Identified Flying Objects - The Kytes (and Eddie King)

At least since the eighties when they were first compiled on to the "Rubble" compilation series, The Kytes have been something of an enigma. As stated in the liner notes for Volume 10, The Kytes did indeed once act as Peter and Gordon's backing band on tour, but little more than that was ever revealed about them. This seemed something of a shame, as the slow hammond groove of "Running In The Water" and the mournful folk-pop existentialism of "Frosted Panes" were both early popsike discoveries for me personally, and doubtless many other people besides (A VG condition copy of "Running In The Water" sold for £64 on ebay last week).

I was absolutely delighted and surprised when ex-Kytes man Eddie King got in touch with me through the blog recently to fill in the blanks and explain the bands history, even including a few photos and mp3s of a solo single of his. With his permission, I'm reproducing his story below. 

(photo: Eddie King and Freddie Allen)

Originally we had a band formed at school in Bristol in around 1960 called Ricky Forde and the Cyclones. This consisted of 5 guys, Ricky, myself, Freddie Allen, Julian Bailey and Roger Jones, By the following year we were working 5 nights each week all over the South West and beyond and went to work in Hamburg in 1962/ 1963. As I am sure you know, a lot of Liverpool and London bands were working there then and it was really where the whole British 60's thing started, so we got to work with lots of guys who subsequently became very well known.

In 1963 the 5 piece split and I continued with Freddie and Julian as a 3 piece band and got booked in 1964 on the same show as Peter and Gordon at a big variety club in the North East ( these clubs were big then!). They had a record, 'World Without Love' which had just hit number 1 but they didn't have a backing band and were basically two guys sitting on stools with guitars. They asked us to back them so we told them "OK, if you stand on stage"! The upshot of this was that we became their backing band from then on.

(photo: Eddie King and Peter Asher on a bullet train in Japan)

I travelled all over the world with them for the next two years and played on all their records as well as recording with many other mainly 'Abbey Road' artists. The other two guys played in the backing band in the UK and Europe. During this time I released a couple of singles under my own name, no UK hits but had a number 5 in Japan!

So, in 1966 the work with them was slowing so the three of us tried a record together as The Kytes which was "Blessed/ Call me darling" (with Dave "Dobie" Gillis on bass). I can't remember how we signed to Pye but I think it was down to knowing some people there in A&R and just taking the record in.

"Frosted Panes" was one of my songs and was recorded at Pye studios. The B side was a song written by Roger Cook, an old friend from Bristol, who was responsible for Blue Mink. Roger was on the session and sang harmony on the track.

"Running in the Water" was, however, a different line up - myself, Julian on drums, John Peters on bass and Pete Robinson on hammond ( yes the guy who went on to be a prolific film score composer and who was Phil Collins keyboard player for many years). The B side was "End of the Day" which featured some cracking organ stuff.

From memory I think this line up did a few gigs, mainly London college venues and went our separate ways.

Sadly, Julian passed away in the 70's, Freddie Allen and Gordon Waller a couple of years ago. I spent a further 20+ years in the music business mainly as a session player and band leader and played with lots of well known acts over the years. I finally quit in 1990 and haven't worked as a musician since although I have a studio at home and still write stuff and have had a few TV sig tunes and a couple of commercials. By pure fluke, I received a (small!) half yearly payment yesterday for some of the 60's Abbey Road recordings- still amazes me after 50 years. I'm still in touch with Peter Asher who, as I'm sure you know, became a top producer and manager with James Taylor, Carly Simon and many others.

As for The Kytes, typical for the time, nobody ever received a penny even after the compilations which I recently discovered.

I asked Eddie King a bit more about his solo hit in Japan.

The record was called 'Always at a distance' released on Columbia.

When we arrived in Japan I didn't have any idea that it had been released there leave alone getting into the top 5. We hurriedly changed the show so that I did a 15 minute solo spot first half.

Important to remember that the only band to have toured there had been The Beatles several weeks before and Peter and Gordon arrived shortly after.

While we were there the office in London urgently wanted a B side for my next single which was to be 'I Wanna Love her so Bad', so we went into the Toshiba studio in Tokyo to cut a track. The studio was dire and the result sounded less than good. (Toshiba was an EMI subsidiary).  Against my will the cut was used as the B side on the next UK release.

Interesting maybe, the A side had The Breakaways and a younger than me bass player who got booked on the session called John Paul Jones - do your own research!

A total delight to hear from Eddie and finally resolve a long-standing mystery, and attached in the Box below is the solo single he mentioned above "I Wanna Love Her So Bad", which was an unknown piece in the Kytes jigsaw puzzle for me until last week.

If any other bands have spotted themselves on "Left and to the Back" and want to get in touch to plug any gaps, please do - and please don't think nobody is interested, because I certainly am, and plenty of other people read this blog who also enjoy having these riddles resolved. 

The Kytes - Blessed/ Call Me Darling

Label: Pye
Year of Release: 1966

Most of the garage and psychedelic bands compiled on both legitimate and rather more questionable cult compilations have been smoked out of their holes now.  Once a track generates enough interest from aficionados and their relatives notice them getting mentions online, it's enough for them to suddenly come forward and talk more about their careers.  The Kytes, on the other hand, have been a mysterious act for many a moon. "Frosted Panes" - a hectoring but somehow sweet folky track about the media dictating ideas of personal identity - worked its way on to the Rubble series of compilation albums and sounded quite at home there, and the rather more organ-driven groove of "Running In The Water" was compiled on to volume one of "We Can Fly", but the liner notes to both admit to a lack of knowledge about the act.

Here's what we definitely know - The Kytes apparently acted as the backing band for Peter and Gordon at some points throughout the sixties, and had two record contracts, one with Pye (which resulted in two singles, this and "Frosted Panes") and a one-off single deal with Island.  After that, it seems certain that the band had no further product released, but whether they continued gigging or worked as session musicians for other artists is completely unknown.

"Blessed" was their first single and is a cover of the Simon and Garfunkel track, and was released in exactly the same week that The Tremeloes version went out on Decca.  Perhaps somewhat predictably, neither version was a hit - this frequently happened whenever rival record companies went "head to head" on different versions of songs in the sixties - but for my money, this take on it is suitably abrasive.  The guitars clang, the vocals sound as if they're being delivered through gritted teeth, and it brings out the disillusionment and protest in Paul Simon's original tune, even though lines such as "Blessed is the church... service/ makes me nervous" don't rank among his finest.  It's not difficult to understand why this wasn't a hit - it's doubtful it would have been even if the Simon and Garfunkel original had been lifted from their "Sounds of Silence" album - but it does sound like the authentic product of agitated youth, a theme "Frosted Panes" would somewhat wearily continue.  The less said about the irritating B-side "Call Me Darling" the better, although I could add that it seems to be aiming for McCartney styled whimsy but only gets the "whimsy" aspect nailed.

I doubt that I'll crack a mystery which has eluded fans of all things garage and psychedelic since at least the late eighties when The Kytes were first rediscovered, but if anyone does know of their identity, I'd be grateful for further information.