Nicked By The Walker Brothers:The Motions "My Love Is Growing"

THE MOTIONS-Why Don't You Take It/My Love Is Growing Holland Havoc 116 1966

According to the liner notes of a Pseudonym Motions CD the band met Scott Walker and Walker Brothers associate John Stewart whilst in the U.K. recording their feedback laden mod/freakbeat opus "Everything That's Mine".  The band returned to the U.K. to record their 2nd album "Their Own Way" with Walker and Stewart producing (though it has been stated that Stewart did all the production while Walker napped).  Whilst recording the album which included "My Love Is Growing", Scott Walker liked it so much he indicated that he felt it was right for the Walker Brothers.  The Walker Brothers eventually cut their own version and  released it as the flip side to "Baby you Don't Have To Tell Me" (U.K. Phillips BF 1497) in July 1966.  However instead of crediting the song's composer Robbie van Leeuwen (the band's lead guitarist and main sole songwriter) it was credited to John Stewart!

"My Love Is Growing" is sort of a vocal number, you could say that both sides bear slight resemblances to The Beach Boys or The Walker Brothers but its saved from being too schmaltzy thanks to the crash-bang-wallop musical backing that sounds like The Kinks when they applied the same technique to say "The World Keeps Going Round" with some great key changes done with heavy chording? Lead singer Rudy Bennett sounds groovy as always, soulful even.  "Why Don't you Take It" follows the same formula as the "A" side though less rough edged, it's actually fairly mundane.

Both sides were collected on an essential Pseudonym Records CD collection that compiles their first two albums and singles in between.

Hear "My Love Is Growing":

http://youtu.be/LzUAmqiBoBU

Hear "Why Don't You Take It":

http://youtu.be/iIsWWJkHdSo

Who Started The U.K. 60's Moustache Craze?

It has been said that the so called "grenadier guards moustache look" that took Britain by storm was born on Boxing Day (December 26th) 1966 when Paul McCartney (in the company of Guinness heir Tara Browne) had an accident whilst tooling around Liverpool on a moped that resulted in a chipped tooth and a busted up lip.  Macca grew the moustache to cover the slightly unsightly scar and before long everyone in the British pop world sported one too from every one of The Beatles to their roadies and George Martin to even Mick Rowley from The Smoke (who looks like a young Tom Skerrit in the "Beat Beat Beat" clip below) to a young Francis Rossi from Status Quo.  However as you will note, one of these photos clearly predates Macca's famous look!

The original? Macca, January 1967

Freddie Mercury briefly joins The Kinks, but seriously Ray Davies sports a stash April 1967

Denny Laine Deram Records promo photo, Spring 1967

Steve Marriott onstage Blackheath, July 1967

Charlie Watts Manchester September 28, 1966 for a "Daily Mirror" photo shoot.



Carl Wayne of The Move, "Beat Instrumental" 1967





Mick Rowley of The Smoke, "Beat Beat Beat"



Francis Rossi of Status Quo 1968, Macca moustache and Steve Marriott barnett.



Getaway with Georgie Fame

GEORGIE FAME- Getaway E.P.: Getaway/See Saw/ Ride Your Pony/Sitting In The Park U.K. Columbia SEG 8518 1966

December 1966's "Getaway" E.P. was an odd move for Columbia as it coupled Georgie's June 1966 U.K. #1 "Getaway" with his very last single for the label, his version of Billy Stewart's "Sitting In The Park" (also released in December 1966 as Columbia DB 8096).  It was possibly also because he had already defected to CBS, broke up the Blue Flames and was about to ditch the band's mix of jazz, blues, soul, r&b and ska for a more straight forward approach that featured mostly jazz sandwiched in between ballads and the dreadful "all round entertainer" moniker.

"Getaway" was a jaunty number, originally written for a gasoline commercial (or so the story goes, though no one has come forth with the jingle, which would be amusing to hear). It was Georgie's first airing of an original composition of his, something of a rarity among his recorded 60's works.  Subsequent TV appearances to promote usually saw Georgie step from behind the Hammond to strum a guitar to promote it (see below). "See Saw", a Don Covay cover, utilizes the usual flair and panache associated with 1966 Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames (who were dissolved by the time this E.P. was released)of a solid and strong  horn section with some typical groovy Hammond work from Georgie.  "Ride Your Pony" follows the same template, though certainly not the band's best soul cover it is saved by the their "Hammond n' horns".  Rather than attempt a carbon copy of Billy Stewart's brilliant soul ballad "Sitting In The Park" Fame chose to rework it a bit starting with a lovely horn intro by trumpeter and long time Blue Flames side man Eddie "Tan Tan" Thorton.  And of course as usual the instrumentation is stellar and Fame instead of choosing to emulate Stewart's falsetto chooses his own tone for the lead vocals.

Promoting "Getaway" on the telly

"See Saw" was recently featured on the excellent Georgie Fame CD compilation "The Mod Years 1964-1966". "Getaway" and "Sitting In the Park" can be found on a budget CD compilation "The Very Best of Georgie Fame" as well as the starting point for many of us back in the day "20 Beat Classics" (which is still thankfully in print!)and also includes "Ride Your Pony".



Hear "Sitting in The Park":

http://youtu.be/eQBAwSrpZqE

Hear "Ride Your Pony":

http://youtu.be/Nt9_SfsghgY

The Untamed

THE UNTAMED-Once Upon A Time/I'm Asking You U.K. Parlophone R 5258 1965

This was The Untamed second U.K. 45, their first to be produced by Shel Talmy (who would follow them to Stateside for their next single and then take them over to his Planet label for their next two, which would be their last two).  Following in their r&b tradition both sides of this show a distinct  flavor.

"Once Upon A Time" is a moody/jazzy piece with laid back Georgie Fame inspired vocals, jazzy guiar and combo organ solo. Muir owned up to being very influenced by Georgie Fame's vocal style which of course was a mish mash of King Pleasure, Mark Murphy and Mose Allison! "I'm Asking You" is more upbeat and more akin to something a beat group like The Zephyrs or Jason Eddie & the Centermen would record, but still cool with a slightly risky line for it's time: "is it because I was a fool last night, and got stoned out of my head?"

Both sides appeared on RPM's out of print essential Untamed CD "Gimme Gimme: Singles & Rarities".

Great Albums of the Sixties: The Koobas

THE KOOBAS-untitled U.K. Columbia SCX 6271 1969

Side One:
1. Royston Rose
2. Where Are The Friends?
3. Constantly Changing
4. Here's A Day
5. Fade Forever

Side Two:
1. Barricades
2. A Little Piece Of My Heart
3. Gold Leaf Tree
4. Mr. Claire
5. Circus

Liverpool's Koobas (Stu Leathwood-vocals/guitar, Roy Morris-guitar, Keith Ellis-bass/vocals and Tony O'Reilly-drums) had barely made a mark on the world despite 6 good singles (one as "The Kubas") and one utterly terrible one ("Sally" Columbia DB 8103, find it on YouTube and prove me wrong).  Yet somehow someone at EMI saw enough promise to allow them a full length LP.  The band spent the latter part of 1968 at EMI's famed Abbey Road studios cutting what would be their one and only long player (produced by David Paramour and engineered by one Geoff Emerick).

Side One kicks off with the Rickenbacker driven "Royston Rose" complete with fuzz guitar, proto-prog breaks and a chunky rhythm, it's also sung by lead guitarist Roy Morris making his vocal debut. "Where Are The Friends" kicks off with a silly/campy vocal intro like some drunk biddy from a tea time orchestra dedicating "To Miss Lucy Nation of 52 Le Shafts Street to her son Stan now serving in the Lebanon....".  With it's high octave Moody Blue's styled backing vocals and tight arrangement it's one of my fave tracks on the LP aided in no part to Ellis' stellar bass runs.  "Constantly Changing" again relies on some spooky Moodies type vocals and is by far the trippiest number on the record with the descending backing vocals interwoven with organ and some precision breaks that just build and build. "Here's A Day" give the band the opportunity to do their salute to Liverpool in a perfect campy '67 Kinks style, all knees up, dripping on the lino and brown ale.  Easily one of the album's most interesting tracks, it's a rock opera of sorts alternating between singing about the everyman ("on the bike ride to the shipyard all the lads a me don't like Mondays...") and a one sided conversation to no one in particular.  "Fade Forever" is sort of a blue eyed soul crooner of sorts, but don't let that fool you it's a great track, starting out with (as many of the albums cuts do) a bizarre spoken intro. The Mellotron makes it's appearance beneath Leathwood's impassioned vocals and stellar playing by the band.  It also features a slightly deadly spot where the volume drops very low and bounces back at an extremely loud level towards the end, it's a bitch the first time it gets you, especially if you were wearing headphones!

The Koobas live in Germany 1968

Side Two bursts forth with the band's ode to civil upheaval, "Barricades", a topical number with the Soviet seizure of Czechoslovakia and student riots in '68 whilst the LP was in the process of being written.  Distorted guitar, keyboards and layers of melodic guitars weave around another heavy but well executed track, with snippets of a Rupert Brooke poem being recited over the barrage of explosions and fuzzed out guitar solo.  Ever since Janis Joplin butchered "A Little Piece Of My Heart" (look for an upcoming post here titled "F*ck You, Janis" on this and similar aberrations) I don't really need to hear anyone else do it, even The Koobas, but considering it's the only non-original track on the whole LP I won't begrudge them their attempt.  "Gold Leaf Tree" starts off with some eerie noise and pitches into something like a Timebox track meets The Fox (of "Secondhand Love" Fontana record LP fame), in fact it's so damned close to Timebox's sound I'm wondering if they were the inspiration (complete with a flute and well structured backing vocals), it's sung by bassist Keith Ellis. "Mr. Claire" is a one sided conversation of a man resigning from the firm set to music.  The LP closes with "Circus", a brilliant little rock opera of sorts focusing on different facets of a circus (ringmaster, clowns, elephants, jugglers, high wire acts etc) each part having their own little 20-30 second song all strung together by a delightful melody and introduced by a rapid fire chorus of multiple voices spewing out well written visual imagery.

Sadly the LP did nothing and The Koobas chucked in it soon afterwards.  Luckily for us it's still in print on CD reissue.

All of the album's tracks can be found on YouTube, one user:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheManofDistinction

has uploaded all 10 of the Lp's tracks for your listening pleasure along with other Koobas single tracks.

U.S. Only U.K. Pop Sike Pressings Part I

THE FRUIT MACHINE-The Wall/Willow Tree U.S. American Music Makers AMM-0021 1969

Here's one of those weird instances where a mondo obscure U.K. 60's band has a U.S. only release on a mondo obscuro label (the only other artist I can recall on American Music Makers was a 45 by the Grains of Sand).  Today's specimen is a by a band who released two ho-hum singles in the U.K. that both had killer flip sides.  The first was a February 1968 cover of Harry Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" b/w the stunning freakbeat/heavy opus "Follow Me" (Spark SRL 1003) and the second was April 1969's equally brilliant and blistering "I'm Alone Today" b/w a mediocre version of "Sunshine Of Your Love" (Spark SRL 1027).

For some unknown reason neither side of our release in question was issued in the U.K. or Europe. Both sides do not bear much similarity to the heavy sounding band responsible for "Follow Me" or "I'm Alone Today" (both reissued on the highly recommended Strange Things Are Happening "Circus Days Vol. 2" comp).  That's not to say they're not good they just bear a different slant.  "The Wall" is a mournful pop psych number accented by some orchestration and some muted horns and woodwinds that have a strange effect that makes them sound like they're being played on an old 78 rpm record player.  It's full of great effects (flashing cymbals, regal trumpet, soulful vocals reminiscent of The Apple and a swirl of organ).  It was penned by the band's Spark label mates and pop-sike tunesmiths John Carter and Russ Alquist, famous for a great deal of song composing (like The Californian's psych monster "The Cooks Of Cakes And Kindness" or Friend's "Mythological Sunday") and a one off zany pop sike 45 of their own ("The Laughing Man" Spark SRL 1017, 1968 ).  The flipside "Willow Tree" is in a similar down trodden pop psych vein as The Parking Lot's "World Spinning Sadly" or Feluis Andromeda's "Meditation") and more trippy than the "A" side as it's a bit darker, more of a "comedown" than a full fledged "peak" as far as trip fest records go.

"The Wall" was issued on "Rubble 18: Rainbow Thyme Wynders" (and also on the "Rubble Box Volumes 11-20") while "Willow Tree" was on "Electric Sugarcube Flashbacks Vol. 4" and Tenth Planet's Spark label compilation "The Electric Lemonade Acid Test Vol. 1".

Hear "The Wall":

http://youtu.be/tMrf3sDuSQc

And for comparison hear their other releases:

"I'm Alone Today":

http://youtu.be/HBTqZR-Rftw

"Follow Me":

http://youtu.be/cdBx-6dDBpY

The Alan Bown Set's Last Stab at R&B

THE ALAN BOWN SET-Gonna Fix You Good/I Really Really Care Australia Astor AP-1360 1967

This was the fifth and final single by London r&b connoisseurs The Alan Bown Set (led by ex-John Barry Seven trumpeter Alan Bown) before they took the path that Zoot Money and so many other r&b peers did and went psychedelic.

"Gonna Fix You Good" is a cover of a track by Little Anthony & the Imperials.  I'll have to say I've always given kudos to this band for their soul cover selections as no one else to my knowledge was doing unlike say "My Girl" where there were probably 12 versions of it out there.  Believe it or not I think they do the number justice, bumping the pace up a notch and also no doubt because I think the band's lead singer Jess Roden has a voice that's far more powerful than Little Anthony's fey warbling.  Of course the musical backing is impeccable too, though the backing vocals are a bit much.  The flipside, "I Really, Really Care" is my fave track by the band. It's lead by some very raw (in a good way) vocals by Roden, solid brass backing and an over the top distorted guitar.  I played the hell out of it back in my DJ years at Hub City Soul and elsewhere and it usually went down fairly well on the floor.

Both sides appeared on the Sequel Alan Bown Set "Emergency 999" CD compilation (now out of print) and "I Really Really Care" appeared on Castle's "Doin' The Mod 4 : Ready, Steady, Stop!".

Hear "I'm Gonna Fix You Good":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6tPVx4ShOI

Hear "I Really, Really Care":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTN8EdSOZ00