Offered With Very Little Comment #4 - The Whales, Nick and Nichola, Laura, Sheila Scot

Some regular readers will be aware of the fact that from time to time, I throw a whole batch of singles up on to this blog in one swoop while writing very little about them.


This is usually for one of a few very simple reasons:

• I know virtually nothing about the artist(s) in question
• I have very little to say about the music
• The record in question didn't really seem to me to warrant a lot of dissection. Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes things just are what they are. 

So then, with no apologies offered for the lack of background reading, and with no expectations raised, please see the latest batch behind the link. Some of these are really very obscure and there's a chance you'll have been keeping one eye open for a copy.

Band: The Whales

Single: Papa's Gonna Kiss It Better/ Crab Apple Hill

Label: Pye

Year of Release: 1970

For some mad reason, this one recently sold for £27 on Discogs, I can only assume because someone desperately wanted to complete their collection of Pye records or the drummer was after a copy having lost his in a recent house move. It's certainly not usually that 'collectible'. It's a little bit of light pop-orientated reggae, and The Whales were Opportunity Knocks winners and quite big news on the entertainment circuit around this time.

Band: Nick and Nichola

Single: It's Beautiful/ Get Along Without You

Label: Decca

Year of Release: 1970

A cute little slice of the early seventies pop ballad pie here, though I'm afraid I'll have to completely pass on who Nick and Nichola were. Certainly, they don't seem to have released anything else as a duo, and their lack of surnames on this record makes them slightly tricky to research. 

Artist: Laura

Single: One Love/ Life Is For Living

Label: Carnaby

Year of Release: 1972

Here you have it - the very last record released on Carnaby, ladies and gentlemen, a small independent label set up by the promoter Mervyn Conn.

Once again, however, Laura's lack of a surname here renders her a challenge to research. All I can say is the A-side is a well performed but not especially interesting cover of The Carpenters track, while the B-side is a sprightly piece of period pop which sounds more like something radio stations would have playlisted. Would Carnaby have been saved if someone had flipped the sides? Sadly, I still think probably not. 

Artist: Sheila Scot

Single: I'm Old Fashioned/ Yesterdays

Label: Philips

Year of Release: 1965

Hardly ANYBODY in the world seems to own this record, suggesting it never gained a proper release or hardly anybody bought it even by the time it reached the remainder bins. It's a jazzy bit of easy listening, very well performed, but there's nothing exceptional about either of the songs on offer, and it's easy to see how it could have passed the public by. 

Again, no information whatsoever on who Sheila Scot is, but this would appear to be her only release.