Portrait first came to my attention through the dependable Purepop blog, who mentioned their nagging 1969 single "Sh-Sh-Sheila", filled with handclaps, bouyant melodies and a sharp, sugary taste. I spent a month or so travelling around London with it on my iPod, always keeping half-an-eye open for other records of theirs.
It's been a long wait, obviously, but "Tokaido Lines" is more of the same and is equally good. Using a honking, hooky Beatles harmonica line and a stomping beat, it's another example of an early seventies single which still has one foot in the previous decade. You can just about hear glam rock emerging over the horizon in the grooves here, but the sound has more in common with The Archies than it does Mud.
The group toured the country enthusiastically, but never really broke through, and eventually changed their name to Hobnail to release one more single ("She's Just A Friend Of Mine") on Bell in 1972. The members were Trevor Reynolds on lead vocals, Ray Reynolds on drums, Jim Cooper on rhythm guitar , Tony Davis on bass, and Andy Bick on lead guitar. All the group also supplied backing harmony vocals behind Trevor Reynolds.
