Colin Pilditch - Mrs. O'Mara/ What A Way

British actor tries his hand at singer-songwriter success

Label: Decca

Year of Release: 1972

As is often the case with "Left and to the Back" blog entries, a certain amount of mystery surrounds this 45. The artist on this occasion is easy to identify, the reasons behind the record's release are not. Colin Pilditch was a multi-talented entertainer whose face popped up in all kinds of both plausible and unlikely scenarios. On the plausible side, he was one of the Young Generation Dancers in the early seventies, a troupe put together by the Beeb to handle choreography duties on their light entertainment shows, and as such he could be seen on that bunch's own programmes as well as the likes of "The Rolf Harris Show", "Vera Lynn", and - erm - the TV movie "Jesus" presumably prancing about as "The Lord Of The Dance" or somesuch.

Unexpectedly, however, he also appeared in a slightly bleak film with British singer-songwriter Roy Harper called "Made" in 1972 which explored a single mother entering into a relationship with a neurotic British singer-songwriter (a role which gave Harper very little need to stretch himself). Bob Harris also appeared as an interviewing DJ in another highly unchallenging role. Pilditch, on the other hand, actually acted as a minor character called "Jacko" in that movie - for as well as being a dancer and occasional choreographer, he also had a string of acting appearances in films and programmes over the years including "Z Cars" and "Please Sir!"

It's not completely clear why he wanted to spread his wings further and become a singer-songwriter, but this sole 45 is the only evidence I've been able to find of that journey and it's actually rather good. Bouncy, chiming and perhaps slightly sinister with its reference to kidnapping young ladies, it nonetheless seeps with the kind of lush, airy and spacious arrangements so common in the early seventies. For all its joyousness, it's also a strangely subtle record whose chorus is repeated infrequently, and as such it takes a few spins to worm its way into your heart and mind; this really isn't a case of an on-screen figure trying to push a hook-laden novelty record into the charts. 

Oddly though, I've seen no evidence that it ever made its way into shops. Promo copies like mine exist, but stock copies are seemingly impossible to locate, although it apparently did gain a release in New Zealand. 

His television and film career also seemed to have mostly ground to a halt by 1977, and he passed away at the unfairly young age of 47 in the year 2000. This single certainly proves that he had many strings to his bow and it's a shame we didn't get to witness more of them.

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