The Moonstones - Violets of Dawn/ Power of Decision

 

Folkie family trio with their second 45

Label: Parlophone
Year of Release: 1966

Sometimes family connections will rocket you to stardom in the biz. Sometimes, on the other hand, they provide a limited push which might get your records on to the shelves, but won't necessarily set you up with a career for life.

The Moonstones were a family group consisting of Bill, Bob and Ruth Hussey, who got their first big break through their cousin, Mike Leslie, one of Joe Brown's Bruvvers. When he needed backing vocals for a track he was working on, he decided to utilise the folky harmonies of his family rather than hiring further afield. Delighted with the results, he persuaded them to give a music career a serious go, and while the precise details of their efforts, trials and tribulations are lost to history, they had signed to Parlophone by 1965 and put out their first single "Heaven Fell Last Night".

That release was sweet, simple and showed off the trio's smooth vocal harmonies. What it didn't sound like, sadly, was an obvious mid-sixties hit, being far too rustic and old-school, the kind of gentle noise which was being released in 1962 rather than straight into the heart of the sixties. 

Conversely, their follow-up was a cover of Eric Andersen's "Violets of Dawn", and seems to understand both the source material and the era it's landed in. The vocal harmonies are still exquisite, but the overall atmosphere moves away from coy cutesiness and nudges itself ever-so-slightly towards a more West Coast sound. The Mamas and Papas could easily have put this out, but they'd probably have reserved it for an LP than pushed it front and centre as an A-side (though The Blues Project also had a crack at it Stateside). 

Following the failure of this single, The Moonstones entered a bit of a fallow period before popping up on Mercury once again in December 1967, though "How Many Times" - their only release for that label - seems to have sold absurdly poorly and nixed any possibility of further vinyl releases.

According to that bible of all things sixties "Tapestry of Delights", Bob Hussey has "remained in the music business" and in 2001 put plans in motion to return The Moonstones to a recording studio. If that ever happened, no results have leaked out to the general public, so it's safe to assume that this time around their studio work remained a private family affair. 

If the previews below aren't working properly, please go right to the source.