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| TWICE AS MUCH-Sittin' On A Fence/Baby I Want You U.S. MGM K-13530 1966 |
The U.K. duo Twice As Much (David Skinner and Andrew Rose) were one of many artists who encompassed Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder's fledgling Immediate records imprint. The duo were responsible for four singles and two LP's back home but their American discography was quite slim, just two singles. Today's subject was their U.S. debut issued in June of 1966 during a brief period where Immediate recordings were being leased in the United States through MGM (the liaison was short-lived resulting in only two Twice As Much and one Chris Farlowe release before Immediate was launched in the U.S. in July 1967).
"Sittin' On A Fence" was of course a Jagger/Richard composition that was unheard of at the time as The Stones version would not emerge until it's inclusion on the July 1967 American "collection" titled "Flowers". Twice As Much's version pretty much follows the tempo and execution of the Stone's, though benefiting from Skinner and Rose's harmonies with the baroque augmentation of woodwinds. It's not terrible but it's honestly a pointless exercise in mediocrity by recording what's essentially a mediocre song to begin with....luckily their career had more promising things ahead of them instead of following the Chris Farlowe Immediate routine of covering Stones tunes.
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| Twice As Much photo by Gered Mankowitz |
Filling in the B-side, the band original "Baby I Want You" comes off as a third rate Simon and Garfunkel imitation: lifeless and equally pointless, again they had better things ahead, from their own pen...
Both sides have been on a host of Immediate compilations put out by just about everyone and are available on streaming as well.
Hear "Sittin' On A Fence":
Hear "Baby I Want You":
