The Peepers - Ayeo/ A Heavy Drinking Ego Shrinking Doctor

Glam glee from act who were known as Express Delivery a mere year before

Label: Bumble

Year of Release: 1972

Sometimes while rooting around record stores and eBay, I stumble upon singles which clearly had serious backing and familiar names attached. And that's exactly what we've got here - a Carter, Lewis and Alquist songwriting credit and a Barry Blue production (aka Barry Green) all of which should add up to a sizeable hit.

That wasn't to be, though, and while in fairness "Ayeo" doesn't sound like 1972's definite monster single, it's groovy, neat and nagging enough that you can only suspect that it might have crept through under other circumstances. The fact it was issued as the tiny independent Bumble label's second single probably won't have helped, leaving its fate to a new, inexperienced outfit who had yet to firmly establish themselves (and as it turned out, never really did).

The flip side, the oddly titled "A Heavy Drinking Ego Shrinking Doctor" is a Rolling Stones-esque groove which isn't quite as freaky as its title would suggest.

Express Delivery - Lazy Butterfly/ Leaving Home Number 9

Folksy hippy festival pop backed with bluesy blow-out

Label: Philips

Year of Release: 1971

Mungo Jerry - so much to answer for. The soaraway success of "In The Summertime" led to a number of other bright, bouncy and slightly rustic festival-friendly tracks seeping into the marketplace, very few of which had any major impact. There's no doubt that there was room for catchy, rootsy simplicity as well as hard rock in the post-psychedelic hippy scene, but that space seemed to be limited to only a couple of artists at a time.

Whatever the odds, I'd argue that Express Delivery were utterly doomed by the release date of this track. Launched on 10th December 1971 at a point where butterflies weren't so much lazy as stone cold dead, the track's carefree skipping down country lanes cried out for a summer release. In the run-up to Christmas, it must have sounded ludicrously out of place with the general public mood.

The B-side "Leaving Home Number 9" takes a different tack, being a bluesy work-out which might find more appreciation among "Left and to the Back" readers. As you can hear, my copy is faintly scratched and needle-damaged on that side, so whoever previously owned it obviously gave the flip a lot more plays and appreciation. 

Once again, Express Delivery were one single wonders and I have no idea who they were or what became of them. I'm going to hazard a guess that the Kitteridge credited on the A-side was Les Kitteridge, who also wrote "Go Call Mary" for Abel Fletcher, an equally obscure release which came out on the small Concord label in 1970. Certainly, Campbell Connolly, who owned that label, get the publishing credit which is a huge giveaway. As for whether he was actually a member of Express Delivery or a jobbing songwriter, though - I'm afraid I know as much as you (or possibly less).