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Jason Crest – ”Turquoise Tandem Cycle” / ”Good Life” (Philips BF 1633) January 1968 Jason Crest | Turquoise Tandem Cycle | Philips | 1968 | Jason Crest have been posted on my music blog a couple of times in the past. Today I’ll concentrate on their beginnings and first single for Philips. They formed in the suburbs of Kent, first calling themselves The Spurlyweeves but by early 1967 they were…

Swinging Blue Jeans – ”Tremblin’” / ”Something’s Coming Along” (HMV POP 1596) June 1967 Swinging Blue Jeans | Tremblin’ | HMV | 1967 | Nice, professional, beaty, great for dancing, but not the sort of number anyone is going to buy and keep – it’s too samey. (NME, 24/06/67) First one this year from the old hit-makers – now augmented to five and with a swinging big-band backing here. Song should…

TOMORROW: the pop revolution Tomorrow | Revolution | Parlophone | 1967 | “FIRST it was Tomorrow, then it was Tomorrow with Keith West, then it was Keith West and Tomorrow, then Keith West and now it’s just Keith,” someone observed on the meteoric rise to fame of Tomorrow’s lead singer with “Excerpt From A Teenage Opera.” It may look like that to anyone else; to Tomorrow the chart, success of…

Great Uncle Fred – ”I’m In Love With An Ex Beauty Queen” (Strike JH-324) January 1967 The oddly named and obscure group Great Uncle Fred are believed to have their origins in Great Yarmouth and the small East Anglian beat scene. At that particular period they were calling themselves The Millionaires. Sometime in 1966 a decision was made to turn professional. They relocated to London for a shot…

JOHN WALKER – ’Annabella’/’You Don’t Understand Me’ (Philips BF 1593) June 1967 John Walker | Annabella | Philips | 1967 | It must have been very hard for John Maus late of Walker Brothers fame to decide what sort of song to chose as a first solo single – therefore congratulations all round because this is very nice and I like it. Which really surprised me in a gunny way as people had said “oh…

TEN YEARS AFTER – ’Portable People’/’The Sounds’ (Deram DM 176) Feb 1968 Ten Years After | Portable People | Deram | 1968 | This was the first Ten Years After single, released during English brass monkey weather in February 1968. It’s a good 45 to seek out because both sides are not on their October 1967 debut album, also on Deram. I might post a song from that disc in the near…

THE SMOKE’S hit starts smouldering… WITH a record called “My Friend Jack Eats Sugar Lumps,” the Smoke could have expected some sort of kerfuffle. But the stern rebuke from the “News Of The World” was only the iceberg tip of what went on behind the scenes. It cost EMI £750 and two months to re-record and change the lyrics four times before their doubts about its suitability were assuaged. The BBC…

DAVE BERRY – ’This Strange Effect’/’Now’ (Decca 23.641) July 1965 Dave Berry | This Strange Effect | Decca | 1965 | Another haunting rockaballad from Decca’s Dave Berry, “This Strange Effect,” with a throbbing, pulsating rhythm, tambourine and clipped brass – plus single-finger guitar. An absorbing tune, and an extremely well-produced disc. The lyric’s a bit repetitive, but this makes it…

Bizarre Beginnings Clarks Originals | Footsteps In History | Clarks,Street,Somerset 1950 On July 7, 1950 a soft, floppy, ankle-high boot stepped into the fashion scene and became an icon. A timeless classic almost unchanged since its launch, the Clarks Desert Boot continues to defy the sands of time. To understand the legend of the Desert Boot and Clarks Originals, you need to understand their…

THE FAMILY – ’Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens’/’Gypsy Woman’ (Liberty LBF 15031) Oct 1967 The Family | Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens | Liberty | 1967 | October ’67 signalled on record, the arrival of cult Leicester group The Family whose debut single ’Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens’ not only had a trippy title but was also one of the very best psychedelic records from England (and there were…

’Janie Janie’ / ’I’ll Give You Things’ (Columbia 4-43862) November 1966 Ronnie Dante | Janie Janie | Columbia | 1966 | Well how about that! I’ve been after this 45 for years and have had it in my eBay searches to get an email when a copy is put up for sale, but NOTHING in all that time. Then, yesterday I looked on a UK dealers auction list because he was selling something else I was interested…

”Let Me Bring You Up” / ”How Do You Know” (RCA Victor 49.683) July 1970 Ron Dante | Let Me Bring You Up | RCA Victor | 1970 | The voice of the Archies and the Cuff Links comes into his own with this blockbuster initial release that has all the ingredients needed for a Top Ten winner. Will hit hard and fast. (Billboard, July 1970) The now patented hit sound from the Jeff Barry – Andy Kim writing…

Nuggets from the golden state Fifty Foot Hose | Cauldron + rare and unissued tracks | (Big Beat) 1996 | Original release (Limelight 86062, with inner) 12/68 | ‘A more pretentious album I have not heard for some time. The performers in the group are simply not good musicians, and their voices are exceedingly unattractive. They intersperse their songs with little electronic episodes which sound…