Whichwhat - In The Year 2525/ Parting

Pedestrian cover backed with a surprising kick of garage soul

Label: Beacon

Year of Release: 1969

Here we go again with a familiar old story - it looks as if this cover of Zager and Evans' hysterical doomfest "In The Year 2525" was released in an attempt to beat the original American performers to the UK charts. Mr Zager and Mr Evans didn't pop their heads above the magical Top 40 line until 9th August 1969, perhaps convincing Beacon Records that they had a chance at a free-run themselves with one of their own groups.

Of course, they didn't, and the very idea that the homespun efforts of the tiny label could have taken on the might of RCA was hugely optimistic. To make matters more difficult, this single also sounds like an unenthusiastic demo, a run-through of the track with no spin, punch or passion to speak of. If you walked into a London club with some sophisticated recording gear and taped a competent group doing a soundcheck with this song, chances are the end results wouldn't have been much different.

That's deeply regrettable, because tucked away on the flip-side here is a group composition which possibly hasn't seen enough daylight due to the track it's been coupled with. "Parting" is a soulful effort filled with honking brass, organ stabs, driving rhythms and agitated vocals which has led to some online comparisons to Dexys Midnight Runners - obviously it's not quite up there with the quality of the young soul rebels, but it's certainly an extremely early example of aggressive, adolescent pub rock moves combining with soul arrangements and structures. Only a certain lack of emphasis on the rhythm section in the production holds it back, but as the track was apparently recorded in someone's front room [citation needed], this is probably forgivable! 

Whichwhat came from Nottingham and consisted of Mick Brown on sax and flute, Wayne Ford on lead guitar, Steve Harris on drums, Terry Penn on bass, Walter Savage on keyboards and Eddie Young on vocals. They actually became cultishly big news on the global gig circuit when they later became a hard rock band, having some minor success in Germany, the Netherlands and Australia (where singer Eddie currently resides).

Sadly, "Parting" is commercially available on a number of compilations and download sites, so I'm presenting a YouTube video of it below in lieu of an actual download - but if you're interested, you know what to do. 

A download of "In The Year 2525" is available here for anyone who is curious about it, but it's pretty inessential stuff.