Stormer on the B-side - rather dull over-long Tom Jones styled ballad on the A-side
Label: Major Minor
Year of Release: 1968
Major Minor is a fascinating little label if you're an idle collector - with an output varying from folk whimsy to easy listening to psychedelia and full-on rock, picking up a little known record with their logo on it is a bit like taking a dip into a bag of Revels. It could be a delicious toffee or a rather unpleasantly powdery orange "surprise".
Lo and behold, just to confuse things, this single manages to be a bit of both. The A-side here is a tedious Tom Jones styled version of the country standard "Long Black Veil" which lacks any kind of emotional punch.
Nestling on the flip, though, is Law's own composition (in collaboration with one Tommy Scott) "You'll Never Get The Chance Again", which is a lovely stormer. Infamously, The Grumbleweeds recorded this first as the flipside to their awful single "Goodbye", and there are some aficionados out there who consider that to be the definitive version. Nonsense, says I. This take is hard, sharp, has a nice clattering guitar high in the mix, and gives the track a dancefloor urgency, whereas The Grumbleweeds take a lighter and slightly more showy approach. A lost Northern Soul dancer? Maybe.
Peter Law was an Irish showband star who previously fronted The New Pacific (also known as The Pacific Showband or The Dublin Corporation). That group were also a hit on the Canadian gig circuit, regularly touring and issuing one LP on Capitol over there.
He issued a number of solo records besides being in the group, and this was his second attempt. Several others followed on Columbia until by 1973, his UK and Ireland discography comes to an abrupt halt. By 1972 the band were permanently based in Toronto anyway, and even did a stint in Vegas, so it's not unlikely that issuing records for the benefit of a home market they could rarely perform for became an increasing irrelevance.
2 comments:
Hi David
Singles from the Major Minor catalog are always hard to find !!
Thank you for sharing this
All the best, Albert
Tommy Scott was a minor 60s recording artist who also penned English lyrics to the brilliant early Eurovision hit Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son. He did a lot of work for Major Minor, including writing the English lyrics for Equipe 84's Auschwitz/29th September, and penning a couple of sides for Freddie 'Parrot Face' Davies: I Want me Seed and Sentimental Songs.
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