More U.K. Obscurities On U.S. Labels: Wynder K Frog

WYNDER K. FROG-I'm A Man/Oh Mary U.S. United Artists UA 50320 1966

No one in this little mod/r&b/soul community of ours can deny the mighty Hammond organ power that was the short lived late 60's British combo known as Wynder K Frog.  They racked up three LP's and 5 singles plus a rare as hell flexidisc in the U.K.  In the U.S. their last two LP's were released on United Artists and they had a contribution to the "Touchables" soundtrack LP.  Today's specimen is the only U.S. 45 I have ever encountered by them. Interestingly it was not released in the U.S. in this form, the U.K. issue of "I'm A Man" (Island WIP 6014) featured "Shook, Shimmy Shake" as it's flip, while this American pressing featured a track that was not issued in the U.K. called "Oh Mary".  We discussed the U.K. pressing at:

http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2009/07/even-more-uk-60s-hammond-horns-mod-r.html

As discussed in the post above the band's treatment of "I'm A Man" is legendary stuff.  "Oh Mary" is an interesting number.  It was written by a West Indian singer named Jackie Edwards (who also wrote "Somebody Help Me" and "Keep On Running", both of which were covered by The Spencer Davis Group).  He released a version of "Oh Mary" in the U.K. (as Island WI 287 in July '66) on the B-side of a track called "Think Twice", it was also later cut by the U.K. r&b band The Primitives in their European based phase and graced a rare French E.P. by them. The Wynder K. Frog version is basically the backing track of the Jackie Edwards version with Mick Weaver's funky Hammond instead of Jackie's vocals.  Regardless of how "recycled" that may seem it's a killer record thanks to it's powerful "Hammond n' horns" mixture and rate right up there with their other monster B-3 tracks.

Both cuts are available on the three CD Wynder K Frog CD collection "Shook, Shimmy & Shake: The Complete Collection 1966-1970".

Hear "Oh Mary" by Wynder K. Frog:

http://youtu.be/DmHKyDMjGL4

Hear "Oh Mary" by Jackie Edwards:

http://youtu.be/EeuVpKt4rzI

Hear "I'm A Man":

http://youtu.be/phZq_1HEO-E