Label: Major Minor
Year of Release: 1969
"Stop wasting your time looking for obscurities," a rather pushy record dealer said to me a couple of weeks ago. "There's nothing out there that hasn't been compiled or DJ'ed with already, and even if you think you find a good record nobody's heard of, I guarantee you somebody out there has."
"Ah yes, Mr Dealer, but what if they found a record, believed it to be crap, and wrongly put it to one side?" I replied. Well actually, I didn't. I just nodded and smiled at him politely whilst those very thoughts ran through my head.
Of course, he had a very good point. It is indeed becoming a near-impossible mission to find anything new that's interesting, particularly from eras where the lucky dip has been well and truly picked dry. Given the enormous array of blogs out there, the endless unofficial compilations of obscure material it's impossible to keep track of, and street-smart retro DJs with money to burn, you can never definitely state that you're the first person to be wowed by a track. So naturally, when I say to you readers "This is a good record which appears to have been ignored", it should be taken with a tiny pinch of salt. It could be played weekly at your local popsike bop for all I know.
Obviously I'm leading up to the point that Money's "Come Laughing Home" is a really pleasant surprise, despite being rather tartly dismissed by a couple of other sources. When you see a record label clearly stating that the tune is from a theatre production - in this case Keith Waterhouse's play of the same name - you tend not to expect more than a saccharine pop ballad with a gentle orchestra behind it. This, on the other hand, introduces itself with some doomy organ chords, the repeated pleading refrain "Come home!" before launching headlong into a sweet and wistful piece of harmony-drenched popsike. Reminiscent of a likable Roy Wood penned ballad and containing riffs which sound similar to fragments of "Dancing In The Moonlight" in places, the A-side is summery, breezy and chipper without being irritating. I don't want to overstate the case here, but it's surprising that this one hasn't received a bit more attention from collectors.
Sadly, the flip "The Power Of The Rainbow" really isn't worth troubling yourselves with too much, being a rather dull pop ballad.
Money apparently hailed from Manchester, but information about them is otherwise hard to come by. One more single entitled "Breaking Of Her Heart" was issued in 1970 before they disappeared off pop's map, and if you know who they were and what else they did, please do let me know.
8 comments:
Ignore your dealer 'friend': not all of us are hipsters who've heard everything before.
I think he was more of a cunning record salesman than a hipster, really, trying to get me to buy what he had in stock. But your point stands.
And also, something that was discovered and dismissed in 1992 could be discovered by others and loved in 2012. People's perceptions shift all the time.
the writer of this, ray teret, had an interesting career. worth googling.
mel scholes and ray teret were djs from manchester..stints on signal in stoke
co-producer bill kenwright is almost certainly the same guy who played betty turpin's son gordon in "coronation street" before going on to become a theatre impressario and (currently) chairman of everton fc...
Thanks for highlighting that, wilberforce. It seems likely that he'll have had some connection with the theatre production, although how he contributed to the recording sessions is anyone's guess!
My dad was in Money, he played the hammond. I'll point him in your direction, he'll enlighten you a bit more :)
Hi,just found your article re MONEY, Come laughing home, major Minor records. I was the founding member of the group and lead vocalist. We were managed by Bill Kenwright and released two singles on major Minor, we also backed Bill in his cabaret appearances as a recording artiste. The band had two sides,we also toured the university
circuit playing mostly original material in the heavier rock style. The band split in eary 1970 I was then signed by Gordon Mills to his MAM record label as a singer songwriter.
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