In 1969, five years before claiming the UK number one chart position with the Rubettes' "Sugar Baby Love", keyboard player/vocalist Bill Hurd was fronting psych/pop band The Wake. Also in the band were, John Edmunds (vocals, lead guitar, autoharp), Chris Weeks (bass, vocals, autoharp), Tony Miles (drums, percussion). The Wake were active from 1969 to 1971, releasing six singles (one on Pye and five on Carnaby records) and an LP of, progressive pop entitled "23:59", which I've heard and would be pretty disappointed if I'd just shelled out £200 for a copy.
For me, the best recording by the Wake is their first single, "Angelina", which is a pure pop gem of bouncy McCartney-esque piano that has always reminded me of "Care Of Cell 44" by the Zombies, but without the sinister twist in the lyrics. The songwriting is credited to Mark West (aka Radio Luxembourg DJ Mark Wesley) and Keith Bonser (later of hard rock outfit, Zior), who were also trying to achieve pop success at same time under the name "Cardboard Orchestra". The B-side "So Happy", written by Hurd, is a decent enough tune with some nice hooks and a fab acoustic guitar solo.
The following singles by the Wake are pleasant enough but nothing worth raving about or spending too much of your hard earned dosh on, with the exception of "Live Today Little Girl", comped on Mixed Up Minds Vol.1 and "Linda" which was featured on the Left and to the Back blog.
Lyrics
The Wake - Angelina (West/Bonsor)
Early in the morning, Jump out of bed Look out your window, Come on, you sleepy head Ahhhh When I say those little words like "I Love You" There's a look of sunshine in my eyes Angelina waiting for them every day Naughty girl, your sky blue eyes are giving you away Tell me what you're gonna do now Now that the morning is here Looking like a new day Acting in a strange way Oh oh Now it's the evening Sun is nearly gone Gliding for some moonlight Come on and come along Just a silly feeling Etching on the ceiling Good morning, morning, morning
Here's a little seasonal, popsike nugget to get you in the festive spirit, which, to my disappointment did not come anywhere in ITV's, Nations Favourite Christmas Songs!
The origins of hippy pop band Mother Nature, has had collectors puzzled for many years. Presumed by many, including myself for a long time to be a European act due to the songwriting credit,"Steepy Rojo". The band were actually British and their continental sounding name is made up from the forenames of the four band members, Steve Norchi (Bass), Pete Reynolds (Drums), Rod Copping (Guitar) and Jon Reeves (Guitar).
Despite their debut single's 1971 release date, the song was written back in 1968. Both sides of the 45, produced by David Hitchcock (Mellow Candle, Genesis, Caravan) are stoned, psychedelic pop of the highest order, ultra melodic but a few years behind the times. The A-side is reminiscent of the Moody Blues in their hippy prime, armed with a pure summer of love chorus, "Orange days and purple nights, flying pastel coloured kites, and the flowers in your hair, scent the evening air". This song would have been huge had it been released in 1967.
The B-side "Where Did She Go" is even better and surprisingly, uncomped. It almost sounds like it was written purposely for a Fading Yellow compilation 40 years in the future. Despite any kind of promotion by records label, B&C, Anne Nightingale and Jimmy Young both gave the single some airplay on their shows on Radio One in the UK, but failed to secure a hit record.
Steepy Rojo aka Mother Nature know where the grass is.
An attempt to record something more contemporary for their next single, this time on the Kingdom record label, resulted in another hippy ballad "Once There Was A Time", again sounding about 4 years out of date. This time with lyrics about the effects of pollution and pesticides, "Where is the sunshine, where are the fields and the grass and the woods and the trees?". The dazed look on the four band members faces on the French single's picture sleeve makes me think they knew exactly where the grass was! The flip side "Clear Blue Sky" has an inherent Crosby, Stills & Nash influence and is the most upbeat of their four officially released songs.
There was a privately released CD compilation called "Far Over And Booby Gravy" put out back in 2003 as Steepy Rojo, which collects three of the four released songs ("Where Did She Go" is missing for some reason) as well as 15 unreleased demos, a couple of which have turned up on my Bite It Deep mixes.
Hot Dogs - Let Me Look At The Sun Neil Harrison - This Is London Price & Sheridan - Tracey Smith Galahad - George & The Dragon Ed Welch - It's Another Beautiful Day Orphan Egg - Mourning Electra Driftwood - She's Still Alone Hudson Brothers - America Chris Rainbow - Solid State Brain O.P.M.C. - Big Stage Actress Trane - Mansion Of Cards John Winfields - Whisper Who Dares Gerry Morris - Sunlover Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Margareta Lidman Children - Maypole
Edward William "Ed" Welch was primarily a composer of television and stage music in the 1970's. As a student of classical music, Welch graduated in 1965 upon which he started his music career working for United Artists Music. In 1971, UA gave Welch the chance release his own solo record entitled "Clowns". With the help of Tom Paxton, who provided all the lyrical content, Welch put out this album full of great melodic pop moments, most of which wouldn't sound out of place on a Fading Yellow compilation.
I've only ever seen the one copy of Clowns, and that is my own, which I found at the London Olympia VIP Record Fair last month. When I picked it up my eyes must have been glowing, a guy stood next to me said, "You don't want that, mate. It's not very good!". I'll be the judge on that! I'd already heard the title track a while ago and that was enough to make me hand £15 over to the dealer. At the time of writing there are a few copies for sale on Discogs priced between £20 and £30.
Ed Welch 1971 - a dead ringer for Michael Brown
Thanks to Welch's classical composition knowledge, the arrangements on the LP are of the highest standard reminding me of the orchestrated cuts on Colin Blunstone's debut solo record "One Year" also from 1971.
Players on the album include Cozy Powell (listed as Cosy!) on Drums, Mike Albuquerque (Electric Light Orchestra's bass player on their first three albums) on bass, Alan Gorrie (Forever More/Average White Band)on guitar and Jo Meek, Maria Popkievitch and Frank Aiello on backing vocals. It was produced by Mike Albuquerque and engineered by Paul Holland at Central Sound Studios, London, UK.
Judging by the scarceness of the record, you could take an educated guess that the album didn't sell too well. Welch must have realised that he wasn't destined for the pop charts, instead he used his ear for a great melody to write music for television shows and music libraries. Most UK residents over the age of 25 will definitely know at least two of TV his compositions: music from the quiz shows Blockbusters and Catchphrase!
Another record which may be of interest, penned by Welch & Paxton from 1971 is "You'd Better Believe It" by Jo Meek, who provided backing vocals on the Clowns album. Nice tune.
Anyway, back to the album and my favourite song on it, the title track "Clowns". Dig...
Like most record nerds, whenever I hear a good record, a really good record, I immediately have to know as much information about the artist as I can. Mainly I want to know if they've made any other good records. A bit of googling and a search around YouTube is usually enough to satisfy my curiosity. Occasionally I find out absolutely zilch about the artist and this is one of those occasions.
John Winfields - "Dave's not here, man"
Psych collectors might recognise the name John Winfields from his French only 1971 single, a killer double sider on Decca Records, "You Know, You Go" b/w "Whisper Who Dares", both absolute belters which you'd be forgiven for thinking they were from 1967 and British. It's always reminded me of the style of songs that George Harrison was writing around 66/67, very bendy, orchestrated pop with unusual melodies and mysterious lyrics. Neither sides were written by Winfields, instead by someone called Al Martin (zilch again!). I had a little theory that Winfields may have been from the UK due to the spelling of his forename (John not Jean) but you can pick up a little accent in "Whisper Who Dares" so for now we'll just assume he was French.
Recently, I found out that John Winfields released a follow up single for Decca in 1972. The much harder to come by "Look At Nature" b/w "Vera" found its way into my letterbox via some French website selling run of the mill singles (for very cheap). I know it sounds sad but I get genuinely excited when the postman delivers me such goodies. I think it's the possibility that you're entering unknown territory and that your expectations may be choked within five seconds of the needle touching the groove! Luckily for me, I'm quite open minded with music and where most people wouldn't give a Gilbert O'Sullivan-esque record more than a couple seconds on their turntable, I'll give it ten plays in a row and stick it on my pile of records to write about on this blog! That's what happened with this record. It's not a record that will be setting any mod/psych dancefloors alight but it will definitely please the fans of obscure Beatlesque pop.
The a-side "Look At Nature" is a successful attempt at a solo John Lennon style piano/orchestrated pop tune. "Look at nature, look at the sky, look at the sun, how old is the wonderful world?" not quite as thought provoking as "Imagine" but with a nice tune carrying it along you can forgive such hippy dippy lyrics. On the flip side is "Vera", written again by Al Martin, an upbeat piano pop song, sounding very much like "Doubleback Alley" by the Rutles and a perfect example of the kind of music on this blog. The single also comes in a picture sleeve, showing Winfields to be about 19 years old and clearly intoxicated. Who was John Winfields? Where did he come from? Where did he go? Answers please...
Monkberry Moon Delight is one of the best Paul McCartney album tracks and why he never chose to release it as a single is anyone's guess. Norman "Hurricane" Smith, recognised the potential in the song, recording and producing it for himself in 1971 shortly after the release of Macca's Ram LP. Smith used the pseudonym Curtiss Mason for the single release which is strange due to the fact that he was getting some pretty decent chart action under the Hurricane handle. The public weren't interested in neither Curtiss Mason nor his solo Beatle cover, thus leaving behind a killer version of what should have been a hit. Maybe Smith figured his raw vocal performance might have startled his granny devotees.
Hurricane out-casualing Wally
The b-side to this single, "Lot Of Lovin'" is a decent rocking tune, written by Wally Allen (aka Wally Waller), bass player from the Pretty Things. Allen also appears to providing the vocals on this song. You may be thinking what an odd couple a Pretty Thing and Hurricane Smith would make, but don't forget that Smith produced the Pretty's defining moment and UK psych classic SF Sorrow. There's no other reference on the world wide web of "Lot Of Lovin'" having any connection to the Pretty Things so I may have just made my first revelation. Most probably no one gives a toss!
