Topic: Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 2 - The 1960s

[kalowski]

I don't the mind later, global superstar line up of Fleetwood Mac in a "it's good pop music" way, but the original line up leaves me a bit cold bar the odd moment like 'Oh Well'. I've struggled with all the British blues bands of that time, really - it's all very proficient and well made, but I always feel like if I hear Cream doing 'Crossroads' that I'd much rather listen to the scratchy old Robert Johnson original.

Especially since Robert Johnson is not going to preface it with some hideous racist rant.

[daf]

Rock on Wood, it's . . .

265.  The Move - Blackberry Way



From : 2 – 8 February 1969
Weeks : 1
Flip side : Something
Bonus 1 : Beat Club
Bonus 2 : Colour Me Pop

The Story So Far : 

The Move were formed in December 1965. They evolved from several mid-1960s Birmingham-based groups : Guitarist Roy Wood from Mike Sheridan and The Nightriders  /  guitarist Trevor Burton from The Mayfair Set  / plus vocalist Carl Wayne, bass guitarist Ace Kefford, and drummer Bev Bevan from The Vikings.

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Roy Wood was born on in Kitts Green, a suburb of Birmingham, England. For some years the legend persisted that his real name was Ulysses Adrian Wood, until it was revealed that this was probably the result of somebody close to The Move in their early days filling in such names on a 'lifelines' feature for the press as a joke. His first group in Birmingham in the early 1960s was The Falcons, which he left in 1963 to join Gerry Levene and the Avengers. He then moved to Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders. He attended the Moseley College of Art, but was expelled in 1964.

     

Trevor Burton was born Trevor Ireson in Aston, Birmingham, and started playing guitar at a young age - leading his own group called The Everglades. In 1964 he joined Danny King & The Mayfair Set. The band cut a couple of singles but could not break outside the Birmingham area.

Carl Wayne was born Colin David Tooley in Winson Green, Birmingham. Inspired by the American rock'n'roll of Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, he formed The G-Men in the late 1950s, and joined local band The Vikings, where his powerful baritone and pink stage suit helped make them one of the leading rock groups in the Midlands of their time. His change of name was inspired by the movie star John Wayne, with the suitably Scandinavian 'Carl' which fitted the 'Vikings' theme. In 1963 they followed in the footsteps of the Beatles and other Liverpool bands, by performing in the clubs of West Germany. On returning to Birmingham, in the wake of the Beatles' success, record companies were keen to sign similar guitar bands. The Vikings went with Pye Records, but all three singles failed to chart.

Ace Kefford was born Christopher John Kefford in Moseley, Birmingham. His career in music began in the early 1960s when he played in various bands like 'The Jesters' who backed influential Birmingham vocalist Danny King and Ace later joined Carl Wayne and The Vikings.

   

Beverley Bevan was born in South Yardley, Birmingham. After attending Moseley Grammar School, where he gained two O levels, he worked as a trainee buyer in a city centre department store called The Beehive with school friend Bob Davis - who later changed his name to Jasper Carrott. His professional music career started with a stint with Denny Laine in his group Denny Laine and the Diplomats, then with Carl Wayne & the Vikings.

Bev Bevan : "I got interested in playing the drums like anyone anywhere. I was about 15 years old and off at school. Music was pretty dreadful and then rock and roll came along. I fell in love with American rock and roll music. I think the most inspirational record I'd ever heard was "What'd I say" by Ray Charles... Elvis, The Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, everybody really. Then like a lot of other people, we formed a band at school and played the local youth club and stuff like that. I was hooked really, from that moment. That's all I wanted to do."

     

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Ace and Trevor had the idea to start a group from among Birmingham's best musicians after attending a gig by Dave Bowie at Birmingham's Cedar Club.

Ace Kefford : "Trev and I were there one night and Davy Jones and The Lower Third was on. They were like The Who with target jumpers, hipster trousers, doing stuff like 'Heatwave' and 'Needle In A Haystack'. Chatting afterwards, David put the notion in our heads of forming our own band. We approached Roy Wood who was already singing that sort of stuff with The Nightriders. I had a similar spot in The Vikings doing 'Jump Back' and 'Every Little Bit Hurts', trying to copy Stevie Winwood like everyone else."

 

Carl Wayne was invited to be the front-man and Bev Bevan was chosen as drummer after future Led Zeppelin thunderstick John Bonham turned them down.

Bev Bevan : "I knew the band had something special when Jasper Carrott came to see us. Up to that time he'd always been my harshest critic, slamming the groups I'd been in as 'a load of rubbish'. After he'd seen The Move he said: That's the best of the lot so far, I think you're going to make it."

Trevor Burton : "It felt different instantly. From the first rehearsals we knew we had something special."

After a debut at the Bell Hotel in Stourbridge in January 1966, and further bookings around the Birmingham area, Moody Blues manager Tony Secunda offered to manage them.

Bev Bevan : "Shortly after he'd taken us on, he arranged a day of press for us in London. We strolled in about half an hour late and didn't think anything of it. He literally screamed at us, gave us such a bollocking. We'd never experienced anything like that before. From then on we were frightened of him."

   

At the time, The Move mainly played covers of American west coast groups such as The Byrds together with Motown and rock 'n' roll songs. Although Carl Wayne handled most of the lead vocals, all the band members shared harmonies, and each was allowed at least one lead vocal per show.

Tony Secunda got them a weekly residency at London's Marquee Club in 1966, where they appeared dressed as gangsters.

Bev Bevan : "That was a magical time. It was 1966/67 and we had a residency at the Marquee Club in London, which was just the best club. All the other bands used to come and see us. Eric Clapton would be there... The Who would turn up... Small Faces would be there... The Stones, even The Beatles on occasion would come. We were just part of that whole London scene... the Carnaby Street scene. We had record companies queuing up to sign us. The original lineup of the Move was a really hot band.".

 

Encouraged by Secunda, their bad behaviour eventually got them banned from the Marquee. This included flash bombs, smoke, and Carl Wayne using an axe to hack at effigies of political figures and ritualistic smashing of old TV sets. The ensuing notoriety from this and other stunts soon helped to gain The Move a recording contract with Deram, a subsidiary of Decca Records.

Carl Wayne : "Secunda had the animals who would do what he wanted to do in Trevor, Ace, and me — the fiery part of the stage act. I think Roy would obviously qualify this himself, but I believe he was slightly embarrassed by the image and the stunts — but the rest of us weren't ... We were always willing to be Secunda puppets. I think he was able to recognise the personalities within each of us. Therefore he could see that under my skin there was this animal with enormous aggression, that when stirred would want to go and fight somebody. 'Go and fight them Charlie' and I'd say, 'OK, I'll go' and if I got smacked up, I got smacked up! He used that for his own ends. It was no use Secunda managing a mainstream act, there was nothing for him to do. But with us it was, 'stick an axe through that window, Charlie'!"

They secured a production contract with independent record producer Denny Cordell, but that was turned into a media event by Secunda, who arranged for the band to sign their contracts on the back of Liz Wilson, a topless female model.

 

Ace Kefford : "Tony's idea was not to sign us to a label until we'd built up a reputation and got our name in the papers. Tony became our sole manager via his 'Straight Ahead Productions' company with Denny Cordell and some others. They had lease control over the master tapes which I believe WE had to pay from our royalties. We were green as salad."

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Secunda also managed to persuade Roy Wood to begin writing songs for the band. Wood wrote their first single, "Night Of Fear" (b/w "Disturbance") - which began the Move's practice of musical quotation - in this case, the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. Getting off to a good start, the single peaked at #2 in the UK charts in January 1967.

      

Their second single, "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" (b/w "Wave The Flag And Stop The Train"), was released in March 1967, and peaked at #5 in the UK charts.

 

Bev Bevan : "Nobody believed that Roy wasn't out of his head on drugs - but he wasn't. It was all fairy stories rooted in childhood."

   

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Along with constant requests for shows, public appearances and interviews, the group had little free time in their hectic schedule - even for recording.

Roy Wood : "We played a gig in London, went back to the hotel and Carl Wayne came up to me and said: "We've just been told that we're in the studio tomorrow and we've got to record a single. Have you got one?" I said "Well, not on me, not at the moment." He produced a bottle of Scotch, gave me the key to one of the hotel rooms and said "Get on with it"."

Ace Kefford : "The pressure of being in the charts and having your clothes ripped and hair pulled out by fans in the streets - I had scissors stuck in my eye - but for the same money I got in The Vikings."

Smelling suspiciously like a Tony Secunda publicity stunt, in April 1967, the NME reported that the Move had offered a £200 reward for the recovery of the master tapes of ten songs intended for their debut album. The tapes were stolen from their agent's car when it was parked in Denmark Street, London. The tapes were found in a skip shortly after, but the damage caused to them meant that new mixes and masters would have to be made, resulting in the delayed album only being released in March 1968 instead of the original plan of autumn 1967.

     

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Their third single "Flowers In The Rain" (b/w "(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree") was the first record played on BBC Radio 1 when it began broadcasting at 7am on 30 September 1967, introduced by Tony Blackburn. The single, which reached No.2 in the UK charts, was less guitar-orientated than their previous two singles, and featured a woodwind and string arrangement by Cordell's assistant Tony Visconti.

   

The promotional campaign for "Flowers in the Rain" led to litigation that had serious repercussions for Wood and the group. Without consulting the band, Secunda produced a cartoon postcard showing the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in bed with his secretary, Marcia Williams. Wilson sued the Move for libel and the group lost the court case; they had to pay all costs, and all royalties earned by the song were awarded to charities of Wilson's choice.

     

Carl Wayne : "The court case was the beginning of the end. We were suddenly thrown into the High Court of Justice and we were defenceless. We had no one to represent us or listen to whether we were involved. Had we been sensible, we'd have taken council and listened to what we should have said. Instead, we admitted to something that we didn't actually do - all because we thought it was good fun to do. When you think about it, it was completely and utterly f**king stupid because we hooked ourselves onto something that we would later regret. It was really Secunda's bag and we should have quickly stepped away from it. It was a stunt too far, but by then of course, we couldn't."

   

As a direct consequence of the lawsuit, The Move fired Secunda and hired Don Arden, who had himself recently been fired as manager of the Small Faces.

Bev Bevan : "We're turning away from this sort of thing now. People are beginning to associate us with gimmicks and nothing else. Truth is that we're musicians, not a circus act."

   

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In November 1967, for their fourth single, the group had planned to release "Cherry Blossom Clinic", a lighthearted song about the fantasies of a patient in a mental institution, backed by the satirical "Vote For Me". However, the Move had been un-nerved by their court experiences; they and the record label felt it unwise to pursue such a potentially controversial idea, so the single was shelved.

Roy Wood : "Cherry Blossom Clinic" was about a nuthouse, basically, but a nice one. That was one of my early songs. When I left art-school it was one of my ambitions to write a children's book for adults – fairy stories with strange twists in them. I had a lot of ideas written down and I used them in my songs."

   

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In November and December 1967, the group took part in another package tour around the UK, playing two shows a night over sixteen days, as part of an all-star bill that included the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Pink Floyd, The Nice, Amen Corner and the then BBC Radio 1 DJ, Pete Drummond.

   

In February 1968, the Move returned to the charts with "Fire Brigade" (b/w "Walk Upon The Water"), which was a Top 3 hit, and the first on which Roy Wood sang lead vocal.

Carl Wayne : "Roy was the architect. He knew the kind of voice he wanted. I could have sung "Fire Brigade" - there is an early demo of me singing it - and it would have still been a hit, but I think Roy's voice suited it. Roy and I had the best voices for what we were doing because our voices have always been commercial. Ace's was more soul, Trevor's more bluesy. Roy's and mine were the commercial voices and the marriage of those voices was excellent. Ace and Trevor were good singers, but the right people sang the hits."

 

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In April 1968 The Move released their debut album 'Move' on Regal Zonophone records. The album featured ten Roy Wood compositions, along with three covers which had been a prominent part of the group's live act. The album was sporadically recorded between January 1967 and February 1968 at Advision, De Lane Lea and Olympic Studios in London during gaps in their tight recording schedule when the group wasn't booked for any performances.

     

The album's psychedelic cover art was painted by "The Fool" design group who also notably painted The Beatle's Apple boutique storefront and John Lennon's Rolls Royce amongst others. The album itself was also the only album by the Move to chart in the UK, reaching number fifteen during the early summer of 1968.

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Around the time of the LP's release, bass player Ace Kefford left the band due to increasing personal problems, escalated by drug usage, notably during a fancy dress party at Birmingham’s Cedar Club.

       

Ace Kefford : "There were all these little men sitting around me with pointed heads and big noses and long fingers that touched the floor. They were with me all night, man. Acid screwed my life up, man. It devastated me completely."

   

Kefford formed his own short-lived group, the Ace Kefford Stand, with Cozy Powell on drums.

   

The Move then became a four-piece, in which Burton and occasionally Wayne took turns on bass on stage.

 

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In May 1968, it was reported that Wayne had also quit, but then decided to stay.




In June 1968 Regal Zonophone released the EP 'Something Else From The Move', recorded live at the Marquee club, which included : "So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star"  /  "Stephanie Knows Who"  /  "Something Else"  /  "It'll Be Me"  /  and "Sunshine Help Me"




The Move were on the bill at the inaugural Isle of Wight Festival on 31 August 1968. Despite the exposure, their next single "Wild Tiger Woman", backed with the superb "Omnibus", released the same month, failed to chart.

     

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The Move responded with their most commercial song to date, "Blackberry Way", which topped the UK chart in February 1969. The same month, they left Don Arden's management and signed up with Peter Walsh's Starlite Artists.

   

Richard Tandy played keyboards on "Blackberry Way" and joined the band for a time, playing keyboards live, and switching to bass when Burton was briefly sidelined with a shoulder injury. Upon Burton's return, Tandy departed to join The Uglys.

 

The new, more pop-oriented musical direction, and the single hitting number one was the last straw for the increasingly disenchanted Burton, who wanted to work in a more hard rock/blues-oriented style. Trevor had stayed at Traffic's legendary "Cottage" during his recovery - in the company of Steve Winwood and his musical mates, and this had been the spur for his exit from The Move.

Trevor Burton : "After spending time with these people I just couldn't go back and do 'Flowers In The Rain' and 'Blackberry Way'. I aspired to something more and didn't want to be a pop star."

Trevor Burton left the group in February 1969 after an altercation on stage with Bev Bevan in Sweden. Burton formed the group Balls - featuring The Uglys front-man Steve Gibbons and former Moody Blues vocalist/guitarist Denny Laine.

Carl Wayne : "Trevor wants to play country/blues and this doesn't fit in with our ideas. He is joining The Uglys who are going to re-form and change their name. Our previous manager Tony Secuda will handle them."

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At this time, the band first invited Jeff Lynne, a friend of Wood's, to join. He turned the offer down, as he was still working toward success in The Idle Race, another Birmingham-based group.



It was rumoured in the music press that Hank Marvin of the recently disbanded Shadows had been invited to join the Move. Some years later, Wayne recalled that to be nothing more than a publicity stunt; however, Marvin himself, in an article in Melody Maker in 1973 and elsewhere, has maintained that he was definitely approached by Wood and invited to join the Move, but declined because their schedule was too hectic for him. Burton was ultimately replaced in 1969 by Rick Price, another veteran of several Birmingham rock groups, who joined on a temporary basis. Thus, the group in spring 1969 consisted of just Wayne (vocals), Wood (guitar), Bevan (drums), and Price (bass).

   

Rick Price : "I was doing Roy Wood impressions in a band called Sight And Sound. Then Roy turned up at a gig one night, completely out of the blue, and asked me if I'd like a job. Fortunately he came in late so he missed my take-off of him!"

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Their next single, "Curly" (b/w "This Time Tomorrow"), reached #12 in July 1969.

   

In October 1969, the Move made their only concert appearances in the US with two opening shows for The Stooges in Detroit, and dates in Los Angeles and at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. When neither their US record company nor promoters showed any more interest - the band even had to make their own accommodation & travel arrangements - the remaining proposed tour dates in New York were cancelled and the group returned home.

Carl Wayne : "No one knew who The Move were in America. We were early, following the likes of The Beatles and Joe Cocker, but it was really just another English band to them - 'oh, these must be good because they've come to America'. If The Move in its original form had gone over, we would have blown America apart, purely on the stage act!"

On their return to the UK, The Move went on the cabaret circuit. By this time they were under new management from pop manager Peter Walsh who specialized in cabaret acts and had bought the group's contract from Don Arden. The cabaret shows caused friction between Carl Wayne and Roy Wood whose increasingly wild appearance on stage would often draw ridicule from the generally older audience. Additionally, there were disagreements over who should sing lead vocal on the Move's new singles.

Carl Wayne : "We were put into cabaret because we choose to move from one management to another, and that manager was Peter Walsh, who handled Marmalade and The Tremolos, bands in a more lightweight style. He put his bands into the variety clubs and he only knew those sort of venues so that's where we were put. People have said it was my fault and that I wanted us to go into cabaret. That is complete and utter cobblers! I probably sat easier in cabaret than the others because that's where I - and Roy - came from - and that's ultimately where we went."

     

Aware that Wood was intent on setting up his new, orchestral rock project, Carl Wayne devised a plan to revive the Move's fortunes by bringing Burton and Kefford back in. He suggested that Wood could concentrate on performing with his new band while continuing to write songs for the Move; however, his suggestion was bluntly rejected by Wood, Bevan and Price, the other three members, so after getting angry and embarrassed witnessing a fight between Wood and a drunken audience member in Sheffield, Wayne finally quit the group in January 1970.

     

Carl Wayne : "The split started before the glass throwing, when we were coming down the motorway one day. Roy and the others told me that they were going to finish with The Move and do ELO. I said 'let me keep The Move and you go on into ELO. If you've decided that's where you're all going to go, go now, but let me keep The Move.' My plan was to bring Ace and Trevor back, let Roy write the records, and we would have taken it to another area, which may have been more interesting. But they said 'no, we're gonna keep it going till it suits us to drop it' and I remember saying that I felt that was f**king selfish, despicable. So I said, 'f**k you! I sack you all!' Well I knew I couldn't! That was the last throw of the dice - so I walked."

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Released in February 1970, The Move's second album, 'Shazam', included three Wood compositions on side 1 : "Hello Susie", which was a Top 5 hit for Amen Corner in 1969, "Beautiful Daughter", and the extended re-make "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited".

 

Side 2 consisted of elaborately re-arranged covers including the 10 minute epic "Fields of People", Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "Don't Make My Baby Blue", and Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind". The album featured both the recently departed Carl Wayne and Trevor Burton, who played bass on a couple of tracks that had been recorded before he left - although he was not credited at the time.

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Upon Carl Wayne's departure, the Move jettisoned Peter Walsh as manager and returned to Don Arden. Jeff Lynne also finally agreed to join the band as a second guitarist and pianist. Lynne was enthused by Wood's ‘Electric Light Orchestra’ idea, and Wood also realised that he needed a second songwriter in the band to relieve the pressure on himself. Soon after, the band toured Ireland and Germany. Lynne narrowly avoided serious injury at his debut show when a faulty microphone touched his guitar strings and blew up.

   

In August 1970, the group was the lead act at the Knighton Rock Festival, staged in the small Radnorshire town of Knighton. In a radio interview, Bevan stated that the Move had ceased playing all of their prior songs except for "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" and were now playing mostly originals except for a few re-arranged covers, as the band transitioned from mainstream pop toward progressive rock.

Roy Wood : "Even the older generation realises now that pop is a valid form of music. Everywhere now, different kinds of music are coming together. We plan to make underground albums but the singles will be commercial. There's no point in writing songs if you can't sell them."

For the rest of the year, the Move concentrated on studio work, because they still owed one more album under their existing contract with Essex Music - which they were planning to use to set up their own record label, Fly Records. To prepare for their new direction, Wood and Lynne overdubbed multiple instruments, including piano, woodwinds, sitar, and a Chinese cello that Wood had bought. However, before the third album 'Looking On', was completed, Don Arden signed the new Wood-Lynne-Bevan band (without Price, who was not under contract with the Move) to a three-album deal with the Harvest Records division of EMI. As a result, by the time 'Looking On' was released in December 1970, with five songs composed by Wood and two by Lynne, Fly Records had lost interest in it.

   

The album included "Brontosaurus", which, backed with "Lightnin' Never Strikes Twice"), had reached #7 in the UK singles chart in April 1970. This was the band's last recording for Regal Zonophone. The album also featured their first single on Fly, "When Alice Comes Back To The Farm" (b/w "What?") - which failed to chart in October 1970.

   

The song originally intended as the B-side of that single, "10538 Overture", was ultimately held by the band for its new Electric Light Orchestra project, and Price's bass line was deleted and re-recorded by Wood, since Price was not part of the new group. Price in fact was unaware that the Move were working without him, until he heard about new material being made in early 1971.

Atter leaving The Move, Rick Price pursued other projects, including the band Mongrel, although he later rejoined Wood in Wizzard and the short-lived Wizzo Band. He went on to work in musical management, and also formed the duo Price and Lee with his wife, Dianne Lee, formerly of the duo, Peters and Lee.

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Although Wood, Lynne and Bevan had intended 'Looking On' to be the final Move album, Harvest requested that the new group first release a new Move album, in the same vein as Looking On, as the first album under its new deal, with the other two albums to be credited to the new group, to re-coup the advance given to the band. As a result, the band recorded the last Move album and the first Electric Light Orchestra album at the same time—even during the same lengthy recording sessions.

Jeff Lynne : "The Orchestra will try and get away from all this self-indulgent rubbish that a lot of groups seem to be playing today. The material will have a definite form, will consist of definite movements, and it'll still be freaky but we want to get away from the nine minute guitar solos and intellectualism. We plan to run the Orchestra and the Move as two separate units. But the rumours that The Move will break up before the autumn just aren't true."

While they beavered away in the studio, the single "Tonight" reached #11 in the UK chart in March 1971.

     

Featuring one of the worst covers of all time, the final Move LP, 'Message from the Country', was released in summer 1971. Wood's "Ben Crawley Steel Company" featured a Bevan lead vocal that was modelled on Johnny Cash, while Bevan's "Don't Mess Me Up" (sung by Wood) paid homage to Elvis Presley.

Their next single "Chinatown" (b/w "Down On The Bay") reached #23 in October 1971.

   

For several television appearances to promote these singles, the Move added two musicians who became members of the original Electric Light Orchestra : Bill Hunt (horns, woodwinds, piano) and a returning Richard Tandy (guitar, bass).

 

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In 1972, after the release of the first 'Electric Light Orchestra' album, the Move released what turned out to be a farewell disc, a maxi single, which reached #7 in May 1972, consisting of  "California Man", "Ella James" and "Do Ya". Lynne's "Do Ya" was the only Move song to reach the US Billboard Hot 100 chart - peaking at #93.

   

With the release of the album, The Move completed its metamorphosis into 'The Electric Light Orchestra', and they appeared on television promoting both the Move's last single and ELO's debut single - the long-delayed "10538 Overture" - at the same time.

   

Roy Wood and Bill Hunt quit the Electric Light Orchestra during the early recording sessions of their second album, 'ELO 2', which was the band's final album under its Harvest Records contract. Wood went on to front the glam rock band Wizzard, while Lynne, Bevan and Tandy kept touring as Electric Light Orchestra and finally achieved international success.

Carl Wayne : “I wish that Jeff and Roy had done more together. I think that the best Move records were after I left when they did Chinatown and Tonight. Lennon and McCartney were double genius, God’s talent, but Jeff and Roy together could have come close.”

The Single :

"Blackberry Way" was written by Roy Wood, produced by Jimmy Miller and performed by The Move.



A bleak counterpoint to the sunny psychedelia of earlier recordings, it nevertheless became the band's most successful single, reaching number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1969. Richard Tandy, who later played keyboards with Wood's next band Electric Light Orchestra, played harpsichord on "Blackberry Way". The song resembles a Birmingham version of Penny Lane with a little of Strawberry Fields Forever thrown in.

Roy Wood : “I suppose it could have been. We were all very influenced by what The Beatles were doing because they were the best songwriters around.”

   

The publicity for Blackberry Way was more restrained than usual, as the press were sent blackberry pies with champagne. Despite the success of the single, the style of psychedelia-tinged pop sat uneasily with guitarist Trevor Burton. He left the group shortly after - the daft nelly!

Other Versions include :   "Tutta mia la città" by Equipe 84 (1969)  /  I Trolls (1969)  /  The New Seekers (1971)  /  Tom Northcott (1971)  /  Gary Holton & Casino Steel (1982)  /  "Colleidascope" by The Dukes of Stratosphear (1987)  /  Maurizio Vandelli (1989)  /  Russ Abbot (1990)  /  "Verhotkin veit" by Pate Mustajärvi (1995)  /  Gotthard (1999)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  The Wonder Stuff (2012)  /  Roy Wood (2016)  /  Cheap Trick (2017)  /  Shaun Murray (2019)

On This Day  :

2 February : Boris Karloff, actor, dies of pneumonia at 81
2 February : Giovanni Martinelli, opera singer, dies at 83
3 February : Eduardo C Mondlane, president of Mozambique, murdered
3 February : "Canterbury Tales" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 122 performances
3 February : Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill announces the dissolution of the Stormont parliament and the holding of new elections
4 February : The Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO
5 February : Michael Sheen, actor, born Michael Christopher Sheen in Newport, Wales
5 February : US population reaches 200 million - the randy gets!
5 February : Bobby Brown, singer, born Robert Barisford Brown in Boston, Massachusetts
5 February : Thelma Ritter, actress, dies age 66
6 February : Anguilla votes overwhelmingly for independence from the United Kingdom and the creation of a republic.
6 February : Jerry Herman's "Dear World" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 132 performances
7 February : The highest gust of wind in British history took place at Kirkwall, at Scotland's Orkney Isles on the North Sea, with a wind burst measured at 136 miles per hour
8 February : Last fortnightly edition of the Saturday Evening Post published
8 February : Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, Mexico

Extra! Extra!  Read all about it! :

                                     

[DrGreggles]

Wonderful song

[The Culture Bunker]

In the wasted corners of my memory, I remember a poster on some other forum who'd dismiss the Move because the drummer was a raving Tory, and I did wonder if he'd gotten mixed up between Bev Bevan and Bob "The Cat" Bevan.

[daf]

Think it probably was Bev!

(Check out the Bonus 'Colour me Pop' promo - he holds the drumsticks really weirdly too - like a pair of extra-long cigarettes!)

[Captain Z]

Another one for the big book of Noel Gallagher inspirations

(Importance Of Being Idle, 1:48-2:06)

[bigfatheart]

Ending a lengthy, self-imposed lurk to say that Blackberry Way is my favourite number one, the Move were bloody great, and even if he's a bit of a miserable right-wing sod now, Roy Wood was one of the greatest songwriters of a generation absolutely stuffed with great songwriters.

(Right, better copy the above and paste (with a couple of alterations) when See My Baby Jive comes up)

[kalowski]

Would always think of this when I lived in Burnage as there was a road (well, still is) I would cycle past called Whimberry Way.

[daf]

Let Us Play, it's . . .

266.  Amen Corner - (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice



From : 9 – 22 February 1969
Weeks : 2
Flip side : Hey Hey Girl
Bonus 1 : Beat Club
Bonus 2 : Promo film

The Story So Far : 

Amen Corner were formed in late 1966 in Cardiff, Wales, by Andy Fairweather Low (vocals)  /  Neil Jones (guitar)  /  Allan Jones (saxophone)  /  Derek 'Blue' Weaver (keyboards)  /  Mike Smith (tenor saxophone)  /  Clive Taylor (bass, backing vocals)  /  and Dennis Bryon (drums, backing vocals)

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Andrew Fairweather Low was born in Ystrad Mynach, Wales, and was inspired to take up a career in music following a Rolling Stones concert.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “I got persuaded to go and see The Rolling Stones on a package bill in Cardiff by one of my school friends and that was it. It was 28 February, 1964, and the only reason I know that is because I am working with Bill Wyman a lot and he keeps a record of everything. It started off with Chuck Berry’s I’m Talking About You – It made a big impact. That was one of those life-changing moments. It got to me – like a virus!”

To pursue his pop dreams, Fairweather Low desperately wanted a guitar.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “My parents had sort of looked around to get one. We lived on a council estate and the person who was in charge of all the Christmas presents for the people in our street, and maybe the next three streets, ran off with the money – so I never got that. And that would have been a big year. I could have been a contender if I’d had it that year!”

     

He ended up getting a Saturday job at the Barratts of Manchester music shop in Cardiff, hired by fellow Welsh musician Dave Edmunds - who worked at the store.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “It was there that I first picked up a guitar. I just couldn’t stop. It was like a candy store. I got to play and borrow loads of different guitars. Thankfully, there were no computers like today, where kids just use them for games. Well, my computer was the guitar – I was really focused on that. When I started, I got myself a Höfner Verithin, although the Futurama was the one I wanted. That was going to be acquired when the money came in! Anyway, I had the Verithin and I auditioned for this band called the Taff Beats – we all lived in the Taff valley. The guitarist, Walter Morris, had a Bird amplifier and we all plugged in to that and it wasn’t long before I was the lead guitar player.”

In 1965, he left The Taff Beats, and joined another local band - The Sect Maniacs.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “I had a fantastic white Stratocaster that I put through a Vox AC30 amp with a treble booster, which boosted the treble to a height where you could cut through corrugated iron! The only problem was that this booster stood four inches into the air, and inevitably it eventually got snapped off. But they were fabulous valve amplifiers – I just loved that natural sound, and I would take it to the point where it was nearly breaking.” Sadly, the white Strat got stolen: “That was a very sad day. Nicked out of the back of the van outside the roadie’s house. Thankfully, I was able to replace it with another borrowed Strat from Barratts.”

Clive Taylor : "On Saturdays Barrett's was a great hang out for the local bands to exchange war stories and play instruments, It also became a recruitment centre for Andy to throw his net to catch his new band. He had a vision. A band playing American black music in a Welsh soul way."

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

By late 1965, Fairweather Low had moved on again, this time to Amen Corner. The band was named after 'The Amen Corner', a weekly disco at the Victoria Ballroom (later to become The Scene Club) in Cardiff, Wales, where every Sunday night Dr. Rock would play soul music from the United States.

Clive Taylor : "[Myself] and Neil Jones from "The Dekkas" eagerly jumped in. Next recruit was Dennis Bryon from "Brother John and the Witnesses", Alan Jones from Newport band "Five In Hand". Derek "Blue" Weaver also from Brother John defected and joined the band. We needed another sax player to complete Andy’s vision. We did get a student who played trumpet and did our first rehearsal with him he was good but could not make the commitment. Then we went on a mission. Enter Malcolm Davis, (tenor sax) from Caerphilly. He had the sound. Band complete. We needed a place to rehearse. A rugby club in Cowbridge, with a clubhouse, became our rehearsal base. We met with Mister Adams, the club manager who graciously gave us the keys and said, "Go for it, lads!" We promised to do a gig in return at no charge for the rugby club. We rehearsed 4 or 5 times a week at the rugby club squeezing the band and equipment into Dennis’s mini and Alan’s Dads Morris... a tight fit."

Andrew Fairweather Low : “We didn’t spend too much time in Cardiff. Funnily enough, we got offered a gig in Bournemouth at the Winter Gardens, and one of the bands that was on the bill, The Lonely Ones, recommended us to their agency. And their agency then phoned up and said, ‘If you come up we can give you this amount of work’. They had some dancehalls that they used to run, and we played them, and from that moment on it was, ‘Right, well you need to move to London’.”

Clive Taylor : "We bought an ambulance which would be our home, sharing Ritz crackers carefully counted and shared, Sleeping in the van was OK, apart from smelly feet of which there were many. An oasis, the Madison hotel in Paddington, became our second home, when we could afford it. We would sleep three or four to a room, but compared to the van, it was luxury. The Madison was a whole scene. Bands from all over seemed to end up there. The backing band for "The Flower Pot Men", later to become "Ten Years After", and many more. We did a gig in Bournemouth supporting "The Lonely Ones". They told their manager, Ron King (Galaxy Entertainments) that he should take a listen to us. We did a gig for him in Romford, Essex, and brought the house down. We then signed a management contract with Ron."

   

Andrew Fairweather Low : “So we all moved into The Madison, a hotel in Sussex Gardens. Seven of us in a room down in the basement. There was so much work around the UK, but there weren’t enough bands to fill it, ’cos you could do, certainly at the weekends, three gigs in a night. You see, there were all-nighters then. Not many, but enough. Nottingham, Derby and certainly London as well… so you could do a Mayfair, then flip over to a Top Rank and then find yourself at 12.30am humping your gear down some narrow staircase to do an all-nighter. We had a residency at The Speakeasy. We also played Blazes, but we never played The Bag O’ Nails or The Flamingo. I went to The Flamingo in 1966 and saw John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. My first sighting of Eric Clapton with the sideboards and the Les Paul. Fabulously exciting moments.”

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In July 1967, they released their first single, "Gin House Blues" (b/w "I Know") - which reached #12 in the UK chart in August 1967.

       

Clive Taylor : "We did a gig for a debutante’s ball at a posh hotel in Mayfair. There was so much fine food there we all stuffed ourselves, and took a whole lot of leftovers stashed in Dennis’s drum cases. Our next break came at "Tiles Club" in Oxford Street. A Producer, Noel Walker, from Decca was in the audience. He saw Andy falling to his knees singing "Gin House Blues", contacted Ron King and we had a record deal with Deram. Things started to move very fast. We went into Decca studios in Hampstead and cut our first professional record. Bill Price was the recording engineer, later to become a recording engineer icon. The studio was very cold looking with fluorescent lights. The console had big Bakelite knobs and no faders. We did "Gin House" in a couple of takes. The recordings were done on a 4-track analogue Ampex tape machine. In those days the track had to be laid down in one take, and if someone made a mistake it would be take 2. Overdubs were perhaps a vocal overdub or solo. The skill of recording in those days was to get the track sounding as it would on the record during recording, as there was no mixing process. The B-side of the record was hastily prepared in the studio "Satisnek the Jobs Worth". Title inspired by a packet of Kensitas cigarettes sitting on the piano (spelled backwards) and an experience with a bloke early that day. "Can’t do that more than my jobs worth"."

     

Initially the group specialised in a blues and jazz-oriented style, but were steered by their record label, Deram [Decca's subsidiary label], towards a more commercial sound.

 

Their second single, "The World Of Broken Hearts" (b/w "Nema"), also charted - reaching #24 in October 1967.

   

Their third single, a cover of "Bend Me Shape Me" (b/w "Satisnek The Job's Worth") - which had been a recent US Top 5 hit by The American Breed) - peaked at #3 in January 1968.

   

Clive Taylor : "We were given a demo of "Bend Me Shape Me", a song by American songwriter Scott English. US band the American Breed just released it in USA. Andy wanted to do more of an R&B version, which we did. We cut it and were all very excited. We split and went back on the road."

   

Andrew Fairweather Low : “I remember we used to do a lot of BBC radio and there was The Joe Loss Pop Show that would be on kind of a lunchtime, and I would be on with the band Amen Corner and play Bend Me Shape Me or whatever it was. The next week, the Joe Loss band would play the number without me or the band being there and they would always have a woman to sing. Whichever Amen Corner song they did, a woman would sing it – never a man. I’ve learnt to live with that now… I’m in good shape with the voice and I’m managing a little better since I gave up smoking in 1971.”

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In 1968 they released their first album 'Round Amen Corner'.

   

Clive Taylor : "We started doing our first album, "Round Amen Corner". It was a mish-mash of stuff, some of what we wanted to do and other things that were thrown into our laps by our producer. The good thing was the we were on the cutting edge of music change. The Moody Blues were in the next studio recording Knights in White Satin. We came in and had a listen and were blown away. They were using a Mellotron; a tape loop based system, the predecessor synthesizer. To add to all this Noel Walker brought us a tape of Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, not yet released. We were gob stopped and went home. Malcolm, the youngest band member, decided he was going back to Wales to go back to school. We needed to find a new tenor sax player. Mike Smith played in a band from Llanelli, came to see us in London and joined the band."

 

Though the band was having chart success, they made most of their money playing live.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “Amen Corner was on the road… that’s how we lived. We got money from our gigs and that paid our bills. But we got none of the royalties. What we got out of it was that we became successful and we loved it. I remember being in The Bag O’ Nails one night after a gig and bumping into John Lennon. We toured with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, The Nice, you know? We were on the same bill. One night at The Speakeasy, Jimi got up and played bass with us. He wanted to play I Can’t Turn Me Loose, so he took the bass over and we played it. Another time, at about 2.30 in the morning, he asked if he could play guitar… so he got up and played the guitar. You know, it’s funny, because I tell it like I’m telling a lie, but these things did happen. It was Amen Corner for goodness sake – it’s like ridiculous. And I’m in New York and I get a call from the guy who was semi-managing us at the time, and he knew Jimi and he knew Mike Jeffries, etc… and I get asked to go down and sing on a re-cut that Jimi was doing of Stone Free in the studio. I went down there and lo and behold Roger Chapman [Family] was there as well, so both of us were in there – two distinct voices, can I say? So we were both singing backing vocals on a re-cut of Stone Free and it was really good.”

   

Following their fourth single, "High In The Sky" (b/w "Run, Run, Run") - which reached #6 in August 1968, Amen Corner left Deram and joined the Immediate label.

   

They were instantly rewarded with a No. 1, "(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice", in February 1969.

   

A version of the single, along with their other hits, was included on the album, 'The National Welsh Coast Live Explosion Company' - recorded live in concert in early 1969 during their stay at the top of the chart.

   

Released by Immediate, it reached #19 in the album chart, and included covers of ''MacArthur Park" and "Penny Lane".

   

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next single, "Hello Susie" (b/w "Evil Man's Gonna Win"), was written by The Move main-man Roy Wood, and reached #4 in July 1969.

   

But things weren’t going so well with the band’s management . . .

Andrew Fairweather Low : “Our contract for the management, agency and recording was all on one bit of paper. Ron had sold us to Don, and Don sold us to Andrew Alden and now Andrew Alden was going into liquidation… and of course they took everything financially from it that they could. So Amen Corner would get passed on to EMI or whoever would buy it.”

The band appeared as themselves in the 1969 horror film, 'Scream and Scream Again', singing the film's theme song.

 

After recording a final studio album, 'Farewell to the Real Magnificent Seven', and a cover version of the Beatles' "Get Back" which failed to chart, the band disbanded at the end of 1969.

   

Andrew Fairweather Low : “Our way of getting out of this final piece of paper that had been passed round all these people was to finish Amen Corner. And I’m there thinking, ‘I’m not enjoying this at all… I don’t like these people and I don’t like what’s going on’. So we decided to keep the rhythm section together and we did a deal with RCA. And out of that deal, we managed to pay off the £15,000 that we owed to our landlord, and everyone else that we owed money to as well. So there you have it. And that was the day we started out with Fairweather.”

   

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

While saxophone player Allan Jones went on to form Judas Jump . . .

   

Fairweather Low's new band, the enigmatically titled Fair Weather, featured most of the rest of Amen Corner, including : Dennis Byron, Blue Weaver, Clive Taylor and Neil Jones.

   

Clive Taylor : "The publicists for Amen Corner, Chris Williams and Keith Altham, became our managers. We leased a wonderful home in Elstree, just outside of London. It was a Norwegian Barn that had been shipped and rebuilt on the grounds of the Edgewarebury Country Club in the nineteen forties. Previously, Sophia Loren resided there while doing a movie at Elstree Studios. This is where she lost a priceless magnificent diamond. Needless to say in quiet moments, members of the band, in various states of sobriety, did actually try to find the rock. Indeed a wonderful residence, antique furniture, Dresden china, tennis court. A fine spot. We converted the huge loft into a rehearsal space. Dennis’ pre-band skills as an electrician played a big part in making it come together. A lot of good times happened there."



The band scored a UK Top 6 hit with "Natural Sinner" (b/w "Haven't I Tried (To Be A Good Man)") in July 1970.

Clive Taylor : "Dave Edmunds came up from Wales with a tape he had just made at Rockfield Studios "I Hear You Knocking", which we all loved and knew that it was a monster. The song was a #1 hit in November 1970. In July 1970 Fairweather’s first and only hit "Natural Sinner" reached #6 in the charts."

Further singles were released in Germany including "Tutti Frutti" (b/w "Road To Freedom") in February 1971, "Lay It On Me" (b/w "Looking For Red Lable Part II") in June 1971, and "Poor Man's Bum-A-Run" (b/w "Don't Mess With Cupid") in July 1972.

     

They released two albums : 'Beginning From An End' and 'Let Your Mind Roll On' which was only released in Germany.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “We were trucking round the country and there were five of us in the band and we had a Hammond organ. This was a big bone of contention. It takes four people to carry a Hammond, so one of us would get a day off! And we’re talking three flights of iron staircases to get into a club at the top of a building above a cinema. It wasn’t really working out and after one of the gigs I said, ‘Can you just drop me at Paddington? I’m going home ’cos I’ve had enough of this. I went back to Cardiff, and that must have been something like 1971/72 – and I’ve been here ever since!”

Both failed to chart, and after twelve months Fairweather Low left to pursue a solo career.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “Then I got an audition offered to me by CBS, ’cos I’d been talking to various people and they said, ‘Have a word with so-and-so’, and so-and-so said, ‘Come up to Whitfield Street, we’ll record a few songs, then we’ll see how we go’. So I recorded a few songs thinking, ‘This could be it’. I wasn’t really bothered about auditioning for anybody or anything… Well, apparently I passed the audition and the guy left the record company. And I thought, ‘This is just sh…’ and, ‘What am I going to do now?’.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In 1974, he released his first solo album 'Spider Jiving', which featured the single 'Reggae Tune' which peaked at #10 in the UK in September 1974.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “Next thing I know is that I get a call from the guy who had left CBS, and he’d gone to A&M. And he recommended me to A&M and I got a deal with A&M. That was 1974 and the start of my three albums with A&M. For the first album, Spider Jiving, I went to San Francisco for three happy months, but it only took 12 days to record from beginning to end. We ended up doing nine days of recording the backing tracks in San Francisco and then three days in Nashville with some fabulous musicians, including The Memphis Horns, who had played with Otis.”

   

For Fairweather Low’s second album, 'La Booga Rooga', he worked with producer Glyn Johns.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “We got on immediately. In fact, of all the people that I’ve worked with, he is responsible for most of what I have ended up doing. That meeting and that album were phenomenal.””

The album spawned the single 'Wide Eyed And Legless' - which was a Top 6 hit in December 1975.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “I love that song and I do it now with our four-piece band, The Low Riders; I play acoustic guitar and Nick, our sax player, takes some gorgeous solos.”

 

In 1976, his third solo album, 'Be Bop ’n’ Holla' was released into a turbulent musical scene - his record company A&M had briefly signed The Sex Pistols, and many old bands were finding their career had gone down the dumper overnight.

Andrew Fairweather Low : “It was just the end of a type of music that I was playing. That album came out and there was me no more!”

     

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the late 1970s and 1980s he worked for numerous artists as a session musician, performing as a backing vocalist and guitarist on albums by Roy Wood, Leo Sayer, Albion Band, Gerry Rafferty, and Richard and Linda Thompson, and sang backing vocals on the 1978 album Who Are You by The Who. He has worked with Roger Waters since 'The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking' tour of America in 1985, and contributed to two of Waters' albums – Radio KAOS in 1987 and Amused to Death in 1992, and played guitar and bass on Roger Waters' 'The Wall – Live in Berlin' in July 1990.

In 2006 Fairweather Low released 'Sweet Soulful Music', his first solo album in twenty-six years. The song "Hymn for My Soul" became the title track of Joe Cocker's 2007 album. In 2011, Fairweather Low made a guest appearance on Kate Bush's album 50 Words For Snow, singing on the chorus of the album's only single, "Wild Man".

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Following Amen Corner and Fair Weather, Blue Weaver replaced Rick Wakeman in Strawbs when he left to join Yes. Weaver was with the Strawbs during their most successful and critically acclaimed period where he played some notable mellotron and other keyboard sequences on their albums 'Grave New World' and 'Bursting at the Seams'.

He left Strawbs in 1973, and toured with Mott the Hoople in the US tour. He also played behind the Bee Gees at the suggestion of his former Amen Corner colleague drummer Dennis Bryon, who had joined their backing band a year earlier during their successful 1975-79 period, taking in such highlights as "Jive Talkin'", "You Should Be Dancing" and the band's famous contributions on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

The Single :

"(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" was originally written in 1968 by the Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti as "Il paradiso della vita" for La Ragazza 77. The song was translated into English by Jack Fishman, and recorded by Amen Corner as their debut single for their new record label, Immediate Records, produced by Shel Talmy.



There are two differing versions of the song by Amen Corner; one with orchestra and a prominent horn through the middle eight, and one version without either. However, the basic track and vocals appear the same in both.

Clive Taylor : "We were touring so much our chops were in. We did it in one take, which was the record. We did another take just in case. All felt good and went home."

   

The most successful of the band's six hit singles, it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in February 1969, and number 34 when it was reissued in 1976.

 

Other Versions include :  "Il paradiso" by Patty Pravo (1969)  /  "Vakantiedromen" by Samantha (1969)  /   Rosetta Stone (1978)  /  Bernie Winters & The Bernie Winter's Band ft. Cheryl Baker (1987)  /  Aztec Camera with Andy Fairweather-Low (1992)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /   Noise Reaction (2014)  /  vallelectro (2014)  /  Johnny Nana (2019)  /  The Debutantes (2019)

On This Day  :

9 February : 1st flight of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet
9 February : Gabby Hayes, actor, dies at 83
11 February : Jennifer Aniston, actress, born Jennifer Joanna Aniston in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles
17 February : Golda Meir sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Israel
19 February : Eleven children and five women were massacred by a group of United States Marines at Son Thang, a small village in South Vietnam's Quang Nam Province.
21 February : James Dean Bradfield, musician (Manic Street Preachers), born in Pontypool, Wales
21 February : A volcanic eruption began on Deception Island, the site of Antarctic research stations established by both the United Kingdom and by Chile.
22 February : Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer, born in Vienna, Austria

Extra! Extra!  Read all about it! :

                             

[Satchmo Distel]

This was one of two No. 1s turned down by The Tremeloes:

The song was translated into English by Jack Fishman in 1969. He first offered it to The Tremeloes as a potential single, but they turned it down. "Amen Corner" was the second port of call, and they agreed to record the tune as their debut single for their new record label. The Welsh band worked out an arrangement with their new producer Shel Talmy and recorded the song within two hours.

The second one will be when we do 1970.

[famethrowa]

Wasn't there some long-running correspondence in the Viz letters page regarding the grammatical difficulties of the song? Blue Weaver got involved, but not the real one?

[daf]

I haven't seen a Viz since 1989 I think, but it sounds plausible.

'Blue Weaver' always sounded so exotic to me - his name would often crop up in documentaries about the Bee Gees disco period (and me assuming he was some L.A. session guy).

So it's oddly pleasing to discover he's just some Welsh spod called Derek - there's hope for us all!

[Small Potatoes]

His Wikipedia image is somewhat disturbing. It seems like he's shooting fire out of his eyes. (And I quite like that it's dated to a specific day).

[daf]

Just for fun, for a laugh, Ah-ha-ha-ha, it's . . .

267.  Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)



From : 23 February – 22 March 1969
Weeks : 4
Flip side : Morning Mountain [not on youtube!]
Bonus 1 : Simon Dee
Bonus 2 : Live TV Performance

The Story So Far : 

Peter Eardley Sarstedt was born in New Delhi in 1941 as one of six siblings, to Albert and Coral Sarstedt, who were civil servants in the British administration. Both of his parents had trained as classical musicians. He attended Victoria Boys' School, a boarding school in Kurseong in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, where his parents worked at a tea plantation. Sarstedt later moved to Calcutta; seven years after Indian independence from Britain, the family moved to England in 1954, settling in south London just before the rock 'n' roll boom, and the Sarstedt brothers started out performing skiffle. in a group known as the Fabulous Five.

He was the brother of musicians Richard Graham Sarstedt, who as Eden Kane topped the UK Singles Chart in 1961 with "Well I Ask You", and Clive Robin Sarstedt, who made his recording debut as "Wes Sands" with a record produced by oddball genius Joe Meek. He continued as "Clive Sands", and finally as Robin Sarstedt -  and had a hit in 1976 with the Hoagy Carmichael cover "My Resistance Is Low".

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As Peter Lincoln, his first single, "In The Day Of My Youth" (b/w "My Monkey Is A Junkie"), was released in June 1967 on the Major Minor label. By January 1968 he had signed with Island records and released the single "I Must Go On" (b/w "Mary Jane"). In September 1968, now with United Artists, he released "I Am A Cathedral" (b/w "Blagged!"), which, again, failed to trouble the charts.

 

Finally, in February 1969 he landed a hit single when "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" topped the chart for a month.

 

Peter Sarstedt : "I scrawled out the words when I was busking in Copenhagen in 1966...it was just a stream of images and famous names, a generic concoction that came out of all the European girls I'd known. Remember, there was a whole new breed of young women celebrities back then...female folk singers, film stars, fashion models. It was all fresh and very novel. And the name of the girl, Marie-Claire, well that just came from the ultra-fashionable French women's magazine of that name. Simple as that. I did get a kick out of it though when the top French singing star Sacha Distel contacted me to say he was thrilled to be named in my song! He was a gentleman."

 

Peter Sarstedt : "Back then it was fashionable to be casual, pretending you had no money and I knew a lot of wealthy girls that would play that game. To an extent I was doing it myself...I was busking because I liked it."

Released in 1969, his debut album, the mysteriously titled 'Peter Sarstedt', reached number eight on the British charts . . .

 

. . . and his follow-up single, "Frozen Orange Juice" (b/w "Aretusa Loser"), peaked at number 10 in June 1969.

   

Sarstedt married dentist Anita Atke in 1969 and moved to Denmark. The couple divorced five years later.

     

A second album, 'As Though It Were a Movie' swiftly followed, but failed to chart.

   

The title track, "As Though It Were A Movie", was released as a single in October 1969, and featured "Take Off Your Clothes" on the flip-side. The song was banned by the BBC after the soppy sods played it without checking the saucy lyrics first!

     

Further flops included : "Without Darkness (There's No Light)" (b/w "Step Into The Candlelight") in February 1970  /  "You're A Lady" (b/w "Useless") in October 1971  /  and the title track of his 1971 third album, "Every Word You Say" (b/w "What Makes One Man Feel") in April 1972.

   

In 1973, the three brothers joined forces, and released the album 'World's Apart Together'.




- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jumping ship to Warner Brothers, he released the title track of his album "Tall Tree", (b/w "Mellowed Out"), as a single in June 1975.

   

By 1978 he had signed with Ariola Hansa, and released "Beirut" (b/w "Hollywood Sign") in June 1978, followed by "You'll Never Be Alone Again" (b/w "Waitress In The Whisky") in December 1978,

   

"Mulberry Dawn" (b/w "I Am No Longer"), taken from the album 'Ps...', vanished like breath from a knife in March 1979, and was followed by "The Far Pavillions" in September 1979.

 

His first single of the 1980's, "English Girls" (b/w "Southern Belle') was released on the short-lived 'The Songwriters Workshop' label.

Described as being from the forthcoming television film based on the 'Life and Songs of Peter Sarstedt', "(Build A Brand New) Love Among The Ruins" (b/w "Don Quixote") was released on Peach River in October 1982.



"Other People's Lives" was released in August 1984, followed by "Hemingway" (b/w "Don Quixote") in April 1986  . . .



. . . and "Suzanne" (b/w "Stress" in October 1987 - which featured on his album 'Never Say Goodbye'

 

In the 1980s and 1990s, having returned to England after several years residing in Denmark, Sarstedt toured the UK as part of the "Solid Silver '60s" package tours. In 1997 he released the album 'England's Lane', and in 2007 an album of new material called 'On Song'.

 

Sarstedt's final album, released in 2013, was titled 'Restless Heart'. It was produced by Ray Singer and the single and accompanying video "Valentine" directed and produced by Lara Singer, was released on Singer Records.

Peter Sarstedt died on 8 January 2017 at the age of 75.

The Single :

"Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" was written by Peter Sarstedt, and produced by Ray Singer.  Described as "a faux European waltz tune", the arranger and conductor was Ian Green.



The song is about a fictional girl named Marie-Claire who grows up on the poverty-stricken backstreets of Naples, becomes a member of the jet set, and goes on to live in Paris. The lyrics describe her from the perspective of a childhood friend; it is left unclear whether they have remained close. The rhetorical question of the title suggests that her glamorous lifestyle might not have brought Marie-Claire happiness or contentment.

Even though Sarstedt himself was not French, the song benefited from the contemporary awareness in Britain of such French and Belgian singers as Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel. The lyrics contain a large number of contemporary and other references including : Zizi Jeanmaire [French ballerina]  / Pierre Balmain [French designer of elegant fashions]  /  Sorbonne [University of Paris]  /  Juan-les-Pins [fashionable beach resort on the French Riviera]  /  Topless swimsuit: [designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964]  /  Saint Moritz [fashionable ski resort in the Swiss Alps]  /  Aga Khan [Islamic leader and racehorse owner] 

One theory says that the song is about the Italian actress Sophia Loren, who was abandoned by her father and had a poverty-stricken life in Naples. Another theory has the song being inspired by Danish singer and actress Nina van Pallandt.

Peter Sarstedt : "The song wasn't based on anyone in particular. Not Sophia Loren as many have suggested, nor Nina Van Pallandt of singing duo Nina and Frederik...I never met either of them. And not really my then girlfriend and later my ex-wife Anita Atke who was a Danish medical student back then - though Anita sometimes liked to suggest the song was about her. The mundane truth is the song was just a bit of musical fiction and somehow the addition of an accordion by the producer helped convince people it was 'real' - but it wasn't."

It was a number-one 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in 1969, and was awarded the 1970 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In the United States, the record peaked at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written in Copenhagen, and the album version is longer than the single, having a couple of extra stanzas.

John Peel : "It's a terrible, smug, self-satisfied, hideous record. Really have hated it ever since I first heard it."

   

In 1997 Sarstedt recorded a sequel, "The Last of the Breed" on his album 'England's Lane'. This picks up the story of Marie Claire 20 years on, living now in London. It names more people and places, including  : Belgravia  / Ballets Russes  /  Cape Town /  Claridge's  / Gstaad  /  John Galliano  /  Harrods  /  Rudolf Nureyev  and Isabella Rossellini.

Sarstedt and a co-writer were working on a further sequel, "Farewell Marie-Claire" in which the story was brought to a conclusion. The song was to feature the same waltz feel as the original. But Sarstedt's retirement from the music industry meant that the track was abandoned.

Peter Sarstedt : "I was never a millionaire. EMI made the millions from my song. They owned the rights which later passed to Sony/ATV Publishing. And they decide when and where my song can be used. They guard it jealously. The song has featured in a few films - like 'The Darjeeling Limited' in 2007. But I never made a fortune from it so I never caught up with Marie-Claire and her jet-set friends. I have enjoyed a gentle country lifestyle, though - so no complaints. I've also continued to perform the song live which I have always enjoyed doing."

Other Versions include :  "Waar wil je heen gaan, m'n liefste" by Armand (1969)  /  "Kuningatar" by Hector (1969)  /  "Si hva du tenker, min kjære" by Inger Lise Andersen (1969)  /  "Saknar du något min kära" by Hootenanny Singers (1969)  /  "Kdo vchází do tvých snů má lásko" by Václav Neckář - Bacily (1972)  /  Roy Bulkin (1981)  /  Welfare Heroine (1992)  /  Right Said Fred (2005)  /  Ken Middleton (2009)  /  Nathan Carter (2011)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  The Ocelots (2015)  /  The Divine Comedy (2017)  /  Andrew Liles : Colossus part 1 (2018)  /  a robot (2019)

On This Day  :

23 February : "Civilisation" presented by art historian Kenneth Clark premieres on BBC2 in the UK
24 February : Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby to study planet's atmosphere
24 February : "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" film based on novel by Muriel Spark premieres in London
25 February : West Germany gives $5 million to an Arab terrorist as ransom for the passengers and crew of a hijacked jumbo jet
27 February : President Nixon visits West Berlin
1 March : "Red, White, & Maddox" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 41 performances
1 March : Jim Morrison gets his block and tackle out on stage in Miami, Florida - the sex-mad oaf!
1 March : Javier Bardem, Spanish film actor, born Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem in Madrid
1 March : Dafydd Ieuan, drummer (Super Furry Animals), born in Bangor, North Wales
2 March : 1st test flight of the supersonic Concorde
3 March : Apollo 9 launched in to Earth's orbit
4 March : East End scumbag villains Ronnie and Reggie Kray are found guilty of murder.
5 March : Joe Orton's "What the Butler Saw" premieres in London
10 March : James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
11 March : John Wyndham, English sci-fi author, dies at 65
12 March : Graham Coxon, guitarist (Blur), born Graham Leslie Coxon in Rinteln, West Germany
12 March : Paul McCartney marries Linda Louise Eastman in London
13 March : After 10 days and 151 orbits, Apollo 9 returns to Earth
15 March : Miles Malleson, English actor, dies at 80
17 March : Alexander McQueen, fashion designer, born Lee Alexander McQueen in Stratford, London
18 March : "Come Summer" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC
19 March : British invade Anguilla
19 March : Gary Jules, singer/songwriter, born Gary Jules Aguirre Jr. in Fresno, California,
20 March : Eating chocolate cake in a bag, John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar near Spain
22 March : "Come Summer" closes at after 7 performances
22 March : "Billy" opens & closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 1 performance

Extra! Extra!  Read all about it! :

     

[DrGreggles]

One of the best (and most deserving) Chart Music coat-downs.

[famethrowa]

One of the best (and most deserving) Chart Music coat-downs.

I enjoyed Al describing "Frozen Orange Juice" as "Shakin' Cat Stevens"

And particularly Taylor ruefully saying "the week this was number one, Scott 4 came out and died on its ARSE!"

[Captain Z]

I know it isn't the song, but anytime I see it written down I hear the No Mercy track instead.

[daf]

Sing if you're a lad who's called Gaye, it's . . .

268.  Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine



From : 23 March – 12 April 1969
Weeks : 3
Flip side : Need Somebody
Bonus 1 : Live TV Performance 1969
Bonus 2 : Live in Montreux 1980

The Story So Far : 

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., to church minister Marvin Gay Sr. and domestic worker Alberta Cooper. His home life consisted of "brutal whippings" by his father, who struck him for any shortcoming. Marvin described living in his father's house as similar to "...living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all powerful king.".

Marvin started singing in church when he was four years old; his father often accompanied him on piano. At Cardozo High School, Marvin joined several doo-wop vocal groups, including The Dippers and the D.C. Tones. In 1956, 17-year-old Gay dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force as a basic airman. Disappointed in having to perform menial tasks, he faked mental illness and was discharged shortly afterwards.

Following his return, Gay and his friend Reese Palmer formed the vocal quartet The Marquees. Signed to Chess records, the group's sole single, "Wyatt Earp" (co-written by Bo Diddley), failed to chart and the group was soon dropped from the label.

Moonglows co-founder Harvey Fuqua later hired The Marquees as employees. Under Fuqua's direction, the group changed its name to Harvey and the New Moonglows, and relocated to Chicago. In 1960, the group disbanded, and Gay relocated to Detroit with Fuqua where he signed with Tri-Phi Records as a session musician, playing drums on several releases. Marvin performed at Motown president Berry Gordy's house during the holiday season in December 1960. Impressed by the singer, shortly afterwards, Gay signed with Motown subsidiary Tamla.

 

Before the release of his first single, Gay changed the spelling of his surname by adding an 'e'. "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" was released in May 1961, with the album 'The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye', following a month later. Gaye's initial recordings failed commercially and he spent most of 1961 performing session work as a drummer. In 1962, Gaye found success as co-writer of the Marvelettes hit, "Beechwood 4-5789", on which he also played drums.

 

His first solo hit, "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" (b/w "It Hurt Me Too") was later released that September, reaching No. 8 on the R&B chart and No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gaye first reached the pop top 40 with the dance song, "Hitch Hike", peaking at No. 30 on the Hot 100. "Pride And Joy" (b/w "One Of These Days") - became Gaye's first US top ten single after its release in July 1963. The three singles and songs from the 1962 sessions were included on Gaye's second album, 'That Stubborn Kinda Fellow' released on Tamla in January 1963.

Starting in October 1962, Gaye performed as part of the Motortown Revue, a series of concert tours headlined at the north and southeastern coasts of the United States as part of the chitlin' circuit, a series of rock shows performed at venues that welcomed predominantly black musicians. A filmed performance of Gaye at the Apollo Theater took place in June 1963. Later that October, Tamla issued the live album, Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage, followed by the single "Can I Get A Witness" (b/w "I'm Crazy 'bout My Baby") in November 1963 , which reached #22 on the US charts.

   

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Following the April 1964 flop single "You're A Wonderful One", (b/w "When I'm Alone I Cry"), Gaye released a successful duet album with singer Mary Wells titled 'Together', which reached No. 42 on the pop album chart . . .

     

. . .  and "Once Upon A Time", (b/w "What's The Matter With You Baby", reached the Top 20 in the US, and finally got him into the UK charts - peaking at #50 in July 1964.

 

Back on his own, "Try It Baby" (b/w "If My Heart Could Sing"), missed the charts in August 1964, but his next single, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (b/w "Forever") - reached the Top 6 in the US and #49 in the UK in December 1964.

   

Next up was another duet - "What Good Am I Without You" (b/w "I Want You Around") - this time with Kim Weston. Released in December 1964, it failed to chart - as did his next five singles in the UK :  "I'll Be Doggone" (b/w "You've Been A Long Time Coming") in April 1965  /  "Pretty Little Baby" (b/w "Now That You've Won Me") - in August 1965  /  "Ain't That Peculiar" (b/w "She's Got To Be Real") - in November 1965  /  "One More Heartache" (b/w "When I Had Your Love") - in March 1966  /  and "Take This Heart Of Mine" (b/w "Need Your Lovin' (Want You Back)") - in June 1966.

 

He released the album 'Take Two' with Kim Weston in 1966, and his final single of the year, "Little Darling (I Need You)" (b/w "Hey Diddle Diddle"), peaked at #50 in the UK October 1966.



Another duet with Kim Weston "It Takes Two" (b/w "It's Got To Be A Miracle (This Thing Called Love)") finally properly cracked it - reaching #16 in the UK charts in February 1967.

   

In May 1967, Tamla Motown released the six track EP 'Originals From Marvin Gaye' featuring songs previously unreleased in the UK, including : "Can I Get A Witness?"  /  "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow"  /  "Baby Don't You Do It"  /  "You're A Wonderful One"  /  "Hitch Hike"  / and "Pride And Joy".

 

Gaye then began working with Tammi Terrell on a series of duets, mostly composed by Ashford & Simpson, kicking off with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (b/w "Give A Little Love"), which despite being a Top 20 smash in the US, surprisingly failed to chart in UK in June 1967.

     

More flops followed - the solo "Your Unchanging Love" (b/w "I'll Take Care Of You") in August 1967, and another duet with Tammi Terrell - "Your Precious Love" b/w ("Hold Me Oh My Darling") in October 1967.

 

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In October 1967, Tammi Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms during a performance in Farmville, Virginia. She was rushed to Farmville's Southside Community Hospital, where doctors discovered she had a malignant tumor in her brain. The diagnosis ended Terrell's career as a live performer, though she continued to record music under careful supervision. Terrell's illness caused problems with recording, and led to multiple operations to remove the tumor. Gaye was reportedly devastated by Terrell's sickness and became disillusioned with the record business.

"If I Could Build My Whole World Around You", (b/w "If This World Were Mine"), with Terrell, peaked at #41 in January 1968, followed by the non-charting solo single "You" (b/w "Change What You Can") released in January 1968 . . .

     

. . . and a 'Greatest Hits' album the following month.

   

Another two singles with Tammi Terrel followed : "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" (b/w "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl") - which reached #34 in June 1968, and "You're All I Need To Get By" (b/w "Two Can Have A Party") - which peaked at #19 in October 1968.

     

Another solo single, "Chained" (b/w "At Last (I Found A Love)"), failed to reach the chart in November 1968. Another Terrel duet, "You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'" (b/w "Oh How I'd Miss You"), reached #21 in the UK chart in January 1969.

     

The following month he topped the UK chart with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". It also reached Number 1 in the US, selling over four million copies. However, Gaye felt the success was something he "didn't deserve" and that he "felt like a puppet – Berry's puppet, Anna's puppet...."

 

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Released in May 1969, the Tammi Terrell duet - "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy To Come By" (b/w "Satisfied Feelin'") peaked at #27 in the UK. Swiftly followed by the solo "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (b/w "Wherever I Lay My Hat") - which was a Top 5 hit in July 1969. That year, his album 'M.P.G.' became his first No. 1 album on the R&B album charts.

   

The final single released with Tami Terrel, "The Onion Song" (b/w "I Can't Believe You Love Me"), reached #9 in November 1969. The same month, his solo, "That's The Way Love Is" (b/w "Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love") failed to chart.

   

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On 16 March, 1970, Tammi Terrell died from brain cancer.

     

Gaye attended her funeral and after a period of depression, sought out a position on a professional football team, the Detroit Lions, but it was eventually decided that Gaye would not be allowed to try out owing to fears of possible injuries that could have affected his music career.

   

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In May 1970, he scored another UK Top 9 hit with "Abraham, Martin And John" (b/w "How Can I Forget").

 

On June 1, 1970, Gaye returned to Motown, where he recorded his new composition "What's Going On", inspired by an idea from Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops after he witnessed an act of police brutality at an anti-war rally in Berkeley. Upon hearing the song, Berry Gordy refused its release due to his feelings of the song being "too political" for radio and feared the singer would lose his crossover audience. Gaye responded by going on strike from releasing anything until the label released the song.

Released in 1971, it reached No. 1 on the R&B charts within a month, staying there for five weeks. It also reached the top spot on Cashbox's pop chart for a week and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and the Record World chart, selling over two million copies.  However, "What's Going On" [featuring a different mix to the album version] backed with "God Is Love", failed to chart in the UK!

   

After giving an ultimatum to record a full album to win creative control from Motown, Gaye spent ten days recording the 'What's Going On' album that March. Motown issued the album that May after Gaye remixed the album in Hollywood. The album became Gaye's first million-selling album.

"Save The Children" peaked at #41 in the UK December 1971, but subsequent singles taken from the album : "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (b/w "Sad Tomorrows") released in February 1972, and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", (b/w "Wholy Holy") in May 1972, again failed to dent the UK charts.

        

In 1971, Gaye signed a new deal with Motown worth $1 million dollars, making it the most lucrative deal by a black recording artist at the time. Gaye first responded to the new contract with the soundtrack and subsequent score, 'Trouble Man', released in late 1972. The single "Trouble Man" (b/w "Don't Mess With Mister "T"") was released in the UK in March 1973, but failed to chart.

Before the release of Trouble Man, Marvin released a single called "You're the Man". An album of the same name was planned as the follow up to 'What's Going On', but Motown refused to promote the single, according to Gaye. According to some biographies, Gordy, feared Gaye's liberal political views would alienate Motown's conservative audiences. As a result, Gaye shelved the project and substituted it for 'Trouble Man'.

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In August 1973, Gaye released the 'Let's Get It On' album. Its title track, backed by "I Wish It Would Rain" became Gaye's second US No. 1 single on the Hot 100, and peaked at #31 in the UK in September 1973. The album subsequently stayed on the charts for two years and sold over four million copies.

   

Further singles from the album included "Come Get To This" (b/w "Distant Lover") in January 1974, which recalled Gaye's early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the suggestive "You Sure Love to Ball" reached modest success on the R&B charts, while also managing to make the Pop Top 50, its success was hampered by radio refusing to play the sexually explicit song.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Marvin's final duet project, Diana & Marvin, with Diana Ross, garnered international success despite contrasting artistic styles. Much of the material was crafted especially for the duo by Ashford and Simpson.

       

While first single, "You're A Special Part Of Me" (b/w "I'm Falling In Love With You") failed to chart in November 1973, they bounced back with the UK Top 5 hit "You Are Everything" (b/w "Include Me In Your Life") in March 1974, and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" (b/w "Love Twins") - which peaked at #25 in July 1974. However, the next two Ross duets both flopped - "My Mistake (Was To Love You)", (b/w "Just Say, Just Say"), released in October 1974, and "Don't Knock My Love" in July 1975.

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Responding to demand from fans and Motown, Gaye started his first tour in four years at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum on January 4, 1974. The performance received critical acclaim and resulted in the release of the live album, 'Marvin Gaye Live!' and its single, a live version of 'Distant Lover'.



In October 1975, Gaye gave a performance at a UNESCO benefit concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to support UNESCO's African literacy drive, resulting in him being commended at the United Nations by then-Ambassador to Ghana Shirley Temple Black and Kurt Waldheim.

Gaye's next studio album, 'I Want You', followed in March 1976 with the title track becoming a No. 1 R&B hit. The album would go on to sell over one million copies. The next single, "After The Dance" (b/w "Feel All My Love Inside"), released in the UK in August 1976, failed to chart.

       

That spring, Gaye embarked on his first European tour in a decade, starting off in Belgium. In early 1977, Gaye released the live album, 'Live at the London Palladium', which sold over two million copies thanks to the success of "Got to Give It Up". Included as bonus on the end of the live double album, the 12 minute song [edited down into part 1 and part 2] became a No. 1 hit in the US, and peaked at 'lucky' number 7 in the UK in May 1977.

       

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In December 1978, Gaye released 'Here, My Dear', inspired by the fallout from his first marriage to Anna Gordy. Recorded with the intention of remitting a portion of its royalties to her as alimony payments, it performed poorly on the charts.

 

In February 1979, he tried his luck with another long two-part single - "A Funky Space Reincarnation" - but this time failed to chart. The same month, a tribute to Berry Gordy's dad - "Pops, We Love You" - performed by Motown stars Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder - reached #66 in the UK chart, while Gaye's next single, "Ego Tripping Out", flopped in November 1979.

   

During that period, Gaye's cocaine addiction intensified while he was dealing with several financial issues with the IRS. These issues led him to move to Maui, where he struggled to record a disco-influenced album titled 'Love Man', with a probable release date for February 1980, though he would later shelve the project.

In 1980 Gaye went on a European tour, his first in four years. By the time the tour stopped, the singer relocated to London when he feared imprisonment for failure to pay back taxes, which had by now spiralled up to $4.5 million dollars!!

   

Gaye then reworked Love Man from its original disco concept to another socially-conscious album invoking religion and the possible end time from a chapter in the Book of Revelation. Titling the album 'In Our Lifetime?', Gaye worked on the album for much of 1980 in London studios.

In the autumn of that year, someone stole a master tape of a rough draft of the album from one of Gaye's traveling musicians, Frank Blair, taking the master tape to Motown's Hollywood headquarters. Motown remixed the album and released it on January 15, 1981. When Gaye learned of its release, he accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, allowing the release of an unfinished production, altering the album art of his request and removing the album title's question mark, muting its irony. He also accused the label of rush-releasing the album, comparing his unfinished album to an unfinished Picasso painting. Gaye then vowed not to record any more music for Motown.

   

Two singles taken from the album were released : "Praise" (b/w "Funk Me") in February 1981, and "Heavy Love Affair" (b/w "Far Cry") in May 1981 - but neither dented the charts.

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On February 14, 1981, under the advice of music promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye relocated to Cousaert's apartment in Ostend, Belgium. While there, Gaye shied away from heavy drug use and began exercising and attending a local Ostend church, regaining personal confidence. Following several months of recovery, Gaye sought a comeback onstage, starting the short-lived 'Heavy Love Affair' tour in England and Ostend in June–July 1981.

   

When word got around that Gaye was planning a musical comeback and an exit from Motown, CBS Urban president Larkin Arnold eventually was able to convince Gaye to sign with CBS Records. On March 23, 1982, Motown and CBS negotiated Gaye's release from Motown.

Assigned to CBS's Columbia subsidiary, Gaye worked on his first post-Motown album titled 'Midnight Love'. The first single, "Sexual Healing" which was written and recorded in Ostend in his apartment, was released in September 1982, and became Gaye's biggest career hit, spending a record ten weeks at No. 1 on the 'Hot Black Singles' chart, and No. 3 on the Billboard Pop charts. Aided by a fruity video, shot at Ostend's Casino-Kursaal, nudged gently into the UK Top 4 in October 1982.

Marvin Gaye : "I don't make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don't today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time."

'Midnight Love' was released to stores less than a month after the single's release, and was equally successful, becoming Gaye's eighth No. 1 album on the 'Top Black Albums' chart, eventually selling over six million copies worldwide.

   

The follow up "My Love Is Waiting" (b/w "Rockin' After Midnight") reached #34 in January 1983, and Gaye embarked on his final concert tour, titled the 'Sexual Healing Tour', a few months later, on April 18, 1983, in San Diego.

The tour ended on August 14, 1983 at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California but was plagued by cocaine-triggered paranoia and illness. Following the concert's end, he moved into his parents' house in Los Angeles.

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In the days prior to his death, Gaye's parents had arguments mainly over a misplaced insurance policy letter. The day before his death, the arguments spread to Gaye's bedroom. Angered by his father confronting his mother, Gaye commanded Marvin Sr. to leave her alone; Marvin Sr. complied without incident and there was no violence that night, but Marvin Sr. continued yelling throughout the house.

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on 1 April 1984, an impatient Marvin Sr. shouted at his wife about the document.  Gaye, dressed in a maroon robe, shouted back downstairs, telling his father if he had something to say, he should do it in person. According to Marvin's mother, Alberta, when Marvin Sr. refused his son's request, Gaye warned him not to come to his room. Marvin Sr., however, instead charged upstairs to the bedroom to verbally attack Alberta over the document, causing Gaye to jump out of his bed and once again order his father out of the room.  When ordering did not work, Gaye, enraged, reportedly shoved his father out of the room into the hallway then began kicking and punching him.

Alberta : "Marvin hit him. I shouted for him to stop, but he paid no attention to me. He gave my husband some hard kicks."

Gaye reportedly followed his father to the bedroom and, according to his mother, continued to kick him brutally. Eventually, Alberta separated Gaye from his father and returned him to his bedroom. Minutes later, at 12:38 p.m. Marvin Sr. entered his bedroom, returning with the .38 pistol his son had earlier bought him, pointed it at Gaye and shot him directly in the heart.

Alberta : "I was standing about eight feet away from Marvin, when my husband came to the door of the bedroom with his pistol. My husband didn't say anything, he just pointed the gun at Marvin. I screamed but it was very quick. He, my husband, shot – and Marvin screamed. I tried to run. Marvin slid down to the floor after the first shot."

Afraid of being shot next, Alberta screamed and ran out of the bedroom, all the while pleading in fear to her husband not to shoot her. According to reports, Gaye's father hid the gun underneath his pillow. In the meantime, Gaye's brother Frankie and his sister-in-law, Irene, heard the shots as they lived in a guest house on the property. They heard screams from outside, rushed out, and saw Alberta who ran into Irene's arms, shouting, "He's shot Marvin. He's killed my boy."

     

Gaye was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m. after his body arrived at California Hospital Medical Center, one day short of his 45th birthday. After Gaye's funeral, his body was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park at the Hollywood Hills; his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

The Single :

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was written by Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield in 1966. Barrett Strong had the basics of a song he had started to write in Chicago, where the idea had come to him while walking down Michigan Avenue that people were always saying "I heard it through the grapevine". The phrase is associated with black slaves during the Civil War, who had their form of telegraph: the human grapevine.



Producer Norman Whitfield recorded "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" with various Motown artists. The first known recording is with The Miracles on August 6, 1966. The Miracles' version was not released as a single due to Berry Gordy's veto during Motown's weekly quality control meetings; Gordy advised Whitfield and Strong to create a stronger single.

Marvin Gaye's version was recorded over five sessions in spring 1967. The session featuring Gaye led to an argument between the producer and singer. Whitfield wanted Gaye to perform the song in a higher key than his normal range. Whitfield overdubbed Gaye's vocals with that of the Andantes' background vocals, mixing in several tracks featuring the Funk Brothers on the rhythm track, and adding the string section from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with an arrangement by Paul Riser. Gordy, the cloth-eared plum, also rejected this version as a single!

The third recording was recorded on in June 1967, with Gladys Knight and the Pips in a new arrangement, which Gordy finally accepted, and the Gladys Knight version was released as a single in September 1967. Motown put little support behind it and the Pips relied on connections with DJs across the United States to get the record played. The Pips' version of "Grapevine" reached two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was Motown's best-selling single to that point.

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Whitfield wanted Gordy to release Gaye's "Grapevine" as a single, but Gordy did not want to release another version after the Pips had already made a hit out of it. In September 1968, Whitfield added "Grapevine" to Gaye's new album 'In the Groove'. On release "Grapevine" became a radio hit and, according to Gordy himself, "The DJs played it so much off the album that we had to release it as a single". So Gaye's version was released as a single on 30 October 1968, and eventually outsold the Pips, becoming, for a time the biggest hit single on the Motown label.

     

It stayed at the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks, and stayed at number one in the United Kingdom for three weeks. The label was pleased with the success, although Gaye, depressed because of issues such as the illness of singing partner Tammi Terrell, was quoted as saying that his success "didn't seem real" and that he "didn't deserve it".

Gladys Knight was not pleased that Gaye's version usurped her own, and claimed that Gaye's version was recorded over an instrumental track Whitfield had prepared for a Pips song, an allegation Gaye denied. In 1985, one year following Gaye's death, the song was re-released in the UK reaching number eight thanks to a Levi's commercial starring Nick Kamen.

Other Versions include :   Ray Johnson (1968)  /  King Curtis (1968)  /  The Temptations (1969)  /  Trini Lopez (1969)  /  The Rustix (1969)  /  The Four Kents (1969)  /  The Chi-Lites (1969)  /  Ike & Tina Turner (1969)  /  The Electric Indian (1969)  /  Brian Bennett (1969)  /  Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)  /  Ella Fitzgerald (1971)  /  The Undisputed Truth (1971)  /  Average White Band (1976)  /  Rare Earth (1978)  /  Joe Cocker (1978)  /  The Slits (1979)  /  Martha Reeves (1981)  /  Bettye LaVette (1982)  /  The Flying Pickets (1982)  /  California Raisins (1988)  /  "Read It in the Tabloids" by Bob Rivers (1997)  /  The King (1997)  /  Toots and The Maytals (2001)  / Barbara Dickson (2001)  /  Kaiser Chiefs (2005)  /  Antonio Forcione (2007)  /  Craig David (2010)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Michael Chapdelaine (2013)  /  a robot (2019)  / 8-Bit Arcade (2020)

On This Day  :

25 March : Cathy Dennis, singer/songwriter, born Catherine Roseanne Dennis in Norwich, Norfolk
25 March : John Lennon and Yoko Ono stage their 1st bed-in for peace in Amsterdam
25 March : Billy Cotton, British bandleader and entertainer, dies at 69
26 March : Soviet weather satellite Meteor 1 launched
27 March : Mariah Carey, singer, born in Huntington, New York
28 March : Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, dies age 78[85]
29 March : 14th Eurovision Song Contest in Madris Spain :  Spain, United Kingdom [Lulu - "Boom Bang-a-Bang"], Netherlands and France all score 18 points, and share the win.
31 March : A methane gas explosion killed 153 coal miners at an underground mine at the town of Barroterán in Mexico's Coahuila state.
31 March : George Harrison & Patti Boyd are fined £250 each for illegal drugs
5 April : Massive anti-Vietnam War demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities
7 April : UCLA graduate student and computer scientist Steve Crocker wrote and circulated the very first Request for Comments (RFC 1) publication to be circulated among the Network Working Group that was developing the communication protocols for the upcoming ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet.
11 April : Cerys Matthews, singer (Catatonia), born Cerys Elizabeth Matthews in Cardiff, Wales
12 April : Wales beats England, 30-9 to clinch their 16th Five Nations Rugby Championship and 11th Triple Crown

Extra! Extra!  Read all about it! :

     

[kalowski]

One of the greatest singles ever released. This was no. 1 in Dave Marsh's 1001 great singles, The Heart Of Rock And Soul.

[DrGreggles]

One of the greatest singles ever released.

Yep. Just a perfect song.

[daf]

I'm having trouble locating the original 'slow' 1966 Miracles version - Despite several versions on Youtube claiming to be the '1966 original', they all sound identical to the 1968 album track.

I'm wondering if it was ever released - anyone heard it?

[daf]

Going through the covers, The Slits really stood out - what an amazing bass sound!

[kalowski]

I'm having trouble locating the original 'slow' 1966 Miracles version - Despite several versions on Youtube claiming to be the '1966 original', they all sound identical to the 1968 album track.

I'm wondering if it was ever released - anyone heard it?

The "rarities" version I have is up tempo.

[daf]

Cheers - I've had a re-listen to a few 1966 / 1968 versions - which, despite being identical in tempo, DO actually feature a different vocal track, so I think I just have enough time to edit the correct version in.

Here's the versions for comparison : 1966 (mono)  |  1968 (stereo LP)

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
(What confused me was Wikipedia claiming that the Gladys Knight version was a new faster arrangement, so I was assuming the original Miracles version must have been slower . . . which it clearly isn't!)

[daf]

Uh-oh - me ears are alight, it's . . .

269.  Desmond Dekker and The Aces - Israelites



From : 13 – 19 April 1969
Weeks : 1
Flip side : Beverley's All Stars - The Man
Bonus 1 : Promo film
Bonus 2 : 1980 TV performance

The Story So Far : 

Desmond Adolphus Dacres was born in Saint Andrew Parish, Kingston, Jamaica, in 1941.  From a young age he regularly attended the local church with his grandmother and aunt. This early religious upbringing, as well as Dekker's enjoyment of singing hymns, led to a lifelong religious commitment. Following his mother's death, he moved to the parish of St. Mary and later to St. Thomas. While at St. Thomas, Dekker embarked on an apprenticeship as a tailor before returning to Kingston, where he became a welder. His workplace singing had drawn the attention of his co-workers, who encouraged him to pursue a career in music.

In 1961 he auditioned for Coxsone Dodd (Studio One) and Duke Reid (Treasure Isle), though neither audition was successful. The unsigned vocalist then auditioned for Leslie Kong's Beverley's record label and was awarded his first recording contract. Despite achieving a record deal, it was two years before Dekker saw his first record released. Eventually in 1963 Kong chose "Honour Your Mother and Father" (b/w "Madgie") as the first single. It became a Jamaican hit and established Dekker's musical career.

This was followed by the release of the tracks "Sinners Come Home" and "Labour for Learning". It was during this period that Desmond Dacres adopted the stage-name of Desmond Dekker. His fourth hit, "King of Ska" with backing vocals by The Cherrypies (also known as The Maytals), made him into one of the island's biggest stars. Dekker then recruited four brothers, Carl, Patrick, Clive and Barry Howard, as his permanent backing vocalists to perform with him under the name Desmond Dekker and The Aces.

     

The Jamaican hits continued in 1964 and 1965 with "Parents", "Get Up Adina", "This Woman" and "Mount Zion". The themes of Dekker's songs during the first four years of his career dealt with the moral, cultural and social issues of mainstream Jamaican culture: respect for one's parents, religious morality, and education.



In 1967 he appeared on Derrick Morgan's "Tougher Than Tough", which helped begin a trend of popular songs commenting on the rude boy subculture which was rooted in Jamaican ghetto life where opportunities for advancement were limited and life was economically difficult. Dekker's own songs did not go to the extremes of many other popular rude boy songs, which reflected the violence and social problems associated with ghetto life, though he did introduce lyrics that resonated with the rude boys.

"007" was his first hit in the UK - peaking at #14 in July 1967. The song established Dekker as a rude boy icon in Jamaica and also became a favourite dance track for the young working-class men and women of the United Kingdom's mod scene.

     

In 1967 Dekker continued to release rude boy songs such as "Rude Boy Train" and "Rudie Got Soul", as well as mainstream cultural songs like "It's a Shame", "Wise Man", "Hey Grandma", and "Sabotage".

In 1968 Dekker's "Israelites" was released, eventually topping the UK Singles Chart in April 1969 and peaking in the Top Ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 in June 1969. Dekker was the first Jamaican artist to have a hit record in the US with a form and style that was purely Jamaican.

       

That same year saw the release of "Beautiful and Dangerous", "Writing on the Wall", "Music Like Dirt (Intensified '68)" (which won the 1968 Jamaica Independence Festival Song Contest), "Bongo Gal" and "Shing a Ling".

   

1969 saw the release of "It Mek", which became a hit both in Jamaica and the UK - reaching #7 in July 1969.

   

Dekker also released "Problems" and "Pickney Gal", both of which were popular in Jamaica, although only "Pickney Gal" managed to chart in the UK - peaking at #42 in January 1970.

   

In 1970 Dekker released "You Can Get It If You Really Want", written by Jimmy Cliff, which reached No. 2 in the UK charts in August 1970. Dekker was initially reluctant to record the track but was eventually persuaded to do so by Leslie Kong. Dekker's version uses the same backing track as Cliff's original.

In 1972 the rude boy film 'The Harder They Come' was released and Dekker's "007" was featured on the soundtrack along with Cliff's version of "You Can Get It...", as well as other Jamaican artists' hits, giving reggae more international exposure.

     

In 1975 "Israelites" was issued in stereo for the first time and re-released, becoming a UK hit for a second time - peaking at #10 in May 1975. Dekker had also begun working on new material with the production duo Bruce Anthony in 1974. In 1975 this collaboration resulted in the release of "Sing a Little Song", (b/w "No Place Like Home"), which charted in the UK at number 16; this was to be his last UK hit.

   

The 1980s found Dekker signed to a new label, Stiff Records, an independent label that specialized in punk and new wave acts as well as releases associated with the 2 Tone label, whose acts instigated a short-lived but influential ska revival. He recorded an album, amusingly titled 'Black & Dekker' in 1980, which featured his previous hits backed by The Rumour, Graham Parker's backing band and Akrylykz (featuring Roland Gift, later of Fine Young Cannibals).

     

A re-recorded version of "Israelites" was released in 1980 on the Stiff label - amazingly, it's even better than the original! This was followed by other new recordings: Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Book of Rules".

     

Dekker's next album, 'Compass Point', released in 1981, was produced by Robert Palmer. Despite declining sales, Dekker remained a popular live performer and continued to tour with The Rumour. 

 

He collaborated with The Specials on the 1993 album, 'King of Kings', which was released as Desmond Dekker and The Specials. The album consists of songs by Dekker's musical heroes including Byron Lee; Theophilus Beckford, Jimmy Cliff, and his friend and fellow Kong label artist, Derrick Morgan.

 

Dekker died of a heart attack on 25 May 2006, at his home in Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon, England, aged 64 and was buried at Streatham Park Cemetery.

The Single :

"Israelites" was written by Desmond Dekker and Leslie Kong.  It combined the Rastafarian religion with rude boy concerns, to make what has been described as a "timeless masterpiece that knew no boundaries".



Dekker composed the song after overhearing an argument :

Desmond Dekker : "I was walking in the park, eating popcorn. I heard a couple arguing about money. She was saying she needs money and he was saying the work he was doing was not giving him enough. I related to those things and began to sing a little song: 'You get up in the morning and you're slaving for bread.' By the time I got home, it was complete."

The title has been the source of speculation, but most settle on the Rastafarian Movement's association with the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In the 1960s, Jamaican Rastafarians were largely marginalized as "cultish" and ostracized from the larger society, including by the more conservative Christian church in Kingston. Destitute ("slaving for bread") and unkempt ("Shirt them a-tear up, trousers is gone"), some Rastafarians were tempted to a life of crime ("I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde"). The song is a lament of this condition.

   

Although few could understand all the lyrics, the single was the first UK reggae number one and among the first to reach the US top ten (peaking at number 9). The song also reached number one in the Netherlands, Jamaica, South Africa, Canada, Sweden and West Germany.

Other Versions include :  The California Poppy Pickers (1969)  /  Throat Culture (1994)  /  Millencolin (1999)  /  Eugene Grey (2002)  /  Madness (2005)  /  The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra (2008)  /  Apache Indian ft. Desmond Dekker (2008)  /  Electra (2011)  /  Reid Jamieson (2011)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Dirty Undies (2014)  /  Jim White vs. The Packway Handle Band (2014)  /  Ava Luna (2016)  /  Manë (2020)

On This Day  :

14 April : Tornado strikes Dacca East Pakistan killing 540
17 April : Alexander Dubček forced to resign as first secretary of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party
17 April : Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating US Senator Robert F. Kennedy
17 April : The voting age in the United Kingdom was lowered from 21 to 18

Extra! Extra!  Read all about it! :

                   

[The Culture Bunker]

My dad saw Dekker in Watford sometime in the 70s and said it was one of the best gigs he ever went to.

Fantastic #1 single, though obviously my initial knowledge of it was from that Vitalite advert in the 80s: "get up in the morning, wanting me breakfast..."

[bigfatheart]

This doesn't look good for Corbyn.

Bloody brilliant song, though.

[Gulftastic]

A friend of mine's short lived band had a track called 'Every Monk & Beefhead' following this songs appearance in an advert for some kind of audio equipment.

[daf]

Only realised while getting this one ready, that he's slaving for 'bread, sir' and not 'breakfast!'

[DrGreggles]

A friend of mine's short lived band had a track called 'Every Monk & Beefhead' following this songs appearance in an advert for some kind of audio equipment.

Maxell
https://youtu.be/mxELSzay2lc