Label: RCA
Year of Release: 1968
For a songwriter who experienced such huge success with Sandie Shaw, and a reasonable run of hits in his own right as a solo artist, it's surprising how many of Chris Andrews' compositions failed for other people. What should have been a guaranteed badge of hit status and press attention sometimes slipped unhelpfully under the radar.
In this case, the oddly named Ulysses Smith is the benefactor of Andrew's helping hand. His real name was actually George Davies, a Barnsley-born singer and guitarist with the hitless act Me And Them. The group recorded for Pye in 1964, but none of their singles had any impact, from the inappropriately peppy Buddy Knox penned pop of "Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself" to their cover of The Beatles "Tell Me Why".
Following their failure, Davies appears to have struck out on his own under a new name to try his luck under Andrews' production and songwriting guidance with this 45. In common with a lot of Chris Andrew's later work, it's a record which whiffs of Soho basement bars, with its brassy arrangements, swinging rhythms and punchy vocals sounding as if they would be more at home on the live circuit than tightly hemmed in a recording studio.
It probably wasn't confident or strident enough to be a bona-fide hit. Still, the occasional bursts of reverb and fruity brass on the flipside make it a much more groovy listen.
Following the failure of this record the trail goes cold, and whether he continued under the name of Ulysses or George, it's safe to say he didn't manage to issue another record.
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