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Tranquility were the brainchild of Ashley Kozak, former Donovan manager turned record producer in the early 1970's. His idea was to form a group that played a "hybrid of pop, rock and English folk music", (like Donovan then!). So Tranquility were formed in 1971 based around the song writing talent of Terry Shaddick. The band went through many line up changes throughout their three year life span and members included Eric Dillon, Kevin McCarthy, Berkeley Wright, Tony Lukyn, Jim Leverton, John Perry and Bernie Hagley, all of whom had played in other psych and prog bands previously.
1972 saw the release of their first album "Tranquility" for Epic records. A very mellow affair with a strong West Coast hippy vibe floating throughout the ten tracks. An album to listen to on a lazy summers day. There is also a not too obvious McCartney influence that you might not pick up on the first listen as the record breezes along, notably on tracks "Lady Of The Lake" and "Black Currant Betty".
It's easy to see why the Americans dug this band so much on their support tour of the states in 1972 and the demand for an extra two months worth of dates even before a record had been released over there. Tranquility were far more popular in the states than their home land where they couldn't get arrested. Comments left on YouTube prove that the band must have been a pretty good live act as fans are still leaving messages, reminiscing about their six part harmonies during those Byrds support concerts.
The band returned to London to record their second album "Silver" released again on Epic in 1973. "Silver" follows on from their first album in a similar direction albeit more polished and tighter thanks to the extensive touring. Some tracks bordering on lightweight funk (sounds bad but trust me, it works!) with clavinet and mellotron giving the tracks a more fuller sound than the previous album. The title track sums up the typical Tranquility sound, angelic vocal harmonies that drift around a good comparison would be the band America. My personal favourite "Can I See You" sees the band playing the type of mellow, post-psychedelic goodness that I seem to be blowing all my wages these days. The Beatles influence turns up again on "Dear Oh Dear" and "Nice and Easy", both tracks chosen as leading single to promote the album in the UK where the where it flopped just like the first one did. Even the hope of sales in the US never materialised.
One last attempt at success in the form of a single, "Midnight Fortune" b/w "One Day Lady", this time for Island records also failed to sell in numbers and so the band called it a day in 1974.
Terry Shaddick would eventually find success as co-writer, along with Steve Kipner, of the Olivia Newton-John hit single "Physical" which I've just found out was originally intended for Rod Stewart. Ya learn summat new every day!
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich like most beat groups of the era would stick a catchy, often cheesy song on the A side of a single. These songs were penned by their managers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The B sides were reserved for something more beaty/psychedelic/experimental, written by the band themselves. This formula worked well for DD,D,B,M & T and made them one of the most successful British bands of the 1960's. Thirteen out of sixteen of their singles released between 65 and 69 would chart in the top 30 and the band would spend more time in the singles chart than The Beatles during this period, selling a total of 16 million records. At the end of 1969, Dave Dee left the group to pursue a career as an actor/solo singer and achieved little success with both.The rest of the band, re-billed as (D,B,M and T) continued to release records. Their first single sans Dee was "Tonight Today", again written by Howard & Blaikley and used a clever vocal canon technique where each member of the band would sing a line which would overlap the next line ending with all members singing their bit at the same time over each other. A nice effect and probably my favourite A side by the band. The record buying public at the time didn't think so and for the first time in four years they had a single that didn't crack the top 40. The band didn't let that stop them though.
For the next single "Mr President" b/w "Frisco Annie", the band ditched Howard & Blaikley as songwriters and from then on would only release music written by themselves. The sound had changed, catching up with the more mature sound that was developing around them at the time and a three part harmony vocal style was adopted as the sound of DBM&T in 1970. In October the band released their pièce de résistance upon the world (UK and Germany to be more precise!), "Fresh Ear". Crosby, Stills and Nash were a big influence on the band at this time and it shows all over Fresh Ear especially on tracks "Rain", "Soukie" and "Mr President". The influence doesn't end with CSN though, I can hear echoes of Deep Purple in "Mystery Rider" and John Lennon in the epic side two opener "World", ("Oh, what a miserable world we're living in"). The harmony vocals are the showcase on this record and is what makes it stand out against it's British contemporaries, really standing out in the songs against a back drop of mainly rhythmic acoustic guitars and some heavy electric that is played and mixed tastefully enough not to take over the song. The Moog synthesiser even makes a few appearances. Good comparisons of this album would be the Tremeloes' "Master" or the Marmalade's "Songs". Ironic that these bands, all synonymous with the sixties would release their best albums in the early seventies. Keeping with the theme of this blog, "Fresh Ear" sold very little. Not poppy enough for the kids and not progressive enough for the longhairs seems to be the case. So with both Dave Dee and DBM&T struggling to make it on their own, they reformed briefly in 1974 and again in 1980 and again in the 90's never reaching the success of their 60's heydey. Dave Dee passed away in 2009 and Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich continue to work the nostalgia circuit.Check out the bands official website for more in depth info, booking details etc.
Gerry Morris started his music career as the bass player in The Cymbaline who's lifetime spanned the years 1965 to 69, releasing six great pop singles, none of which set the pop charts on fire, hence the lack album. A real shame. The Cymbaline are one of the last great British bands yet to receive the CD reissue treatment (there's got to be a CD's worth of unreleased tracks/demos etc?). I've never seen any of their singles anywhere except on ebay, and even then, they sell for big money. My favourite single of the six is "Down By The Seaside", a great upbeat pop tune about a two week summer holiday, containing the brilliant lyric "Sit in your deckchair, looking funny in a floppy hat, use your bucket for a cricket bat, just roast like a piece of toast". Genius! Should've been a hit.
Following The Cymbaline split at the end of the sixties, Morris spent the early seventies as a songwriter/producer of various bands/projects, teaming up with producer Tony Atkins on a number of singles as Big Cherry, Boulevard, Blunderbus, Galahad and I'm sure there's more. Check out Robin Wills' informative blog, Purepop which has covered some of these singles and are well worth hunting down if you've got the cash (...but like all of Morris' rarities, they don't come cheap!).
In 1973 Morris signed to the York record label who gave him the opportunity to release his first and only solo album "Only The Beginning". Production duties were again handed over to his friend and collaborator Atkins. I've never heard this album but I have heard a few songs and confirm that they are great. Two of these songs "When It Come's To Love" and "See Through My Mind" have appeared on the later volumes of Jorgen Johannsen's fab Fading Yellow compilations and are of the ultra melodic, lush sounding pop type that we have come to expect from JJ's FY's!
O.k. so I've never heard the album. I do own a single though. "Only The Beginning" b/w "Sunlover", both included on the album and both great. "Only The Beginning" is a real heart warming tune with a neat slide guitar intro and is as good as, if not better than most of the stuff that was in the charts at the time. B-Side "Sunlover" is a bit of a stomper sounding rather like George Harrison's "Savoy Truffle" with its stabbing brass riffs, makes me think that the album might be a bit of a mixed bad of styles. If anyone out there has a copy of the album please get in contact an I'll upgrade this blog entry from a single to an album review!
The album didn't sell very well, hence its rarity and Morris went into production work, eventually striking gold with Amii Stewart's disco version of "Knock On Wood" before retiring from the music business shortly after.
Sleepy Hollow were a power pop trio who hailed from Philadelphia,USA and comprised of members, Richard Billay (vocals,guitar,piano), Richie Bremen (bass) and Joe Zucca (drums). The band released a single album on the Family record label in 1972. Family was an independent label that released a handful of records between 71 and 74 before going bust and is probably most known for releasing Billy Joel's debut solo LP.
The music on the album evokes late period Beatles with Billay doing a fine Lennon snarl on LP opener "Sincerely Yours". "Take Me Back" is a pure Raspberries-esque ballad with some fine George Harrison influenced slide guitar. "Talking Out Of Turn" sounds like it came straight off Emitt Rhodes' Mirror album and the guitar solo sounds uncannily like the one on "Hotel California" by the Eagles, pre-dating it by a good five years! "Lady" is a gentle McCartney style acoustic ballad with string section added by co-producer Tom Sellers (known for his top 20 hit cover of the Who's"Overture From Tommy" as the Assembled Multitude in 1971). Closing track "Hades" is an epic, Christmas themed ballad with massive orchestration, clocking in at over 6 minutes and an unlikely choice for a single release.
The LP was re-released in 1977 under the name "Billay" on the infamous tax scam label, Tiger Lily. In true Tiger Lily style, it was released without the band's knowledge.
Not a lot of info can be found about what happened to the band after the album came out but a YouTube search brought up a great power popper by Billay/Sleepy Hollow called "I Surrender" and the artwork attached to the video shows Sleepy Hollow plus another new member and appears to be a collection of recordings dating from 1974-1998. If anyone knows of these recordings I would be grateful of any details.
London buskers Tony Poole and Ross McGeeney formed Starry Eyed and Laughing in the early seventies, initially playing pubs as a folk duo before adding bass player Steve Hall and drummer Nick Brown into the fold in 1973. Now a full band, they began gigging around London and their Byrdsy sound grabbed the attention of the music press, resulting in some glowing reviews.
The band were signed by CBS records in early 1974 and recorded their eponymously titled, debut album in August. 'Starry Eyed & Laughing' was released in October, a week after their first Single, 'Money Is No Friend Of Mine' b/w 'I See Your Face'.
The album captures the sound of the Byrds at their best and immediately wears it's influences on its sleeve starting off with the McGeeny penned 'Going Down' with its thee part vocal harmonies, driving bass and Eight Miles High-alike guitar solo. The Byrds theme continues throughout the entire record with 'Closer To You Now' sounding very much like 'Going Back' and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Roger McGuinn was singing the lead on 'Money Is No Friend Of Mine'. 'Living In London' sees the band shifting up a gear into Badfinger territory. If nice harmonies and sparkling guitar is your bag then I have no doubt that you'll love this album as much as I do.
CBS released a new recoding of album track 'Nobody Home' as a single in early '75 backed with 'Closer To You Now'. None of the releases so far had made much of a mark on the UK pop chart but CBS kept the band on for another album. 'Though Talk' was released in September 1975. Slightly heavier than the first album with the Byrds influence remaining in places, it's not as catchy as its predecessor but after repeated listens can be a grower. For me, stand out track 'One Foot In The Boat' takes 'Chestnut Mare' and sticks on some better lyrics!
Two more singles were released under the shortened name 'Starry Eyed', 'Song On The Radio', produced by ex-Turtles, Flo and Eddie heads in a funkier direction complete with orchestral section over seen by Shadow Tony Meehan. 'Saturday' recalls the sound of their debut LP and sees the band calling it a day in style. CBS dropped the band after 'Saturday' and they consequently split up, as is usually the case.
If Byrds fans weren't happy with the lack of jangle in the band's reunion of original members back in '72, then Starry Eyed should hit the spot with Poole stealing McGuinn's crown as new king of the 12 string! Some ace clips of the band performing live around the time of the first album can bee seen on YouTube and show what a great live act they were and what fantastic heads of hair they had.
Nederbeat band Smyle were formed in 1971 by singer/guitarist Bas Muys and included brothers Peter and Paul Van Der Vossen on bass and drums, respectively and Mark Boon on lead guitar. The band recorded a number of demos in the Van Der Vossen'shome in Leidschendam and were sent to record labels but none of them showed an interest until. Eventually, a demo tape ended up in ex Golden Earring drummer, Jaap Eggermont's possesion who immediately loved it. At the time Eggermont was producing bands like Sandy Coast, Earth & Fire and Greenfield & Cook and used his infulence at Polydor to secure Smyle the deal they had been struggling to get.
1972 saw the release of Smyle's debut single I'ts Gonna Be Alright. Written by Eggemont's old band mate George Kooymans the song was the first of Smyle's trademark Beatlesque style utilising Bas Muys' Lennon-esque vocals. In fact the song sounded so much like the Fabs that in 1983 it appeared on the bootleg LP "...One, Two, Three, Four!" trying to pass itself off as a genuine Beatles rarity! The single's B-side was She Means A Lot To Me, which, sticking on the Beatle tip, sounded just like George Harrison circa 1965. So, Polydor in all their wisdom, house the single in a plain white sleeve with only the band's logo (a smiley face!) to fool the public into thinking that....the Beatles are back!! A similar trick would be used to much greater effect a few years later by Klaatu. Whether or not the record buying public believed that it was the Beatles or not, they bought enough copies to send it to number 9 (...number 9!) in the Dutch pop chart.
Follow up single The Tandem b/w I'm So Heavy appeared the following year, with both sides written by Muys and again, sounding as much like The Beatles as is humanly possible. This time Polydor decided to stick a picture of the band on the sleeve, exposing them as four long haired lads in matching white denim outfits. The single made it to number 12 and would be the last time Smyle would ever reach the top 40. A promotional video was made for the single and you see the band singing The Tandem and riding various weird and wonderful bicycles.
The next single released was Dream With Me, a McCartney style piano ballad complete with brass section and came backed with Have I Ever Let You Down, balancing out the A-side with a Cavern style stomper. A great couple of tunes but failed to make any waves as did the next single Crazy Lazy Little Miss Daisy, which sounds similar to "It's Gonna Be Alright" and just as infectious.
Polydor decided not to give Smyle a chance to record an album after the chart failure of the last two singles which is a real shame because all eight of the songs that the band recorded are winners in my opinion. The band folded shortly after the final single. Mark Boon went on to play in many bands and finally found success in Diesel ("Sausalito Summernight") and Bas Muys went on to sing John Lennon's parts on the Stars On 45 Beatles Medley in 1981 which reached the top of the charts in many countries including the U.S. Muys was then given the opportunity to release a solo single, "Oh Terry" (would love to hear this if anyone out there has a copy) on the back of this success but would have to wait until 1990 to release his solo album, Lennon & McCartney Secret Songs, his own take on the songs the Beatles gave away to other artists.
In 2009 all four original members of Smyle were reunited for a one off performance at the Utrecht Record Fair. The footage is available on YouTube and show the band having a whale of a time. Good on 'em!
