Foreword
(phrase of the day: keep your skillet greasy!)
This time round we have a recipe to delight all comprising rock, prog and fun with a bit of brass sprinkled on top.
Before all that, though, you may remember from the previous Post, we had a certain amount of sleuthing to do to find out who it was that were actually playing the fine music we were listening to. With the help of friend Bosse from Sweden we did a good days work, I reckon. Now we are left with just one more mystery to solve. Whoa! Stand down everybody - I may have sorted this one out on my own. Read on ...
THE WORLD OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
WARREN PHILLIPS AND THE ROCKETS (SPA 43) Aha! At last we have a confirmed artist. I’ve never heard of Mr Phillips but … hmmm … that’s true. I haven’t heard of him … I feel a little research coming on … … Right! I have some information. A couple of sources 1, 2 inform us that the guilty party is three members of Savoy Brown, the
blues/rock band whohave seven tunes amongst the compilation LPs in our collection. Dave Peverett (guitar), Roger Earl (drums) and Tony Stevens (bass) were part of the ever-changing band line-up in 1969 from whence SPA 43 dates although, a year later, the trio had abandoned the good ship Savoy Brown to form Foghat. The major clue, however, is the existence of an album by Roger Earl, Lonesome Dave Peverett and Tone Stevens called Before Foghat Days on the London record label which, except for one song, has the same tunes in the same running order as SPA 43. Further intelligence, if more needs to be gathered, is the note on the back cover of our record advising that the record is a Mike Vernon Production – Mr Vernon being the Savoy’s producer – and that the recording engineer is David Grinsted who engineered the 1969 Savoy Brown Album, A Step Further. Case Closed!
STARS OF ROCK ‘N’ POP ‘N’ FUN THE WORLD OF SOLID GOLD HITS THE WORLD OF SOLID GOLD HITS (SPA-R 456) kicks off with a summery bit of
carefree faux reggae from Typically Tropical - their song ‘Barbados’, their one and only hit. Of course, the tune is here on the Decca record label but the original single was put out on Gull which was distributed by Decca. Typically Tropical were a couple of Welshmen and if you check out any video, you may be thinking that perhaps these boys could DO with a
holiday. There is the occasional hint of a smirk on the visage of the singer but the keyboard player certainly has another rainy night in the valleys in mind. Still, whilst just listening to ‘Barbados’ is still legal, I recommend you play SPA-R456, or indeed THE WORLD OF ROCK ‘N’ FUN (SPA-R 483) as it appears here too, and give in to the infectious beat. Mind you, if you insist on a Welsh influence but with a little more sun, just up the road from Barbados on Jamaica are towns called Llandovery and Llandewey thanks to early Welsh settlers on the island. ♫Whow! We’re going to Llandewey!♫ Hmmm, sounds OK to me. Silly? Maybe, maybe not but this next artist definitely is.
If Frenchman Gilbert Bécaud did not appear silly when he sang his one UK hit, ‘A
Little Love and Understanding’, he certainly was up until the age of 20 years. You see, he was born Francois Gilbert Léopold Silly and Bécaud became his nom de plume (a little French for you, there) when he began writing songs. He was also known as Monsieur 100,000 Volts due to his vigorous performance exploits; engaging the audience with on-stage scenarios and dancing enticingly to the music ... sometimes amongst the audience. But NO! Don’t YOU try it, mate! It won’t work for blokes like you and me!
Still, moving on. I shouldn’t think that it would be easy to follow Bécaud but that is the
deal for the Chi-lites on our record. No problem! They give a fine performance of the falsetto R&B-cum-soul tune ‘Too Good to be Forgotten’. The Chi-lites reached top ten in the UK charts six times though ‘Have You Seen Her?’ visited the upper echelons on two occasions, originally in 1972 when it got to No. 3 and then in 1975 when it stalled at No. 5. It WAS released a third time in 1983 but people must have been pretty tired of it then because it only got to No. 100. Oh yeah, ‘Too Good to be Forgotten reached No. 10 but they were much more successful in the USA, incidentally. They were originally called the Hi-lites but when a clash with a similarly named band was noticed, they stuck a ‘C’ on the front and called it a tribute to their home town, Chicago.
Television talent show, Opportunity Knocks has much to answer for …
... in a good way, I mean. Don’t know if you remember the programme but the winners returned the following week and Candlewick Green won for eight weeks running! The song here, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ was their one and only UK hit getting to No. 21. Hamilton Bohannon’s ‘Disco Stomp’ was his second UK single and it peaked at No. 6 but six subsequent releases failed to perturb the upper reaches of the chart. Bohannon was a drummer and band leader whose trademark was the titular heavy stomping beat.
Pianist, singer-songwriter, Peter Skellern was, later in life, a priest … not for long, though as, sadly, he died as a result of a brain tumour after just four months in the position. Some might like, poetically to think, that this represents something of a full
circle because, as a youngster he played the organ in his local church, St Michael's in Bolton. He also worked on radio and TV as a musician and as an actor, too. Still, back to the record. The song featured here is Skellern’s second UK single release, reaching no. 14 in 1975, ‘Hold on to Love’ but his trademark sound of nostalgia was instigated three years earlier on his first single, ‘You’re a Lady’ on which he was backed by a brass band and a choir, said choir on this latter song, incidentally, was the pop choir, The Congregation. In the mid-eighties he formed the first incarnation of the band, Oasis. I'm thinking, though, that the later Mancunian band of that name must have indulged in a little musical evolution as Skellern, being joined by classical cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and Welsh WORLD OF star, Mary Hopkin made a quite different sound to the brothers Gallagher. If you're curious, you'll be able to find some sound video of Peter Skellern's version on-line. Champagne Supernova it ain't.
Another singer, this time soulster Al Green, was also attracted to life in the church. After the distressing suicide of a girlfriend in 1974, Green felt a change of lifestyle was
in order. Two years later, he became a pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis but it wasn’t until 1980 that he recorded his first album of gospel songs, returning to a more secular style eight years afterwards. Green’s first two UK singles ('Tired of Being Alone' and 'Let's Stay Together') went top ten but subsequent songs did not fare so well. Fifth release, ‘Sha-la-la (Make Me Happy)’ is the tune featured here and was the next most successful getting to No. 20. Al Green is Mr Genially Cool rather than exciting but our next guest, ladies and gentlemen, is Mr Excitement himself, Jackie Wilson!
Even with the slowest ballad Wilson could whip the audience into some sort of frenzy
but with upbeat stuff like ‘Higher and Higher’ he could really cut loose with the shaking shimmy. Like Al Green, however, Jackie Wilson had a period of singing gospel before changing tack towards R&B and soul. His first appointment had him taking the place of three-song WORLD OF soul-man, Clyde McPhatter with Billy Ward and his Dominoes. The Wilson contribution here is his sixth UK release, ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ which has a swinging mid-beat and reached No. 9 in the charts in 1972 … and No. 25 in 1975 and No. 98 in 1983! A predictable downward trend but then, in 1984, Jackie Wilson passed away and a posthumous release then reached No. 3! It can’t generally be recommended as a device for boosting business but death does sometimes seem to help.
♫‘Hey, Fattie Bum Bum’♫. Oh relax, I was singing TO you, not about you. Anyway,
these are just about the only lines I understand in this ostensibly simple song. Well, that and the following line ‘Your sweet sugar dumplin’’. Actually, I’m not even sure about that! And what about, ‘A safe place is no recommendation. I’m lookin’ for creation’?! Oh, and that ‘?!’ sign – I didn’t just make it up. It’s an interabang, a punctuation mark that announces a query combined with an incredulous interjection for particular use when discussing ‘Fattie Bum Bum’ by The Diversions, it says here. Cripes! Let’s escape to the safety of out-and-out pop.
The Dutch pop of Mouth and MacNeal or, as their parents would know them, Willum Duyn and Sjoukje Van’t Spiijker, entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with ‘I See a Star’, the song on our record. It came third and finished at No. 8 in the UK charts. Shortly after Eurovision, they split up, Mouth to pair up with his eventual wife and MacNeal to return to her solo career.
The last tune on this LP is ‘Whisky in the Jar’ by rockers Thin Lizzy, the traditional Irish song that broke them back in 1973 but which bears little resemblance to anything they produced since. For this reason, it was rarely played in concert, even by some tribute bands, as it represented a time gone by. It got to No. 6 in the UK charts and was one of four Top
Ten hits along with ‘The Boys are Back in Town’, ‘Waiting for an Alibi’ and ‘Killer on the Loose’. Lizzy’s leader, Phil Lynott, was proper Oirish but was actually born in West Bromwich in the English Midlands. His mother was Irish and his father was from Guyana but Lynott was brought up in Dublin and he always considered himself to be Irish. In 1980, He got married to long-time love, Caroline Crowther, daughter of comedian Leslie Crowther, producing two daughters, Sarah and Cathleen, both of whom had songs written for them by their dad. Finally, if you ever wondered how the title of Thin Lizzy’s second album, Shades of a Blue Orphanage, was dreamt up, well,
Orphanage was the name of one of Lynott’s early bands whilst founder member, Eric Bell played with Shades of Blue prior to his Lizzy days.
Incidentally, there is a tune called ‘Sarah’ on this album as well but this one was written for Lynott’s grandmother. Confused? Not anymore.
Lynsey de Paul, whose ‘Sugar Me’ is featured on SPA-R 456, has her own WORLD OF and so is considered elsewhere.
THE WORLD OF ROCK ‘N’ FUN Moving on with a record called THE WORLD OF ROCK ‘N’ FUN (SPA-R 483). This comprises songs from a disparate bunch of artists, mixing performers who had enduring careers with one-hit-wonders; some are 'household names' and some you are less likely to recognise. Names at which one might be scratching one’s head include The Hollywood Argyles, The Randells and The Hamburger Brothers. The latter group start the record off with ‘Omar the Vampar’, a truly horrendous fun-free zone. You see, ♫there was a man whose life
was made a wreck when Omar got a hold of his girl-friend’s neck♫. You’ll find this episode, if you listen to the tune at all, in the first verse. If you get past the first verse, award yourself a gold star for perseverance in the face of flapdoodle (there’s one for our American friends).
Now, I reckon, apart from the mistake of placing the Omar song on anything remotely close to the WORLD OF collection, the guys at Decca may have made another (though nowhere near as serious as the Omar gaff - can you tell, I just don't like that song!). On the back cover track listing, can be seen on Side 2, ‘The Martian Hop’ by the Randells. It’s just that I reckon it should be Ran-Dells, that’s all. Anyway, this is much more fun and turned out to be the only hit for this trio of American cousins, cashing in on the age of space exploration in the early sixties. It tells us that, rather than the scary monsters of most people’s imagination, Martians are probably fun-loving party animals who have nothing on the agenda except performing the Martian Hop. Let’s hope, eh? Next, The Hollywood Argyles. Their song, ‘Alley-Oop’ got to No. 1 on the US Billboard charts for this band of largely unknown musicians. Unknown except for drummer Sandy Nelson who actually played the rubbish bin and issued timely screams. And it seems that we can’t get away from Bowie references because there is a line in Alley-Oop that goes ‘Look at that caveman go’ which, as you may have known, Mr Bowie alluded to in ‘Life on Mars’.
So, what about Whistling Jack Smith? I remember him. Do You? Why not refresh your memory and find a video of him miming to ‘I was Kaiser Bill’s Batman’, another song on SPA-R 483. Noel Walker was a producer at Decca when he produced a record of his own for it is he rather than the fictional Jack Smith who is whistling. He whistles his way through two and a bit minutes without a hint of embarrassment, or perhaps embarrassment was an issue as it turns out that not only was Jack Smith not his real name, the character that we see in the moving pictures is not our whistler either but professional singer, Coby Wells. Still, he looks thoroughly pleased with his little tune jigging his jaunty march … and so he should. The tune went to No. 5 on the UK singles chart.
Our next artist is a gentleman of some standing. That is, he stood for parliament in the 1980s campaigning largely, in the Bermondsey by-election, for the erection of a statue in Bermondsey in the name of its greatest son, the WORLD OF’s very own Tommy Steele. He gathered in 97 votes which, actually, is more than a man calling himself Screaming Lord Sutch really should have done, especially as he was running with the Official Monster Raving Looney Party. He actually scored 374 votes in the 1983 Darlington by-election! It was Joe Meek of Tornados (THE WORLD OF THE TORNADOS [SPA 253]) fame who first noticed musical potential in Sutch, originally aiming for the gore market with lyrics detailing the antics of, for example, the subject of our would-be Prime Minister’s song, ‘Jack the Ripper’. Sutch didn’t trouble the compilers of the music charts much. In a similar vein, though possibly a little more popular, is Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett with his ‘Monster Mash’.
Now, I believe that this is a superior piece of silliness all about a dance inaugurated by Frankenstein’s monster called the Monster Mash. When the band started playing and the Monster Mash was happening, it attracted all the ghouls from near and far including Dracula, Wolfman and zombies galore. ♫All came from their humble abodes, to get a jolt from [Boris’] electrodes♫ Man, ♫the scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds, Igor in chains backed by his baying hounds.♫ Sounds like a fantastic gig. Incidentally, if you haven’t guessed, the bracketed ‘Boris’ that Mr B Pickett plays the part of is Boris Karloff. Discussion of the remaining acts on this record; Lieutenant Pigeon (‘Mouldy Old Dough’), Alan Price (‘Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear’), The Goons (‘Ying Tong Song’) and the Goodies (‘Stuff that Gibbon’) all appear elsewhere.
Finally, on SPA-R 483, surely there is no-one out there that hasn’t heard of David Bowie and ‘The Laughing Gnome’. ‘Ha ha ha. Hee hee hee, I’m a laughing gnome and you can’t catch me. They’re coming to take me away Ho ho. Hee hee. Ha ha. To the funny farm … Oops! Different song. Same direction, though.
DAVID BOWIE In case you were thinking that ‘The Laughing Gnome’ heralded the end of a promising career, read on. Bowie (pronounced, apparently, by David himself as bow like in bow-tie) was born on 8th January, the same day as Elvis Presley though EP preceded DB by 12 years. When he was eight, ambitious David Jones, as he was then, reckoned he was destined to become the greatest rock star in England. Quite a modest assertion as it turned out. Eleven years later in 1966 he was obliged to change his name to Bowie in order to avoid embarrassing confusion with the lead singer with the Monkees, Davy Jones. It was WORLD OF titan Mary Hopkin who sang the doo doos on the intro to the Bowie song 'Sound and Vision'. It’s not so much who you know but who your husband knows. Mary was married to Bowie’s producer, Tony Visconti at the time. The interesting thing about THE WORLD OF
DAVID BOWIE (SPA 58), or should we say, THE WORLDS OF DAVID BOWIE, is that there are two different covers for it. On its release date in 1970, the album sleeve was filled with an image of a youthful Bowie from his curly hair days. From this time, however, DB’s rise to fame was exponential and required many character changes to feed his need for self-expression. He is quoted as saying that, ‘If it works, it’s out of date’3 which goes some way in explaining his many personality changes. Arguably, the most memorable of these alter-egos was Ziggy Stardust. His master piece, the full title of which goes something like; The Rise and Fall of
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, peaked at no, 5 in the UK charts. Now, even though his musical style took as many twists and turns as his appearance, and the difference between the stuff on the WORLD OF and Ziggy albums is significantly disparate, Decca seems to have decided to move in on the new market for their emerging hero’s vinyl output. In 1973, THE WORLD OF DAVID BOWIE was re-issued with a new cover depicting the top half of Ziggy Stardust with upturned hands and see-through shirt. I’m guessing that fans of this era Bowie may have been a little disappointed on the first play of their new record when the gentle music and whimsical lyrics, such as those in Rubber Band where the effeminate Bowie pleads with the out of tune band to play their haunting theme whilst he eats his scone and drinks his cup of tea, wafted into their ears. Not exactly the ‘rock ‘n’ roller bitch’ that Ziggy aspired to be! Don’t feel too badly for the UK Bowie fans, though. His followers in Holland had it worse. On their version of The WORLD OF David Bowie, the song, When I Live my Dream was replaced with The Laughing Gnome!
AMEN CORNER In 1954 James Baldwin wrote a play with music to the forefront. It was set in a tabernacle in Harlem so hymns and the gospel rhythms, which open the show are very much to the fore.
Also, the main character’s son and husband were both inclined towards a career in jazz much to the chagrin of the mother who was a fervent pastor of the church around which this play, 'The Amen Corner' is based. This, then is where Amen Corner of THE WORLD OF AMEN CORNER (SPA 33) took their name. This excellent band from Wales created a novel type of R&B by employing a twin saxophone attack which filled the gaps in the aural space producing a full sound assault to the ears. Tunes such as ‘Bend Me Shape Me’ and ‘High in the Sky’, both of which placed nicely in the Pop Charts in 1968 and 1969 respectively and which feature on our record, left listeners breathless with their persistent beat. Keyboard player Blue Weaver and drummer Dennis Bryon later became part of the Bee Gees backing band whilst lead singer Andy Fairweather Low went on to play guitar with such rock monsters as Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) and Eric Clapton.
THE ZOMBIES The Zombies comprised, amongst other worthy players, Rod Argent, who went on to form … Argent. Very imaginative I hear you scornfully spit but wait, the other main Zombie was Colin Blunstone who went on to become … Colin Blunstone! Anyway, in the Zoms’ early days, they travelled to gigs in an ice-cream van … and they didn’t even have an interlude in the act! Can you imagine it? The Arg and the Blunt slipping on white aprons towards the end of their
eighth song and saying, ‘Kyoo, thankyoo. Now for a short interlude. Choc ice anyone? Form an orderly queue. Correct money please!’ You’re right, I suppose. The ice-cream idea was unlikely to have moved their career along. One thing that did though, was the winning, in 1964, of a competition for bands from the Watford area which was organised by London newspaper The Evening News. The prize was an audition at Decca Records. If not for this success they probably wouldn’t feature in our story at all. Their first proper recording session at Decca led to a splendidly tenuous link to another WORLD OF superstar. The original producer/engineer turned up a little the worse for wear (inebriated, that is) and was unable to carry out his duties for the Zombies on this occasion so his assistant took on the task. As well as being the musicians’ first time recording, it was the assistant’s first time producing. Still, all’s well that ends well, and it did, because Gus Dudgeon went on the produce David Bowie among many others. The Zoms provide ‘She’s Not There’ on THE WORLD OF HITS (SPA 7) and GOLDEN DECCADE 1964-5 (SPA 479) whilst ‘Goin’ Out of My Head’ can be found on GOLDEN DECCADE 1966-7 (SPA-R 480). THE WORLD OF THE ZOMBIES (SPA 85) allows ‘She’s Not There’ out of its box again along with a nice collection of early tunes.
THEM … that is the Irish r ‘n’ b group, not the film considered to be the first Big Bad Bug horror released in 1954 from which the band name comes. One of their best known tunes is ‘Gloria’ but this was originally only the B-side of their first UK hit, ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’. This reached no. 8 and featured rocker extraordinaire, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame playing rhythm guitar and Camel keyboardist, Pete Bardens. This was followed by even better success with ‘Here Comes the Night’ which got to no. 2, kept off the top spot The Beatles’ ‘Ticket to Ride’.
WORLD OF stars David Bowie and Lulu had a go at this one, too – Bowie hid it away as a track on his Pin-ups album but Lulu put it out as a single and hit no. 50 in the Hit Parade with it. This song and ‘Mystic Eyes’ were hits for Them in the US.
So, who was the lead vocalist whose gravelly cords produced the distinctive snarl heard all over the songs of this band? Born George Ivan Morrison, known as Van to his friends. Van was the man who stayed the most loyal to the band during its short life. One of the members left to join the Post Office whilst one decided to become a milkman. Van Morrison fancied being one of the most recognisable giants of the music scene so he did that instead. The Decca gig was won by a recording of ‘Turn On Your Love Light’ which became the first tune committed to tape by this esteemed record label though the first single comprised ‘Don’t Start Crying Now’ backed with ‘One Two Brown Eyes’. All of the songs mentioned here await your listening pleasure on THE WORLD OF THEM (SPA 86)
ALAN PRICE
As well as THE WORLD OF ALAN PRICE (SPA 77), the Geordie singer-songwriter features on eight compilation LPs in our collection. On THE WORLD OF HITS (SPA 7) he sings about ‘Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear’; on HITS VOL. 2 (SPA 35) we have ‘I Put a Spell on You’; HITS VOL. 4 (SPA 83) crops up with ‘Hi Lili, Hi Lo’; on HITS VOL. 5 (SPA 177) he implores us ‘Don’t Stop the Carnival’; GOLDEN DECCADE 1966-7 (SPA-R 480) throws up ‘Simon Smith …’ once again whilst DECCADE 1968-9 (SPA 481) doubles up on ‘Don’t Stop the Carnival’; both THE WORLD OF ROCK ‘N’ FUN (SPA-R 483) and finally, THE WORLD OF YOUR FAMILY FAVOURITES VOL. 2 (SPA-R 502) feel the need to tell us about that ‘… Amazing Dancing Bear’ again. So, taking SPA 77 into account, that’s five Dancing Bears and that’s enough for any record collection! Anyway, Alan Price formed a group, after playing organ with several other groups, calling them The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo and after a while, as the personnel became stable, they began to establish
themselves in and around their home towns in Tyneside and the Northeast. It was soon time, however, to turn their attention to London, enjoying some success and finally deciding to relocate to London for good which heralded a name change to The Animals. They charted at no. 21 in the UK charts with their first single, ‘Baby Let Me Take You Home’ but it was the follow-up that sealed their status as household names. Alan Price’s arrangement of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ went to No. 1. The Animals had about nine tunes in the charts over the two and a bit years from April 1964 but tensions within the band were beginning to take their toll on Price who left to pursue, as they say, a solo career. The band continued and scored five more moderately successful songs as Eric Burden and The Animals whilst Alan Price set about pulling together songs such as those that would end up on SPA 77. And he played them, to start with at least, on a new Wurlitzer electric piano as the original one had been stolen whilst with The Animals. A roadie had left it unattended on the stage at the end of a gig and on realising that the band democracy did not extend to chipping in for a new one, especially after sacrificing his own band name in order to achieve said democracy, Alan Price decided it was time to split. It took a while but soon he was playing in bands that he brought together but success was uncertain until The Alan Price Set signed to Decca. Their second single, ‘I Put a Spell on You’ hit No. 9, ‘Hi Lili, Hi Lo’ got to 11; that darn ‘Bear’ reached No. 4 and ‘Don’t Stop the Carnival’ got to No. 13. ‘The House that Jack Built’ followed ‘Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear’ to No. 4. All of these tunes are on THE WORLD OF ALAN PRICE plus another single and B-side, ‘The Trimdon Grange Explosion’ b/w ‘Falling in Love Again’ which was released on Deram. The LP set-list is completed by the B-side of ‘… Dancing Bear’, ‘Tickle Me’, a lone B-side, ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ (which can be found on the flip of a 1968 single called ‘Love Story'), both sides of another single, ‘When I was a Cowboy’ b/w ‘Tappy Tortoise’ which was released as an export issue only, though what non-Brits would make of that B-side, a whimsical, spoken tale of Tappy and his friends trying to start a band, with musical interludes … Ah, the inexplicable machinations of the record industry. So, any road up, the final tune on the LP is ‘Not Born to Follow’, a single released in the US on the Decca subsidiary, Parrot. The career of Alan Price went from strength to strength well beyond his involvement with the Decca label but perhaps this is where we’ll leave it.
BLUE MINK
THE HIT-MAKING WORLD OF BLUE MINK (SPA-R 437) has the honour of uniqueness in our record collection. It appears on the Decca-distributed Gull record label in Decca blue instead of Gull’s usual sky blue and pale blue and with just the one image of a gull above the logo rather than the normal five or six around the label. Blue Mink’s first three of seven UK hits are here, ‘Melting Pot’ (No. 3), ‘Good Morning Freedom’ (No. 10) and ‘Our World’ (No. 17). These three were put out on the Phillips record label which was ultimately merged into Decca. Also on
SPA-R 437 is ‘Gasoline Alley Bred’ which you may be more familiar with being a Hollies song but it was actually written by Blue Mink co-lead vocal, Roger Cook and his partner Roger Greenaway. In fact, as the band was being formed, it was Greenaway that was invited to join but he didn’t fancy it and recommended his partner in the David and Jonathan pop duo, Cook. The second lead vocal was Madeline Bell who nurtured her singing voice during her early years in gospel choirs, eventually getting noticed and recording solo albums and singing back-up vocals for many other artists prior to her involvement with Blue Mink in 1969. By 1974, the band had dissolved.
LYNSEY DE PAUL
All the tunes on THE WORLD OF LYNSEY DE PAUL (SPA 443) can be found on 1973 album Surprise and all were written by Lynsey (born Monckton Rubin) except for ‘Crossword Puzzle’ which was composed by Rubin and Green. Her first three of seven hit singles crop up here. These were on the MAM record label which was a Decca subsidiary (as discussed earlier) and you’ll be amused to find that SPA 443 is on MAM as well but instead of its more normal black with silver text, red with silver or more trendy designs, it is, of course on Decca
blue. Anyway, the songs are ‘Sugar Me’, ‘Getting a Drag’ and ‘Won’t Somebody Dance with Me’. Of these three, it was only ‘Sugar Me’ that got into the Top Ten along with other hit ‘No Honestly’ but she DID win an Ivor Novello Award for ‘Won’t Somebody Dance with Me’ on which WORLD OF’s very own Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart spoke the words ‘May I have the pleasure of this dance?’ So not a major hit monster in her own name but she may have popped up in your pop consciousness more than you realised. Lynsey de Paul was a prolific songwriter and wrote/co-wrote hits for The Fortunes (Storm in a Teacup) and Barry Blue (Dancin’ [on a
Saturday Night]) amongst others. In 1976 she was voted Woman of the Year for Music and a year later found herself on the Eurovision Song Contest stage doing ‘Rock Bottom’ with Mike Moran. Also in her portfolio are a number of TV themes including ATV’s Pilger, LWT’s Rag Trade, ITV’s variety show, Hi Summer and BBC’s Hearts of Gold. Lynsey also got involved in classical orchestration, playing on a couple of records of music by Handel and Bach. She also wrote radio jingles and film music until finally, fame at last, was voted Rear of the Year. De Paul also hosted foodie shows on TV so think how galling it must have been to come last on a celebrity version of cooking competition, Come Dine with Me. She never married but had a string of high-profile boyfriends including WORLD OF jazzman Dudley Moore.
THE LES HUMPHRIES SINGERS
A culturally and geographically diverse assemblage of English singing minstrels brought together by Englishman, Les Humphries in Germany. THE WORLD OF THE LES HUMPHRIES SINGERS (SPA-R 301) contains Decca singles ‘Soolaimon’, ‘Take
Care of Me’, ‘Mama Lou’, ‘Old Man Moses’ plus B-side ‘We Are Goin’ Down Jordan’ and lone B side ‘We’ll Fly You to the Promised Land’. Gospel pop at its fantastic best. Clap your hands or play air drums – you choose. If you can resist the call, you don’t got no rhythm, man. Exceptions do exist, however. One tune where an exemption might be allowed is one they sung, ‘Sing Sang Song’, at the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany in 1976. The group try courageously to bring the song up to their usual vibrancy but it just ain’t a Les Humphries-type song and the Eurovision audience weren’t fooled either. It finished 15th! This one is not on the LP but a rest from joyful jigging is necessarily built in to the song list of SPA 301 as the penultimate Side 1 closer inserts a pianistic wind-down and leads into the poppy, actual closer. Side 2 opens up with a couple more gospel tunes before a couple more pop ditties sneak in, then a couple more gospel songs and then, they are gone, like a sunny summer daydream …
THE PROGGERS PROCOL HARUM Gary Brooker led Procol Harum from his piano and even though it was 1967, he still harked back to Johann Sebastian Bach for their first big hit, ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’.
There has been much discussion regarding plagiarism of Bach’s ‘Air on the G String’ and whilst there is a similarity, it’s more of a tribute than a copyright issue (which it wouldn’t be, in theory at least, due to the time elapsed since the writing of the earlier tune). The most comparable part is the descending bass line and when combined with the melodic accompaniment, which is certainly faithful to the style of Bach, can catch the unwary listener out. Still, as is often the case with our story, you can compare the two because the two tunes get their respective LPs underway, that is, THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: AIR ON THE G STRING (SPA 568) and THE WORLD OF HITS (SPA 7).
THE MOODY BLUES
The Moodies began life in 1964 and were then more of an R&B band. It was when Justin Hayward and John Lodge came aboard the good ship that the music became more progressive. ‘Go Now’ was their one hit from the earlier line-up and can be heard on THE WORLD OF HITS (SPA 7) whilst ‘Nights in White Satin’, the first hit of many during the long life of the band thereafter is found on THE WORLD OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC: WOWIE ZOWIE! (SPA 34). THE WORLD OF HITS VOL. 3 (SPA 49) throws up ‘Boulevard de la Madeleine’ which appears to be the B-side to single ‘This is My House’.
GENESIS
It is well reported that the personnel of progressive rock band, Genesis, were posh boys from Charterhouse and they came up with the music for their first album whilst at the school. Their association with Decca got off the ground due to another Charterhouse connection, Jonathan King, who worked with Decca and to whom they dispatched a demo tape. The record was a flop, however, it’s not easy to recommend the track on SPA 34, ‘In the Beginning’ either though it is a bit better than a flop.
EAST OF EDEN The seven tunes on THE WORLD OF EAST OF EDEN FEATURING JIG-A-JIG (SPA 157) are taken from their two Deram albums (Mercator Projected and Snafualong with the featured Deram single (Jig-a-Jig, that is) which, incidentally, ought more correctly be called ‘Reel-a-Reel’ coz it ain’t a jig, really. In fact, it ought more correctly be called ‘Medley: The Ashplant Reel, Drowsy Maggie & Jenny’s Chicken’ which were its various titles before East of Eden got hold of them. Call it what you like – the E of E boys won’t care. It made its money, peaking at No. 7 in the UK chart, and promptly left the stage, leaving bewildered folk in its wake asking,
‘What was that?’ with similarly bewildered folk replying, ‘That was a jig!’ It became a bit of an albatross for the band as it was not particularly representative of their work generally but they were obliged to play it to appease fans at concerts and stuck it amongst the encores. In the very beginning, the band called themselves, can you believe, The Electric Light Orchestra and this because of the electric violin that was soon to blast its way through the hit single. A name change was quickly in the offing when the director of a theatre at which they were playing suggested that they become Picture of Dorian Gray and on a whim, that’s what they did. Such a capricious impulse is often not on course for longevity but the change to East of Eden persisted. Finally, there is a third album on Deram called Jig-a-Jig: East of Eden which was issued as part of the German Musik Für Alle series and contains identical tracks as SPA 157 but in a different order. ‘Jig-a-Jig’ also crops up on THE WORLD OF HITS VOL. 5 (SPA 177) whilst ‘Communion’ makes it onto THE WORLD OF PROGRESSSIVE ROCK: WOWIE ZOWIE (SPA 34). Come on, everybody. Let’s go there now …
THE WORLD OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC: WOWIE ZOWIE! The Moody Blues, along with Genesis, may be the most popular bands on WOWIE ZOWIE! (SPA 34) and they share this record with, though I should say that I am not the font of all musical knowledge, bands which I had not heard prior to researching for this writty. How
about you? John Cameron Quartet? William R Strickland? Touch? Let’s have a listen to Touch. Well it’s a tune called ‘Down at Circe’s Place’ – largely instrumental – begins with a minute or so of piano sending out a clunky rock groove which peters out to a moment’s
calm until … crazy, out of its mind – no, there is no mind, its … aaaaagh! My head! My head!! Phew! Four minutes of weird freak-out. Love it! Ready for another? ‘Computer Lover’ by William R Strickland is acoustic guitar and voice over a continual background of sounds – clicks and squeaky, electronic, wriggling scratches which seem to contribute to a creeping madness overtaking the singer. Hmmm … OK, just one more. The John Cameron Quartet sounds like it should be a jazz outfit and true enough, ‘Go Away, Come Back Another Day’ has a hint of late night jazz that you could listen to during the day. Piano moving its way along an upright bass backing until giving way to meditative flute for a few gentle seconds. Jazz. Nice. More familiar to rock proggers are John Mayall, Savoy Brown, both of whom settle at the blues end of the prog spectrum, as well as Keef Hartley, East of Eden and Johnny Almond. What a splendid congregation of stuff for the ears. Recommended.
THE NOVA SAMPLER The Decca/Deram Nova record label was inaugurated around the beginning of 1970 in order to flaunt new acts on the roster who played music which did not quite fit into the established genres. You know, the band with a song title such as ‘The Song of McGillicudie the
Pusillanimous or (Don’t Worry James, your Socks are Hanging in the Coal Cellar with Thomas’ with a band name which, maybe in an attempt to balance things out a little, is one of the shortest names in the game, Egg. Anyway, the bands on the NOVA SAMPLER (SPA 72) play music that tends to lean towards the avant-garde end of the progressive spectrum. The word 'avant-garde' is French and describes stuff at the cutting edge which, back in 1970, it probably was. Mind you, the band, Egg, would be considered so to this day by most with their unusual time
signatures and urgent, squalling organ as revealed in the tune abovementioned. Galliard, who open the LP might be described as jazzy prog rock with the jarring brass blast which starts ‘Skillet’ and returns to herald a trumpetty middle eight surrounding which, the singer’s exhortation to keep our skillet greasy. Fine advice, dear reader. Make it your mantra.
Welsh group, Elastic Band whose sole LP Expansions on Life from which the stodgy flute rock of 'Has Anybody Seen Her?' obviously comes, comprised four members including Andy Scott, later of Sweet. Sunforest provide one’s requirement for whimsical psych folk with 'Give Me All Your Loving' but possibly more interesting is the fact that film director Stanley Kubrick heard their album, The Sound of Sunforest and requested two songs for the film he was working on at the time, A Clockwork Orange. Opening track 'Overture to the Sun' and 'Lighthouse Keeper' were the ones to take Kubrick's attention.
Bill Fay may have Terry Noon, one-time drummer of Them, to thank for being on this album as it was he who introduced him to DECCA back in the sixties. Bill sings a really pleasing singer/songwriter song though I’m not sure it fits on this LP when some of his other tunes might be more qualified to do so with their unusual arrangements. The Jan Dukes de Grey album from which the track here is culled (Sorcerers) might be described as acid folk with a hint of whimsy. The title track here meets that description.
On Side 2 of our record, Pacific Drift play light rock whilst Black Cat Bones, with Simon Kirke and Paul Kossof - later of Free - in their ranks for a short time, rock it up a bit more with a nice guitar/piano extended coda. Brit Denny Gerrard strums along at speed and it's easy (for me, anyway) to imagine that he might have the sun of the American west coast on his back and finally, Aardvark are organ-driven prog-rockers that made do without guitars of the six-string variety. They did have a bass, though.
Now, whilst the record cover, front and back, displays the Decca-Nova and Deram-Nova logo, the actual label on my record is the usual Decca … incidentally ... THE CORPS OF ARMY MUSIC The Corps of Army Music (or CAMUS if you prefer) provides support to members of the Army wherever they are in the world and pretty much whatever they are doing. During peacekeeping and defence missions, for example, music contributes morale-boosting support as well as helping to cross international language barriers. Amongst the 23 army bands, as well as the more well-known brass and wind marching bands, the Corp can call on symphonic wind bands for classical music as well as those which perform the various types of pop music. Many of these bands play concerts and go out on tours playing for the public as well as ceremonial one-off gigs. The current Colonel in Chief of CAMUS, at time of writing, is the Countess of Wessex, Sophie, wife of Prince Edward.
The Band of the Grenadier Guards was formed by Charles II in 1685 and has served 15 crowned heads of state since. Until the Second World War, the boom boom bass drummer wore a black arm band in commemoration of King Charles’ death. In 2008, the band was given the Freedom of the City of Lincoln and I was really hoping to find that a recording of the Grenadiers playing Bach’s ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ had found its way into our WORLD OF collection. This would have tied in nicely with the permission (sadly, now outdated) granted to those given Freedom of Cities to graze sheep in the town. Still, in the absence of sheep, to be able to march into the city beating your drums with bayonets fixed (an honour granted to army bands) whenever you felt like it must have been fair compromise.
About 100 years later in 1785, the Band of the Coldstream Guards was formed from the ashes of the Band of Music, a bunch of civilian musicians who were called in to play at ceremonial occasions. It was the Duke of York, Frederick, son of George III, who sanctioned this evolution. Until 1984, the band had no official home and, for a while, used to rehearse in a room above a Chelsea pub. They now live in the Wellington Barracks in Birdcage Walk along the road from Buckingham Palace. Ah, it must be nice to be able to get back home and get the kettle on. Or several kettles, I should think – there are currently 44 musicians in the band. The Band of the Scots Guards also hang out at the Wellington. Phew! The local kettle shop must do a roaring (bubbling?) trade! King Charles I established the Scots Guards in 1642 but there is less information about the formation of Band of the Scots Guards but it would appear to have been much more recent in the early 1900s, maybe around the same time as the Band of the Welsh Guards which was founded in 1915.
The Bands of the Life Guards & the Royal Horse Guards come together to play two tracks on each of THE WORLD OF MILITARY BANDS (SPA 18) and THE WORLD OF
MILITARY BANDS VOL. 2 (SPA 66). Also on SPA 66, the Band & Drums of the 1st and 2nd Battalions: The Parachute Regiment play out three tunes whilst the Bands of the Life Guards & Royal Horse Guards take two. To tidy up this LP, there is one remaining track and it is taken by the combined Bands of the Scots Guards & the Welsh Guards.
The Band of the Blues and Royals was the result of a merger between the two military regiments, the Royal Horse
Guards (known as the Oxford Blues) and the Royal Dragoons. Nowadays, the Blues and Royals, after undergoing a further merger with the Life Guards to form the Band of the Household Cavalry, are no more. State Trumpeters are also provided by the Household Cavalry and the State Trumpeters and the Band of the Blues and Royals contributed ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ on the WORLD OF STARS ON SUNDAY VOL. 2 (SPA 285) which is considered elsewhere. The remainder of the above bands can be found variously
on, THE WORLD OF SCOTLAND (SPA 41), THE WORLD OF ENGLAND (SPA-R 190), THE WORLD OF BRASS BANDS (SPA 20), THE WORLD OF BRASS BANDS Vols. 2, 3 and 4 (SPA 68, 306 and 413) and THIS IS LONDON (SPA 593). By far the most popular of the above military bands in the WORLD OF collection is the Band of the Grenadier Guards with a total of 35 tracks, 22 of which are on two dedicated LPs; THE WORLD OF SOUSA MARCHES (SPA 404) and THE WORLD OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS (SPA 248).
BRASS BANDS As well as bands of the Army, there were, of course, bands formed by non-military organisations. Brass bands, whilst being enjoyed by all, were largely formed by
businessmen such as factory owners of the 1920s in order to feed the whim of the working man, who, it seems, were the established market for this big and thumping music. In the 1930s, however, it wasn’t long before the emancipation of women resulted in the wives and girlfriends joining their men at work and play and, therefore, music. Brass bands were on the up. Prior to this back in the 20s, though, one of the first car manufacturers to create their own band was Morris Motors who feature on THE WORLD OF BRASS
BANDS (SPA 20) along with THE WORLD OF BRASS BANDS VOLs. 2 and 3 (SPA 68 and 306). The Morris Motors Band was joined on the above records by Fodens, who originated from the Foden Motor Waggon Works Band, and Faireys from Fairey Aviation Works. Musical director, Harry Mortimer gathered together musicians from these three bands to form the Massed band that can be heard as conducted by Harry on our above WORLD OF discs. HARRY MORTIMER’S WORLD OF BIG BRASS BAND (SPA 268) is his own showcase but,
disappointingly, the band or bands get no credit. Trumpet and cornet player, Mortimer was a record breaker. In the British Open and National Championships, he conducted the Fairey Aviation Band to most of his 18 wins over a 14 year period. He also achieved a number of wins whilst playing principal cornet for Foden’s Band. Eventually, Harry became conductor of the Fairey, Foden’s and Morris Motors Band who became known as Men O’Brass. A fellow called John Foster occupies a place at the top table of brass band history. From a coal-mining background,
Foster moved into the cotton industry and established a mill on Queenshead, a plot of land soon to be known as Black Dike. Deriving out of the workers at the mill and the community that grew around the mill, and largely due to John Foster’s interest in music, the John Foster and Son Black Dyke Mills Band did spring.
The Brighouse and Rastrick Band, like the Black Dyke Mills Band, tended to resist the introduction of the ladies but this did not affect their success as, in 1977, the B & R zoomed to number 2 in the UK pop charts with ‘The Floral Dance’. A jaunty tune that hung around the singles chart for nine weeks. In case you are interested, it was Paul McCartney’s Wings who kept them from the pinnacle that Christmas with ‘Mull of Kintyre’. The market town of Brighouse lies on the River Calder in West Yorkshire just north of Rastrick, the villagers of which, in 1881, clubbed
together with the townsfolk of Brighouse and formed the now famous band. The Brighouse and Rastrick Band feature on four WORLD OFs whilst the Black Dyke Mills Band crop up on two, both bands being included on THE WORLD OF BRASS BANDS: NATIONAL BRASS FESTIVAL: ROYAL ALBERT HALL, 1974 (SPA 369) upon which, the City of Coventry Brass Band also appear. The Brighouse also have an LP all to themselves; THE WORLD OF BRASS BAND CLASSICS: BRIGHOUSE AND
RASTRICK BAND (SPA 545).
The City of Coventry Band was previously known as The Coventry School of Music, amongst other names, and was, indeed made up of the school pupils of the city. Just think how excited these youths would have been in 1973 when they starred in the film ‘Take Me High’ playing ‘Follow the Band’. Who remembers this film? You know, Cliff Richard!? No? No, me neither but just think how excited these youths would have been … Apparently this was Cliff’s last appearance in a feature film and it has never been released for domestic consumption on DVD. There was a soundtrack album, however, but this managed only no. 41 in the charts and it is easy to see why – check out the track-listing and you’ll find ‘Follow the Band’, GONE! Heads must have rolled. No City of Coventry Band of WORLD OF fame, no Number 1. Obvious!
As with so many other brass bands, the CWS (Manchester) Band were formed from the workers of the local factory, in this case, the Cooperative Wholesale Society Tobacco Factory. They stole their Bandmaster, Fred Roberts, from WORLD OF colleagues, the Brighouse & Rastrick, in the mid-nineties, 47 years after their establishment in 1900. Competition success was soon to follow the year after. The Band of Yorkshire Imperial Metals (Yorkshire Imps, if you will) started life as The Yorkshire Copper Works Band (Yorkshire Cops??).
PHILIP JONES BRASS ENSEMBLE
Apparently, back in 1951, there was no such thing as a brass ensemble. Well, not until Philip Jones assembled one, that is. Over the next 30 years, the band recorded some
50 LPs of brass band music which was clearly very popular during that period. They were invited to play all over the world and have played for the Pope. They were on top of the game for 35 years until Philip Jones passed away and the ensemble dissolved. On their record, THE WORLD OF BRASS: SILVER JUBILEE ISSUE (SPA 464) on the Argo label, they play 21 tunes including hornpipes and stuff by Beethoven, Richard Strauss and Grieg along with Gabrieli, Passereau and Susato and still have enough puff to give us some Byrd, Britten and Bliss. In all, quite an impressive repertoire.
Finally in this section on brass bands, mention must be made of Edward. Ed is the blue friend of Thomas, who is also blue. Don’t worry about getting them mixed up though because Edward is a 4-4-0 tender engine whereas Tom is a smaller tank engine. Remember them? Well, one day, the Fat Controller charged Edward with the job of fetching a brass band (Aha! This is where the brass band comes in) from the station and getting them to the venue at which they would be presenting their ‘wonderful’ music. Due to a mishap which we don’t need to trouble ourselves with here, Edward became damaged and was not fixed in time to pick up the band. Bertie the Bus, another of Thomas’ friends, is deployed but due to some treacherous weather, the road is flooded and Bert becomes stuck in the mud. Flippin’ blimeys! What next! Well, guess what … Edward had been fixed by this time and was miserably trundling along the track on a much less significant commission when what did he hear but the plaintive strains of a brass band. What was that tune? Not the ‘Floral Dance’ no. ‘Twas morse code; a cry for help. Luckily the train track was close to the flooded road so the band were able to shift their gear aboard Super Ed who got them to the concert on time. ‘Ta ta Bertie’, hooted Edward. ‘So long sucker. Loser, loser loser choo choo loser …..’ and so on, disappearing into the distance … … oh, OK. I made the last bit up. Now, you might be wondering why you’re author persisted with a story that could not possibly have any connection with the vinyl record series known as the ‘WORLD OF’. Well, hop back to Post 12, curious reader, and wonder no more.
Refs:
2. https://www.discogs.com/Roger-Earl-Lonesome-Dave-Peverett-Tone-Stevens-Before-Foghat-Days/release/3013691
3. Dodd, P. 2005. The Book of Rock. Pavilion Books, London
Other references available on request
Regarding the LP cover images, they are photographs of the records in my own collection and are taken by my own hand . All images are, however, copyright of Decca.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of any image in any form should be considered prohibited.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the text in any form is prohibited, restricted by permission of the author.
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