like Colin Newman out of Wire being ordered to write a hit. It's another example of a performer from another era managing to adapt to the changing tide with astonishing ease, but clearly falling flat on their faces because nobody in the punk or post-punk scenes liked a "pretender" (unless they were sticking two fingers up and mucking about for their own amusement like The Strawbs). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fortunately, there's better news for the modern man in that a freshly mastered version of the track is available on Bandcamp for streaming and buying, and the link can be found below.<span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/02/cta-102-more-strangers-in-cave-again.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-65546840387400548832024-02-07T08:00:00.001+00:002024-02-07T08:00:00.132+00:00Reupload - Zenith - A Fool That Was In Love/ Silent Words<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixqI5WMvgxNheU4NjXJnf8Ji9zJaKF1uYgBPpusHbZngjsqgtIFzlQVzQYiCL8ybu-MqaNswpAo5Mg7fexDVuWZV1B4tbLajJViAdYxQ_WI69ihXgSkRDUGico6PQVNpcAzMAtKeqPte_U/s1600/IMG_20200216_0005.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixqI5WMvgxNheU4NjXJnf8Ji9zJaKF1uYgBPpusHbZngjsqgtIFzlQVzQYiCL8ybu-MqaNswpAo5Mg7fexDVuWZV1B4tbLajJViAdYxQ_WI69ihXgSkRDUGico6PQVNpcAzMAtKeqPte_U/s400/IMG_20200216_0005.jpg" width="400"></a></p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SgF5TtwWn5k4biHX4ecBHaHhCDJDa0ou7mPBKm6moMQFgRM6ql6XOopT3PdScd4o-qkp7yV8c9u1vl6FzW0ZAKMmrTCSzxjqXEryEk4R5dDRuBuVsQMgn5LvvNvMyDCubFgcBAMKTMEX/s1600/IMG_20200216_0006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1577" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SgF5TtwWn5k4biHX4ecBHaHhCDJDa0ou7mPBKm6moMQFgRM6ql6XOopT3PdScd4o-qkp7yV8c9u1vl6FzW0ZAKMmrTCSzxjqXEryEk4R5dDRuBuVsQMgn5LvvNvMyDCubFgcBAMKTMEX/s400/IMG_20200216_0006.jpg" width="393"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i>Sophisticated but well-written mid-seventies pop from ex-White Plains boys</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Label: Dawn</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Year of Release: 1975</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Dawn was a perplexing label. Started by its parent label Pye as a home to more progressive and hippy-friendly artists (akin to EMI's Harvest or Decca's Deram) it started off on-spec with huge hits from the hairy festival jugband act Mungo Jerry and lesser-selling pieces of wonderfulness from more subdued acts such as Heron. Eventually, though, these beardy releases gave way to all manner of commercial rock and pop, including releases from The Glitter Band and Brotherhood of Man. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This 45 definitely exists at the end of Dawn's catalogue marked "sophisticated pop". Only the stray sound of a sitar low in the mix shows any concessions to the label's past - the rest of the track is taken up with hooky choruses and zingy but breezy orchestral arrangements, having more in common with Edison's Lighthouse than anything likely to have got John Peel excited.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Still, it's deftly done, and certainly could have been a hit - the song is determined to make maximum impact, and pushes itself forward with hook after hook on top of a pristine arrangement. That possibly shouldn't be too surprising, given that the group were formed from the remains of White Plains, and their sound practically invented the slick, careful but potent 70s pop formula. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/02/reupload-zenith-fool-that-was-in-love.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-87126348141481942992024-02-04T08:00:00.021+00:002024-02-04T10:20:35.238+00:00Staff of Basingstoke Hospital - Close Encounters of The Medical Kind (EP)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6e1DRXxMfE7lqrr_WanHRWfb2Ep6MylsOQwyAcu3jp3faf1_ZiO8uqlbLX16VmK9d7kBPZCgZ3JSoi3FyZ94LTeH1it1vwvf4CgYrDWXF4P1lWck6xDRUWbkP1RrqiIVqKVWt5whgXf4oKDcZnacAUnKEw82qAgKiEO0d05_NgiZ3VzK7IwL5howmJ6jU/s600/CEMK1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6e1DRXxMfE7lqrr_WanHRWfb2Ep6MylsOQwyAcu3jp3faf1_ZiO8uqlbLX16VmK9d7kBPZCgZ3JSoi3FyZ94LTeH1it1vwvf4CgYrDWXF4P1lWck6xDRUWbkP1RrqiIVqKVWt5whgXf4oKDcZnacAUnKEw82qAgKiEO0d05_NgiZ3VzK7IwL5howmJ6jU/w400-h400/CEMK1.jpg" width="400"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV3XTaO3gYCka6Ejp6oNNllTQCHloNlltYtNUpp0P-lo10Tp6NNBJscSrwzLCNhI-HZzsB-uDJCFFncubvZWh0ycdMKAJYF54zzbPxOeZIFxCCr0z9JbUoFiOndKM6fhVEQa3OqWbmUafuGpV7yiWboza8zeisK161D47TLrGYXlb3oMKGc4ZH0r_cTQ6/s600/CEMK2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV3XTaO3gYCka6Ejp6oNNllTQCHloNlltYtNUpp0P-lo10Tp6NNBJscSrwzLCNhI-HZzsB-uDJCFFncubvZWh0ycdMKAJYF54zzbPxOeZIFxCCr0z9JbUoFiOndKM6fhVEQa3OqWbmUafuGpV7yiWboza8zeisK161D47TLrGYXlb3oMKGc4ZH0r_cTQ6/w400-h400/CEMK2.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Rushton Records</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: Who knows?</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Followers of my <a href="https://twitter.com/LeftAndToBack" target="_blank">Twitter feed</a> will know this record has been driving me up the wall for weeks now - not due to its musical content, but purely because I'm sure I read about its existence or heard about it on a podcast at some point in the last couple of years; however, I can find no evidence anywhere, either in my house, on my hard drive or online. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Given that it's too late in this blog's history to regret not keeping a better notepad, I'll press ahead based on what I think I know - which as it happens, isn't a lot. It would be tempting to write "Close Encounters Of The Medical Kind" off as a strange spoof, perhaps a cheapo prog-lite project Matt Berry attempted shortly after "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" completed its series on Channel 4, but so far as I can ascertain this is the real deal; a revue troop of doctors and hospital staff in Basingstoke recording the best of a self-penned science fiction musical they performed. </div><br>The central theme of the musical isn't easy to ascertain from this EP, but it would appear to involve evil forces attempting to destroy a vital moon in the universe who must be stopped by a member of Basingstoke Hospital staff known only as Luke "Superdoc", who we can only hope is on a hero's wage.<p></p><p>Musically, this record has a spindly, muddy, low-budget production underpinning music which sounds live and occasionally veers towards prog, pop, twee psychedelia and the Rocky Horror Show. Neither the vocal or instrumental performances are exactly professional, with very occasional weaknesses coming forth in the mix, but surprisingly, nor are they howlingly bad; somebody, somewhere put a lot of thought into this record (who ever would have thought medical staff had the <i>time</i>? They certainly wouldn't now) and clearly wanted to leave audiences with a suitable audio keepsake of a jolly and not entirely serious stage revue. <span></span></p><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/02/staff-of-basingstoke-hospital-close.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-3772291526300497232024-01-28T08:00:00.005+00:002024-01-28T08:00:00.131+00:00The Whales - Come Down Little Bird/ Beachcomber<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vou0ypCm-ckY2fvAJtg9o6_Us71xeUM0HAQYxZkPOzf9fd_eeMIVM_dTrQAPY2jHpSWSXgAwmEaIJcV5ptE7p023Hoz-gRzTUj_3kjKwEqXvb0RyKy-KOwAEIs6aPqwaNYAB_-QPvN57fePYiWyE1vpWyhirJtPy5MplgQ1LYUwE0AdydTgD1bsS9Fa-/s1962/Photo_2023-12-30_174126.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1962" data-original-width="1962" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vou0ypCm-ckY2fvAJtg9o6_Us71xeUM0HAQYxZkPOzf9fd_eeMIVM_dTrQAPY2jHpSWSXgAwmEaIJcV5ptE7p023Hoz-gRzTUj_3kjKwEqXvb0RyKy-KOwAEIs6aPqwaNYAB_-QPvN57fePYiWyE1vpWyhirJtPy5MplgQ1LYUwE0AdydTgD1bsS9Fa-/w400-h400/Photo_2023-12-30_174126.jpg" width="400"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnEj9WxxOf0qhtDNgLaHVqIy1QmDZrEXrrNQDWmpAGraAJrlm9XdUZNSRPfr6jFR21vLnsdRP_6Z7s8TRSARk0Y8YxiXhzwGhXbhuWO9ibwBbtIissXlLDn0hMw6v_y7oaEsEBHYvD-5OwWzT3nVqclnCkS0KmHWUSHCoDD5KrzsU9ONG_mqfbFjWjjUIn/s1970/Photo_2023-12-30_174346.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1970" data-original-width="1948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnEj9WxxOf0qhtDNgLaHVqIy1QmDZrEXrrNQDWmpAGraAJrlm9XdUZNSRPfr6jFR21vLnsdRP_6Z7s8TRSARk0Y8YxiXhzwGhXbhuWO9ibwBbtIissXlLDn0hMw6v_y7oaEsEBHYvD-5OwWzT3nVqclnCkS0KmHWUSHCoDD5KrzsU9ONG_mqfbFjWjjUIn/w395-h400/Photo_2023-12-30_174346.jpg" width="395"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: CBS</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1968</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Televised talent shows are unforgiving affairs - they enable club acts or even aspiring bedroom singers to give a mass audience their best shot, but if they lose (and especially if they lose ignobly) they are likely to forever be considered damaged goods. A performer who didn't impress either a panel of judges or a television audience of several million people may even never work professionally again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And the winners? Well, the preferred narrative is that they will become new superstars, but even in today's market that's usually only the case for a brief period of time. The victors in talent contests usually sell well in the media aisle to supermarket shoppers for the first six months after receiving their gong, and are regarded as a safe booking by live venues and cruise ship events organisers, but only in rare cases do they really shake Britain or the world with their abilities. </div><p>Barnsley's The Whales, for example, were Opportunity Knocks winners in 1968 and were given a fantastic opportunity to break through afterwards; a contract with CBS was duly inked, and the group were paired with the brilliant Mark Wirtz to produce a debut single. "<a href="https://youtu.be/26hVmEexmro?si=VXXLr3ekIsCdm8VK" target="_blank">Come Down Little Bird</a>" was the outcome, and while it has since been compiled on "Piccadilly Sunshine", making it well known amongst the popsike cognoscenti, it was perhaps a bit too lacking in pizazz for the mass market. Wirtz clearly offered them a solid enough tune, but not one which sounded like a hit - the chorus is gently lilting rather than forceful, while the verses are too childlike and gentle to compensate. It's not bad, it's just clearly no "Teenage Opera".<span></span></p><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-whales-come-down-little-bird.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-24327841978008965182024-01-21T08:00:00.074+00:002024-01-21T10:13:19.672+00:00Halifax Building Society - Rock Solid (EP)<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXd1VVEZXpatws5hdVRaGgU_CnCfyvxl34ufHRVih0bh3Hd5iKg-Je6292awxs_A7S_byRJVfk84FfWU9kzOFMrg9jrcLyfL-NqOSl6AgMORGp2CjsOmsDj7fxuhb1jICVw-giCY2auyTpy6mOXjYaXjh_rCf6TarjUnF5tyMrZIZiL6Ixt4sWsb9l6TsN/s4224/Photo_2024-01-07_174302.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4144" data-original-width="4224" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXd1VVEZXpatws5hdVRaGgU_CnCfyvxl34ufHRVih0bh3Hd5iKg-Je6292awxs_A7S_byRJVfk84FfWU9kzOFMrg9jrcLyfL-NqOSl6AgMORGp2CjsOmsDj7fxuhb1jICVw-giCY2auyTpy6mOXjYaXjh_rCf6TarjUnF5tyMrZIZiL6Ixt4sWsb9l6TsN/w400-h393/Photo_2024-01-07_174302.jpg" width="400"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimdx-uosohARrH_JC9WAjeo_9BNjEXt_Ej5AkEWzqoKX9Fhx6xFDNiRDApMdJh803WWFEf6gGfqDROL9htICtJPqEDBbjKWGs6BSwk45NEzRTAUKI69-HGHV1hePG5rqktJgfwo6btXS2Vrh1XPvJqh7jnrHC-TRvnJxWGBL1TH1H6sPIHfLoGqJKHI37W/s4245/Document_2024-01-07_174546.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3976" data-original-width="4245" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimdx-uosohARrH_JC9WAjeo_9BNjEXt_Ej5AkEWzqoKX9Fhx6xFDNiRDApMdJh803WWFEf6gGfqDROL9htICtJPqEDBbjKWGs6BSwk45NEzRTAUKI69-HGHV1hePG5rqktJgfwo6btXS2Vrh1XPvJqh7jnrHC-TRvnJxWGBL1TH1H6sPIHfLoGqJKHI37W/w400-h375/Document_2024-01-07_174546.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5Iyo28kB4q80q5HnnqEuyJMc4GTy4HuSMOcHTcuuUKCx4VkzpHhHrm1ighKFV4kmIM-XcrKTmv-kyaTOb56nSoJb7uHv9wxoNG9xyUwj9TXo62Sqsu8gkP3GX1TwbpmpjUGodfDIbC_O7v9RaDsbD3QHOABx4MQ6PCvmVfV0DI3m2JWSn6nYiZWMMeVe/s2046/Photo_2024-01-07_174834.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2046" data-original-width="2032" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5Iyo28kB4q80q5HnnqEuyJMc4GTy4HuSMOcHTcuuUKCx4VkzpHhHrm1ighKFV4kmIM-XcrKTmv-kyaTOb56nSoJb7uHv9wxoNG9xyUwj9TXo62Sqsu8gkP3GX1TwbpmpjUGodfDIbC_O7v9RaDsbD3QHOABx4MQ6PCvmVfV0DI3m2JWSn6nYiZWMMeVe/w397-h400/Photo_2024-01-07_174834.jpg" width="397"></a></div><br><p><br></p><p><br><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><br><br><br><b>Label: Air-Edel<br>Year of Release: 1978</b><br><br><i>"By the way, if anyone in here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself"</i> - so grumbled Bill Hicks to a live audience on his CD "Rant In E Minor", adding <i>"do a commercial, you're off the artistic roll call"</i>. He certainly wasn't the first to complain about creative people selling out with adverts, and the idea that engaging with advertising is evil, even if undertaken simply to make a quick buck while in a financial corner (which even leftists like Ken Loach have done in the past) was a dominant one for decades. It's something which tends to get brought up less frequently now, but still occasionally gets trotted out when a respected artist "whores themselves" for a major business on prime time television.<div><br></div><div>This was certainly the case when a couple of young people I'm acquainted with (but won't pretend to know well) received some crisp bank notes from the Nationwide to do some adverts recently. I had to watch with dismay as a cascade of abuse filled up my social media timelines, and while the Bill Hicks "Off the artistic roll call!" line was not repeated, it was certainly paraphrased a number of times, despite the fact that Hicks added the disclaimer "If you're a struggling artist <i>[which they were]</i> I'll look the other way". These, it seems, were people not worthy of their calling for taking the Building Society ruble in order to spend more time developing their careers ("Real poets don't have <i>careers</i>!" one angry individual shouted, while staying oddly silent about John Cooper Clarke's Sugar Puff adverts). </div><div><br></div><div>Building Societies have always had one eye on the youth market, though, way before banks seemed to get their claws into teens and children. As organisations, they've always been keen to emphasise the possible to people who have perhaps heard rather too often that what they are demanding is unattainable. These days, that seems to be the very idea that a young person can actually have a mortgage, and in the seventies... well actually, the opening sales pitch really wasn't much different then either.</div><div><br></div><div>This promotional EP was put together for the Halifax Building Society in 1978, and seems to be, once again, about young whippersnappers saving enough to buy a house, or at least be somewhere they feel they belong. It's a very decadent promotional item indeed, coming housed in a glossy, full colour gatefold sleeve with a printed paper inner sleeve inside, very akin to the plush affairs major labels used to create in the nineties for up-and-coming alternative groups (all it would need is a colour vinyl pressing to complete the effect). It's also pressed up on proper vinyl rather than a flexidisc, and only the sprayed silver "plasticrap" label looks cheap.</div><div><br></div><div>It also opens very unexpectedly with a desperate, agitated slice of Pete Townshend aping rock. "Where Are We Going" begins like "Pinball Wizard" (itself used in a bank advert for NatWest in 1988). "<i>Lose all our money in the Palace Arcade/ I swear the one-armed bandit knows that we just got paid!</i>" exclaims the Townshend clone at one point, before adding "<i>When we get together, everybody thinks we're bad/ but all we're doing is searching for things we never had</i>". <span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/01/halifax-building-society-rock-solid-ep.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-25337276441552286102024-01-18T08:00:00.001+00:002024-01-18T08:00:00.135+00:00Reupload - Fuzz Face - Mighty Quinn/ Voices From The Sky<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqLeBspV5i3jFUGyQDgi4tllUQsWP8w5vdfebkTrnlwk9tsNck5kpVplRCBuwJGzzISwvaJsnp2xzJss1NVLccuWsBYEHBSwOzB2xyvrAgiI_0qjcMoU4cggWToTmS8WUiC0SnplTMwTe/s1600/IMG_20200105_0001.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="1600" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqLeBspV5i3jFUGyQDgi4tllUQsWP8w5vdfebkTrnlwk9tsNck5kpVplRCBuwJGzzISwvaJsnp2xzJss1NVLccuWsBYEHBSwOzB2xyvrAgiI_0qjcMoU4cggWToTmS8WUiC0SnplTMwTe/s400/IMG_20200105_0001.jpg" width="400"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2K3OhEoBxP9p53zFXr9g8lmJibkXr8gj-jQAaYf7lLENUfIdlCivlEmEJFuUcXsZry14526f3ew0RJRk0E2drPBN2XNejPjyYWZMjK3lH5bnDG1D2lbuqYl8ucAmfXajpisADSoWlL-_n/s1600/IMG_20200105_0002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1594" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2K3OhEoBxP9p53zFXr9g8lmJibkXr8gj-jQAaYf7lLENUfIdlCivlEmEJFuUcXsZry14526f3ew0RJRk0E2drPBN2XNejPjyYWZMjK3lH5bnDG1D2lbuqYl8ucAmfXajpisADSoWlL-_n/s400/IMG_20200105_0002.jpg" width="397"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Label: Page One</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Year of Release: 1968</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Anything I write about the progression of "Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)" from a "Great White Wonder" Dylan bootleg track to a major hit for Manfed Mann is probably going to be a bit of a waste of energy - everyone knows the story, after all. Dylan's songbook was continually plundered throughout the late sixties (and indeed beyond) by bands desperate for both cred and hits, and the adventures of Quinn the Eskimo were possibly the poppiest of options on offer, as well as handily buried on an unofficial release.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">While Manfred Mann had shot to number one with their version of the track by February 1968, Fuzz Face here - who I'm 99.9% confident were some sort of American studio group - were latecomers to the party, issuing their version in April of that year. In fairness, it puts a slightly different spin on things, loading an instrumental version of the track with guitar effects, sitars, organs and decidedly "groovy" backing rhythms, making it prime fodder for anyone's house party. You can dance to this with much greater ease than the Mann's rather stompier take. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Commercially, though, there wasn't much room in the charts for two versions of the same song at roughly the same time, and this sank on both sides of the pond. A shame, but it wasn't at all unusual for instrumental versions of pop hits to do this, however innovative or otherwise faintly psychedelic they were.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/01/reupload-fuzz-face-mighty-quinn-voices.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-58645833089125750462024-01-14T08:00:00.010+00:002024-01-14T08:00:00.360+00:00Ulysses Smith - Jet Aeroplane/ The Next Train In The Morning<p> <br></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1r7yPpVVeesh1ILMem0TVSPWhTlIfizw0RgqWiUDVueUNt7Mqr81s7XfrpoqpzCr3X-M0Nf45U53JX-9475KuqcCY3-ivP79wvoU1LRIVnfdD0KjXnrTYufCXKtYQ3QO_bLdzcqq41UlBvpM6Rbqtd2JOz9_8DP4gRZoQbjTzZA1TvOwhX5zrcpzkTZ4V/s1998/Photo_2023-12-30_174602.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1998" data-original-width="1988" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1r7yPpVVeesh1ILMem0TVSPWhTlIfizw0RgqWiUDVueUNt7Mqr81s7XfrpoqpzCr3X-M0Nf45U53JX-9475KuqcCY3-ivP79wvoU1LRIVnfdD0KjXnrTYufCXKtYQ3QO_bLdzcqq41UlBvpM6Rbqtd2JOz9_8DP4gRZoQbjTzZA1TvOwhX5zrcpzkTZ4V/w398-h400/Photo_2023-12-30_174602.jpg" width="398"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpflzdVUfU2wRzb9W0HwNg4n8hEeEfadDYeCgHLAdkHGsVh4HqIpAtgVOsW7etlOO7PDFW73f1iJo_ssZUlahSyfXAhyE0nZjl7yltWMV-S-dmMO6gq5hEmlUxDPKTYv9wvIys_2yjNRe4DrJw-jWC5ucAncgUCaQfiwOBailK_OSev6QDHWUikMbQ_6tm/s1998/Photo_2023-12-30_174806.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1998" data-original-width="1976" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpflzdVUfU2wRzb9W0HwNg4n8hEeEfadDYeCgHLAdkHGsVh4HqIpAtgVOsW7etlOO7PDFW73f1iJo_ssZUlahSyfXAhyE0nZjl7yltWMV-S-dmMO6gq5hEmlUxDPKTYv9wvIys_2yjNRe4DrJw-jWC5ucAncgUCaQfiwOBailK_OSev6QDHWUikMbQ_6tm/w395-h400/Photo_2023-12-30_174806.jpg" width="395"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: RCA</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1968</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For a songwriter who experienced such huge success with Sandie Shaw, and a reasonable run of hits in his own right as a solo artist, it's surprising how many of Chris Andrews' compositions failed for other people. What should have been a guaranteed badge of hit status and press attention sometimes slipped unhelpfully under the radar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In this case, the oddly named Ulysses Smith is the benefactor of Andrew's helping hand. His real name was actually George Davies, a Barnsley-born singer and guitarist with the hitless act Me And Them. The group recorded for Pye in 1964, but none of their singles had any impact, from the inappropriately peppy Buddy Knox penned pop of "<a href="https://youtu.be/_lUacmCziOM?si=y974OzO-q5h4oTa0" target="_blank">Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself</a>" to their cover of The Beatles "Tell Me Why". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Following their failure, Davies appears to have struck out on his own under a new name to try his luck under Andrews' production and songwriting guidance with this 45. In common with a lot of Chris Andrew's later work, it's a record which whiffs of Soho basement bars, with its brassy arrangements, swinging rhythms and punchy vocals sounding as if they would be more at home on the live circuit than tightly hemmed in a recording studio.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It probably wasn't confident or strident enough to be a bona-fide hit. Still, the occasional bursts of reverb and fruity brass on the flipside make it a much more groovy listen.<span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/01/ulysses-smith-jet-aeroplane-next-train.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-78963920907304816862024-01-07T08:00:00.021+00:002024-01-07T08:00:00.146+00:00The Fantastics - Waiting Around For Heartaches<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjza2ycJKx0KLh2HtIvVnIvszGbJsj-rY3NbzretRZk3mKjd1NbpChLOzPnAsHw-w6slt7g_Qpv5Y7LxiJeiWLx44bLdUjKtQ13smb7-vg-eRflp_iDecoHVwnIg7c4fjHsdeP8lgBBAljDuxGqW40Z_D2mkdgbsFV9xHOPz-9TR28FK14UtixO4yN1P-v3/s1978/Photo_2023-12-30_173615.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1978" data-original-width="1970" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjza2ycJKx0KLh2HtIvVnIvszGbJsj-rY3NbzretRZk3mKjd1NbpChLOzPnAsHw-w6slt7g_Qpv5Y7LxiJeiWLx44bLdUjKtQ13smb7-vg-eRflp_iDecoHVwnIg7c4fjHsdeP8lgBBAljDuxGqW40Z_D2mkdgbsFV9xHOPz-9TR28FK14UtixO4yN1P-v3/w399-h400/Photo_2023-12-30_173615.jpg" width="399"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0iBgJwzb2hvHaMRWvpoGeJkQDtmJc-5gHDfcklO41MNt2u-a6qbyR5OzEJR_VDkfgvEjKfmnbI6S2LwqMji2u55Q1fUxwXU6sR1uWcE8zvvpL37tOJHy7JMKC0GEDNBEzBGH6zcWeU4ZCIlrVyTcg9-cH3jx7xiyi1gTlxlNU1SR23-M3PdzL4-BY-f0A/s2002/Photo_2023-12-30_173842.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1986" data-original-width="2002" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0iBgJwzb2hvHaMRWvpoGeJkQDtmJc-5gHDfcklO41MNt2u-a6qbyR5OzEJR_VDkfgvEjKfmnbI6S2LwqMji2u55Q1fUxwXU6sR1uWcE8zvvpL37tOJHy7JMKC0GEDNBEzBGH6zcWeU4ZCIlrVyTcg9-cH3jx7xiyi1gTlxlNU1SR23-M3PdzL4-BY-f0A/w400-h396/Photo_2023-12-30_173842.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Deram</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1970</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unlike most of the artists who get featured on this blog, The Fantastics were arguably proper pop stars. They produced a hit single in 1971 in the form of "Something Old, Something New", which despite only getting to number 9 feels like a deathless disc - never far away from an advertising campaign or a mid-afternoon oldies playlist.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Prior to their run in the top ten, though, they were an American act called The Velours who released an eye-watering number of singles across the pond, including the in-demand soul disc "<a href="https://youtu.be/O8nZcAQ9M8c?si=gR20HrV_Iizxy_gz" target="_blank">I'm Gonna Change</a>". They changed their name to The Fantastic Temptations and hopped over to the UK to cash in on the demand for the Temptations material on the live circuit, mainly performing covers of their hits for soul-hungry audiences. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were forced to eventually change their name to The Fantastics - tribute bands weren't really "a thing" in the sixties and confusion was always best avoided - and that name change also coincided with a brace of original recorded material. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They slipped out a version of "<a href="https://youtu.be/v3Xb9NB6jkg?si=uuyQInoJWaFe4-ev" target="_blank">Baby Make Your Own Sweet Music</a>" on MGM in 1968 before moving to the Deram label and releasing "<a href="https://youtu.be/VwvkZUMmdmo?si=BBGgBuC9461NNSi3">Face to Face With Heartache</a>" followed by this effort. In this case, the B-side, a cover of the Four Tops "Ask The Lonely", has had the largest share of the attention, popping up on so many Northern Soul compilations that you can head over to Spotify or <a href="https://music.apple.com/gb/album/ask-the-lonely/1442390085?i=1442390100" target="_blank">iTunes </a>to enjoy it with enormous ease. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While that cover is deftly done and unsurprisingly popular with the in-crowd, it's meant that the pep and strut of the A-side has been unjustly ignored over the years, so it's presented here for your attention. "Waiting Round For Heartaches" is, as you'd expect, energetic and thrusting while dripping with heartbroken melodrama, and as such it's surprising that it's heard so infrequently in the outside world. <span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-fantastics-waiting-around-for.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-37900139530265122552023-12-31T08:00:00.024+00:002023-12-31T08:00:00.146+00:00STAR - Children Of The Sun/ Your Time Will Come<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZtTEucI_NOIZT-F89Q8ApeADPsBwGn6WpY6FHY0lig8FhyphenhyphentH_uj3nVj4Tnr5LWrfLlsHYs2Q8lwJz_vPgSzzojEtP6o2bGbu0jDpevulA7eEzVuyPZZwwQRpAqjd6yulGrmPmFPVIVHX27AdKTW6Y8xU9zsfaBYRUe3dL11IcHdI6-DZqtOAFoIm19gi/s2000/Photo_2023-12-28_145550.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1968" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZtTEucI_NOIZT-F89Q8ApeADPsBwGn6WpY6FHY0lig8FhyphenhyphentH_uj3nVj4Tnr5LWrfLlsHYs2Q8lwJz_vPgSzzojEtP6o2bGbu0jDpevulA7eEzVuyPZZwwQRpAqjd6yulGrmPmFPVIVHX27AdKTW6Y8xU9zsfaBYRUe3dL11IcHdI6-DZqtOAFoIm19gi/w394-h400/Photo_2023-12-28_145550.jpg" width="394"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46L4GcyJSf64vvwegBMKC9qgXeTOCTzAmZ2EwseBtcDUdT1bLEfrQ9z4Lp17ascMso_DPC34xKoq82kmNZexyfkm9Wz5rvdHljGwzb4XyzdvNRnD8-E_VJRqC1vsnfPeTYeBzXLpwPibUq3rKfSCpLCa3akRRR-wwfwVFcCR9PxjUqgmQEOsEVyYjzd6e/s1978/Photo_2023-12-28_145810.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1978" data-original-width="1972" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46L4GcyJSf64vvwegBMKC9qgXeTOCTzAmZ2EwseBtcDUdT1bLEfrQ9z4Lp17ascMso_DPC34xKoq82kmNZexyfkm9Wz5rvdHljGwzb4XyzdvNRnD8-E_VJRqC1vsnfPeTYeBzXLpwPibUq3rKfSCpLCa3akRRR-wwfwVFcCR9PxjUqgmQEOsEVyYjzd6e/w399-h400/Photo_2023-12-28_145810.jpg" width="399"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Bradleys</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1973</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A strange one, this. Bradleys were the recorded music arm of Associated Television (ATV), but unlike BBC Records and Tapes didn't solely specialise in output related to their programmes. The formation of this sister company was largely due to the creation of ATV Music, which began as a publishing house for TV themes but quickly wriggled its tentacles into all kinds of profitable directions, including buying up The Beatles Northern Songs catalogue. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bradleys should have been a serious contender in the record charts with such financial muscle behind them, but the vast majority of their output consisted of pop flops - bright, shiny 45s which clearly had their eyes on success but could never quite make it over the line. As a result, the label came and went within three-and-a-half years leaving very little impression on popular culture at all, unlike its parent television company which gave the world The Muppet Show, Family Fortunes, The Golden Shot, and Pipkins. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The unfortunately named Star were among their many hopefuls, but this was their only recorded effort, and in common with most of their label mates, it achieved nish. Both sides have a pretty and harmonious bright seventies pop feel to them - the early part of the decade was utterly riddled with warm, hopeful songs offering optimistic viewpoints. "Children Of The Sun" opens with slide guitar and a bluesy message, before moving towards a giant hug of a chorus for all the kids everywhere. At the time, serious critics would probably have dismissed this as mere froth, but it's got a richness and bouyancy a lot of the cast-off rock records of the same era frankly didn't have. Why live off cold second-hand blues riffs when you can also let the sunshine in through the curtains occasionally? </div> <span></span><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/star-children-of-sun-your-time-will-come.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-48343006504152936342023-12-24T08:00:00.003+00:002023-12-24T08:00:00.141+00:00Reupload - Tiger Tim - Merry Christmas, Mr. Christmas/ Moving On<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZT-koPednSjKrF6hpMacWNYVxkvJ9sbTPDSiT-up9Ar-W_SnYeT5_Mn3R037TtKlmSg9ZHqLQptwji8OkX4VogLqGGNcODASONFakvfYtDbE3Gf34zLD1OhVOUL5IUMJ8DE1eUCbmie0/s1600/IMG_20181122_0003.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1594" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZT-koPednSjKrF6hpMacWNYVxkvJ9sbTPDSiT-up9Ar-W_SnYeT5_Mn3R037TtKlmSg9ZHqLQptwji8OkX4VogLqGGNcODASONFakvfYtDbE3Gf34zLD1OhVOUL5IUMJ8DE1eUCbmie0/s400/IMG_20181122_0003.jpg" width="397"></a></p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRgRArXzYw9fU4wZu2nmGddWFzCWcnNR1vzj5mcTB-RvKggoqU_Fte1Ik1B6-Ri6CQ4EOgCL7rWmy7hBvEE2el0Pz3ZEyhiSz6ssNTfC5jk7bbqn9z4FaHvAE86FFP7a0g98vEFMcfkb9/s1600/IMG_20181122_0004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRgRArXzYw9fU4wZu2nmGddWFzCWcnNR1vzj5mcTB-RvKggoqU_Fte1Ik1B6-Ri6CQ4EOgCL7rWmy7hBvEE2el0Pz3ZEyhiSz6ssNTfC5jk7bbqn9z4FaHvAE86FFP7a0g98vEFMcfkb9/s400/IMG_20181122_0004.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Label: President</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Year of Release: 1975</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Given that singles released by radio DJs are normally either super-whacky novelty items or embarrassing attempts by fading names to gain a future on the cabaret circuit, I expected the worst here. Shockingly though, "Merry Christmas Mr. Christmas" is a bit of a festive corker released in a decade that wasn't short of them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Pleasingly arranged with an unobtrusive and not at all sickly orchestra, an incredibly sticky chorus and subtle melodic changes, it sounds full of warmth and goodwill, and very much like a hit. If the Bay City Rollers had put it out, you can guarantee it would have been enormous, but in the hands of a local radio star who had little presence outside Scotland, it disappeared from view. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">"Tiger" Tim Stevens began working as a radio DJ in the West of Scotland in 1973, spending most of his career on Radio Clyde where he remained until 2010. 1975 saw him going off-air to attempt a career in music, of which this single and "Stargirl" on the GTO label were the only results. Despite the fact that "Stargirl" used a slightly more voguish glam sound, it also failed to generate sales.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/reupload-tiger-tim-merry-christmas-mr.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-66650676473966438432023-12-23T08:00:00.011+00:002023-12-23T08:00:00.150+00:00Cleveland People - Looky Looky/ Sands Of Time<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9vqg7-7gBssDKDH2fNmUYPwgFMEL8whEueg6_W0d8k8eF4nKRELqLd7oem3Im6XHDfdXk3PIupWK9LAsTMiTDQ6KcObB5Vj9968IDlWdWLymceVtsXrH68FIQoG4hk83A4qeyZZCewVMEjJ0iPrTmMJrH616Xwxhyphenhyphen87C84m3qLo5BP_vpm3smeeeNlD2/s1894/Photo_2023-11-19_153145.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1894" data-original-width="1884" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9vqg7-7gBssDKDH2fNmUYPwgFMEL8whEueg6_W0d8k8eF4nKRELqLd7oem3Im6XHDfdXk3PIupWK9LAsTMiTDQ6KcObB5Vj9968IDlWdWLymceVtsXrH68FIQoG4hk83A4qeyZZCewVMEjJ0iPrTmMJrH616Xwxhyphenhyphen87C84m3qLo5BP_vpm3smeeeNlD2/w398-h400/Photo_2023-11-19_153145.jpg" width="398"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Wy-WV_g8Gci5AMwVJD3zGhfneHoGLbqXRHRLUQKh_Dm28oYgEwv5OAB8xJJSqYwfcMWQGmIlWAYiSwYDRSSxTZEnZ0dLjr3f17Zo7mZokjJEIxRRzNOWZwgtsInABL0e0alDXef-e7LWG9oyMahPHMxoGfPJBBLFgU-ZwwG7pJ0Dz6Qp9E4SalkTBnDp/s1860/Photo_2023-11-19_153345.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1860" data-original-width="1844" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Wy-WV_g8Gci5AMwVJD3zGhfneHoGLbqXRHRLUQKh_Dm28oYgEwv5OAB8xJJSqYwfcMWQGmIlWAYiSwYDRSSxTZEnZ0dLjr3f17Zo7mZokjJEIxRRzNOWZwgtsInABL0e0alDXef-e7LWG9oyMahPHMxoGfPJBBLFgU-ZwwG7pJ0Dz6Qp9E4SalkTBnDp/w396-h400/Photo_2023-11-19_153345.jpg" width="396"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Philips</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1971</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Giorgio Moroder's "Looky Looky" was a million-seller in Europe in 1969, an unashamedly bubblegum smash overloaded with Beach Boys-esque harmonies and that unusual braying and mooing the stripy topped surfing lads loved to do. For whatever reason, British audiences really didn't take to it, though, and it remains largely unplayed and unloved on UK airwaves.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Understandably, some individuals obviously saw an opening a couple of years later. This record seems to be a somewhat cynical, calculated answer to the riddle "What if 'Looky Looky' <i>could</i> have been a hit in the UK, but MCA just screwed up the plugging and marketing?" The Easybeats manager Mike Vaughan stepped up to answer the riddle with his best shot, assembled what I'm 99% sure was a session group in the form of The Cleveland People, and sat back and waited for Philips to do a better job of things.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We all know what happened, of course - it flopped all over again and everyone was presumably forced to conclude that the Brits possibly just weren't into something so intensely sugary after all. Nonetheless, it's a well-produced version, though perhaps would have performed better with a few scuffs around the edges and bigger, bolder driving rhythms.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Of more interest to most readers will probably be "Sands Of Time" on the flip, penned by Carolin Gunston and Peter James Wilson (aka Dove). Soulful, faintly progressive and whiffing of mods trying to find a new direction in the new decade, it may fade far too early, but it's got a mellow maturity which is utterly at odds with the A-side. </div><span></span><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/cleveland-people-looky-looky-sands-of.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-37394066025345378572023-12-20T12:08:00.000+00:002023-12-20T12:08:21.865+00:00Glory - Anabella/ It's The Way That You Feel It<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NREpi5ugleQUtJaKgWWje025NXPCzc9STAtUNiECRoa5mRQPs70VD6s6iBV_ZGlRe8izRXcF8L80yGYs11_FXQFPR8pIE1Xz-Vb3_FqiQ3nPOt-8XlTCrk83vUviSJohGGA7NLKDmStC3oTo6N1Y3d8Iwau0fWjAHqVl6nsuC28WjszXfQkrMFND67LI/s2022/Photo_2022-02-20_150120.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2012" data-original-width="2022" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NREpi5ugleQUtJaKgWWje025NXPCzc9STAtUNiECRoa5mRQPs70VD6s6iBV_ZGlRe8izRXcF8L80yGYs11_FXQFPR8pIE1Xz-Vb3_FqiQ3nPOt-8XlTCrk83vUviSJohGGA7NLKDmStC3oTo6N1Y3d8Iwau0fWjAHqVl6nsuC28WjszXfQkrMFND67LI/w400-h398/Photo_2022-02-20_150120.jpg" width="400"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkPnWmLNSQpxYtQdxCitBCIezCou4wiXczkRNxMBDPwkxsilOb3c7Ilbz46In5ZogncBuraplBwBdalaaHT2WPajRcCp-koIuDuQ8CM08Va3Jz3P9clnyD-PXbBJAr8Kitx3sT7zhKnBhdbDLmbavgHFu8JTG4BssURKrAXgs0f-b4HWMHwm8YKvZCCos/s2034/Photo_2022-02-20_150308.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2034" data-original-width="2014" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkPnWmLNSQpxYtQdxCitBCIezCou4wiXczkRNxMBDPwkxsilOb3c7Ilbz46In5ZogncBuraplBwBdalaaHT2WPajRcCp-koIuDuQ8CM08Va3Jz3P9clnyD-PXbBJAr8Kitx3sT7zhKnBhdbDLmbavgHFu8JTG4BssURKrAXgs0f-b4HWMHwm8YKvZCCos/w396-h400/Photo_2022-02-20_150308.jpg" width="396"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Bumble</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1972</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bumble was a short-lived and rather strange label in the seventies, issuing all manner of styles and genres, from bubblegum to middle-of-the-road pop to - most bafflingly - a live album by the Flying Burrito Brothers. Its incoherent identity was pronounced enough that it was even gently criticised in the trade press, and may have been one small reason the label limped to its death after an uneventful and hitless few years.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A lot of the artists who recorded for it released one record and were never heard from again, and Glory in this case are no exception. Who are they? Sorry, I can't help you there, chief. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What I can tell you for a fact is that the song "Annabella" is perhaps best known as the B-side of Cliff Richard's "Silvery Rain". Given that "Silvery Rain" climbed to number 27 in 1971, a distinctly underpowered performance by Cliff's usual standards, that's not really saying a great deal - but it's all I've got.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The song itself is a gentle, chiming ballad with lyrics which tilt towards the twee end of the songsmith's spectrum. Once the almost Christmassy intro slips to one side, the song reveals itself to be an attempt at yet another powerful but wistful ballad with an anthemic chorus. "<i>Annabella, um-ber-rella!/ Standing on the corner when the rain comes down/ that's the way I'll always think of you... Annabella/ umbrella CHILD!</i>" they sing, perhaps taking a few cues from The Hollies' "Bus Stop". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The public were clearly not impressed by this attempt to fetishise rain and umbrellas in such a strident fashion - the songwriters might have got further with PVC raincoats, perhaps - and this single barely sold at all, proving to be one of the harder to trace aspects of the Bumble back catalogue. My copy has obviously been very well loved as it suffers from some needle-wear, but it's the best you're going to get for now.<span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/glory-anabella-its-way-that-you-feel-it.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-35138640908174444032023-12-17T08:00:00.027+00:002023-12-17T08:00:00.136+00:00The Victors - Take This Old Hammer/ The Answer Is No<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrlRILi1EQAVytIxOYmY1UknnA_6-7mr4C6iKnEPSVdE7entMMQl6qKjSUGoWbWPFRzl0DJDDnrBryXP4chAZ0R9hhcwkv3uzokS9MgdoH3meEH1kXdjP3rlti_VflJZ73aaFVmA4yWItWZVkzMXVmN9oceczw5xJIWFdqcuZ7CmP79YftW1gC_u-ALy-/s1976/Photo_2023-12-09_172246.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1976" data-original-width="1976" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrlRILi1EQAVytIxOYmY1UknnA_6-7mr4C6iKnEPSVdE7entMMQl6qKjSUGoWbWPFRzl0DJDDnrBryXP4chAZ0R9hhcwkv3uzokS9MgdoH3meEH1kXdjP3rlti_VflJZ73aaFVmA4yWItWZVkzMXVmN9oceczw5xJIWFdqcuZ7CmP79YftW1gC_u-ALy-/w400-h400/Photo_2023-12-09_172246.jpg" width="400"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrTE1c7Iq72EFME8TKlqqVHO_s37diw_FApxqDnNfPDa1ca_BMii_AbwTEoHhLkjo16-iUe5c9dSpryk9VjaBhcYwrKQbFCcn-6MWtNs5TF6I1JPuj00JlR9tYIgFJfyCBCAR7tztkdRpg7gUGtE4jvtuBR_PWd0BeDsx78EKi6gPnOl670a7Nl9zOgoT/s1984/Photo_2023-12-09_172514.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1972" data-original-width="1984" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrTE1c7Iq72EFME8TKlqqVHO_s37diw_FApxqDnNfPDa1ca_BMii_AbwTEoHhLkjo16-iUe5c9dSpryk9VjaBhcYwrKQbFCcn-6MWtNs5TF6I1JPuj00JlR9tYIgFJfyCBCAR7tztkdRpg7gUGtE4jvtuBR_PWd0BeDsx78EKi6gPnOl670a7Nl9zOgoT/w400-h398/Photo_2023-12-09_172514.jpg" width="400"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Oriole</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1965</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While other labels splashed slogans like "Where The Stars Are!" or "The Place The Hits Happen!" across their company sleeves, Oriole were arguably an early example of a label taking the outsider indie approach, opting instead for "Young - New - Exciting". With no exclamation marks, a daring surfeit of hyphens, and a simple statement of fact, Oriole's company bags were bright yellow, used modernist typography and pushed a hipper approach. "We're where it's at", they seemed to say, "whereas EMI, Decca and all those old showhorses are way back where it used to be".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's a fascinating label, featuring material which was sometimes way ahead of the marketplace, albeit often licensed (they were the first UK label to press up records by Stevie Wonder, for example, thanks to an early deal with Motown) and quaint, clodhopping attempts to capture that fast-moving youth market, through Joe Meek produced novelty singles to under-produced beat based fare.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They actually scored a number of hits during the fifties and at the turn of the following decade, but by the mid-sixties were beginning to look neither young, new or exciting, but rather middle-aged, weary and distracted. Besides the main label itself, their Embassy subsidiary (providing Woolworth department stores with cheap, knock-off cover versions of the day's hits) was a good cash cow, and their pressing plant was often hired out to the likes of EMI for pressing over-runs of Beatles records and other major singles where their plant in Hayes was struggling to keep up with demand. With all this going on, it's perhaps inevitable that marketing of the main label began to seem half-hearted by comparison. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oriole's approach to master tapes was also unbelievably cavalier, with label bosses believing that they should be continually be wiped and reused, even for hit recordings, rather than waste money keeping a library of tracks to reissue or license to others. It's enough to make a pop music historian's ears bleed with shock.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So then, nestling somewhere in the "missing believed wiped" file is this 1964 beat single from the mysterious Victors. The A-side is a cover of the blues standard "Take This Old Hammer", which in the manner of a lot of Brit Blues of the period is drenched in harmonica and nasally lead vocals. It probably didn't put the fear of God into the Rolling Stones, but it's as good as many of the UK beat-blues efforts of the period.</div><span></span><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-victors-take-this-old-hammer-answer.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-65978467090176948602023-12-13T08:00:00.004+00:002023-12-13T08:00:00.139+00:00Reupload - Ebenezer Moog - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/ Silent Night<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXXOrIrst0vTPeMa5lvRVAnrdON5Sx6O-Pb8bdbtmhnLHGQqUsCaB0qwwFPYoTpnHpSt_g8n20-P0BJed_1W16jFimHal4TvqAUG-ZfO-DOPjkzfLBz9BcAwuEGTn6fJjor6J2MoZSX7v/s1600/IMG_20191130_0001.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1569" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXXOrIrst0vTPeMa5lvRVAnrdON5Sx6O-Pb8bdbtmhnLHGQqUsCaB0qwwFPYoTpnHpSt_g8n20-P0BJed_1W16jFimHal4TvqAUG-ZfO-DOPjkzfLBz9BcAwuEGTn6fJjor6J2MoZSX7v/s400/IMG_20191130_0001.jpg" width="391"></a></p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0tJvOYUxBbPEKgJIv6-ssIfk_AWDeVLBlkQuwbdromB-xlo9Y6Wkp3N3HPMQIyavyW2NympdlSAlMu2EW2qGbu1kC56M11harNLDvYM26YwCSjirrDp7P-Mo7v0fXLrkZ7YPWMkbk7Ee/s1600/IMG_20191130_0002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1594" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0tJvOYUxBbPEKgJIv6-ssIfk_AWDeVLBlkQuwbdromB-xlo9Y6Wkp3N3HPMQIyavyW2NympdlSAlMu2EW2qGbu1kC56M11harNLDvYM26YwCSjirrDp7P-Mo7v0fXLrkZ7YPWMkbk7Ee/s400/IMG_20191130_0002.jpg" width="397"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Label: Rocket</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Year of Release: 1975</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Well, here's a bizarre old release. Consisting entirely of Moog and Theremin twiddling versions of two Christmas carol classics, it's hard to understand how anyone thought it would be in-demand. Analogue synths were deeply exciting and increasingly commercial news in the mid-seventies, but the leading proponents tended to be German groups such as Neu! and Kraftwerk, or the more ambitious art and prog rockers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Alongside the hairier and more thoughtful synth wizards were, of course, lots of electronic stylings of Bach and Mozart and traditional songs on vinyl, and this little 45 seems to fall somewhere between the two stools. The A-side is cheap jollity - you can probably imagine how it sounds before you even press 'play' - but the B-side is very interesting, and if we flex our collective imaginative muscles, it slightly sounds like a precursor to the Ambient House records of the early nineties (and in fact, if I had to pick one example in particular, Jimmy Cauty out of the KLF's "<a href="https://youtu.be/DVc6bltUL1I">Space" </a>would be the most obvious). Filled with radio samples of astronauts, eerie rumblings and a simple, sweet warbling electronic take on "Silent Night", it's high on atmosphere. True, you get the vague sense that it might have taken all of half an hour to record, but it's one of the better festive Moog covers I've heard.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/reupload-ebenezer-moog-god-rest-ye.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-67015094382989626282023-12-10T08:00:00.025+00:002023-12-10T10:12:09.584+00:00M.U.5 - Rain-Dance/ Mrs. Watson<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRm4ajzMwJfe123SvftlZZFwK11vsZeqzuGILVPCDNOTeFI97NVcUssCq1-MxsdOqflB-VuZPCITl-GZaSr0cNyGCv3-jmQSgi3IK5Q12z0G-WX3cECLSsrHjjEyEt8_X8rusXLtWZWOVDqAqO4VmwG0aC1m-i0WO80055KMCtCEzKIpAhbLY16fzYawu/s600/MU52.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRm4ajzMwJfe123SvftlZZFwK11vsZeqzuGILVPCDNOTeFI97NVcUssCq1-MxsdOqflB-VuZPCITl-GZaSr0cNyGCv3-jmQSgi3IK5Q12z0G-WX3cECLSsrHjjEyEt8_X8rusXLtWZWOVDqAqO4VmwG0aC1m-i0WO80055KMCtCEzKIpAhbLY16fzYawu/s600/MU52.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyC731JdPRx-nYPn2VMMFIbSialtYd4dYBYg_X2GfWhOHdlkwnL-sl4zLnJcAj3tFC7_scNn07k1wQcsCvOopDNsbVc9MvBRAr-wwnBcuN49D0sb-wpsD8CGj-268SKVIzjMmMxeSvNidnoHimj5L7UrqBeNGecW_CKBAhaivJU01H_AV2FUSKKH_zg_w/s599/MU51.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="599" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyC731JdPRx-nYPn2VMMFIbSialtYd4dYBYg_X2GfWhOHdlkwnL-sl4zLnJcAj3tFC7_scNn07k1wQcsCvOopDNsbVc9MvBRAr-wwnBcuN49D0sb-wpsD8CGj-268SKVIzjMmMxeSvNidnoHimj5L7UrqBeNGecW_CKBAhaivJU01H_AV2FUSKKH_zg_w/w400-h400/MU51.jpg" width="400"></a></div><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRm4ajzMwJfe123SvftlZZFwK11vsZeqzuGILVPCDNOTeFI97NVcUssCq1-MxsdOqflB-VuZPCITl-GZaSr0cNyGCv3-jmQSgi3IK5Q12z0G-WX3cECLSsrHjjEyEt8_X8rusXLtWZWOVDqAqO4VmwG0aC1m-i0WO80055KMCtCEzKIpAhbLY16fzYawu/w400-h400/MU52.jpg" width="400"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Crystal</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1972</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's extremely rare to find an old record which is still accompanied by its original press release. While record company hype often means that they should be treated with a grain of salt as accurate sources - back in my old days of student journalism, I got tired of indie bands falsely claiming they'd "even managed to get in the Argentinian/Moroccan/Lebanese/Cypriot top ten with this one!!!" - they're usually at least reliable when it comes to band line-ups.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In this case, though, it's a big old slab of nothing we're offered. "<i>M.U.5 give out with some real hypnotic sounds,</i>" the press sheet begins, "<i>Heavy drumbeats, neat guitar chords, and chanting voices that conjure up a spooky atmosphere... Just right for you to get up and do your own thing to!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Look out discos - you could well have a new dance craze on your hands with 'Rain-Dance'".</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And that's it. No band history, no line-up, nothing that's of any use to me here. All this leads me to conclude that M.U.5 were some kind of session group who were pulled together to create a possible hit.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Perhaps more interestingly, though, "Rain-Dance" is a bit of a bore it's difficult to imagine anyone dancing to. The flip-side "Mrs. Watson", on the other hand, hits that sweet spot between late sixties popsike and Northern Soul, and would surely have made for a better bet if only it had been released at least four years earlier. The anonymous lead singer rambles on about a haughty next-door neighbour who just won't give him the time of day while strings soar, rhythms pound and frustration seeps out of every rotation of this disc.<span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/mu5-rain-dance-mrs-watson.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-69478056472710102452023-12-06T08:00:00.018+00:002023-12-06T08:00:00.144+00:00Ted Rogers - I Can't Stop Thinking Of You/ All I Need's The Baby<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3hxW02li1ITdjUd4orZwtni83ftxRbQpT0N7YSSeQqERa8TIV9CkHZXvEptaQCTvWgHzNpvAvJbUPpnX27z7jt7PifL9SMhHFC1dH1bZX4tB-Oz2Amg2el8e7fuZeUGZIo5mM6B07bSlaNvSa4ZBGe-svKpXWdo_km213LT46FSFK9w78d2PJCDBNKpp/s599/Ted1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="584" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3hxW02li1ITdjUd4orZwtni83ftxRbQpT0N7YSSeQqERa8TIV9CkHZXvEptaQCTvWgHzNpvAvJbUPpnX27z7jt7PifL9SMhHFC1dH1bZX4tB-Oz2Amg2el8e7fuZeUGZIo5mM6B07bSlaNvSa4ZBGe-svKpXWdo_km213LT46FSFK9w78d2PJCDBNKpp/w390-h400/Ted1.jpg" width="390"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggO89mUV6B_SXtxPg5hyphenhyphenFZz4JAbcnjmiyk4J3J4dLnGD83cixXMddrJyyVlDu7EMH_t7UsODR36ZV5juDaQNa-1PzRmr8BHbw0i47PH-FYX6lw95myfK2uG1HhXMdmRd2c6MedqDLMmd3p6C5sVRVIjx_7-e4xLQ96DIq5BfrcBz3u-Vi0WNIUrOMo8mrT/s599/Ted2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="590" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggO89mUV6B_SXtxPg5hyphenhyphenFZz4JAbcnjmiyk4J3J4dLnGD83cixXMddrJyyVlDu7EMH_t7UsODR36ZV5juDaQNa-1PzRmr8BHbw0i47PH-FYX6lw95myfK2uG1HhXMdmRd2c6MedqDLMmd3p6C5sVRVIjx_7-e4xLQ96DIq5BfrcBz3u-Vi0WNIUrOMo8mrT/w394-h400/Ted2.jpg" width="394"></a></div><br><b>Label: Piccadilly<br>Year of Release: 1965</b><div><br></div><div>Only truly lucky famous people get to choose what they're famous for. Talent doesn't always help - even the very talented usually only have one breakthrough moment which resonates with the public and defines them forevermore.</div><div><br></div><div>Ted Rogers was a man of many light entertainment skills, performing on the Billy Cotton Band Show, hosting Sunday Night At The London Palladium, and touring and singing alongside Bing Crosby. To most British people, however, he's probably best known as the host of the mind-bendingly complicated quiz show "<a href="https://youtu.be/FqHSfdvkLI8?si=Vjpj-PY2liqdgwq_" target="_blank">3-2-1</a>", a programme filled with riddles so obtuse they even caused my father, a keen crossword solver, to throw his newspaper to the floor with exasperation. </div><div><br></div><div>Was Ted then the host of one of the few intellectual quiz shows of the seventies and eighties, or the captain of a crooked ship with fixed prizes? Answering that question would involve an analysis of multiple episodes of "3-2-1", and if you've got the time to do that, be my guest and submit your dissertation to the usual email address by 5th January 2024. All essays which are more than 2,500 words long will not be accepted.</div><div><br></div><div>Naturally, Ted's days with Dusty Bin also overshadowed his talents as a singer which, to be blunt, were serviceable but never exceptional. He released three singles in the sixties, of which this was the first. It's exactly as you'd expect, except with a deep depressive streak - Ted closes his eyes and croons away to his ex, telling her that he's essentially obsessed with her and will cry to infinity and continue to keep "hurting himself". Put the razor blades away, Ted, she's bound to come back to you when you have your own hit show on Yorkshire TV.</div><span></span><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/ted-rogers-i-cant-stop-thinking-of-you.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-41738909023919103572023-12-03T08:00:00.034+00:002023-12-03T10:28:36.934+00:00The Paupers - Southdown Road/ Numbers<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRu89UOTm3JB9-i6kh1R4VtOg4KTdnPx5jZMg1BbmWGR2MrvF1K_96G1Nlt5Fl9QLAToYlnq0_mfXZYBwx29jZDNYtVxR6pcnYzrSDGXUwxCpV4GMKbakuii8FEOF3KS2p7d_ChrWqWet8Xp7Z11TM0cwPW16Z9UpAFLkVvhfu2eXDLpe6HtHY09xn19vA/s1986/Photo_2023-11-11_153751.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1970" data-original-width="1986" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRu89UOTm3JB9-i6kh1R4VtOg4KTdnPx5jZMg1BbmWGR2MrvF1K_96G1Nlt5Fl9QLAToYlnq0_mfXZYBwx29jZDNYtVxR6pcnYzrSDGXUwxCpV4GMKbakuii8FEOF3KS2p7d_ChrWqWet8Xp7Z11TM0cwPW16Z9UpAFLkVvhfu2eXDLpe6HtHY09xn19vA/w400-h396/Photo_2023-11-11_153751.jpg" width="400"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ9doE73yzY00LcDBT3DG4El9h98pzkds2W09pGBdm_LFAVxnnKFoprk-_BpBholDXlJkf8IwIGEbfEJIOzijQCAmkX82Pk4Jr-6XxoEVPlK3ItAb2r9f-GD3zm-bwtaM3eHuuvYdjDweZx7-7buEZWM7KQM69dajJAp4g3dHH75hAPp6_WcBVRdWWF3j/s2006/Photo_2023-11-11_154038.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2006" data-original-width="1980" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ9doE73yzY00LcDBT3DG4El9h98pzkds2W09pGBdm_LFAVxnnKFoprk-_BpBholDXlJkf8IwIGEbfEJIOzijQCAmkX82Pk4Jr-6XxoEVPlK3ItAb2r9f-GD3zm-bwtaM3eHuuvYdjDweZx7-7buEZWM7KQM69dajJAp4g3dHH75hAPp6_WcBVRdWWF3j/w395-h400/Photo_2023-11-11_154038.jpg" width="395"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: Verve Forecast</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1969</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Paupers were not exactly a blessed Canadian band. Formed in Toronto in 1964, they prided themselves on a (possibly exaggerated) work ethic and heavily hyped "live tightness", offering audiences in the area a dependable experience for the price of their gig tickets. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What they sadly lacked was a steady line-up. Between their debut single "Never Send You Flowers" emerging in 1965 and this final effort in 1969, they lost two key original players - vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dan Marion and bass player Denny Gerrard - and were sent on long American tours which didn't result in significant success across the border.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Despite internal HR struggles, their musical journey was surprisingly fast. <a href="https://youtu.be/xE2vgae3w40?si=BGCEERi9zUkNTNML" target="_blank">The debut 45</a> is without question a naive, slightly ramshackle, spindly fawn of a record which sounds as if it may fall over at any moment. The follow-up "<a href="https://youtu.be/hqV92_0HoUY?si=aTSQv6Q-3BkUTe_Z" target="_blank">If I Told My Baby</a>" is punchier but still clearly a product of the beat era. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By 1967's "<a href="https://youtu.be/w4vE5JJLaCk?si=kxKPai9DWrdc_2i-" target="_blank">Simple Deed</a>", however, the group were hairy, laidback and were finally settling into a much more progressive sound, which resulted in a number 21 Canadian hit. The chart success didn't last, though, and the following album and accompanying single "<a href="https://youtu.be/X2w8lBTi87Q?si=v0z-gruc6EbPJf4j" target="_blank">Magic People</a>" didn't create a huge impression despite a lot of record label backing and hype, managing only to climb to number 178 on the US charts. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By the time "Southdown Road" emerged the band were on their last legs, skint and in a state of disarray, but it doesn't show in these grooves. While the A-side isn't as memorable as it might be, the flipside "Numbers" is mean, heavy slice of hippy rock which provides no hints to the band's imminent demise. </div><span></span><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-paupers-southdown-road-numbers.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-89965006866062926952023-11-29T08:00:00.003+00:002023-11-29T08:00:00.156+00:00Reupload - Mike Wade - On The Make<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihLN97QTnq-DwCJrqVcoEtH64DVMetqQ8-oRZJWpDtqv3w9wg1X1ZVmPrqzT8NxI9z1KOXb802QoThtUEmoD6WnWoP4_SEV3zpzOuVNpc0wSjTDmx-e8QVgEFFBoOG2gWIw4Qu4oUEF2vU/s1600/IMG_20191109_0004.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1579" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihLN97QTnq-DwCJrqVcoEtH64DVMetqQ8-oRZJWpDtqv3w9wg1X1ZVmPrqzT8NxI9z1KOXb802QoThtUEmoD6WnWoP4_SEV3zpzOuVNpc0wSjTDmx-e8QVgEFFBoOG2gWIw4Qu4oUEF2vU/s400/IMG_20191109_0004.jpg" width="393"></a></p><br><b>Label: [acetate]</b><br><b>Year of Release: [n/a]</b><br><br>Acetates, particularly ones of unreleased songs, spark huge excitement in me. It doesn't necessarily matter if the song isn't a lost gem - I've been getting my knees dirty digging in plastic crates for long enough now to know that's a very rare occurrence - it's just interesting to get hold of a polished recording which never made it past the private studio pressing stage. If a record that only sold fifty copies is scarce, then an acetate which was only shared among a handful of people is always going to feel a bit like a "precious thing" to a record collector.<br><br>The trouble is, acetates usually aren't very cheap either, and if I'm being honest, they tend not to overly enthuse "Left and to the Back" readers, who perhaps sense that if it wasn't good enough to make it into record shops, it's probably not worth clicking to investigate further. If I'm being fair, that's not usually an unreasonable assumption. "So what have we here?" you may well ask while stroking your chins, and let me tell you...<br><br>Mike Wade was one of many theatrical, big-voiced male solo singers in the sixties, who issued one 45 on Beacon ("Lovers", backed with the danceable "Two Three Four") and two on Polydor ("Happiness" and "Lovin' You Lovin' Me"). With a singing style which does seem rather reminiscent of Scott Walker at times, he nonetheless failed to take the kind of creative risks our dearly departed friend did - there were to be no songs about death or Stalin, nor meat punched for its percussive qualities round at Mike's house.<br><br>As Scott became ever more introspective and experimental, perhaps record label bosses saw Mike Wade as being somebody who could be wheeled into his place. That really wasn't to be, though - all his singles sold poorly, and it's very tricky to track down any of them now. Scott's, on the other hand, have been reissued time and time over.<br><br><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/11/reupload-mike-wade-on-make.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8499949614093219266.post-91433248578534301282023-11-26T08:00:00.013+00:002023-11-26T10:34:29.241+00:00Val and the V's - I Like The Way/ With This Theme<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsi-S9ZtjMGbdxGYC7l2FJFuAL1-v4Co0NVg3hY11NeDRffamXgP_ug8a4QeBph1DhE0Sa09zOhrJfdBUb9z08HRsZ0TX3NObFYpls741DFM2tsYxrPcnf82sf8NxDtlc5Sj97XD4OmclFftSyS5jkvgh4uTOB3AWkKt9Ylkf1Ag82IzJY-ZKMy-AZPseH/s1858/Photo_2023-11-19_152155.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1858" data-original-width="1830" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsi-S9ZtjMGbdxGYC7l2FJFuAL1-v4Co0NVg3hY11NeDRffamXgP_ug8a4QeBph1DhE0Sa09zOhrJfdBUb9z08HRsZ0TX3NObFYpls741DFM2tsYxrPcnf82sf8NxDtlc5Sj97XD4OmclFftSyS5jkvgh4uTOB3AWkKt9Ylkf1Ag82IzJY-ZKMy-AZPseH/w394-h400/Photo_2023-11-19_152155.jpg" width="394"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNYDpYaK7lus33jUe0F8a5NXX_lE4lmiQ9ly3KIkN9v87X5sq9U6JwryQItSdld5mwa0fknyDFFz6uAExzmyo-apYFUhjKyxqHdrgM9JFDiPU1I2dRjSBhcGqUZNsdHPOaUk2sj0rqMw4zfcuCqfSoAk30nhHPAyaMKsgbfv2BzUhb9xYdf_2BVryY0Zn/s1834/Photo_2023-11-19_152433.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1834" data-original-width="1830" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNYDpYaK7lus33jUe0F8a5NXX_lE4lmiQ9ly3KIkN9v87X5sq9U6JwryQItSdld5mwa0fknyDFFz6uAExzmyo-apYFUhjKyxqHdrgM9JFDiPU1I2dRjSBhcGqUZNsdHPOaUk2sj0rqMw4zfcuCqfSoAk30nhHPAyaMKsgbfv2BzUhb9xYdf_2BVryY0Zn/w399-h400/Photo_2023-11-19_152433.jpg" width="399"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Label: CBS</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Year of Release: 1967</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's astonishing that so few family groups emerged in the sixties. Parents were still popping out sprogs in the fifties at a rate where there often wasn't much of an age gap between them, the beat boom tempted any kid with the means into a group, and say what you want about your family (and I know you will) but... well, they're just there, aren't they? You've lived with them for long enough to already have a firm impression about their talent and reliability, and living in the same house makes organising rehearsals a doddle.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Val Melfi and her Vs (Vinnie Melfi on guitar and Viv Melfi on drums) firmly kept things in the family way, though, and were circuit veterans by the time they inked a deal with CBS, having played working man's clubs and cabaret clubs across the land, even gaining a residency at the Piccadilly Club in London. Their material wasn't purely middle of the road and had enough verve and swing to keep the kids happy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The CBS debut "<a href="https://youtu.be/a8Jz8kQ9I_8?si=7KyQThifOTbBuPad" target="_blank">Do It Again A Little Bit Slower</a>" was perhaps a little too rigid and understated, but this follow-up makes up for it. "I Like The Way" is a cover of the<b> </b>Tommy James and The Shondells song, and Val's tones are seductive here, snaking their way around a superb Keith Mansfield arrangement and a strident groove. By the time the organ break seeps in, you too will be wiggling your hips around the living room. This is pure Radio London stuff, and on a lucky week may actually have become a hit. <span></span></div><a href="https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2023/11/val-and-vs-i-like-way-with-this-theme.html#more">Read more »</a>23 Daveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341570374606412042noreply@blogger.com0