Sands - Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator (1967)

Sands were a psychedelic pop group, formed from the ashes of Surrey, R&B band The Others. The group consisted of Paul Stewart (vocal), Peter Hammerton (guitar, vocal), Ian McLintock (bass, vocal), and Rob Freeman (guitar, vocal) Nigel Baldwin (drums)  Their one off single "Mrs Gillespie's Refrigerator" is my favourite cover of a Bee Gees song, albeit an unreleased one. The label states that the single was produced by Bee Gees manager, Robert Stigwood but Hammerton has since said that Stigwood never attended the recording session and so the band produced it themselves. The single appeared in 1967 on Reaction Records and was one of the first to be administered by the Beatles own Apple publishing company. The b-side, a Hammerton/Stewart original "Listen To The Sky" is a highly regarded psychedelic nugget, and has since been comped many times.

The band were taken under Brian Epstein's wing, which could have led to some kind of success had Epstein not been found dead two weeks before the single's release date. The single flopped and subsequently, interest in the band waned. Sands split up shortly after but Freeman and McLintlock carried on as a duo, forming another excellent pop-sike project called Sun Dragon, who would sign to MGM records and score a minor UK hit in 1968 with a cover of the Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine" which led to an LP of the same name, a very likeable album and one that rarely shows up these days. All of the mentioned recordings were collected and released on CD by Rev-Ola in 2007 and more recently the Sands 7" single was bootlegged which was a nice treat for those of us that can't afford £300 for an original copy.

Lyrics

Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator

(Gibb, Gibb, Gibb)

Talks about the cold on television, 

Advertising in the intermission. 

Lights down low, glued to the screen, 

There she is, incredibly clean. 

I love her. 

Mrs. Gillespie, you know how to sell me. 

You make me blow my mind with things you tell me. 

Lights down low, glued to the screen, 

There she is, incredibly clean. 

I love her.  

Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahhhh

I'll be back to see you later.

Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator.

Now she disappears back to the program. 

I return to work, feeling so low down. 

Someone else is stealing my scene, 

Fade away right into a dream about her.