British 60's R&B Liggers & Looners Hall Of Fame:Zoot Money

ZOOT MONEY'S BIG ROLL BAND-Big Time Operator/Zoot's Sermon U.K. Columbia DB 7976 1966

Alongside the likes of Georgie Fame, Graham Bond and Brian Auger Zoot Money ranks as one of the legendary British 60's heroes of the Hammond. Before metamorphosing into Dantalian's Chariot (see October 1, 2009 entry) Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band (featuring a young talented guitarist named Andy Somers who'd later alter the spelling of his name and become one third of The Police) made 8 singles in the r&b/soul-jazz vein.  This one is my favorite of them all. The Big Roll Band were a "musician's band", everyone loved them because they were red hot live and Zoot was a well know full time "ligger and looner" who was quite well known around London's nightclub scene and also as Andy Summer's book will attest reigning king of some massive house parties.  He was name checked in Georgie Fame's live version of "Keep Your Big Mouth Shut" (on the "Two Sides Of Fame" LP) and Brian Auger went one better paying tribute on "George Bruno Money" on the "Definately What" LP. Despite being a popular live attraction they were not a huge commercial success and sadly a great deal of their studio output consisted of covers of mostly American records.  "Big Time Operator" was written by the songwriting team of Tony Colton(a British r&b/freakbeat legend in his own right on the strength of several brilliant singles) and Ray Smith.  They were also responsible for the brilliant "I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Round" by The Rod Stewart fronted Shotgun Express (see February 11, 2009 entry) among others.

"Big Time Operator" is a gas.  From it's strong horn section intro through to Zoot's soulful vocals it's a non stop party.  The horn parts really drive it through and are in my estimation the closest a British record ever came to matching the "Memphis Horn Sound" and the catchy/cocky lyrics are perfect for Zoot's typically cheeky delivery.  Strangely the song seems to be almost devoid of Zoot's beloved Hammond!! The flip clears that up with plenty of Hammond, not nearly as jazzy as "Zoot's Suite" (flip of his debut 45 "Uncle Willie" Decca F 11954 1964) or as punchy and powerful as "The Mound Moves" (flipside of his next 45 "Star Of the Show" Columbia DB 8090 featuring the best Steve Cropper style lick I've ever heard outside Memphis, more on that one soon) it's still decent.

 Both sides can be found on numerous Zoot Money CD's, notably Repertoire's "A's & B's Scrapbook" CD compilation.

Hear "Big Time Operator":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKt8YAgTTqE

Hear "Zoot's Sermon":

https://youtu.be/Oql-PJvLeM0

RARE MOD VOLUME TWO

RARE MOD VOLUME TWO (A Second Volume of 60's Underground Rhythm N' Blues, Psych & Soul)-Various Artists CD (Acid Jazz) 2009

"Mod" is thrown around so often on CD compilations these days.  It's usually some cheesy affair of a bunch of Kinks, Searchers, Petula Clark and even (on occasion) 60's Bowie cuts with "mod" tacked on, more bullshit than bulls eyes or an excuse to cobble together a bunch of lame '79 bands.  Far from being a catchphrase to the folks at Acid Jazz it's actually used to good effect here where there isn't a hit to be seen and none of these bands should not raise an eyebrow among the general public unfamiliar with such legends/heroes to us anorak's like The Richard Kent Style.  Nearly all of these numbers are previously unreleased tracks from the archives (don't ask from who's, I'm not sure...).

The Summer Set are one of those mega obscure bands that seemed to play a weekly gig in '66 at The Marquee alongside my faves like The Action, The Move, David Bowie and The Buzz  or The Syn (they were, for a time, the club's houseband). Their single track "It's A Dream" (they had two 45's on U.K. Columbia) popped up nearly 20 years ago on one of the Strange Thing's Are Happening "Circus Days" CD and it's a perfect mix of proto psych weirdness and the American West Coast harmony/pop obsession (also one of my fave U.K. 60's obsessions).  I've always wanted to hear more and now I have.  Their "Oh Miss Stone" is a jaunty/cheeky unreleased pop affair that sits nicely alongside The Human Instinct's "Death Of The Seaside" (see May 13, 2010 entry) about a seaside stall merchant. Who said the "West Coast" had to mean California, there was always Blackpool!  The Richard Kent Style are legends on the strength of their firmly mod/freakbeat classic "Go Go Children" and more r&b/soulful (and equally cool) numbers like "All Good Things" .  Someone needs to get around to officially compiling their 5 singles on a nice little CD one day since the singles all run for about a month or two's pay.  Luckily there are bonus cuts to be had like their offering here, an unreleased spirited version of The Contour's "Just A Little Misunderstanding" that breaths new life into an otherwise (in my estimation) played out number. American garage band The Poor's "She's Got The Time" was covered in the U.K. on a 45 by a group called The Affex who amped it up substantially (must've been the speed).  The hitherto unknown Gass Company serve up a second British cover of it, though not as good as The Affex version it's still enjoyable and gets an "A" for obscurity with some interesting lead vocal technique!  The Amboy Dukes (a British band not to be confused with Ted Nugent's lot) are actually a heavy/organ U.K. six piece formed from the ashes of The Platform Six (responsible for the stellar single "Money Will Not Mean A thing" from one of the "Doin' the Mod" CD comps).  Where the Platform Six were firmly in Georgie Fame/Zoot Money Flamingo turf these guys are another kettle of fish, there's still a twinge of jazz but they're quite heavy with the pulsating organ and noodling guitar work on "More And More" and "You Better Find Yourself Someone", think Amen Corner jamming with Arthur Brown on a handful of leapers. The Nocturnes (not the Matawan, NJ, US instro combo) offer a decent hand claps and Hammond groover called "Hay, That's What Horses Eat", a full on party mode record with plenty of "atmosphere" like The Quik's "Bert's Apple Crumble" or Wynder K. Frog's interpretation of "I'm A Man".  The other contribution "Night Owl" (not the Howard Tate number) is more poppy with some nice bass and reminds me of one of those cool B-side or LP cuts by The Tremeloes. The Fleur De Ly's "Nothing To Say" is dead boring lightweight stuff that sounds like a Macauly-McLeod cast off.  "I Walk The Sands", their other track here sounds straight off of "Back From The Grave" with it's lo-fi DYI garage feel and is miles away from the previously mentioned cut!  The Chances Are were responsible for their brilliant soulful cover of the pre-Creedance Clearwater Revival act The Golliwog's "Fragile Child on 45 in the U.K.  Their offering here is a bluesy take on "Talkin' Bout You" with some nice fuzzy guitar and some bass playing that reminds me of The Small Faces Decca instrumentals.  The legendary Brit r&b act Dave Anthony's Moods were responsible for the killer Mike Hugg penned "New Directions" (available on a British 60's r&b CD comp of the same name)  and their legend stands for itself on the strength of that one single. Their inclusion here is a weird little number called "See My Soul" that has a sort of Middle Eastern feel to it, but sadly not very interesting.

All in all I highly recommend this if you're into British 60's r&b/beat or freakbeat, there's some duff tracks here and there but overall it's a decent stroll through the great unknown and unissued of British 60's music.

THE HIGH NUMBERS

Some classic images of the pre-'Oo High Numbers:

Enter Mark Feld...............

MARC BOLAN-The Wizard/Beyond The Rising Sun U.K. Decca F.12288 1965

How many labels do you know of in the 60's in the U.K. that would take a relative unknown, give him a record contract AND issue a single with his original material on both A AND B sides?  Just one, the label that turned down The Beatles: Decca.

Our sliver of seven inches of vinyl this time around concerns a teen aged former ace face from Hackney, London formerly known as Mark Feld, rechristened Marc Bolan.  As indicated earlier both sides are original compositions and are wonderfully arranged by the magic hand of Decca's own George Martin, the late great Mr. Mike Leander.

Launched in November 1965 "The Wizard" benefits from a host of marvelous instruments: woodwinds, flutes, strings and airy fairy female backing vocals (The Ladybirds I believe, the trio always on Benny Hill not the nudist four piece).  In fact the use of the woodwinds, strings and flutes is akin to what David Bowie would be doing a year later over at Decca's new Deram outlet. The lyrics are mystical and Bolan's vocal style is not quite warbling, bearing more of a laid back Bob Dylan feel.  It's quite unusual for the time of it's release and amazing, though brief clocking it it under 1:52.   The flip repeats the same instrumental formula with certainly more pronounced full on Dylan singing and loads of lyrics that like the A-side came from a J.R. Tolkien obsessed young fertile mind. 

Both sides have recently cropped up on a host of early Bolan retrospectives, some of which are actually available through iTunes!

Hear "The Wizard":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGCWejBfFw

Hear "Beyond The Rising Sun":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnNcADAPzI

Leatherhead? What The Hell Comes From Leatherhead?

JOHN'S CHILDREN-Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get/But She's Mine U.K. Columbia DB 8124 1967

From the hamlet of Leatherhead, deep in Surrey U.K. came John's Children.  Discovered by Yardbirds manager and all round amusing impresario Simon Napier-Bell the band consisted of Andy Ellison(vocals), Geoff McClelland (guitar), John Hewlett (bass) and Chris Towson (drums).  They had previously released "The Love I Thought I'd Found" ("Smashed Blocked on the U.S. White Whale 239  issue) /"Strange Affair" Columbia DB 8030 in October 1966. This was their second release which hit the largely uninterested public (despite a nifty little advert for the trade papers seen above) on the 3rd of February 1967.  There's a great chapter on them in Napier Bell's HIGHLY recommended tome "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" (kudos to Rob Keith for turning me onto that one).

I was pretty much John's Children MAD in the 80's.  In early 1985 I named my fanzine "Smashed Blocked" after one of their tracks and on occasion could be seen sporting all white (white jeans, white high tops and white sweatshirt) just like the band. I once had my teenage sister aid me in bugging my local college radio station (WPRB at Princeton University) by phone, but to no avail, to play tracks from their reissue LP "The Legendary Orgasm Album" (an experience which still traumatizes her to this day). In my later years I managed to secure all but two of their U.K. singles (their first and the ultra rare "Midsummer Night's Scene").

"Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get" is a sneering piece that verges on snotty American garage music territory like The Music Machine . It begins with a cheesy combo organ, swatches of backwards guitars, this ominous descending bass line and Andy Ellison's plaintiff singing.  Then things get ugly.  Then the backing vocals come in with this mechanical, menacing chant that sounds a little too, almost, well like they're "Sieg heiling" (they're not I assure you but it does have a eerie feel to it that seems to have a Nuremberg rally feel to it) . Immediately after Andy starts to get venomous while he spits out misogynistic lyrics with the lovely catchphrase "what's in it for me?" and whispers "don't think I don't know just what you want" (punctuated with a shouted response "Everything!") and then "don't think I don't know just what you'll get" ("Nothing!). Well constructed and well crafted it stands as probably in my estimation one of their best pieces of work.  The flip side, "But She's Mine" is pretty muddy.  The lyrics are positively strange ("I need a woman, mother would do...")and it relies on a simplistic mod/power-pop 4 chord Kinks-style progression with a Dylanesque chorus and a burst of lead guitar pyrotechnics c/o Napier Bell's charge Jeff Beck (who was added as Napier Bell disowned the ability of the band's guitarist Geoff McClelland).  McClelland would soon fall victim to the axe and be replaced by a solo artist under Napier Bell's umbrella by the name of Marc Bolan.  The band would go on to achieve some notoriety with this line up, break up in late 1967, reform and blow up my friend's amp at '66-'99 in San Diego, California.

Both tracks are readily available on a multitude of John's Children CD's floating around out there.

Hear "Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get" (and be changed forever):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm0Il3jdn40

Hear "But She's Mine" (and agree that the lyrics are "odd"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbP3GmXxtps

Extended Play de la France

THE SMOKE-My Friend Jack/Don't Lead Me On/We Can Take It/Waterfall  E.P. France Impact IMP 200.010 M 1967

Paul Weller once observed "In general you can't put a value on style because it's so personal. Perhaps that's it's appeal. It's like a million people telling me that Picasso was a genius; well, I think he was shite and that a French Small Faces EP cover can piss all over any of his paintings".  Ask any vinyl nutcase about French 60's EP sleeves/covers and they'll all agree, they're works of art regardless of whether they're jazz, Motown or British 60's freakbeat like our article in question here.  Content wise they were always cool too because they'd take a single and it's B-side and add either another single and it's B-side or in the case of this here Smoke E.P., two LP tracks.

I needn't trouble you with a history of the U.K. foursome known as The Smoke.  They never made it big in their home country of the U.K. but were quite popular on the continent as there miscellany of amazing looking German and French picture sleeves will attest to.  Best known for "My Friend Jack", a tremelo laced groover that got them in trouble with some stuffy censors back home for the offending line "my friend Jack eats sugar lumps" (as in the practice of  dropping L.S.D. on a sugarcube).  Luckily the alternate version was not released (where the previous line added "oh what beautiful things he sees"). 

Anyway as you can hear "My Friend Jack" is a powerhouse.  A tad overplayed but still brilliant. It's normal 45 rpm flipside, "We Can Take it" is another amazing slice of clasic mid 60's British proto freakbeat with some nicely descending melodic licks, choppy power chords on the verge of feeding back and all.  Great stuff! The next two tracks are culled from their legendary 1967 German only LP "It's Smoke Time". "Don't Lead Me On" has some nice throbby Motown-ish bass and the expected slashing guitar, in fact The Smoke rarely had any numbers with restrained guitar, the exception being our next track "Waterfall".  "Waterfall" is a ballad, the only ballad I know of in their catalog.  It's at odds with their sound but it works because it's subtle and not too sappy or cheezy.

All four cuts are available on a variety of Smoke CD's floating around out there from the "It's Smoke Time" plus bonus tracks LP CD to the 46 track comp CD "High In A Room-The Anthology".

Hear "My Friend Jack/We Can Take It":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTuDixEmlXE

Deram Soul: The Real Thing

THE FLIRTATIONS-Someone Out There/How Can You Tell Me U.K. Deram DM 195 1968

Deram didn't get anymore soulful than The Flirtations, a genuine U.K. based American soul trio consisting of sisters Ernestine and Shirley Pearce and Viloa Billups. All the band's Deram releases were produced and arranged by Deram/Decca in house producers/A&R men Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington (both Liverpudlians and former members of Lee Curtis and The All Stars and The Pete Best Four).  The pair also wrote nearly all of their tracks as well.

This single was their first for Deram,  preceding their monster smash "Nothing But A Heartache".  It hit the streets in June 1968 and unfortunately did not chart as high as it's successor. "Someone Out There" was arranged by Johnny Harris and produced by Wayne Bickerton.  It's more of an uptempo ballad, but it's brassy punch and strong vocal delivery by the three gals makes it an infectious winner.  The flip side, "How Can You Tell Me" is far more uptempo than the A-side with a hint of the chemistry that would soon explode on "Nothing But A Heartache" nearly six months later thanks to it's throbby bass, percussion, vibes and phased horns.

Both tracks are available on the CD reissue of their U.K. LP "Sounds Like...".

Hear "Someone Out There":

https://youtu.be/FxJtqgeMYrc

Hear "How Can You Tell Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klUVMg0qcHQ