Take 6 - Whiter Shade Of Pale/ There Goes My Everything/ Carrie Anne/ Groovin/ Okay/ Here Come The Nice

 

Pocket money covers of tip-top chart hits, from the faithful to the ghastly

Label: Take 6/ Avenue

Year of Release: 1967

While they're probably never going to command huge prices, budget sound-a-like hits compilations have been picking up casual interest from collectors of late, not least because some of the session players on these stocking filler discs later went on to become famous. Elton John grabbed the opportunities that were afforded keenly and was noted for his adaptability in the studio, although sometimes the results were rather unexpected. Likewise, David Byron of Uriah Heep wasn't averse to popping in for a cup of tea and a rendition of one of the day's hits in exchange for a few pounds (such as this cover of John Lennon's "Cold Turkey").

"Take 6" was a short lived and not particularly successful six-track EP series issued by Avenue Records which worked to the same familiar business model as all the others - get some seasoned musicians in quickly to accurately record the hits of the day (and absolutely no fannying about with "alternative interpretations" or fresh arrangements) then get the product on the shelves whip-smart to rival the official versions. They retailed at the cost of a standard seven inch single and must have been tempting to the uniformed or the unfussy who deemed it worth their while to own six A sides for the price of one. 

To give them full credit, the session musicians mostly managed to produce fair forgeries of the original work, and that's borne out by track one here, a cover of "Whiter Shade Of Pale" which just about manages to retain the mystical heat haze of the original. True, it sounds more like Van Morrison singing than Gary Brooker (but don't get excited, it's almost certainly not) but the rest is a faithful replica with only the thinness of the production showing itself as a marked difference.

And so the pattern follows throughout most of the EP, being filled with competent, efficient versions of top hits,  until you get to the main track I bought this for, The Small Faces under-the-radar paean to drug purchasing "Here Come The Nice". This was actually a very smartly, carefully produced and arranged number in its official incarnation with a depth, tricksiness and slickness which was going to be very difficult to pin down by any would-be interpreters, and so it proves. The pinging guitar notes at the start quickly give way to ludicrous falsetto vocals somewhere between Tiny Tim, The Pipkins and Donald and Davey Stott, then the session players deliver a Youth Club bash-through the song, which it really didn't deserve. Still, it's as terrible as I'd hoped, and sometimes hearing people fall flat on their arses trying to perform something wonderful is actually masochistic fun. I hope for their sake that nobody famous was involved in this monstrous three minutes; as no credits are ever given on these releases, we will probably never know.

Freedom - Frustrated Woman/ Man Made Laws

Ex-Procol members get hard and heavy with The Standells garage classic

Label: Probe

Year of Release: 1970

This is the second time Freedom have featured on "Left and to the Back" - we covered their highly poppy single "Kandy Kay" last year and also dug into their history back then too... but just to recap: the group were formed by ex Procol Harum members Ray Royer and Bobby Harrison shortly after they were dismissed from that band. While both had contributed to "Whiter Shade of Pale", the track hadn't long been top of the charts before they were told their services were no longer required.

Their subsequent career in the somewhat collectible group Freedom seemed to involve hopping and jumping between various different labels, and initially performing relatively lightweight ditties before eventually getting hard and heavy. "Frustrated Woman" marks the beginnings of that heaviosity, taking The Standells garage classic "Dirty Water" and making it stomping, sludgy and dirty, like a bunch of hairies revving their motorcycles through a muddy ditch.

Curiously, the A-side clearly marks the group (and not Ed Cobb) as the writers of the track which seems like a blatant piece of copyright theft worthy of the KLF - there is no way any court in the land would agree this was entirely Freedom's work, and had it been a hit I suspect the lawyers would have been on the phone immediately.

The flipside is theirs, however, and sees the group getting heavier still while ranting about evil "man made laws" and "selfish" people. I would nod in agreement with them but it's not entirely clear to me what it specifically is they're so angry about, so I'll just stay quiet in my corner to be on the safe side.

Freedom - Kandy Kay/ Escape While You Can

 

 

Ex-Procol types with surprisingly poppy single

 

Label: Plexium

Year of Release: 1969

 

I never can resist buying Plexium singles when they show up for sale. The EMI affiliated label's stone-cold, total lack of success makes it fertile territory for the flop hunter, and its mix-and-match A&R approach - where Easy Listening rubbed up against psychedelia, prog, pop and cheapo cover versions - makes it feel as if you're shoving your hand into an audio lucky dip.

 A lot of the label's releases are pure guff, of course, but amidst the flotsam and jetsam lie SE Essex scene stalwarts Sadie's Expression, the organ drenched pop of the Mike Morton Sound, and probably most enticing of all to collectors, the gruff psych-rock of The Glass Opening. Also high on some people's wish list are this lot, Freedom, who were formed by ex Procol Harum members Ray Royer and Bobby Harrison. Both had performed on the group's debut single "Whiter Shade Of Pale" but were rudely dismissed not long after it hit number one.

The pair decided to form a new group together, the name Freedom perhaps summarising their feelings about their "escape" from the hastily formed Procol as much as it referred to the liberal hippy ideals of the era. Joining them were Steve Shirley on bass and Mike Lease on keyboards.

Sadly, but perhaps somewhat predictably, Freedom did not manage to match Procol Harum's initial run of success, with their debut 45 "Where Will You Be Tonight" barely getting a sniff of attention when it was issued on Mercury in 1968. They jumped to Plexium for this one single in 1969, which appeared to be a deliberate attempt to pop things up in their rather hairy, maudlin, mellotron world. Gone are the anxious, pinched, progressive vocals, and in place are chirpy melodies, upbeat rhythms and brassy backings. I would even go as far as to say it sounds slightly like David Essex during his poppiest seventies moments in places, but for all that, the group still didn't get a hit, and went back to the drawing board to develop a harder, heavier sound.