An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

[Brundle-Fly]

Black Mans (Word?) World - Alton Ellis  Released on Treasure Island in year unknown but reggae experts are saying 1971.





Early black protest reggae song from the sweet-voiced 'Godfather of rocksteady'. You can hear the influence on The Specials b-side track, Why?.   Alton towers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrSCcX8kONI&feature=emb_logo

[daf]

Middle Of The Road - Give It Time



Released as the B-side to 'Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum" - reached #2 in September 1971

Original lead singer Sally Carr, drummer Ken Andrew, guitarist Ian McCredie and his bassist brother Eric McCredie, founded Middle Of The Road in April 1970 in Glasgow, Scotland. They had already played together under the name Part Four since 1967 and later in Latin American style under the name Las Caracas.

They moved to Italy in 1970 because they had not found success in the United Kingdom. There they met the Italian music producer Giacomo Tosti, who gave the band their distinctive sound and gave them their international break. The band had especially strong success in Germany, where they achieved eleven Top 40 hits in 1971–1974.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Rhythm 'N' Blues Classical Funk Band - Monster Walk (Parts 1 and 2)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeMsKxr5Z4

A funky instrumental co-written and produced by Jerry Williams, an eccentric character better known as Swamp Dogg. Did not chart.

Jerry Williams, generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as "one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music." After recording as Little Jerry and Little Jerry Williams in the 1950s and 1960s, he reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg, releasing a series of satirical, offbeat, and eccentric recordings, as well as continuing to write and produce for other musicians.

[daf]

Y Tebot Piws - Mae Rhywun Wedi Dwyn Fy Nhrwyn [Someone Has Stolen My Nose]



Released on a 4 track EP in 1971 -  did not chart

Y Tebot Piws were formed in 1968 by Welsh college students Dewi 'Pws' Morris, Emyr Huws Jones, Alun 'Sbardun' Huws and Stan Morgan-Jones. Though the name was a nod to the psychedelic bands of that period, they were mainly a folk band, with songs that displayed a humorous edge.

Their first EP was released on Wren Records in 1970, and included the following sleeve note :

"This is the first record by Y TEBOT PIWS (THE PURPLE TEAPOT). The Tebot have been pouring out their kind of musical entertainment for some time now on concert platforms of various descriptions all over Wales, and parts of England too. On this record we hear four of their earliest songs (all originals) which brought them their initial success. From the fun and jollity of your HOGYN PREN we are taken to the sincerity and tenderness of DAN DDWR OER Y LLYN and MARWNAD WILI JOHN, and to the patriotism of LLANFIHANGEL. We think they'll be a spouting success, and that you'll be asking for a second cuppa!"

 

They would release three further EP's on the newly formed Sain label, before splitting in 1972. Dewi Pws, one of three songwriters in the group, would later become a familiar face on Welsh TV as a comic actor, with a notable appearance alongside Hugh Griffith and Windsor Davies in BBC Wales' rugby trip film 'Grand Slam' in 1978.

[Brundle-Fly]

Cha Tatch Ka - Bernard Estardy. Released on CBS in 1971



Bernie was the French pioneering master mixer of his day. Kettles drum abound!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPZFJlLcM00&feature=emb_logo

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Joan Baez & Ennio Morricone - Here's to You



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4xWbRBLj2I

As mentioned by Mr Farenheit in the 'Best Repeat Choruses' thread.

Here's to You was released in 1971 as part of the soundtrack of the film Sacco & Vanzetti, directed by Giuliano Montaldo. The song was written by Baez and Morricone themselves. The lyrics are only four lines of text, sung over and over.

Here's to you, Nicola and Bart
Rest forever here in our hearts
The last and final moment is yours
That agony is your triumph

The song is a tribute to two anarchists of Italian origin, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who were sentenced to death by a United States court in the 1920s. The consensus of critical opinion has since concluded that the ruling was based on abhorrence of their anarchist political beliefs rather than on any proof that they committed the robbery and murders of which they were accused.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Cha Tatch Ka - Bernard Estardy. Released on CBS in 1971

That is bloomin' marvelous!!

[jamiefairlie]

Keith Christmas - Forest and the Shore

https://youtu.be/P9zZ43bAcBI



Another track from his third album, Pigmy.

[Brundle-Fly]

Move over, Roy Wood . . .

Angel Pavement - Jennifer



Recorded in 1970 for their unreleased debut album

Going through the last few pages again. Top tunes everybody. This sounds like the theme to Tiswas.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Ennio Morricone - Giorno di notte



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XggY_DqSDrE

More Morricone. 1971 was an insanely busy year for the Maestro - he composed a whopping 21 film scores. This, from the giallo film Lizard in a Woman's Skin, is a fantastically sleazy fusion of acid rock, funk and jazz.

I haven't actually seen the film, but it sounds wild...

Set in London, the film follows the daughter of a respected politician, who experiences a series of vivid, psychedelic nightmares consisting of debauched sex orgies and LSD use. In one dream, she commits a graphic murder of a neighbour whose life she is envious of and awakes to a real-life criminal investigation into the murder of her neighbour.

The film is perhaps most famous for a scene featuring a room filled with dogs that are apparently being experimented on. The dogs are cut open with their hearts and guts still pulsating. The scene was so graphic and realistic that several crew members were forced to testify in court to disprove the accusation that real dogs were used in the film.

Carlo Rambaldi, a special effects artist, saved the director Lucio Fulci from a two-year prison sentence by presenting the fake dog props in court to a seemingly unconvinced judiciary. This was the first time in film history that an effects artist had to prove his work was not real in a court of law.

[daf]

Francesco De Gemini - Cheops and Nefertiti



Another track from the 1971 Italian film 'Si Puo' Fare Molto Con 7 Donne'

[jamiefairlie]

Michaelangelo - Okay

https://youtu.be/Iaxd7GsmOwc



Michaelangelo were a Greenwich Village-based psychedelic folk-rock group led by Angel Petersen.This from their only album, One Voice Many.

[daf]

It's an Italian Trilogy!

[jamiefairlie]

It's an Italian Trilogy!

Ha, yeah :-)

[jamiefairlie]

Petticoat & Vine - Riding A Carousel

https://youtu.be/C5c-f4gGeeI



British Sunshine Pop quartet founded by singer Joan O'Neill (mother of future Spice Girl  Melanie Chisholm). This was the first of three singles. 

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The Beach Boys - 4th of July



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3JJXbF9_Ow

Dennis Wilson co-wrote this wracked American elegy for the Boys' Surf's Up album. It didn't make the final cut (Mike Love's execrable Student Demonstration Time was apparently deemed more worthy of inclusion) and gathered dust until 1993, when it eventually found a home on the Good Vibrations: 30 Years of The Beach Boys box set.

Brother Carl sings it so beautifully. He always sang beautifully, but here he sounds like he's about to cry. The fun, fun, fun dream is over.

[jamiefairlie]

Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - The Asmoto Running Band (Hou'Amih)

https://youtu.be/U4Grngck7Mc



Second track from their album of the same name and their third appearance overall. Interestingly I can hear the roots of post-punk bands like The Raincoats in this track.

[daf]

Deep Feeling - Old People's Home



Released on their 1971 debut album

Formed in the late 1960s in Gravesend, by David Green, Derek Elson, Graham Jarvis, Guy Darrell, and Martin Jenner.

 

[jamiefairlie]

Sandy Denny - The North Star Grassman And The Ravens

https://youtu.be/PxYU7A6qCnc




The title track of her solo debut. This live performance  was recorded September 15, 1971 for the BBC TV show "One in Ten: Sandy Denny"

[daf]

The Barbara Moore Singers - The Elf



Another charming song penned by Arthur Birkby for the 'Movement, Mime and Music' BBC Radio series for schools.

[jamiefairlie]

Shelagh McDonald - Stargazer

https://youtu.be/8AjC15RXjxo



Title track from her second (and last) album.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Leonie - En Alabama



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2yWHQ6lbU4

You simply cannot beat a bit of breathy French pop sung by women at the top of their range. Leonie is a singer, actor and artist. Apart from that, I know nothing.

[Brundle-Fly]

Memphis Two-Step - Dick Hyman.  Released on in 1971





Crazy organ soundz from the man with the most sniggered about name in jazz. Still going strong at age ninety-three though, so our hero had the last laugh.

American keyboard player and composer, Dick Hyman experimented with various keyboard instruments, including Baldwin and Lowrey organs. In the late 1960's he recorded a series of avant-garde albums using a Minimoog synthesizer. He recorded some of the most appreciated albums from the space-age pop. Hyman has also worked for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and as a jazz pianist and organist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjPIjPBJYss&feature=emb_logo

[daf]

Honeycombak - Sex Change Sadie



Released in 1971 - did not chart.

Written and produced by Martin Murray - the name referenced his former group 'The Honeycombs' - the odd spelling was possibly meant to imply that this was a "comeback" of the Honeycombs.

The Honeycombs were founded in North London by Martin Murray - a hairdresser, his salon assistant Ann 'Honey' Lantree, her brother John, and two friends. In February 1964, with the novelty of Honey benind the drums, the group played at the Mildmay Tavern, a North London pub. Among those attending were aspiring songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who got chatting with the band, and offered them some songs they had written.

The group had already arranged an audition with odd-ball genius record producer Joe Meek. The audition resulted in a recording of Howard and Blaikley's "Have I the Right?". Reportedly, the recording was speeded up slightly by Meek to give it a more rocking feel. The single peaked at #1 in the U.K. at the end of August 1964, and #5 in the United States, and was the group's only top 10 hit in either country.

Martin Murray broke his leg after falling off the stage following a "mauling from fans" during a gig at the Peterborough Palais. While he was recovering, 16 year old Peter Pye, who had been one of Martin's guitar students and was currently lead guitarist with The Skylarks, was asked to stand in for him.

   

By the end of 1964 Martin was frustrated with the attitude of his band mates who, perhaps seduced by their success were not making the effort to be professional that Martin wanted. He found he was having to bang on hotel doors to get his band mates to get ready to be at venues and TV studios on time. Eventually this got too much and Martin made an ultimatum. Either the rest of the band take it seriously or he would leave.

Unfortunately for him, at this time, Peter Pye was brought forward as an obvious replacement and Martin's bargaining position was severely weakened. There was quite a bit of bad feeling about this but it resulted in the band continuing as The Honeycombs, without their founder member.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Biggles - Gimme Gimme Some Lovin'



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGyer9B6Zso

A bangin' mash-up of Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' by Crazy Elephant and Gimme Some Lovin' by The Spencer Davis group, replete with rowdy in-studio party sounds. Glam is here, gang!

It was produced by Mike Berry, but unfortunately not the same Mike Berry who sang Tribute to Buddy Holly for Joe Meek and later went on to play Mr Spooner in Are You Being Served? Oh how I wish it was him, as that would be amazing. But it's not.

[Phil_A]

Sibylle Baier - I Lost Something In The Hills



Another recording with an uncertain date, somewhere between 1970-3.

Sibylle Baier is a somewhat mysterious figure. She apparently studied music as a child. She acted in the theatre and has a single screen credit on a 1973 Wim Wenders film and provided some soundtrack music for another Wenders film in 1975. This song originates from recordings she made at home in the early seventies apparently never intended for commercial release, until her son rediscovered them thirty years later, which led to the release of her only album to date, "Colour Green" in 2006. Apart from two more songs recorded for the soundtrack of the film "Palermo Shooting" in 2008, she seemingly has no interest in pursuing music any further.

"I Lost Something In The Hills" is instantly haunting and compelling, feeling very much like a melancholic Germanic counterpart to Vashti Bunyan's pastoral whimsy, but Baier's peculiar vocal phrasing and sombre, down-tuned finger picking makes it feel like something completely unique

[daf]

Hardys Jet Band - Sorry, Doc!



Written by Hartmut Kiesewetter, and included on the 1971 German "advertising backgrounds" compilation album 'Blue Butterfly'

[jamiefairlie]

Spirogyra - Love is a funny thing

https://youtu.be/lTjfnIO5sU0



Another track from their St. Radigunds album.

[daf]

Fields - While The Sun Still Shines



Featured on their 1971 album 'Fields'.

Named after Graham Field, founding member of Rare Bird. Fields were a keyboard-led trio that also included bassist / guitarist Alan Barry on vocals, and Andy Mc McCullough from King Crimson on drums.

[jamiefairlie]

Steeleye Span - Gower Wassail

https://youtu.be/6vwwEmQmSWs



Second from  Ten Man Mop Or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again