The Atlantics - Don't Say No/ Send Him To Me

Super obscure slice of 60s girl pop

Label: Windsor

Year of Release: 1964

Another puzzling record which poses as many questions as answers, I'm sorry to say. According to the Manchester Beat website, The Atlantics on this record formed in 1962 and hailed from Blackpool, consisting of Chris Riley on rhythm guitar, Michael Stephens on bass, Frank Blackburn on lead guitar, and Ronnie "Lee" Brambles on drums. Ordinarily I would have absolutely no reason to doubt the information of a well-run site, but there's one snag. There are clearly at least two women singing on this record, one of whom is taking the lead. Either this is not the same group after all, or they underwent a temporary and short-lived line-up change at the record label's behest, or for other unknown reasons.

Whatever the facts, this is actually a rather nice chunk of sixties girl group action, a little rough and ready in places - something which surely isn't helped by the mere "VG" quality of the copy I own - but swinging, beaty and punchy. It's also notable for the production involvement of Peter Stirling, later known as Daniel Boone, a member of the beat group The Bruisers and regular "Left and to the Back" guest.

Two Irish Showbands - The Playmates and Gregory & The Cadets

Another couple of Irish Showband 45s have emerged in charity shops near me, and it would be rude of me not to include them here...

Artist: The Playmates
Title: Jodi b/w Don't Fight It
Label: Emerald
Year of Release: 1970

One of the perplexing things about the Irish Showband scene is that while it produced a plethora of acts who were fleetingly very successful in their home country, finding recordings, biographies, photos or factual information about many of these people is far harder work than it should be. And so it goes with The Playmates - "Jodi" was apparently a sizeable hit in Ireland, but information is otherwise pretty scarce.

Still, I have to be honest and say that it's not really the A-side I'm interested in here, which is a springy and catchy pop track but nothing otherworldly. Rather, I'm much more curious to hear a showband take on Wilson Pickett's "Don't Fight It", which sits on the flip. Did the story for "The Commitments" start here, folks? Well, no. "Don't Fight It" is a faithful cover, but regrettably it lacks any grit or oomph, sounding more like an uptempo good-time sound. It's indisputably a product both of its time and of its circuit, but it's interesting to hear something so unexpected.

Artist: Gregory and The Cadets

Title: Girl of Independent Means/ Young and Beautiful

Label: Pye

Year of Release: 1967

And here's another act on the circuit, Gregory and The Cadets, who managed a string of convincing hits in Ireland (One, "More Than Yesterday", even reached the top spot) but haven't left a strong mark on the Internet.

They appear to have been closely linked to an old friend of the blog, Peter Lee Stirling, who often produced or wrote a number of their singles. "Girl of Independent Means" is one of his efforts, and rather than being a piece of folky observational sixties pop, is actually a well-sung ballad in awe of one woman's wealth. The B-side "Young and Beautiful" is a belting piece of balladry which is unfortunately rather needle-damaged by the previous owner, who clearly preferred it to the A-side to such an extent that he or she hammered it to death.

The Bruisers - Blue Girl/ Don't Cry

Label: Parlophone

Year of Release: 1963

Keen readers of "Left and to the Back" will recall that only last month I mentioned a songwriter and performer called Peter Lee Stirling. His sixties run of recordings didn't really exercise many record store cash registers - though he did at least manage to write "I Belong", which finished second in the Eurovision Song Contest when Kathy Kirby performed it in 1965 - but he obtained multi-million success with the international hit "Beautiful Sunday" recorded under the name Daniel Boone in 1972. 

Way before such riches fell from the heavens, though, he was the guitarist and vocalist with Tommy Bruce's backing group The Bruisers (previously known as The Beachcombers). Hailing from Birmingham, The Bruisers came within a whisker of major success with this single which hovered around the lower reaches of the Top 40 for several weeks in 1963, eventually only managing to climb as high as the number 31 slot.  It could easily have performed better - with its wailing harmonica, close vocal harmonies and firm, precise beat, this was really Merseybeat in all but location and therefore name. Obviously influenced by the Fab Four but none the worse for it, "Blue Girl" scored them an appearance on Ready Steady Go where they also performed their follow-up single "Your Turn To Cry". Sadly, it wasn't their turn to have a bigger hit - it completely failed, and they returned to being Tommy Bruce's backing group for a couple of other singles before disappearing from the scene altogether.

So far as "Blue Girl" is concerned, the general lack of discussion around what was actually a minor sixties hit at one of the most important points in British pop music history is odd. Had it shifted reasonable units in the USA as well, one can imagine that it might occupy at least a footnote in Beat history - as things stand, it was a record I was oblivious to until embarrassingly recently. 

You'll note from the label scans above that Flashback Records in London get a free plug due to their policy of plastering price tags right across the labels of 7" singles. The Islington branch is actually one of my favourite record stores in Britain, and it might even go on to become my actual favourite if they dispense with this policy - as soon as you try to peel the sticker off, the label usually tears. Vandalism, I call it. 

Complete Cycle - I'm On The Road Again/ Back On The Road Again

Label: Jay Boy

Year of Release: 1970

Peter Lee Stirling is one of pop music's more prolific but strangely under sung characters. A songwriter throughout the sixties for artists such as The Merseys, Kathy Kirby and Dave Dee as well as being a performer in his own right under his own name and in groups such as Peter Lee Stirling and The Bruisers, he's left a faint scuff on sixties culture without many people noticing.

He achieves a songwriting credit for the top side here, "I'm On The Road Again". The Compete Cycle only released this single, and it's difficult to state with any authority whether or not they were a studio group led by Stirling or a going concern who were simply donated a tune of his. Whatever, it's a gravelly, rugged piece of country-tinged rock which seems to be taking its cues from the dominant CCR-styled sounds of the new decade, reeking rather of Jack Daniels and Coke. It's not the finest example of its genre and its easy to understand how it's largely been ignored by collectors and DJs, but lovers of early seventies faux-Americana will probably find quite a bit to enjoy here.

As for our good friend Peter Lee Stirling, a couple of years after this flopped he changed his stage name to Daniel Boone and racked up a notable international hit with "Beautiful Sunday", which despite only reaching number 21 in the British charts became an enormous hit elsewhere, selling two million copies in Japan alone. He also picked up a "most likeable singer" award from Rolling Stone magazine in the USA. 

If anyone has any information on The Complete Cycle, let me know. I strongly suspect they may have operated independently of Stirling, but there's no concrete proof and it's really only a hunch I have.