Dramatic, chaotic cop car rocker
Label: Mother
Year of Release: 1970
Mark Ansley had certainly been around the block a bit by the time this, his only solo single, was released. Initially a member of legendary Midlands groups The Nightriders (who also featured Jeff Lynne) and Liverpudlians The Escorts, he eventually moved on to a solo career gigging up and down the country, as well as holding a residency at the Top Rank in Darlington.
"909" marked Ansley's arrival on wax, though, some years after his early beat adventures. His career had become akin to that of a middle-of-the-road entertainer by the late sixties, so it would be easy to walk past this single in the racks assuming that it contained little more than a supper club rendition of a Denmark Street melody. That would be a horrible mistake to make, though, as it's actually a deeply chaotic rocker focusing on the business of policemen in patrol cars ("defending the people from the wages of siiiiin!" he declares passionately) laced with buzzing, squealing guitar licks and gospel backing vocals. This is bit parts Hendrix and "Shaft", sprawling and skidding delightfully melodically while Ansley professionally steadies the wild undercurrents with his assured vocals. It's a delight.
On the flipside you'll find his cover of "Venus" which doesn't usurp the original but does bring a harsher, electric organ dominated garage rock groove to the party.
Despite its strengths, this single probably wasn't quite pop enough to be a commercial success, and while he apparently had a five-year contract with Mother Records, no further music of his was released. Undeterred, he focused on songwriting and entertaining on the cabaret circuit, and perhaps somewhat unexpectedly emerged in the boot camp on the X Factor in 2004, but failed to progress to the next round.
He still writes and records, and his latest songs can all be found on Spotify. None of them sound quite as wild as "909", but "Mr Ageing Pop Star" is clearly somewhat autobiographical. "So don't you feel so bad, Mr Ageing Pop Star/ just think of all the good things you've done," he sings, and if that's not a good motto for most of the acts who turn up on here, I don't know what is.
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1 comment:
The Mother records label was created at least in part by Radio 1 DJ Emperor Rosko, who was then appalled to find that (surprise, surprise) the BBC wouldn't play Mother's singles very often as they were seen as self-promotion for one of their DJs. Under his real name of Mike Pasternak, Rosko co-wrote this A-side.
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