Label: Penny Farthing
Year of Release: 1970
I used to know someone called Judd, a denim-clad gentleman who had spent some time in the USA and still had a certain Transatlantic growl to his voice. "Hey geez-errrr!" he'd yell to people he knew as they entered the pub. Then he'd wander over to the jukebox, and complain "You wanna know the problem with this thing? Not enough ROCK on it".
For years I wondered if this record might just be something to do with him, but it was never likely. The Judd I knew was the kind of chap who would never have shut up about the fact that he had once made a record. And of course it's not. Judd was actually the group name given to ex-Quiet Five member Kris Ife and a group of "itinerant" session musicians, who were all produced by studio genius Mark Wirtz.
Kris has already featured on this blog, but "Snarlin' Mumma Lion" is rather unlike a lot of his other work. It has a backwater American rock vibe to it - an odd direction for him to take, but odder still for his co-songwriter and producer Mark Wirtz. This is a far cry from his "Teenage Opera" years and really showed how diverse he could be with his writing and production styles. It's a nagging, persuasive beast of a record, though, and while it can't count among Wirtz's best - or Ife's best, for that matter - it's got a punch to it that just can't be ignored.
I've covered both Ife and Wirtz before on this blog, which leaves me at a bit of a loss to say much more about their careers. Suffice to say, though, "Snarlin' Mumma Lion" wasn't a hit, though it did enjoy issues across numerous European territories, meaning there are picture sleeve versions for interested collectors to burn their cash on, if they should desire.
2 comments:
I was in a band called Peter and the Wolves - with the legendary John Pantry - which, thanks to some marketing whizzos at Motown, got re-branded as Wolfe when that label released our only album (US release).
In recording it we were "encouraged" to record certain songs for reasons of publishing rights, one of which was Snarlin' Mumma Lion. When they put out a UK single - Dancing in the Moonlight, long before Toploader - this track was on the B side.
Wow, I had no idea there was any kind of John Pantry connection to this track! Or that Peter and The Wolves also did "Dancing In The Moonlight", which seems to have been covered by everyone under the sun over the years. Thanks for letting me know.
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