The Sundowners - Where Am I/ Gotta Make Their Future Bright

Shel Talmy produces and Peter Lee Stirling writes this Kent group's final 45

Label: Parlophone

Year of Release: 1965

Oh, this is so confusing. For reasons presumably known only to bad admin and poor communication across the British gig scene, there were three groups called The Sundowners active in the sixties - one was from Scotland, the other were London based, the third were from Folkestone in Kent. In the past, I've managed to land my foot straight into a large clump of research cowpat by confusing the Scottish group with the London one. This, I am 99% sure, is the Kent bunch, although if you want to nip into Ladbrokes and bet against that, be my guest.

This lot were a busy bunch locally right through until the mid-nineties, and on a national level are perhaps best known - among those who really care about this stuff - as the first British group to cover "House of The Rising Sun" on the flipside of their debut single "Baby, Baby". While that version has none of the abrasiveness of The Animals smash rendition, it marked the group out as a tasteful and knowing bunch in a manner the beaty pop of the A-side probably didn't.

The group followed it up with a second single on Piccadilly in January 1964 ("Come On In"), then backed Linda Doll for a final Piccadilly 45 in February 1964 ("He Don't Want Your Love Anymore") before jumping to Parlophone in 1965 for this final outing.

"Where Am I" is notable for having been produced by Shel Talmy, although unlike his work with The Kinks, The Creation and The Who during the same period, this is gentle, subtle stuff, an eerie ballad backed with echoing female vocals, pattering drumming and atmospheric, tingling guitar work. Heard without knowing the producer responsible, you might even incorrectly guess that Joe Meek was responsible for this; it has the same faintly paranoid and boxed-in claustrophobic feel and has perhaps been rather unfairly overlooked. Talmy might not have been creating his usual noise and mayhem here, but it's still the sound of a man who knew exactly how to manipulate the studio.

Steven Lancaster - San Francisco Street/ Miguel Fernando Stan Sebastian Brown

Optimistic Shel Talmy produced British popsike exploring the idea that anywhere can be San Francisco really...

Label: Polydor

Year of Release: 1967

Throughout 1967, San Francisco seemed to be sold to non-residents as a utopian ideal, the peace-loving place of hippies, beatniks, oddballs and the kids of the future. These days, it's an impossibly expensive place to live and a strong city to invest in some prime hillside real-estate. Somewhere in between those two moments, the hippy drug comedown produced a degree of crime, chaos and vagrancy amongst the idealistic thinking. Beware anyone selling you utopia, kids. Eventually, you end up paying for it. Hey, why do you think I can't afford to live in Walthamstow anymore?

Steven Lancaster here - actually songwriter Len Moseley, who later went on to join and write for Wild Silk - was perhaps more philosophically minded about the situation, keen to inform listeners that in fact, San Francisco could be created anywhere, whether you had the money for a plane ticket or an apartment. All you need (besides love) was the will to let it exist and let your own state of mind form that community. 

While Moseley had clearly never visited Ilford, it's an optimistic thought that permeates through this dash of popsike convincingly. Shel Talmy was on production duties to give the track his usual masterly oversight, but instead of the usual guitar crunching, feedback and distortion, he opted for a more subdued approach here. The end result is sweet, simple, and completely in keeping with the zeitgeist of the times, but possibly lacking enough of a memorable melody line to enter the Top 40.