Welsh Mod/Soul On Deram Part Two

THE EYES OF BLUE-Up And Down/Heart Trouble U.K. Deram DM 106 1966

As chronicled in a previous entry:

http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2011/05/welsh-modsoul-on-deram.html

The Eyes of Blue were a six piece soul/r&b act from Neath, Swansea, Wales.  This was their debut which hit the streets in the U.K. on November 16, 1966.  Their line-up was: Wyndham Rees (vocals), Gary Pickford-Hopkins (vocals), Ray Williams (guitar), Ritchie Francis (bass), Phil Ryan (keyboards) and John Weather (drums).

The A-side "Up And Down" is horrible.  God awful stuff, it's barely even recognizable from the band's other three amazingly soulful tracks on Deram.  The flip side is gold.  "Heart Trouble" is a cover of a track originally cut by George Clinton's amazing soul band The Parliaments (Golden World GW-46 in the States).  The Eyes of Blue speed it up just slightly, lose a verse and pump it up a notch.  Gary Pickford-Hopkin's chops are amazing.  This guy could belt it out with the best, and the backing vocals are perfect too, high, in key, in tune and very much like The Action's classy soulful backing voices.  The arrangement is tight and actually better produced than the original and certainly one of the clasic examples of Deram's homegrown blue eyed soul genre so beloved by mod anoraks (like myself) world wide.  And Deram mixing maestro Noel Walker does a great job in the production department on this one!

"Heart Trouble" was reissued on Decca/Deram's "Northern Soul Scene" CD and on "Fairytales Can Come True Volume Four".  No one has had the misfortune to utilize the A-side as filler on any CD comps, thankfully.

Hear "Heart Trouble":

http://youtu.be/S0xCBlvBV14

Welsh Mod/Soul on Deram

THE EYES OF BLUE-Supermarket Full Of Cans/Don't Ask Me To Mend Your Broken Heart U.S. Deram 45 DEM8500 1967

This was the second and final Deram single by Neath, Swansea Welsh soul/r&b aficionados The Eyes of Blue before jettisoning their mod togs for prog land (bah!).  Like it's predecessor, "Up And Down" b/w a kiler version of The Parliament's "Heart Trouble", it was released in both the U.K. and the U.S.

"Supermarket Full Of Cans" has had some degree of popularity as it is somehow popular on the Northern soul scene.  Don't let that put you off it's a great record with its uptempo feel, ace backing vocals and cool breaks (reminiscent of label mates The Quik).  Above all the track is very soulful.  "Don't Ask Me To Mend Your Broken Heart" is hands down my fave track by the band. Once again I can't help but compare them to their mod/soul labelmates the Quik on this one. Maybe its the raw but soulful vocals, or the mix of subtle organ and driving beat with some wiggy backing vocals but this number never fails to impress me, ever.

Six smart as f*ck geezers called The Eyes of Blue

"Supermarket Full Of Cans" graced Decca/Deram's "The Northern Soul Scene" CD but sadly its amazing flipside has eluded compilers, for now. The "A" side has seen multiple 45 rpm releases all over the world, some in ultra groovy picture sleeves!

Hear "Supermarket Full Of Cans":

http://youtu.be/oWOj6UboV0U

Hear "Don't Ask Me To Mend Your Broken Heart":

http://youtu.be/nkL-DBAYyfo