Fantastic group-penned single by Brum wonders
Label: Philips
Year of Release: 1965
Time has been unkind to The Cheetahs. In the early to mid-sixties they were a big hit on the Midlands gig circuit, cutting a starry (if gimmicky) dash in their leopard print clothes and delivering a thumping beat group noise. Their discography also boasts two minor hit singles (1964's "Mecca", which got to number 36, and 1965's slightly messy "Soldier Boy" which managed number 39) and yet... and yet....
Well, when's the last time you heard anyone say anything about them? Acres of wordage have been spun and gallons of froth spewed over other Midlands acts whose careers never amounted to a bean, and yet despite their hits, The Cheetahs are unlikely to get a retrospective in Record Collector anytime soon.
The group penned effort "Whole Lotta Love" is rock solid evidence that they had what it took, though. While the sound may resemble The Everly Brothers at their most thundering, the song itself is a delicious slice of beat bickering, with the two vocalists in the band trading insults over their chances with a lady (who, we learn in the pay-off final moments, is already spoken for anyway). Snappy, catchy and pounding, and with an irresistible false ending, this is a record you would have thought somebody would have stuck on a sixties rarities compilation by now, but apparently not - though even their hits, small though they may have been, have been given scant regard in that respect.
The group began life as The Ekos in 1961, and after a number of line-up changes amended their name to Carl Baron and The Cheetahs in 1963. At this point, Carl Baron was on vocals (logically enough), with Euan Rose on drums, and brothers Nigel Wright on guitar and Rodney Wright on bass.
Baron packed up for South Africa after one single on Columbia (the somewhat unfortunately titled "This Is Only The Beginning") and the group were left to find another vocalist in Ray Bridger, who stayed with them for the rest of the sixties and a further five singles on Philips (the aforementioned "Mecca" and "Soldier Boy", and "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)", this one and the final hurrah "Russian Boat Song").
The excellent Brum Beat website gives more information about their mixed fortunes, but it seems they just couldn't build on their early commercial promise and were also perhaps guilty of not adapting with the times; their commercial pop-beat sound was perfect for 1964, but beyond that point audiences were hungry for something a bit wilder. The Cheetahs had the name, but not the freak-outs. The final 45 "Russian Boat Song" added fuzz guitar and approached things from a slightly skewed angle, but it's probably a case of too little, too late.
Once the group fizzled out at the end of the decade, Nigel Wright went on to join Sight and Sound and Fairfield Ski (who were compiled on the Grapefruit Records compilation "Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands") and drummer Euan Rose wrote the music for the well-received Birmingham theatre show "Wallop Mrs Cox".
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