A chipper chunk of bubblegum from this Manchester female trio
Label: Pye
Year of Release: 1970
The volume of chirpy early seventies pop tunes that leaked out unnoticed is enormous. You might think that there was a mountainous profit to be made from coming up with breezy melodies, possibly while checking Tony Burrows' availability for vocals in the process, but in the competitive world of the hit parade, there were numerous examples that barely registered.
This one is yet another case. With a chugging rhythm and a prim but poppy chorus, "Hurry On Home" seems to have one eye on the success of The Archies and Shocking Blue, but it was a failed gambit. It's not going to be appreciated by every visitor to this site, some of whom may prefer their pop on the less commercial side, but it nonetheless has a bounce and catchiness to it many other singles of the era didn't get close to.
Janet Kilbourn was the composer of the A-side here, and also wrote a number of other tracks during the era, including "Maybe We've Been Loving Too Long" for Pickettywitch and The Flying Machine and "Shame Shame" for The Laurels. Beyond that, the trail goes cold so I can only assume her work eventually dried up.
The identity of The Feminine Touch is not as clear, but a German picture sleeve shows three smiling ladies, as does the Discogs page which also suggests the involvement of Maureen Chapman (who was also involved with The Dollies). The Manchester Beat website suggests that Davina Goldstein was also a member. Two out of three isn't bad.
They appear to have released a small clutch of singles on various tiny labels over the next six or seven years, including "Simple Song" in 1974, and "You Make It Come Alive" with Duke Durrell in 1976. The number of mainland European releases they put out would suggest some kind of popularity or at least busy touring schedules outside of the UK, but beyond that I know nothing. If you're any wiser, you know what to do.
6 comments:
As always, thank you so much David !!
Greetings Albert
Band members
FEMININE TOUCH
Bass-Sharon Temple
Vocals- Dalannah-Gail Bowen
Drums-Penny Stark
Guitar:Sharon McMullin
Greetings Albert
Great pop record. Would love to see more of these kinds of songs posted. Both sides are on CD by the way.
Thanks Arthur - that's a completely different line-up to the one I found! Were there two different bands called Feminine Touch and I've got the wrong one, or have I used unreliable sources? When I was pulling this blog entry together, I wasn't 100% convinced that the group on Pye were necessarily the ones who also released singles in 1974 and 1976.
Michael - I'm sure there will be more.
"The Feminine Touch" I've read about is a Canadian band from the 60's. Burton Cummings of The Guess Who knew them from the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada live music scene at that time, and he just posted about them on his Facebook. He confirmed the members as Sharon Temple; Dalannah Gail Bowen; Penny Stark; and Sharon McMullin. https://www.facebook.com/burtoncummings/
Thanks - but then there's also this lot from Manchester: https://www.manchesterbeat.com/index.php/groups1/feminine-touch
I have to wonder if there were two Feminine Touches on the international circuit (it certainly wouldn't be the first time I've been confused by something like this!)
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