Hammond Heroes: Brian Auger

BRIAN AUGER AND THE TRINITY-Tiger/Beedle And Bo France Marmalade 421 191 1967

Coming to you live from snowbound Lower Binfield, Flatland where a 14 month old is incessantly attempting to click on my mouse....

I've heard/read some folks criticize his voice, but when you can pump the B-3 like Brian Auger it doesn't matter what your voice sounds like, and besides it sounds fine to me!  Brian's got a nice bit of material out there from before and during his musical journeyman ship with the Steampacket and as "Julie Driscoll , Brian Auger and The Trinity", this is my fave of the lot and the first thing I'd ever heard or dug by him (via a dodgy compilation LP of his and Jools pre-Trinity "solo" stuff). This was his third "solo" single and it was released in March of '67 shortly before his first formal 45 release with Julie Driscoll and The Trinity.

"Tiger" is my fave Brian Auger Trinity record hands down.  From it's punchy horn infected main riff to Julie Driscoll's backing vocals cooing along (or so I think it's Jools?) with it and of course Auger's brilliant Jimmy Smith style Hammond trills and the randy chorus:

"gotta get you at it..."

it's an amazing track. The flip side was originally titled "Oh Baby Won't You Come Back Home To Croydon Where Everybody Beedle's And Bo's" for it's British release, obviously the French thought better and abbreviated it a bit!   The number is a bit of a laugh with Brian Auger singing in alternating accented voices while he name checks various London "in" night spots and their various deficiencies, imploring as the title says that you come back to Croydon where everybody......it's quite jazzy and musically reminiscent of his earlier U.K. singles ("Foolkiller"/"Let's Do It Tonight" and "Green Onion'65"/"Kiko").

Cool pic of Brian and Jools that I needed to insert!

Sadly Brian Auger's back catalog has been horribly mismanaged and abused at the hand of Giorgio Gomelsky (or someone else I'm not sure who) because these tracks have appeared on too many LP's and even a few CD's of very dodgy repute.  They've turned up on a few CD's I've seen, notably "Get Auger-zed" and "The Mod Years", which I think are all properly licensed and therefore sound better, I'd imagine but I don't own either so I can't say for sure.  But I believe both of these are long out of print.

Hear "Tiger":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkgAlyCh0tw

Hear "Beedle And Bo":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD3Fhl_N-QY

Muffin Men

WORLD OF OZ-Muffin Man/Peter's Birthday (Black & White Rainbows) Spanish Deram ME 438 1968

This was the first of three singles by a archetype Deram pop sike group World Of Oz who exemplified the "psychedelic pop" moniker.  Produced by Deram's maestro Wayne Bickerton with musical direction by the mighty Mike Vickers it's a perfect debut.

"Muffin Man" is a typically whimsical British slice of pop psychedelia that relies on strings, cheeky lyrics and a happy go lucky feel that typifies everything you'd expect from the 60's English psychedelia of Lewis Carroll, fairies, elves, teas with teddy bears etc.  Despite all that it actually works despite what may be perceived as soppy from my saccharine description. "(Black & White Rainbows) Peter's Birthday" though musically following the same formula as the A-side is lyrically more dark and sinister as it seems (to me anyway) about a child's nightmare.

The single was released in the U.K. as Deram DM 187 and garnered releases in the US, France, Germany Holland and in the focus of today's issue Spain (all but the US issue came in picture sleeves).

"Muffin Man" appeared on the now out of print See For Miles CD "The Great British Psychedelic Trip Volume One" and "(Black & White Rainbows) Peter's Birthday" appeared on "Rubble Volume Twelve: Staircase To Nowhere"  which can be found in the "Rubble Two" box set as well as See For Mile's also out of print "Psychedalia: Rare Blooms From The English Summer Of Love" CD comp.  Fortunately both tracks can be found on the in print CD reissue of their untitled 1969 LP (which originally included "Muffin Man" as one of the album's tracks but not the flipside).

Obligatory "Beat Club" plug for German TV 1968:

https://youtu.be/dBrezCyhZUc?si=W_634X06vDXJ8uFD

Hear (Black & White Rainbows) Peter's Birthday":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD0bywASj5k

Cool Foreign E.P.'s Part Twenty Three: The Move

THE MOVE-I Can Hear The Grass Grow/Wave Your Flag And Stop The Train/Night Of Fear/Disturbance E.P Portugal Deram EPDM 1002 1967

An Iberian 60's Dancefloor Classic!

LOS BRAVOS-Going Nowhere/Brand New Baby U.K. Decca F.22529 1966

Spain's Los Bravos will be known everywhere as one hit wonders with their mega international hit "Black Is Black", which is criminal because they had so much more to offer.

"Going Nowhere" is my favorite single by them.  The band's German lead singer's (Mike Kogel) voice is occasionally a bit histrionic for my ears (like Gene Pitney if someone had his fingers in a vice)  but fortunately there's enough going on musically to overpower him.  This number is a perfect mix where you can have some really distorted ripping guitar and then soulful breaks with sax, organ and vibes.  Very danceable.  Back in the "Hub City Soul" days we got a lot of dance floor mileage out of this track.  "Brand New Baby" is not a terrible song, it's just sort of.."there"?!  It's the same sort of formula: horns, fuzzed out guitar but the lead singer's voice is so far up front it's almost grating.



The band do "Going Nowhere" in their Spanish film "Los Chicos Con Las Chicas".

Both tracks are available on the "soundtrack " CD "Los Chicos Con Las Chicas" from Amazon.

Favourite Freakbeat

THE FAVOURITE SONS-That Driving Beat/Walking Walking Walking U.K. Mercury MF 911 1966

Back in the day (early 90's) I bought this vinyl bootleg LP comp called "Psychedelia Volume Two: The Fairy Fellers Master Stroke".  On it was this powerful bit of freakbeat called "Walking Walking Walking" by a band called The Favourite Sons.  I'd never heard of the band or the track but I was floored.

Fast forward to the late 90's and I've tracked down the single.  On the A-side we have a freakbeat version of the Willie Mitchell soul classic "That Driving Beat" with the originals main horn lick replaced by some fuzz guitar.  It's somewhat soulful but way too freaky to be "r&b", sort of like The Koobas when they covered "You Better Make Up Your Mind" (see Anorak Thing January 13, 2009 entry).  Not a patch on the original but still interesting.

And on the flip we have the monster that is "Walking Walking Walking".  The best way I can describe this is imagine Ali Mackenzie of The Birds fronting The Eyes or The Game.  The vocalist's voice reminds me a lot of The Bird's front man's pipes and the pinnacle of the track is the distorted power chords that make the song the freakbeat legend (in my book anyway) that it is.  The number comes complete with a perfect distorted freaky solo that bears the archetype freakbeat '66 sound.

"That Driving Beat" was included on the CD "That Driving Beat Volume One" while "Walking Walking Walking" is on the CD "English Freakbeat Volume Three" (where it was obviously nicked from the "Psychedelia Volume Two" LP comp!).

Hear "Walking Walking Walking":

https://youtu.be/GR23KAD_Wkc

Hear "That Driving Beat":

https://youtu.be/vbAaXLUoyZM

The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nothing By The 80's Truth.......

THE TRUTH-Who's Wrong/She's A Roller U.K. Pye 7N.15598 1965

This was the second 45 by a 60's U.K. duo (Frank Ailello and Steven Jameson) known as the Truth (who made way better records than a bunch of flat-topped, bomber jacket wearing soulies in the 80's who also called themselves "The Truth").  In my book it's their best of all seven of their singles.  "Who's Wrong" is driven by a cool little incessant riff and some scowling vocals.  The lyrics are purely cynical;

"well this guy comes by and tells me I should cut my hair and wear a tie and he turns around does his best friend in, puts him in the ground and collects on him.."

 But it contains a great line in the form of the chorus that innocently protests "I ain't hurtin' anybody by bein' me".  Pure mod/beat cool '65 style where the music is still sort of like a beat group but punchier.  "She's A Roller" is okay, not really my thing, but not unlistenable either.  The vocals and instrumentation are great it's just the song itself does absolutely nothing for me!

"Who's Wrong" has bee reissued on Castle's "Doin' The Mod Volume Four: Ready Steady Stop" CD compilation while "She's A Roller" has been included on their "Doin The Mod Volume One: The Go Go Train". Both sides are also available on the Truth CD collection/compilation "Who's Wrong: Mod Bedlam 1965-1969".

Trivia note:
Steve Jameson went on to make Northern Soul records under the moniker of Nosmo King in the early 70's.

Hear "Who's Wrong":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dya0acqDmE

Hear "She's A Roller":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IduTCKPfig8

Up The Junction

MANFRED MANN-Up The Junction Theme/Sleepy Hollow UK Fontana TF 908 1968

Manfred Mann were one of those rare British 60's bands who managed to stay on top from the beat/r&b boom through psychedelia despite personnel and genre changes. I've always much preferred the Paul Jones era Manfreds, nothing against Mike d'Abo, I think he's a fine vocalist I just thought that most of the Manfred Mann Mark II stuff was a bit too "bubblegum" for me (exceptions being their brilliant "debut" with him Dylan's "Just Like A Woman", their second 45 with him "Semi Detached Suburban Mr. James" and it's U.S. only B-Side "Each And Every Day" which was cut by Siomon Dupree and The Big Sound as "Daytime, Night Time"). Aside from that I'd rate their "Up The Junction" LP as the high water mark for me because I found little pleasure in any of their stuff like "My Name Is Jack", "Ha Ha Said The Clown" (which poses the question: which is more dreadful the Yardbirds or the Manfred's versions?!) or their huge hit here in the States "The Mighty Quinn" (not to be confused with a film of the same name, which I haven't seen but I'm sure sucks based on the premise of naming a film after a hit song). On the subject of that we have a song here today that also happens to be the title of a film.

1968's "Up The Junction" is one of my top ten favorite British films of the 60's.  I was just thrilled to see it's been released on DVD (in the U.K.).  I'm not going to give you the run down on the plot in detail but let's say it's like this, a deb gets bored with the mansion and Roller etc and takes a flat in the East End gets a job in a factory and becomes enamored with knees up's and all the gritty working class stereotype stuff whilst dating a young mod who in turn is so desperately keen to escape all of this.  The Manfred's soundtrack makes the film and I couldn't imagine a better band for it.

The title "Up The Junction" is certainly Brian Wilson-esque with it's layers of harmonies and production, not to mention numerous key and timing changes and a multitude of instruments.  Lyrically and musically  it's the perfect backdrop to the gritty, dreary factory worker setting of the film.  For anyone who's ever worked in a factory it's a pretty depressing thing and this number, to me, captures it all perfectly, in fact so much so it's close to the bone for me. "Sleepy Hollow" is not really my thing, it's a little too close to the saccharine pop period of theirs that immediately followed this 45/LP.  It's not unlistenable just way out of character from it's brilliant topside.

Both tracks are on RPM's reissue of the "Up The Junction" LP which I cannot recommend enough!

Hear "Up The Junction":

https://youtu.be/hedvvXl1q3k