The Bye-Laws - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye/ Come On Over To My Place

Another Irish Showband with two strong beat cover versions

Label: Pye

Year of Release: 1968

The Bye-Laws came from Ballyfermot in Dublin and were one of seemingly hundreds of bands who busied themselves on the showband circuit. While some of their compatriots and rivals were well received in small towns and at rural events, The Bye-Laws apparently had a strong "urban audience". 

Being a part of Ireland's "metropolitan elite" didn't mean they had any roughness or rawness to their sound, though, and they certainly weren't slashing their amp cones with razors or dropping acid. This really is beat music, pure and simple, with some strong vocals on top. The A side, a well-delivered cover of "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" with its steady beat, plucked guitar strings and harmony vocals, wouldn't have sounded out of place as a Beatles B-side back in their earliest days, but it's a little bit antiquated sounding for 1968. The flip is a jollier and more uptempo affair, though it's hard to make "Come On Over To Our Place" sound like a drag (very difficult not to sing "Hey you, we're having a Wimpy" to if you're a certain age, though).

The group consisted of Maurice Walsh on vocals, Jimmy Conway on lead guitar, Paul Holohan on bass, and Aidan Scannell on drums. Maurice ski-daddled off to join the group Purple Pussycat after this single, and their second effort "Run Baby Run" had Pat Morris on lead vocals instead. Neither 45 was a hit either in the UK or Ireland - some sources state that this effort sold well in their home country, but I can't find any chart data for it whatsoever, so at best it would have been a slow and steady seller over a long period of time.

The group emigrated to Canada in 1970 to try their luck there, but split not long afterwards. Their dependance on cover versions rather than new material was apparently a huge stumbling block for them in both countries.