 |
| THE STATE OF MICKY AND TOMMY-Frisco Bay/Nobody Knows Where You've Been U.S. Mercury 72758 1967 |
U.K. pop psych duo Micky (Mick Jones, he of Foreigner fame) and Tommy (Brown) cut two singles that were released in the U.S. Today's subject was the second. We covered their first back in 2018 here. They wrote all of their own material and in addition to the two American releases issued a single in Canada, three in Britain (one as "The J & B") and two EP's as well as two 45's (one of which was a hideously rare French only release as Nimrod).
Group original "Frisco Bay" is a pretty light weight number when stacked against all of the other releases. Musically it reminds me of a throwaway track by another U.K. pop psych duo, Twice As Much. The strings have a "Love Is Blue" vibe and though it's well produced and orchestrated it's pretty unremarkable, especially lyrically:
"Frisco Bay, sail away, leave your flowers lying on the shore, where you're going you can find some more...".
The gold however is on the flip, "Nobody Knows Where You've Been", an all out raga tour de force that is greatly indebted to the Fab's "Within Without You" with it's tabla tapping, eerie strings and this incredibly freaky phasing section that comes in mid way that's absolutely mind-blowing. It comes in again at the end as the vocals fade away in a psychedelic wash! Both sides were arranged and conducted by Jim Sullivan of "Sitar Beat" fame and produced by Lou Reizner, the man who signed David Bowie to Mercury records two years later thus bringing the world "Space Oddity".
 |
| Norwegian picture sleeve c/o 45cat.com |
"Nobody Knows Where You've Been" was on Bam Caruso's ""5,000 Seconds Over Toyland (Rubble Volume 15)" comp along with their previous single "With Love From One To Five" and on the compilation "Curiosity Shop Volume Six" and it is also available on streaming on Spotify. "Frisco Bay" has yet to see a reissue anywhere.
Hear "Frisco Bay":
Hear "Nobody Knows Where You've Been":
No comments:
Post a Comment