J. Vincent Edwards' music career began in 1962 when he was lead singer in a local Newcastle-Upon-Tyne band called The Invictors, before joining The Answers on drums/vocals in 1963 along with Tony Hill (Guitar), Bobby Calder (Bass) and Ronnie (no surname! Lead Guitar). The Answers defining moment would be their first of two singles, the freakbeat classic "Just A Fear" on Columbia records from 1966.
Following the demise of the Answers, Edwards briefly fronted his own soul band called Vincent Edwards' Present Tense and six months later he joined the Gates Of Eden although no recordings were made with either acts.
In 1968, Edwards landed the part "Vince" in the hippie musical, Hair after auditioning for a part at the Shaftsbury Theatre in London. His first solo single "Hair" b/w "Aquarius" was released by United Artists in 1968 and the Original Cast Recording of the Hair soundtrack would reach number 2 in the UK charts, a career peak for Edwards.
Throughout the late 1960's and 1970's Vincent Edwards released many singles on various records labels without much success. The highlight of his seventies output has to be his take on the Honeybus classic, "I Can't Let Maggie Go" from 1974 on the Fontana record label. The song benefits from some funky drums, akin to the version on the Nimble bread advert and was produced by Honeybus's old manager, Terry Noon. The b-side "Dreamy Day" written and produced by Edwards, sounds like Rod Stewart circa 1973, not a killer song but has a nice sound and a fab Honeybus-esque guitar solo.
The single wasn't a massive hit but appears to be easy enough to track down. It sits proudly in my small collection of Honeybus related records, more of which will follow soon on this blog.
U.S Males - Come Out Of The Rain Chicory Tip - Friend Of Mine Continental Uptight Band - Please Sing A Song For Us ABBA - Santa Rosa 14 - Restless Feeling One Hour After Dinner Marmalade - Laughing Man Pony - My Baby's Back Gerry Rafferty - Half A Chance Muffin - Smokey Blues Away Christie - Man Of Many Faces Cross Country - Choir Boy Paul Parrish - Pink Limousine Mark Eric - Just Passing By Flying Machine - Hey Llittle Girl Mason - It's All Gone Wrong Tony Hazzard - Paul McCartney
I was flicking through a pile of 7" singles stamped "Ricky's Mobile Disco" on Leicester Market a few weeks ago when I found this single by a bunch of Bay City Rollers wannabes known as Bo' Flyers called "Do The Buster" on PYE Records. If you like bands like Kenny and Geordie then you'll most likely enjoy it, but it's not really my cuppa tea. It was the mention of Honeybus's Ray Cane as producer on the label which caught my eye and was the deal clincher, making me part with my £2. The flip side, "So Young And In Love", is written by Cane also and is actually a re-write of "Fresher Than The Sweetness In Water" from the Honeybus's "Story" LP, one of my all time favourite records, from 1970.
It sounds to me as though Cane used the backing track from the Honeybus version, just replacing the vocals and adding some new lyrics and a real thin sounding guitar solo. It would be unfair to compare it to the original, which lets face it, is a stone cold classic, but it is pretty good and an unexpected find.
"Do The Buster" turned out to be a minor hit in the UK in 1975 and earned the band a coveted spot on Top Of The Pops. A follow up single was released the following year. "If Saturday Night Could Only Last Forever" was backed with another Cane composition, "17 Teenage Dream", both of which can be found on YouTube and are decent enough powerpop tunes with the emphasis being on the pop. According to 45cat, there is another single from 1975 called "Wishing You Well" b/w "Big Ship" again with Cane as producer and taking songwriting credit for the b-side. I'll definitely be looking out for a copy of both of these.
Lyrics
Bo' Flyers - So Young And In Love
(Ray Cane)
How could I know that everything would all come true Being here alone with you So young and in love Soon it was clear nobody could take your place when I saw your pretty face So young and in love Let me take you there Let me sing my song Let me take you there Now that you're home where you belong, oooohh Just as a light will help to shine the way ahead I knew it all in what you said So young and in love Let me take you there Let me sing my song Let me take you there Now that you're home where you belong, oooohh Just as a light will help to shine the way ahead I knew it all in what you said So young and in love Knew it all in what you said We're young and in love Won't you let me take you there Won't you let me take you there Won't you let me take you there
And for those who do not know it, here's Honeybus with the original...
Lyrics
Honeybus - Fresher Than The Sweetness In Water (Ray Cane)
How could I know that everything would be so clear As when I saw you standing here Fresher than the sweetness in water And just as a light will help to show the way ahead I heard it all in what you said You're fresher than the sweetness in water Let me take you there Let me sing my song Now that you know you're where you belong, oooohh What could I do? The thought was in your naughty head I could have turned away instead But what you got is sweeter than water Let me take you there Let me sing my song Cause now I know you're where you belong, oooooh What could I do? The thought was in your naughty head I knew it all in what you said That what you got is sweeter than water I could have turned away instead You're fresher than the sweetness in water Won't you let me take you there Won't you let me take you there Won't you let me take you there
I was quite excited about hearing this album, having heard that this was the band that came after one of my favourite US Beatles-styled, sixties bands, Colours. Firstly, I made a bit of a boob with the postage, trying to save myself a dollar, I ended up waiting two months for it to arrive via international surface mail. When it finally arrived, still sealed (oh yes!) upon inspection I didn't recognise any of the names of the players on the record. Neither Gary Montgomery nor Jack Dalton's (Colours songwriters) names were to be seen. It turns out that Hamlet were formed out of the ashes of another band called Colours. These Colours were also from California although their album "Voluptuous Doom" remained unreleased for 40 years until US reissue label Frantic put it out in 2009. What I've heard of it sounds ok, but not the sort of thing I'd write about on this blog.
Hamlet were Bob Brien (Guitar, Vocals), Mark Cipolla (Bass, Keyboards, Vocals), Steve Parsons (Drums, Vocals) and Kurt Kearns (Guitar, Vocals). Their sole album was released in 1973 on Capitol Records and was produced and engineered by Charlie Dreyer. Despite not having the connection to Dalton & Montgomery's Colours, the Hamlet album ironically has it's share of Beatlesque/Badfingery moments.
Hamlet 1973 - (L-R Cipolla, Brien, Parsons, Kearns)
Side one opens with the McCartney-alike "Little You Say", a hooky, harmony filled singalong. A great way to start a record and an obvious choice of single, of which three were plucked from the album, none charting of course! "Jimmy Watts" is an ace piano pop tune about a performer who always turns up late to his shows, making excuses about having to look after his family and sounds much like Asylum Choir to me. "Bound To Redream You" and "Tonight" are pure powerpop of the Raspberries variety and "Garden of Girls" owes a debt to one of Eric Carmen's tender hearted moments. "I Should Have Known Better", not the Beatles song, is way too short at a mere one minute and thirteen seconds, but is a precursory of the later 70's powerpop sound that would be much more accepted by the masses. "Lazy Summer", another tune falling short of the two minute mark is unashamedly upbeat, a bit like a bouncy version of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Marrakesh Express". Side Two ends with the most obvious Beatles influence on the epic "Curtains", Hamlets own "Carry That Weight", some great drumming too for the long fade out.
I like this album more and more with each listen and I'm beginning to think of it as a bit of a lost classic. So, grab a copy for cheap while you still can, because I'm going to be spreading the word about this album!
Digggggg........
Following the demise of the Answers, Edwards briefly fronted his own soul band called Vincent Edwards' Present Tense and six months later he joined the Gates Of Eden although no recordings were made with either acts.
In 1968, Edwards landed the part "Vince" in the hippie musical, Hair after auditioning for a part at the Shaftsbury Theatre in London. His first solo single "Hair" b/w "Aquarius" was released by United Artists in 1968 and the Original Cast Recording of the Hair soundtrack would reach number 2 in the UK charts, a career peak for Edwards.
