Sweet Floral Albion 11

Turn on, tune in, drop dead.
S*F*A* SWEET FLORAL ALBION
~THE JOURNAL OF UK PSYCHEDELIA~
No.: 11 ~~ Date: Oct 2002 ~~ Price: Half a sixpence
E-mail: sweetfloralalbion@hotmail.com
Online at: www.marmalade-skies.co.uk

Hello Trippers,
October. Summer has died and the evenings are drawing in. Time then, to chuck another box of 'Psychedelic Salvage Company' discs on the fire, add a big drop of "Auntie Mabel's Magic Mind Medicine" to your Rum & Black, and read the latest issue of SFA...
This month we're very proud to include unique recollections by Paul Brett (of Tintern Abbey), Mark Wirtz (of The Matchmakers), and a superb trawl thru Sir Elton John's sike-era recordings.
We most sincerely hope that you enjoy this and every issue!
Relax relax relax - Dave (et les bas peuple). XXX

CONTENTS-
O-NEWS
O-OUT IN THE COLD- Rick Price and Wolfe.
O-PAUL BRETT INTERVIEWED
O-MARK WIRTZ on THE MATCHMAKERS
O-PREVIEWS/REVIEWS
O-WHAT THE PAPERS SAID
O-REG DWIGHT TAKES A TRIP
O-NEO-PSYCH NOTABLE
O-MISTY ROMANCE
O-OZ/KIWI PSYCH
O-LETTERS
O-LYRICS/QUOTES...

BEATLES: 'CARNIVAL OF LIGHT'-
The Beatles' (or more specifically McCartney's) freakiest moment- the soundtrack to the 'Million Volt Rave' at the Roundhouse is finally to be made available. As those of us who are privileged to have heard it can attest, it is an absolute psychedelic classic- a UK studio-crafted psych tricksbag creation wedded to a Zappa-esque slapstick freeform freakout! And quite unlike anything else in The Fab's ouevre.
'Carnival Of Light' is to be used in the soundtrack to a docu-film of Linda McCartney's 60s photography.
It is rumoured (but "officially" unconfirmed at present) and of course hoped, that the soundtrack will be given a CD release.

'TALKING ABOUT THE GOOD TIMES', VOL. 2'-
The second volume of this excellent CD series is due in the next month, or so. Rarities and acetates in abundance! Whoopee!

PURPLE GANG NEWSGROUP-
Received from Chris "Joe" Beard:
"HI there, This is Joe ,deranged leader of THE PURPLE GANG.Just to let you know that some Floyd /Barrett fans have set us a web newsgroup up if you want to get involved at all,.Got any anecdotes ,ideas, funnies, jokes,..anything really.Hoping to get various members of the band past and present to join in..or any other Purple Gang associates...there have been many over the years. The new site is www.PurpleGang@yahoonewsgroups.com
Don`t forget to visit our main site now and again and see if it`s updated (more memoires , info just gone on )..........see you ..tangled up in Purple."

'ODDITIES', VOL. 2-
Due any day now. This LP continues in the same fab beat-psych vein as the first volume. Whoopee! (See "Preview" below, for full track-list)

'LOVELY SUMMER DAYS' CD-
The CD version of this legendary MGM comp should be rearing its bejewelled head sometime this month, or next.

STATION TOP TEN-
'Chocolate Soup FM' http://www.live365.com/stations/295662
1 The Easybeats - Peculiar Hole In The Sky (Sweet Floral Albion)
2 Tuesday's Children - Summer Leaves Me With A Sigh (We Are Not What We Appear To Be)
3 Peter Sarstedt - MANY Coloured Semi-Precious Plastic Easter Egg
4 Argosy - My Boyd (Rubble Vol 20)
5 Anan - Standing Still (Ripples Vol 8)
6 Forever Amber - Dreamer Flies Back (Love Cycle)
7 Los Pernikes - Cercla Des Estrellas
8 Graham Gouldman - Chestnut (Graham Gouldman Thing)
9 The Blue Aces - That's All Right (We Are Not What We Appear To Be)
10 Claudine Longet - Wanderlove
Plus loads of tracks from 'Rubble 20', 'Ripples 8', 'We Are Not What We Appear To Be', 'Sweet Floral Albion', 'Oddities', 'Doin' the Mod 4' and 'Colour me pop'.
Coming soon - the best moments of 'Syde Trips', The Easybeats finest psych tracks and Mark Wirtz obscurities.

'Life Is A Dream' by NOEL HARRISON
Mister, I don't know your name
But I'll try just the same
Have you seen my mind?
I have not been around
I tried to leave town
But I got left behind
To find my way
I was a lost and hungry man
Someone had opened the door
Trusting myself I was lead inside
Never get back anymore
Seems like the way I feel about myself
Is shifting like ice on a stream
Nothing means much to me
Life is a dream.
Mister, can you spare me the time
Got so much on my mind
That I want you to hear
All the lights have been out so long
That the darkness seems to be pulling and keeping me here
Which way is heaven? I think I know
What colour's the soul of a man
Why must the lives of a million men
End with the touch of a hand
Nothing has ever been what it seems
Stay hung up on yesterday
Life is a dream
Life is a dream
The dead-pan, evidently tone deaf Noel Harrison, son of Rex, managed amongst some truly awful songs, to turn out this fab, somnabulistic, Acid-inspired, eastern-styled nugget. Featuring piano, sitar and tabla, folk-flavoured in a very Dave Mason sort of way, it manages to be simultaneously tentatively philosophical (lyrically) and blissed-out (musically). It can be found on the B side of 'Suzanne' (the Leonard Cohen song), issued world-wide on Sinatra's Reprise label (UK issue: Reprise RS 20615, ..../68), as an intended follow-up to Noel's classic take on Michel Legrand's swirly 'Windmills Of Your Mind'- as featured in the 'Thomas Crown Affair' movie.
There's a magical US TV-clip of him performing 'Life Is A Dream' and then demonstrating the sitar, as we waxes very cosmic...Not to be missed! [I think u-Spaces have reissued it on one of their comps?- DT] Also recommended (for other reasons), is Noel's orchestrated, and inadvertently hillarious, version of 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale'.

Being in a band with Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne must have been frustrating for Rick Price, knowing that his songs would never find their way onto a Move LP. What cannot be denied is that, ultimately, his time in that band was well spent. He may not have been blessed with Roy's uncanny commercial instincts, or Jeff's facility for pastiche but 'Talking To The Flowers' (Gemini GME 1017) 1971, reveals Rick to be very much his own man creatively, offering a gentle, sweetly melancholic introspection that was already an anachronism when this album was issued.
Sadly, as an artist, Rick Price was done a disservice by the packaging and sequencing of this LP; the first thing you notice is the cover, a sickly green and white floral motif that resembles more a particularly hideous wallpaper pattern. About as much thought was put into its sequencing; Side 1 pitting Rick Price: Purveyor of Pop Psych Whimsy against Side 2's casting of Rick Price: Interpretive Singer. Consequently, Talking To The Flowers does not hang together as a unified whole, the way an album should; rather it plays more like two mini albums by different artists.
That said, Side 1 is as damn near perfect a specimen of "out of time" pop psych that I have heard; this album may have been issued in 1971 but Rick himself was still stuck somewhere in 1968! The material here is of a uniformly high standard; kicking off with 'Butterfly', a sprightly piano-dominated number and the most obviously Move-like track on the album.
Great lyrics too, describing a woman who, like the title, is graceful, delicate and tantalisingly out of reach. 'April Is Here' follows and may very well be my personal favorite; Rick's yearning vocal floats over a Hammond organ that manages to be both funky and subtle. 'Misty Morning' shows the same fine eye for detail that marked the Kinks circa Village Green, cataloguing the mundane details of a day in the life. 'Daisy Farm Park' and the title track both espouse escape whether it be from the hustle and hassle of the overcrowded big city, or the frustration and pain that comes from everyday living. Closing out the side, 'Who Am I' features the most beautiful, sensitive arrangement on the album; the questioning lyrics given added poignancy and depth via some subtle wah-wah, soft acoustic strumming and gently flowing organ.
Side 2 loses momentum as the material does not measure up to the overall excellence of the first side, and the arrangements are considerably less inspired, ranging from overblown to hilariously inappropriate; only the opening and closing tracks emerge relatively unscathed. Jimmie "Honeycomb" Rodgers' 'It's Over' benefits from an understated reading that puts across the lyric's sadness effectively; strings add just enough without degenerating into syrup. Tim Hardin's oft-covered 'Reason To Believe' is the most blatant misfire here; the heartbroken, and heartbreaking, sentiments are set against a bizarrely jaunty backdrop that leaves the listener scratching his head. 'The Singer Sang His Songs' succumbs to overblown schmaltz early on, offering proof, if any were needed, that covering Neil Diamond songs is generally not a good idea. 'Love Her' is a brave choice but, considering that Scott Walker owns this song, any competing version can't help but pale in comparison. 'Please, No More Sad Songs' adds nothing to the Idle Race original but, if viewed more charitably as a tribute to a former band mate and fellow songwriter, is acceptable enough. 'And Now', the closing track and only original on this side, is a close cousin to 'It's Over', lyrically speaking; for once someone had the good sense to push the orchestra in the back of the mix. Despite my general lack of enthusiasm for this side, I will say in its defense that it is not unlistenable, just unnecessary, especially when set against the top side.
It is too bad that, rather than mark the beginning of a promising solo career, this album put paid to it instead; Rick Price was talented enough as a singer and a writer, to continue making interesting records equal to what Wizzard and ELO were doing not long after.

SHEEP IN "WOLFE'S" CLOTHING by Jon Kerr
In 1972 Rare Earth, a Motown subsidiary label, known mainly for the band of the same name issued (in Canada and the US only) the sole Peter & The Wolves album, albeit that by this date they had chosen the more contemporary sounding name of Wolfe. 'Wolfe' should be of interest to all those interested by the work of John Pantry & his chums. Whilst not an excellent album it does on the whole contain some very pleasant, breezy commerical pop at which Mr Pantry could excell; even if it lacks direction and shows a band desperately grasping for a style of their own. In common with the majority of US albums it has 12 tracks, most of which are of above average quality (especially for 1972!) Recorded at IBC studios, London, the LP opens with the classic 'Ballard Of The Unloved', here given a very Pantry-esque treatment, with vocal and piano to the fore, augmented by some great backing and some touches of wobbliness (were these intentional, or did the engineer lean on the tape deck by accident?) 'Bite It Deep' is the most overtly Peter & The Wolves sounding. A great clappalongasingalonga piece of pop, with a strong Beatles vibe, not least in so far as the song is about temptation, symbolised by Adam & Eve's apple (Apple- geddit?), an early manifestation of Reverend Pantry's burgeoning religious convictions(?) Lesley Duncan's 'Love Song' is given the vocal/piano treatment- a great song and a great performance, but as with Pantry's take on 'Something In the Way She Moves' (also covered well) they are essentially of little interest from an SFA perspective. Sadly c(o)unt(ry) rock rears its ugly noggin in the form of 'Dead From The Head Down'. 'Mama Lion' (a Mark Wirtz song) and 'Time Is Money' - both quite vile. 'Funny Funny' is bubblegum pop with a hint of Picketty Witch (written, unsurprisingly by Chinn & Chapman) but there's a nice version of 'Dancing In The Moonlight' replete with some fuzz guitar.
'Tale Of Two Cities' (penned by John Pantry, but sung by Robin Slater) is a goodie, with nice vocal support and rhythmic organ motifs. Which leaves two more classic Pantry styles vocal/piano lead ballards, both uncannily McCartneyesque in derivation - 'Us' (which is quite lovely and well written to) and the final track 'Song With No name' a mention should also be made of the 45 verison of 'Bite It Deep' on which Pantry doesnt sing lead this time (Robin Slater again?) but its still a gorgeous slab of infectious pop.

Entry no. 53a- ROGER HUTCHINSON(Underground editor & journalist- Oz, It...):
"Yet the image which has come to characterise the era, if not the entire decade, is the image of flower-power, the iconography of the Summer of Love.
Young men with large and vivid flowers in hair which had only just started to grow, wearing embroidered Edwardian jackets and ruffled shirts, flared trousers and sandals or bare feet; young women in kaftans or granny blouses or naked from the waist upwards, swaying in some festival field, their bodies painted by an art school drop-out with a day-glo pen. Such people, the picture books tell, spent the best part of ten years dressed in this manner and behaving in this way. But nobody's Summer of Love lasted for a summer in Great Britain, and few people's lasted a halcyon day. The image is in fact a collage, a fantasy congealed from many single sunburnt afternoons.
There never was a Haight Ashbury under these grey skies (in California, indeed, there was only such a mythic place for less than a year). There were Saturday afternoons on Primrose Hill and down upon the King's Road; there was the Rolling Stones performing live in Hyde Park, Jagger in a dress, releasing butterflies and reciting Shelley in that exaggerated south London accent; there were hippy weddings in the balmy afternoon, with the photographers from the tabloid press jostling for shots of bra-less brides; there were even cowbells worn by the inspired few (with the clappers removed)... but that was just about the size of it.
That, and the product which it released: the clothes and music stores, and the peculiar phenomenon of an entirely amateur publishing network which appeared from nowhere to sell, within a couple of years, up to 150,000 copies per issue of its combined magazines, which employed as many as 200 people from Devon to the North of England, and which died as quickly as it had been born within eight short years, sinking suddenly from sight as the last fond fading memory of the Summer of Love vanished into the denser atmosphere of the 1970s."

As a tie-in with the release of the long-lost second TINTERN ABBEY 45, we hereby present a rare interview with Paul Brett, in which he discusses Tintern Abbey for the first time!!!
Our man, Paul Cross (PC), asks the questions, whilst Paul Brett (PB) provides the answers.
Basically, as we're a UK psych fanzine, we've concentrated on Paul's career during the mid-60s to early-70s....
PC- How was the acetate of the proposed second Tintern Abbey single rediscovered?
PB- The acetate was found recently when I was going through some of my late father's things. He must have kept everything I did over the years. In fact, I remember him paying personally for this session.
PC- Can you give us any details about the recordings?
PB- The tracks are 'Do what you must' and 'How do I feel today'. The former was band-written, whilst 'How do I feel today' was written by Dave McTavish [who wrote both sides of the Deram 45], and was supposed to be the follow-up to the first single, but got shelved as the deal with Deram ended. This item has been in my dad's file since 1968 when it was recorded at Tony Pike's Studios in Putney, London. I have only played it twice since finding it. Once to check it out and once to copy it to file.
PC- Why did Dan Smith leave the band, any ideas?
PB- I never met Dan. I think there was a falling out with the other guys, but it was never discussed. We also added an organist later although we never recorded with him. His name was Terry Goldberg, he used to be with the Mark Leeman Five, who were a great 60's group. Unfortunately, Mark died in a car crash [in June 1965] and the band split. Terry wasn't in Tintern Abbey for long, he was used to a "pro" situation and couldn't handle the Samuel's set up i.e. playing in the house!
PC- It seems that Dan left Tintern Abbey in January '68, and you replaced him then. Is this date correct?
PB- I'm unsure as to when Dan actually left, or of the specific date when I actually joined the band.
PC- Any idea exactly when the acetate was cut? Presumably it must have been recorded between January (when Dan left) and March 1968? Because on March 9th, 1968 'Record Mirror' announced the forthcoming single as due for release on April 19th, 1968.
PB- Not sure, as there's no date on it. The acetate was supposed to decide the A side and then we would go in and produce a master of the song. The band preferred 'Do What You Must' as the A side, as 'How Do I Feel Today' was a bit repetitious. None of these songs was ever recorded as a master session for release as the whole deal fell apart.
PC- Record Collector said--" 'How Do I Feel Today' didn't reach the pressing stage, and no tapes or acetates have yet to surface- indeed, there's no indication that the track was ever recorded."-- What do you make of that?
PB- To be fair to RC, I only recently found this acatate in my Dad's things and even I forgot I had it. So yes, it does exist. They are correct in that it didn't reach the pressing stage , it didn't even reach the mastering stage, but it does exist in Acetate form and only one copy, which I have.
PC- The legendary Nigel Samuels was the band's manager. What was he like to deal with?
PB- Yes, Nigel Samuels was the manager of Tintern Abbey. He owned the now legendary underground mag IT. He had inherited his father's publishing business and wanted to expand into the music scene. Hence IT. It was a strange arrangement. He let us live rent-free in a mews house at the back of Sloane Square and we used to rehearse there. He used to come round at 3 in the morning and just get us to play for him and his mates. It was all a bit weird. It was like we were his own personal ' band in a box' that he could turn on at any time he felt like. He paid everyone a small weekly retainer, which was generous of him , but we all needed to play to the outside world and after much discussion, we signed agency with Spencer Davis.
PC- Did Tintern Abbey pack it in in 1968, or did they survive until the start of 1969?
PB- I left after about a year. Can't remember exactly when they folded.
PC- What else do you remember about those days?
PB-I remember Stu McKay being heavily into 'The Prisoner' (TV Series) as he used to go round wearing the striped jacket etc.! Dave McTavish had a pet buzzard that got rather large and flew out through the large picture window in the house one day, looking for freedom I guess. There were quite a few 'Sloanie' type ladies that used to hang around the house, not my type I'm afraid, but McTavish used to go for them.
PC- Who was the roadie?
PB- His name was Eddie Slemmonds, a mate of mine from Fulham.
PC- What is your opinion regarding a copy of the Tintern Abbey Deram 45 being sold recently for a four-figure sum?
PB- As usual with collectable material, it depends on how bad the guy wants it. I collect early Stella Guitars and have paid good money for ones that fit my collection. Leadbelly and Blind Willie McTell played them, so they can't be bad ! Obviously the guy who paid $2350 for the Deram single, really wanted it ! I thought the single was changing hands for around £200 or so. It must be the power of e-bay!
PC- 'The Magic Shoemaker' LP, on which you played is pretty collectible too...
PB- I had The Strawbs up here for the 'Pwllheli Festival' this year, which I run, and we talked about the Fire LP, 'The Magic Shoemaker'. Dave Lambert, Dave Cousins, me, Bob Voice and Dick Duffall (the later two were with me in Paul Brett Sage) and we couldn't believe the collectability demand on this one either.
PC- There was also talk in the music papers in '68 of a Tintern Abbey LP, due for release in August '68. Were any tracks recorded? Do you remember any track titles?
PB- No LP was ever recorded. We did write a lot of songs with a view to recording an album, but only these two on the acetate were recorded.
PC- Please tell us the correct chronology regarding the bands you were in in the 60s.
PB- First band was SW4, then Neil Christian and the Crusanders, then Arthur Brown Union (pre-Crazy World), then Dave Terry Band (pre-Elmer Gantry), then Tintern Abbey, then Elmer gantry' Velvet Opera, then Velvet Opera, then Soulmates, then I was with Johnny Joyce (from Velvet Opera) as an acoustic duo, then Cyril Stapleton Orchestra (with Dave Palmer of Jethro Tull and Bob Voice of Fire and Paul Brett Sage). Could even be I've left a few bands out!
PC- Yes! You were also in The Overlanders [c. Autumn '66].
PB- Yes, Could be you're right on this. Done so much I can't remember all the bands and dates!
PC- And you were also in the the Warren Davis Monday Band, I believe, in 1967?
PB- Yes I was. I've forgotton about the Warren Davis Band...

PC- Do you have any info about your time with Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera?
PB- Yes. I joined Elmer (when Colin Forster left), after Fire. The line-up was Dave Terry (vocals), John Ford (bass), Richard Hudson (drums), me (guitar). And I played on the 'Volcano' and 'Mary Jane' singles and one LP- 'Ride A Hustler's Dream' on CBS, and did extensive tours with the band. The agent at the time was Terry King and he booked us a lot of shows. Disagreements erupted within the band, which lead to a split from Elmer. We invited 12-string Bluesman Johnny Joyce to join the band, and recorded the Velvet Opera 'Ride A Hustler's Dream' LP. This was recorded, as was the Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera stuff, at Southern Music's studios in Denmark St. It was an 8-track set-up and was a real struggle to get real quality and instrument separation, but we did our best. We did lots of Radio One sessions and quite a few gigs, the most memorable being with The Who at The Lyceum...
PC- Wow! What was that like?
PB-The Who were great! I think they played a lot of stuff from 'Tommy'. We supported them. Can't remember the date, must have been around 1970. We were managed by Terry Slater who looked after Amen Corner and he got us the show.
It was a packed house and we were well received, with an encore, etc. We had 'Anna Dance Square'/'Statesboro' Blues' out as a single at the time from the 'Ride A Hustler's Dream' LP. I'd played the Ealing Club years before with a band whose name escapes me and we came across The Who regularly down there, when they were still called The High Numbers.
PC- How did the Velvet Opera split?
PB- John Ford and Richard Hudson were getting more into writing their own songs and they also wanted to perform them. Johnny and I were more into acoustic music and inevitably, we went our own ways quite amicably. Southern would have made another LP with us but we felt we needed to follow our hearts! I spoke to Hud last year about the possibility of collaborating on a new Velvet Opera LP as the band's reputation has survived and even grown over the years, probably because we have all done our own things. This is very much a possibility and I will pursue this with Hud and John. I did a CD last year with John Joyce 'Acoustic Power' that was really well received by the media. It could also be that there is another Fire LP in the future and certainly their will be more Paul Brett CDs and there are collectors issues on CD of the previous material and some unreleased Paul Brett & Sage stuff via my site www.fret-dancer.com Also on this site is an on-line Vintage Acoustic Museum that features very rare Stellas, Regals and Weymanns. These are the guitars the early Blues Legends played. I am currently compiling a book on my guitar collection and it will contain over 60 guitars and will be released with a CD sampler of their sounds. Many now lost to the modern ear and guitar maker. Many hew guitars look like over-priced bits of furniture and sound like strings plucked over a cats arse !

Arthur Brown Union (Left to Right) Paul Brett (guitar); Jim Toomey (Drums); Roy Stacey (Bass); Art Regis (Organ)
Derek Griffiths (Tenor Sax); Tony Crane (Alto Sax) and Arthur Brown (vocals - seated)
Early picture was taken in Homestead Rd, Fulham outside Paul's family house (around 65/66).

PC- Are there any other 60's demos in existence?
PB- My Dad paid for a lot of demo sessions of bands I was with, including SW4 with Ralph Denyr singing. And I also have an acetate of an early line up featuring half the original Arthur Brown Union (minus Arthur) and Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera. It has Elmer (Dave Terry) on vocals, me on guitar, Art Regis and Tony Crane (organ and sax) Jim Toomey (drums). I played with both Arthur and Elmer. I haven't looked through all my dad's boxes yet, he may have kept some early Arthur Brown sessions at Tony Pike's. All this acetate stuff was recorded at Pike's
PC- You played on a lot of records back then?
PB- Hundreds of them! Did the first Roy Harper LP on Strike Records when I was with Neil Christian and the Crusaders, took over from Jimmy Page; Al Stewart's sessions, 'Zero She Flies', 'Electric Los Angeles Sunset', etc; 'Devil's Grip'/'Give Him A Flower' by Arthur Brown, Ronnie Wood played bass on this one; Fire 'The Magic Shoemaker' LP; Tintern Abbey stuff; John Joyce LP; all the Paul Brett Sage and Paul Brett LPs to date; 'Dragonfly' by The Strawbs; Michel Polnareff LP's , and thousands of sessions, right through the mid to late 60s as I was one of the top session guitarists and played on lots of peoples' records, mainly daytime sessions and worked gigs in the evenings...

TINTERN ABBEY-Personnel:-

LINE-UP #1(1967 - 01/68):-
David McTavish (Vocals)
Dan Smith (Lead guitar)
Stuart MacKay (Bass)
John Dalton (Drums)

LINE-UP #2 [01/68 - ?/68]:-
David McTavish (Vocals)
Paul Brett (Lead guitar)
Stuart MacKay (Bass)
John Dalton (Drums)

LINE-UP #3 [?/68 - ?/68]:-
David McTavish (Vocals)
Paul Brett (Lead guitar)
Terry Goldberg (Keyboards)
Stuart MacKay (Bass)
John Dalton (Drums)

LINE-UP #4[?/68 - late/end 68](same as second line-up):-
David McTavish (Vocals)
Paul Brett (Lead guitar)
Stuart MacKay (Bass)
John Dalton (Drums)

NOTE:- It is well worth stating that most of the details contained within this interview are markedly absent from any former accounts, most glaringly from the supposedly encyclopaedic 'Tapestry Of Delights'. SFA gladly welcomes this opportunity to straighten the record, and would also like to thank Paul Brett for his unique recollections, his help, and all his encouragement. Thanks-
Dave Thubron.

'Vacuum Cleaner' by TINTERN ABBEY.
"Everybody's got new clothes, makes me feel kind of old
But in my heart I really know, new clothes don't buy my soul
Fix me up with your sweet dose, now I'm feelin' like a ghost
Break it up break it up, let's have it now girl
Don't you know I need it all the time
Fix me up with your sweet dose, now I'm feelin' like a ghost
Whoah whoah whoah whoah all the time
Now my head is really spinning, maybe now I'll show some willin'
To help you with the house work, if you want to
Break it up break it up, let's have it now girl
Don't you know I need it all the time
Fix me up with your sweet dose, now I'm feelin' like a ghost,
Whoah whoah whoah whoah all the time
All the time, all the time
Everybody's got new clothes, makes me feel kind of old
But in my heart I really know, new clothes don't buy my soul
Fix me up with your sweet dose, now I'm feelin' like a ghost
Break it up break it up, let's have it now girl
Don't you know I need it all the time
Fix me up with your sweet dose, now I'm feelin' like a ghost
Whoah whoah whoah whoah all the time
All the time, all the time

A minor classic of British Psychedelia, Tintern Abbey's 'Beeside', also makes the indolence/innocence connection. Here, it's a creature of the field, a busy bee, who's misguided, and a human who hips him to the true meaning of flower power: "people pick them, you lick them, just for love".
Singer David MacTavish contemplates the bee's toil and tells him to mellow out. Like Wordsworth, whose poem gives the band their name, Tintern Abbey believe that indolence feminises men, promoting receptivity and "wise passiveness". The state of grace comes when man is de-activated and drowsy, succumbs to what Wordsworth calls "that serene and blessed mood" in which "we are laid asleep / In body, and become a living soul". Tintern Abbey's music recreates Romanticism's primal scene, the bower of bliss- groves and glades "where the male is captured, seduced and infantilised", according to Camille Paglia, stranded in "a limbo of lush pleasures but stultifying passivity". 'Beeside' is all synaesthesia, clouds of phased cymbal scintillating like pollen caught in midsummer sunshine. Into this idyll materialises "a virgin of humble origin", a mystic girl-sprite whose caresses are sacraments of love that magically return to the singer his own virginity.
Quoted from 'Back To Eden: Innocence, Indolence and Pastoralism in Psychedelic Music, 1966-1996', in 'Psychedelia Britannica', edited by Antonio Melechi.

One of the top five greatest ever UK psych 45s- alongside Tintern Abbey, One In A Million... It is interesting to note the differences between the two extant versions. One an early draft, the other a completed and published work.
Plese note: Queries, together with the variant lyrics eradicated from the 'Syde Tryps Seven' (demo) version, are listed below as footnotes.
'Path Through The Forest' by THE FACTORY.
I know a path through the forest
Where you can slowly wake up
Or you can take your time
And[1]let the seasons catch up
Slip off your shoes
And feel the earth
Your ears will start to ring
And life will sing
You just gotta spring on the
Path through the forest
Where colours can blind you
And never confined[?] you
It can drive you insane[2]
You've got to slow down now
Or you'll[3] grow cold
Bless the flowers and see[4]
The hours that Spring blows on[5]
Shadows confuse you
And silence is loud
You're reaching for the light
You're losing sight
And day becomes night
[6]I know a path through the forest
Where you can slowly wake up
Or you can take your time
And[1]let the seasons catch up
Slip off your shoes
And feel the earth
Your ears will start to ring
And life will sing
You just gotta spring on the
Path through the forest
Where colours can blind you
And never confined[?] you
It can drive you insane[2]
Footnotes:
[1]Deleted:
[?]May read 'Can find'[?]
[2]Deleted line: 'This sensual gain'
[3]'You'll' reads- 'you will'
[4]This line reads- 'And rest the flooding sleepy hours'
[5]This line reads- 'And wait for Spring to awoke' [?]
[6]Substitute repetition of verse #1 for-
'Come with the patterns
That dance at your face
And you will hear the breathing all around you
Leaving the space
You'll think you hear music
A beautiful song
There's no melody sweeter than
What the poet belongs[?]'

Entry no. 121 CHRIS ROWLEY(Studio Assistant to Yoko Ono, succinctly evokes W11 in '66-'67):
"Notting Hill was really a litle paradisical [with] this atmosphere of trees, golden haze, an aura of decadence and mellowed out young people".

Because Mark has rarely spoken about The Matchmakers, very little is known about how the band came into being. Now, more than 30 years later, the story behind this mysterious band, this veritable fountain of bubblegum rock, can finally be told!
What follows is an excerpt from the liner notes of the soon to be released 4 CD Anthology - 'Garage Sale at Rainbows End'. To read this is to understand what it is like to talk to Mark. To enhance the "virtual" experience read it fast, with a part German, part British and part American accent. To preserve the frantic nature of Mark's story telling I've saved the notes for the end.
-Mark Frumento.
Now... The True and Never Before Told Story of THE MATCHMAKERS It was at the time of working on the Judd LP (1), when my doctor father called me from Cologne to tell me that one of his patients, German veteran music publisher and ace "Schlager" writer Rudi Lindt, had been begging him for my address so that he could get in touch with me, and would I please concede to get him off my dad's back. Within hours of my agreement, Rudi called me and, sounding happier than hell, conveying enough energy to light up a city, informed me in slick salesman "closing" fashion, without even an appellation or introduction, "I vant you to rite me two bubble gum songs. I already got ze titles, 'Baby make Me Happy' and 'Thank You Baby For coming' - Zey're a hit!! Ve'll go fifty-fifty. Zen I vant you to demo ze songs in London, I'll pay for ze session - but make it cheap, cos vatever you got left over you can put in your pocket."
Times were hard. Struggling financially and needing the money, I agreed.
Sharing the vocal chores with Chas Mills, Miki Anthony and Kris Ife, I recorded both demos virtually live with the "Judd" band in one session. Rudi was so jubilant about the results that he wasted no time to go for a 'reload.' "Wooly Wooly Wat'sgong!!!" was his megaphoned blare that tore me out of the deepest sleep in the middle of the night. "Huh?" I yawned, "who the hell is this?" "Roooooooodeeee!" was his cheerful reply. I wanted to slap the bastard. "Woolly Woolly Watsgong!!! " he repeated, his voice doing a loop-de-loop. "It's a vonderful title, don't you sink?! A hit! Ja, ja! I can hear it on ze radio! rite it!!". "Rudi, how can you hear it, it hasn't even been written yet, let alone recorded" I slurred, still in a stupor.
Didn't even faze the little title king. "Oh, Maaaark, don't vorry about details," he said with paternal air. "Just rite and demo ze ficker!!" Again, I rallied the band and, again, Rudi was in heaven about the outcome. "By ze way, you know vat?" he casually informed me, "I played 'Baby Make me Happy' to Vogue Records here and zey want to rush release it as a single!
Funtustic, ja? I already got ze name for ze band - The Matchmakers.
Funtustic name, ja?" Anticipating the reasons for my resistance, he hammered on, "Don't vorry. Ve'll go fifty-fifty and nobody vill know ze real names of ze musicians, or zat you had anything to do viz it. It'll be a secret (2).
All I need is a band picture for ze cover. So set up a foto session." Before I even had a chance to protest, the line went dead. Less than three weeks later, the single came out, later followed by - unbeknownst to us - more singles and an album of all the demos we had cut, initially in Germany and Holland, and later... God knows where else, and under what monikers (3).
Frankly, once recorded, neither I nor the band really cared, just happy that they had made us all a bit of money for having had so much fun. Be that as it may, at the time, Rooooodeeee's middle of night telephone invasions became a regular routine, he always breathlessly throwing me another title with the command to get the song and demo ready "at vonce!," always ending with, "of course, ve go fifty-fifty, as alvays. I've already registered ze song and signed ze contracts for it. Ve're gonna make a million!".
"Fifty-fifty of what, Rudi?" I eventually rebutted, exasperated, "I've never seen a contract YET!" "Ha, ha, ha, my dear Maaaark," Rudi would mock me.
"Don't vorry about ze munnee, I'll keep it safe." No kidding! Rudi kept the money "safe" all right. Not FOR me, but FROM me. In a nuclear strike-proof safe, no doubt, where only he could get to it. But it didn't matter. None of us ever expected to see another pfennig beyond what we had split up between us out of the original session budget leftovers anyway. It was obvious to us that master slicker Rudi had elevated common thievery to not just a sport, an art even, but to veritable gallantry. And that was OK by us. The fact that somebody had actually paid us for having this much fun made it all worth while. Besides, no matter how much Rudi pissed you off, it was simply impossible not to like him - to even downright admire him for his ever charming, ever bubbly, ever boundlessly passionate audacity. Today, Rudi is no longer with us. Yet, even now, whenever I hear any of the "Roooodeeee" tracks, I always picture the jolly Krautling's frantically animated ghost hovering above the band like an extra member, cheering in nigh falsetto, his eyes ablaze in wonder like a child beholding a Christmas tree, "Ja, ja, ja!!
Ist ja funtustic! A vonderful, vonderful hit!!!! -Mark Wirtz, Savannah, GA, August 2002.
(1) The Judd LP was released on Penny Farthing in 1969. Judd was really Kris Ife. The LP was produced by Mark and contained six original Wirtz/Ife compositions.
(2) The real names of the primary musicians, Mark Wirtz (guitar, piano, vocals), Tat Meager (drums), Roger McKew (guitar) and Roger Favell (bass) were BOLDLY revealed in the LP liner notes
(3) Other band names known to have been used are The Guards and Father's Brown. The latter had one single released in the UK on Decca ("Maybe Baby" written by Wirtz/Ife). The Matchmakers LP (with a different track listing) and at least one single were released in the UK on Chapter One. Matchmakers tracks appear on Mark Wirtz Pop Works and The Anthology To find out more about Mark Wirtz Pop Works and The Anthology go to "NEWS" at www.markwirtz.com or write to Mark Frumento at mafru2@comcast.net
Thanks to David Wells for additional information on the UK releases.

SKIP BIFFERTY- Skip Bifferty. Castle Music 2-CD comp.
Due end October/early November. This is the most current track-list. NOTE:- Details to be confirmed.
DISC 1 - "THE ALBUM":
1. Money Man
2. Jeremy Carabine
3. When She Comes To Stay
4. Guru
5. Come Around
6. Time Track
7. Gas Board Under Dog
8. Inside The Secret
9. Orange Lace
10.Planting Bad Seeds
11.Yours For At Least 24
12.Follow The Path Of The Stars
13.Prince Of Germany The First
14.Clearway 51
BONUS SINGLES:
15.Man In Black
16.On Love
17.Cover Girl
18.Happy Land
19.Reason To Live
20.Comes The Dawn (previously unissued)
21.Portobello Road (previously unissued)
22.Round And Round (previously unissued officially)
23.Schizoid Revolution (previously unissued, Alan Hull & Skip Bifferty)
24.This We Shall Explore (previously unissued, Alan Hull & Skip Bifferty)
DISC 2 - "BBC SESSIONS":
1. The Hobbit
2. Man In Black
3. Once
4. Aged Aged Man
5. Higher Than The Clouds
6. The Lion & The Unicorn
7. Disappointing Day
8. Money Man
9. I Don't Understand It
10.Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
11.In The Morning
12.Follow The Path Of The Stars
13.When She Comes To Stay
HEAVY JELLY SINGLE:
14.I Keep Singing The Same Old Song (45 vsn)
15.Blue
GRIFFIN:
16.I Am The Noise In Your Head
17.Don't You Know
18.What A Day It's Been (BBC Session)
19.Shine (BBC Session)
...............

Due for release mid-October:
1. Chris Andrews- HOLD ON
2. O'haras Playboys- BLUE DOG
3. Eddie Cave & the Fyx- IT'S ALMOST GOOD
4. Peenuts- TROUBLE )
5. New Formula- BURNING IN THE BACKGROUND OF MY MIND
6. The Epics - HENRY LONG
7. Justin and Karlson- SOMEWHERE THEY CAN'T FIND ME
8. Rob & Dean Douglas- PHONE ME
9. Heinz- MOVIN IN
10.Rifkin- CONTINENTAL HESITATION
11.Group Therapy- REMEMBER WHAT YOU SAID
12.The Glorious Revolution- DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD
13.Brendan Phillips- SOMETHING'S HAPPENING OUTSIDE
14.Andy Ellison- ARTHUR BROWN
15.The Candydates- DON'T LET ME DOWN
Bonus: 1 sided 45: The Rolling Stones- WE WERE FALLING IN LOVE . (1964 studio acetate)

BUTTERFLY: RIPPLES VOLUME 8 (Castle CMRCD 554) CD Comp.
Previewed in SFA 9, where we printed the track list.
A 30 track mix of blue eyed soul-pop, Beach Boys-sounalikes, summery 'Fading Yellow'-ish folky pop, and even some tacky Brady Bunch catchiness.
There are some snappy dancers with blue-eyed leanings, such as The New Faces- 'Walk Tall Like A Man' (which was actually spun at Wigan Casino in the late-70s), The Rainbow People- 'The Walk Will Do You Good' (their psychy name cannot disguise their soul/cabaret aspirations, and their magnificent 'Living In A Dreamworld' was a massive Wigan floorshaker in 1978), Val McKenna- 'Don't Hesitate'( Val, too, had Northern Soul attention, most notably for her ersatz 'Love Feeling'), James Galt- 'With My Baby'; and John Summers, with the gloriously effervescent 'Don't Fool Yourself'[Question:
Why has Sanctuary never revived the Pye Disco Demand series?- DT]. Even The Bloomfields' track has some Delfonics-style vocalisings!!!
Youngblood- 'Masquerade' (B-side to their version of the oft-covered 'Just How Loud'), and Gary Aston- 'His Lordship', are outstanding examples of Pye pop. And 'Dee Dee Do Your Dance' by Pussyfoot has some rather splendid guitar parts. Folk-pop is represented by Linsey Moore et al, whilst Floribunda Rose, The Blinkers, Episode Six, The Tremeloes, Anan, John Christian Dee and Pinkerton's Colours all veer tantalisingly close to sike pop territory.
Informative liner notes too. A recommended comp. (PH)

WE'RE NOT WHAT WE APPEAR TO BE (Wolfrilla 1011) Vinyl LP Comp. Limited edition 400 copies.
The Bunch - We are not what we appear to be
Ian and the Zodiacs - Wade in the water
Pinkerton's Assorted Colours - Will Ya?
The Mersey's - The Cat
The Mindbenders - My new day and age
Tuesday's Children - Summer leaves me with a sigh
Force Five - Don't know which way to turn
Winston's Fumbs - Real crazy Apartment
The Blue Aces - That's All Right
Paul and Barry Ryan - Gotta Go Out to work
Mike Raynor and The Condors - Turn your head
The Montanas - Anyone there?
Wishful Thinking - I want you girl
The Mindbenders - Far across Town
They couldn't have chosen a more apt title. For, whilst WNWWATB bills itself as rare and obscure Brit freakbeat, the fourteen tracks compiled here run the whole gamut of mid-60s musical malarkey from mod-pop through to psych. First the bad news- the best tracks have appeared elsehwere.
Winston's Fumbs weirdly freaky 'Real Crazy Apartment' has been comped several times before, and The Blue Aces incendary blast of freakbeat (topped off with a very odd brass solo) 'That's All right' debuted a few years back on 'Digging for Gold.' Still if you've never heard them, they are worth the price of the ticket alone. Also familiar to SFA die-hards are The Mindbenders 'My New Day and Age' and The Bunch, whose track the comp is named after, which is far more moddy and a lot less toytown than their later single. Of the previously unheard stuff the stand out is Tuesday's Children's awesome 'Summer Leaves Me With A Sigh.' (Great title). How collectors have passed this grungey slab of folk-rock by beats me. The very much in vogue Paul and Barry Ryan donate 'Gotta go Out To Work', which although not in the 'Madrigal' league, is a pleasant enough slice of beaty pop. Other highlights include Mike Raynor And The Condor's 'Turn Your Head' which sounds not unlike mid-period Poets and Ian And The Zodiacs' very odd take on 'Wade In The water.' It's all housed in a fairly funky sleeve and comes with a couple of sides of informative sleeve notes. So, a pretty decent comp all together. Only shame is the sound quality is a little ropey and the quality of the vinyl is pants. (Ashley Norris)

From 'Top Pops', No. 48, Nov. 23-29, 1968:-
I feel very sympathetic about Coventry group The Peppermint Circus. The group are so determined to achieve success that they've been saving virtually all their earnings for the past six months to enable them to have enough to promote themselves.
However, lead singer Paul Thomas was placed in a dilemma. He didn't have enough money to take his fiancée Sue Fleming out as often as he would have liked. Sue didn't like it, so she gave him an ultimatum : "Give up the group or me."
The couple have come up to a compromise. They won't see each other for six months. During that time Paul hopes the group will find success- if they don't, he'll leave.

Here are three from the Record Mirror December 2nd, 1967 :
Maybe "Flower-power" as a commercial craze is fading and it's symbols are disappearing, but there are still large numbers of genuine advocates who without the need for flowers and bells etc. still maintain the original message of "flower-power" which is the promotion of love and peace throughout the world. Although they are hindered by unpleasant things that have been brought to light along the way, like drug-taking, they still practice their beliefs during their everyday lives. It is a pity that the people to whom the message of love and peace would benefit most; for instance Heads of state etc, are too involved in their race for power to listen and realise the truth. Everyone knows that "flower-power" alone cannot correct the world's faults. This will take a long, long, time. But surely no one can dispute the fact that "flower-power" brought realization to many, including you and me; and that's a good start.
Linda Rookes, Southsea, Hants.

Congrats to the Hollies for turning out so many but yet excellent records.
Everybody seems to not understand their new style, but I do! Who wants to be the band left behind? Of course the Hollies want to put more work into their songs; in that way they get better. That is the reason for their continuous chart successes. Stand up anyone who does not like the kind of music they are playing and I shall change their moods. My weapon? The L.P. "Butterfly".
The Hollies were voted fourth in the best British group section of the RM pop poll. Let's see if "Butterfly" can do the same, chart-wise. I'm sure that it will. As you probably understand, I am the greatest Hollies fan in the world. I have 120 different songs by the group on record, and I am sure that nobody else can equal this. If so, stand up and speak!
Knut Skyberg, Norway.
Interestingly enough, Knut Skyberg is a huge Kaleidoscope fan and is a member of the Kaleidoscope Yahoo group!

Now that the flower people are entering a period of nomadic uncertainty and the brutalisation of pop-beat has been expanded to it's full extent, please give more scope to the untouchables of today's scene : Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Baez, Paxton etc.
Rockin' John Waterfield, Boston, Lincs.

Elton John is probably the last artiste one would associate with psychedelic pop, or with anything remotely of interest to explorers of British pop's floral-lined late-60s biways, er sorry... byways. But as I shall reveal below there was a notable and most exquisite candy-coloured coating to some of his and Bernie Taupin's more obscure creations. This revelation really shouldn't come as too much of a shock; after all, in an era when even Matt Munro and James Last went day-glo, it would be more surprising that a young middle-class London musician wouldn't have at least dipped his toe in psychedelic pop's alluring, pellucid waters.
(Potted) Early History:
Reggie Dwight's first amateur band The Corvettes were formed by him (piano/vocs) and Stuart Brown (gtr/vocs), together with Geoff Dyson (bs), whilst still at school in Pinner. Dyson soon left to join Decca, and later Immediate, hopefuls The Mockingbirds. Reg and Stu formed Bluesology, later most notable for backing Long John Baldry. Reg kept up his day job at Mills
Music publishers in Denmark St, London's Tin Pan Alley. One side of the debut Bluesology 45- 'Come Back Baby'- is composed and sung by Reg. When Long John Baldry takes over, Reg is somewhat pushed to the back, causing him immense frustration. LJB also admits to taking umbrage at chubby Reg and his hideous orange Vox Continental organ!!!
On June 17th, 1967 an ad in the NME, placed by Liberty Records (UK), which reads "LIBERTY WANTS TALENT. ARTISTES/COMPOSERS/SINGERS/MUSICIANS TO FORM NEW GROUP" is answered by Reg, and unbeknown to him, also by Bernie Taupin, a young would-be poet/songwriter (seemingly obsessed, as so many millions were by English pastoralism and whimsy, and in particular by 'Winnie-the-Pooh', 'Wind In The Willows' and Tolkien)living in rural seclusion in Lincolnshire. They are introduced, and very soon start writing together. After an entree to Dick James Music, Reg (and chums) surreptitiously utilise down time at DJM studios, first floor, 71-75 New Oxford Street to cut demos.
The studio's "official" productions are published as 'This Music'("This" being an intentional anagram of "shit" and "hits"!), and released via Philips Records.
On 17th November, 1967 following the guvnor's discovery of the "unofficial" use of the studio, but singular business opportunity presented by such obvious talent, Reg and Bernie sign to DJM.
In December Reg quits Bluesology and renames himself 'Elton John', after Bluesology's sax player ELTON Dean, and front man Long JOHN Baldry. His debut single is issued in March '68, it is a typical Elton John ballad 'I've Been Loving You', and thus beings his ascent to international mega stardom...

SOME "SFA-STYLE" ELTON JOHN DEMOS:-
Whilst it must be obvious that love songs/ballads predominate among Elton's demos, as they do throughout his career. The following songs have been chosen because these are of exceptional interest, for they show an artist reflecting the technicolored tymes in which he lived and worked...
'A Dandelion Dies In The Wind'. (Sept '67) "Very 1967", with a wobbly psych ending.
'And The Clock Goes Round'. (April '68)
'Annabella'. Groovy pop.
'Get Out Of This Town'. (?/69) Groovin' instrumental, basically a rip off of Dobie Gray's 'In Crowd', but funked up a tad, and with a progressive-pop hint.
'Hour Glass'. (Autumn'69) Penned by Tony Collacott-Jack Mowbay-Bren Leboeuf. Nice pop, with psychy hints.
'I Can't Go On Living Without You'. Wonderful pop, entered as a 'Song For Europe', and made the final six. Should have been huge hit. Love the tacky
"Yariba yariba!!!" Mexicanisms!
'Lady Samantha'. (Oct '68) There's an earlier take which is both tougher and better than the released 45/LP version.
'Mr. Lightning Strikerman'. (?/67)
'Regimental Sgt. Zippo'. (May '68).TOTALLY AMAZING PSYCH POP MONSTER!!! Backward tapes, weird meandering flute sound, into a catchy pop number, great stinging guitar from Caleb, and a psyched-out ending. FAB FAB FAB!!!
'Sad Eyed Queen Of The Laughing Lake'.
'Sails'. (1st Feb '69) As with 'Lady Samantha' (above), there's a better, earlier take than that which was issued on the 'Empty Sky' LP.
'Scarecrow'.(?/67)The first song co-written by John & Taupin. Blimey, What a great track!!! (By the way, it's not the Floyd song). Just dig these lyrics- "Like moths around a light bulb / Your brain is still bleeding / From visions and pictures of nature's young raincoat / If only my eyes were not pinned to your table / My arms would be grasping the lilies of summer."(!!!)
'71-75 New Oxford Street'. (?/69) A very groovy instrumental. (Incidentally, Immediate Records were next door, at 63-69 New Oxford Street)
'Sitting Doing Nothing'.(?/68?)Great "lazy"-themed pop (same subject as covered by Mirage, Beatles, 23rd Turnoff...)
'Taking The Sun From My Eyes'. Catchy pop treat. With a bit more oomph! in the backing, or perhaps covered by someone like Paula Parfitt, this could easily have caused some dervish-like spinning on the sprung wooden floor of the Wigan Casino.
'Tartan Coloured Lady'. (Feb '68) Fab, harpsichord pop.
'Thank You For All Your Loving'. Good pop, with a funky/prog-pop feel.
'The Angel Tree' (Jan '68) Wonderful quintessential popsike.
'The Girl on Angel Pavement'. (Sept '68). Infectious pop, also notable for inspiring the name of- wait for it, wait for it... the outfit "Angel Pavement"(of Morgan Studios)!
'The Witch's House'. Dig the lines- "I go to the Witch's House / I go there whenever I can / Me and molly Dickinson in my delivery van".
'Turn To Me'. An early version, includes phased drums(!), and some great keyboard work, sadly missing from Plastic Penny's version.
'Velvet Fountain'. (Summer '67) Fabulous hippie-pop, with superb psych lyrics.
'When I Was Tealby Abbey'. (April '68) Brilliant! Chirpy, Bee Gees-style pop, with flute and phasing! Has the most obscure title- Bernie, just what does it all mean???
'Where It's At'. (Oct '67) Heavily Bee Gees-inspired, a "swinging London" piss take. Nice lyric mention of a "Portobello yellow pill box hat"!!! Great stuff.
'Year Of The Teddy Bear' (?/67)
'You'll Be Sorry To See Me Go'. This has more than a "hint" of The Beatles about it.

SOME CURIOUS & NOTABLE CONNECTIONS & RELEASES, etc:
ARGOSY- These pop psych one-offs (alledgedly Elton's sessioneers), lead by vocalist Roger Hodgson, were also signed to DJM. Whilst trying to break Elton in the States in 1970, Lennie Hodges, DJM's US head, found that Russ Regan (head of Uni Records, the label responsible for DJM's American distribution), was far more interested in promoting Argosy than Elton John!!! Oh, what might have been....[Question: Where are those half-dozen 1969/70 Argosy demos? -Dave]. Within a few months Roger had of course metamorphosed into the leader of Supertramp.
AYSHEA- The Kids-TV babe, did a cover version of 'Taking The Sun From My Eyes' Issued as a B side, Feb '69.
BREAD & BEER BAND- Elton (piano), Caleb (guitar), Roger Pope (drums), Bernie Calvert (bass). 45: (Decca F 12891), Feb '69. A side the 'Dick Barton Theme (The Devil's Gallop)'; B side, 'Breakdown Blues' is a brill instrumental, quite neglected, featuring Caleb's very tasty atonal guitar. There's also recorded a (fairly boring) unreleased test-pressing LP.
GUY DARRELL- Best known for his cover version of 'I've Been Hurt' (Ray Whitley/Tams' song), a big Northern Soul revival in the mid-70s, and for his raunchy version of 'Evil Woman'(See review above). He also cut Elton's
'Skyline Pigeon', issued August '68.
THE DUKE'S NOBLEMEN- Featured Elton John & Caleb Quaye, recorded 'Thank You For Your Loving'.
FAIRFIELD PARLOUR- Formerly psych heroes Kaleidoscope. Elton is featured tinkling the ivories and adding a touch of backing vocal on 'Just Another Day', issued as a 45 in July '70.
JIGSAW - A long running group, most notable from a SFA perspective for two psych treasures- 'Tumblin'', 'Seven Fishes', and one modpop gem- 'One Way Street'. Cut a version of 'Say Hello To Mrs. Jones'. Issued as a 45, Jan '71. Elton's version was first demo'd in '69.
BRIAN KEITH- Ex-Plastic Penny front man and fellow Dick James employee, cut Elton's 'When The First Tear Shows', issued Nov '68.
MR. BLOE- Both sides of the highly recommended 45 (issued Jan '71)'Get Out (Of This Town)'/'71-75 New Oxford Street' feature Elton on keyboards. Written solely by Elton.
MY DEAR WATSON- Scottish, Easybeats-related band. Elton played on both sides of their third single- 'Have You Seen Your Saviour'/'White Line Road', released on DJM (July '70).
NICK DRAKE- In July 1970 Elton demo'd four of Drake's songs (from the 'Five Leaves Left' LP, released Sept '69)- 'Day Is Done', 'Saturday Sun', 'Time Has Told Me' and 'Way To Blue'.
ORANGE BICYCLE- Harmony popsikers. Cut Elton's 'Take Me To The Pilot'. Issued as a 45, Jan '70 (Elton's version appeared on his s/t LP, April '70). Orange Bicycle also recorded Elton's 'Country Comfort', which apppears on their self-titled Parlophone LP of 1970, there's a later version by Rod Stewart (on his 'Gasoline Alley' LP, July '70). Elton's version appeared on his 'Tumbleweed Connection' LP, Oct '70.
OUTER LIMITS- The rump of this excellent outfit, sans Jeff Christie, cut 'Dark Side Of The Moon' (issued as 45, May '71), which Elton had demo'd mid-1970. Song was written by Findon-Shelley-Hammond-Hazlewood.
PLASTIC PENNY- Cut Elton's 'Turn To Me', issued on the 'Currency' LP (Feb '69).
HAYDEN WOOD- Recorded '60 Years On' (issued on 45 Feb '70). Elton's own version released on s/t LP (April '70).
SPOOKY TOOTH- Cut 'Son Of Your Father' (issued as a 45, Sept '69).
"WOOLWORTHS SPECIALS"- As is now well-known Elton (supplemented his income through session work, including the Avenue label's series of soundalike cheapo comps. Interesting covers include 'Snake In The Grass' (Dave Dee,etc), recorded June '69; 'saved By The Bell (The Bee Gees) Aug '69; 'Don't Forget To Remember' (The Bee Gees), Oct '69; 'Come And Get It' (Badfinger), Feb '70;'Early In The Morning (Vanity Fare), Aug '69; 'Si Tu Dois Partir (Fairport Convention), Aug '69; 'All Right Now (Free), June '70; 'Lola' (Kinks), Aug '70. Some of these can be found on the 'Reg Dwight's Piano Goes Pop' Compilation, on RPM.

LINE-UP: (who recorded DJM demos)- Elton John (piano/vocs), Caleb Quaye (guitar/engineer), Tony Murray- later of the Troggs (bass),David Hinds (drums).
Hookfoot line-up (support act for Elton on early tour, etc) - Caleb Quaye (guitar/vocs), Dee Murray- ex-Mirage (bass), Nigel Olsson- ex-Plastic Penny (Drums).
Their roadie was Bob Stacey- ex-Spencer Davis Group.

Acknowledgments- Dave Bodoh (Check out his great website www.eltonography.com), Philip Norman, Yellow Dog Records, Lucinda Gailbraith, Susan Constable, and of course Sir Elton John.

'Regimental Sergeant Zippo' by ELTON JOHN
There's a picture in the nursery of a well known soldier man
And he wants to be like father when he grows up, if he can
His eyes survey the floorboards with his soldiers around him
But fear not for the future, you will climb the highest mountain
So Regimental Sergeant Zippo
Stand up to attention will you
Hear the bugle sounding in the morning call up rising
So your cowboy castle is standing
You're the one who is commanding
Watch them march along the landing down the stairs
Just a small boy in a small boy's world
And small boys do strange things
He likes to see the matchsticks fly
And hear the cannons ring
For his eiderdown, his battlefield
And in his dreams his fights are real
Until the field is won, aim, fire the guns

Music - Elton John
Lyrics - Bernie Taupin
(c) 1968 Dick James Music Ltd.

PETER SARSTEDT: Yes, him. The 'one hit wonder' (well two hits actually, but we're not counting), of the clever-clever but incredibly drippy pseudo-Frog classic, 'Where Do You Go To My Lovely'- fame and hence dismissed without any thought by muso prog snobs. Shame, cos this feller cut some real beauties. And he had a voice which ordinarily, when he wasn't r-r-r-rolling his r's in an affected Aznavour-esque boulevardier vibrato, was pitched rather deliciously somewhere between Sacha Caro and Peter Daltrey. Here we offer a handful (and a bit for the weekend) of Peter's most SFA-friendly tunes.

'This Is Sayonara'
Beautiful pop with that breathless vocal which so typifies UK pop psych.
> Underscored by some sweeping but not overbearing orchestral backing.

'Blagged!'
Fab piece of pseudo-romance swathed in psych-pop finery. Issued as a B side (08/68). Wonderful keyboard intro, echoes and phased drums, Sgt. Pepper-style strings, the ending is especially wonderful - Pure psychedelia: off-kilter and heavily flanged!

'Mary Jane'
B side of a (Jan '68) withdrawn 45. Not surprising, as this little ditty contains a very knowing lyric - "Well, it's a real good time that you get from Mary Jane / It's the kind of thrill that you find is hard to explain / She'll make a man of you for sure / She'll touch a spot that's never been touched before / Then you'll want some more"
Wrapped in a weird jazz feel with distortion effects and some rather camp Legend Of Xanadu'/'The Wreck Of The Antoinette'-style embellishments.

'Many Coloured Semi Precious Plastic Easter Egg'
Groovy pop with fab (and frankly rather silly!) tongue-twisting Dylan-esque word salad lyrics [a bit like that sentence!-Dave]. Very infectious and quite bonkers! Nice use of weird sound effects, double tracked vocal, and flourishes of Hammond. Quite superb. And recently spun on the redoubtable 'Chocolate Soup FM'. (See above for a atation Top Ten)

'No More Lollipops'
Toytown popsike par excellence! With an ending which follows the blueprint of many of UK pop's more ersatz interpretations of acid dementia - it gets faster and faster and faster and faster and.

'As Though It Were A Movie'
Wonderful sweeping orchestral pop, bookended by instrumental breaks which feature mellotron, effects, phasing, bendy guitar, electric sitar...A production tour-de-force! The song would sit at ease on the 'White Faced Lady' album (Peter Daltrey again).

'National Anthem And Doors Close At 10:45pm'
Great stuff! 'God Save The Queen' on backward tapes with varispeed. An irreverent and anarchic slice of studio psychedelia, which, in an alternative reality, should have flowed from the pens of those Soft Machine chappies...

Hi, I'd like to nominate Kissing The Pink's 'Sugarland' as a fine example of neo-psych. It's loaded down with ethnic wailing, phasing,reverb, trippy lyrics, even a snatch of sampled Hendrix woven into the bridge, all assembled into a catchy slice of summery pop.
Kim Howard.

This was a John's Children-related band which featured one 14-year old Andy Ward. Misty Romance was Ward's first serious band, formed in Epsom during 1967. Line-up #1 was Chris Dorset:???????, Gerry Barnes (a plumber from Woking, who had apparently been in the early incarnation of The[Song]Peddlars): bass, Andy Ward: drums and Geoff McClelland (ex-John's Children): guitar. Andy Ward says that Misty Romance "was a hopeless band, basically a soul band with touches of Hendrix, Cream and Julie Driscoll".
Andy also remembers that they had two bass drums, one lettered 'Misty', the other 'Romance', in an Aubrey Beardsley style. Misty Romance line-up#2 was Chris, Andy, geoff and Wendy Hoyle, which became line-up#3 when Doug Ferguson arrived with his pink Fender Jazz bass to replace Gerry. Doug Ferguson joined on bass and thus was the future Camel rhythm section formed.
They gigged mainly in Portsmouth and Southampton.
A few months after Misty Romance had split, in 1968, Ferguson moved to Guildford and met Andrew Latimer. Together with Graham Butcher they were in the throes of forming a band. Andy was auditioned- playing 'Crossroads', 'Spoonfull', and 'Killing Floor', and was of course asked to join, replacing Parker. They became The Brew, a typical late-sixties power trio, and started gigging around Portsmouth, building up a strong local following, doing blues covers and a few blues-oriented originals penned by Latimer. The Brew backed Philip Goodhand-Tait on his 'Rehearsal' LP (1971), before adding the late Peter Bardens (formerly of Village), and becoming Camel.
Andy Ward is now in modern psych heroes the Bevis Frond.
Check out www.musart.co.uk/org/ward/a4k/htm

Entry no. 170 PETE TOWNSHEND(Chief guitar torturer for a well-known beat combo. From 'International Times', no.8, 13-26/02/67):
"Well presented destruction is what I call a joy to watch. Just like well presented pornography or obscenity. Although destruction is not as strong as obscenity it's not so vulgar but it's rare, you don't see destruction so often, not malicious desruction just for the sake of it, and so when you do you normally stop and watch. I'm afraid of calling anything I do an art form...I go on and smash a £200 guitar and they go home and say 'Yes, they were quite good tonight'! When I first did it people used to come up to me and say, 'You bastard! I've been saving all my life for a guitar a tenth of that price, and there you are, smashing it up on stage. Give me the bits! and I have to say, "Calm down, it's all in the cause"... All I know, is that there's this beautiful land ahead where all the problems are answered..."

When The Easybeats landed in England in late summer 1966 they were riding high on the success of their breakthrough international hit 'Friday On My Mind'. Liberated from the grip of "Easyfever" that besieged their every move in Australia and mixing with London's rock and pop cognoscenti, they immediately began making music that wilfully mangled not only their own formula but also the very nature of the three-minute pop song.
Chief composers Harry Vanda and George Young had already shown they weren't afraid to throw off-kilter chord progressions, atonal melodies and pile driving power chords into the stew. 1966 produced a string of righteous Easybeats classics including 'I'll Make You Happy', 'Sorry' and most of the Volume Three album. A year earlier, the band's early run of domestic smash hits was interrupted by the curious 'Sad And Lonely And Blue', which fuses a jarring twelve-string drone not unlike The Kinks' 'See My Friend' to a pleasant Merseybeat-style ditty.
For the remainder of 1966 and most of 1967, The Easybeats experienced a creative leap on a par with The Beatles, Stones, Kinks or Who. George Young in particular came into his own as a songwriter of incredible diversity and originality, equally adept at blue-eyed soul stompers, piano-led torch ballads, swirling effects-laden psychedelia and perfect glistening pop. The band spent what appears in retrospect to be every waking moment holed up in Central Sound in Denmark Street bringing his and Vanda's creations to life.
Sadly, much of this music wouldn't see the light of day until many years after the band's split. The mind-bogglingly careless and inconsistent way in which the band's records were selected for release in different territories resulted in the same tracks appearing on both singles and albums (occasionally more than once!) while dozens of often superior cuts were left to gather dust in the vaults. Fortunately, due to the diligence of archivists like Glenn A Baker, the dawn of CD and the continued adoration of fans, many of these recordings have finally surfaced.
The following list was originally simply my favourite Easybeats tunes from the London 1967-68 sessions. There were about thirty.
So, after much trimming, I hereby present my personal pick of The Easybeats' ten essential acid-pop moments.

'Heaven And Hell'-
The "controversial" spring 1967 single ("discovering someone else in your bed") that marked a lyrical shift towards more cerebral themes, set to a thrilling power-pop backing which rivals The Who and Small Faces at their early acid-era best. Possibly the definitive Easybeats single.
Available on: Aussie Beat That Shook The World: The Anthology (Repertoire CD) and most 'best of' compilations.

'Mr Riley Of Higginbottom & Clive'-
Cut for the abandoned second UK album in 1967, this tale of a lecherous company cleaner ("working with Miss Bream in the first aid room") is straight out of that particularly English school of work-a-day oddballs that also gave birth to Arnold Layne, Neville Thumbcatch and Grocer Jack.
Available on: The Shame Just Drained (Repertoire CD)

'Amanda Storey'-
Another refugee from the scrapped album and another sorry slice of life in which a family try to trace their daughter, separated at birth, through a newspaper article ("were you born in Coventry in 1942?"). The weeping strings, booming drums and falsetto vocals beautifully compliment the haunting Bach-inspired melody. Could almost be the Stones in another life.
Available on: The Shame Just Drained (Repertoire CD)

'H P Man'-
Cut from the same cloth as 'Mr Riley', this 1967 demo belatedly appeared as an Australian b-side two years later. This time, however, tongues are lodged firmly in cheeks as the cockney protagonist declares "me, got a house, got a car, got a wife, got two lovely kids, all freckles and fun" while the band lay down a rock-solid freakbeat backing.
Available on: Friends (Repertoire CD)

'The Music Goes Round My Head'-
The band's late 1967 single release was plainly intended as atonement for the ambiguities of 'Heaven And Hell', but the jaunty radio-friendly tune, subsequently re-cut at a more languid pace at the behest of the BBC, masks an inward-looking lyric which reeks of LSD enlightenment ("All my life I've laboured tryin' to find who my creator was and now at last the pieces fall in place"). A manic harpsichord solo and 'Penny Lane'-style French horn add a touch of fairy dust.
Both versions available on: Vigil (Repertoire CD)

'Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia'-
The Easys' first venture into full-blown psychedelia appeared on the b-side of 'The MusiC...'. Although lyrically rather pedestrian, the musical performances are almost eerie. Opening with a triumphant fanfare, it immediately slips into a slow-burning stew of phased vocals and Hammond organ stabs before building up through a series of increasingly frenzied choruses. The song was recorded twice, once in New York and again in a far superior version in London.
Both versions available on: Vigil (Repertoire CD)

'Watch Me Burn'-
Another demo whose exact vintage is sketchy, though it probably dates from early 1968 as it contains elements of the ska sound which was influencing the band's work at that time. A curious piece, musically ahead of it's time (again) and lyrically darker than their other contemporary recordings.
Recorded as part of an intended suite with the infinitely more commercial 'I'm On Fire'.
Available on: The Shame Just Drained (Repertoire CD)

'Peculiar Hole In The Sky'-
Possibly their best-known psych-era cut due to it's inclusion on Raven's much-loved 'Downunder Dreamtime' collection in the 80's (as well as the impending SFA compilation), this track appears to have been recorded in early 1968 though it's hard to say for what purpose. It's too well developed to have been intended as a demo yet it would have sounded passé if included on the Vigil album of that year. It eventually turned up as a posthumous single in late 1969. Regardless, it's a strident, confident performance of one of their best compositions of the era, iced with a crystal clear production, a hefty dollop of studio trickery and a boisterous string arrangement.
Available on: Aussie Beat That Shook The World: The Anthology and Friends (both Repertoire CD)

'Land Of Make Believe'-
Released as a single in summer 1968, this effectively marked the end of the band's pop phase. But what a sign-off! An almost perfect compression of their effortlessly commercial song writing nous, impassioned vocals, twin guitar volleys and watertight arrangements. An abridged version without strings appeared in some territories.
Complete version available on: Aussie Beat That Shook The World: The Anthology and Vigil (both Repertoire CD)

'We All Live Happily Together'-
The b-side of '...Make Believe' surely qualifies as the most adventurous and bizarre thing The Easys ever committed to tape. A four minute collage containing a cockney knees-up, a tape loop of glasses being smashed, hysterical group laughter, otherworldly chanting, a solitary compressed piano note and the title of the song being read out in four languages. Some pressings omit the wartime sound recordings playing over the fade out. Like you'd notice.
Available on: Vigil (Repertoire CD)
......................................................................

OZ PHASING TO THE MAX-

LLOYD'S WORLD- 'Brass Bird' (Aus: Festival FK 2433) 1968.
Superb mod-psych, very much like the Small Faces or Rupert's People.
Interestingly, this band came to the UK, around the same time as the Bee Gees, with whom they were friends. Whilst the Bee Gees were signed by Robert Stigwood, these guys were rejected after their audition for Stigwood and returned home to Oz, taking with them an altered version of the Bee Gees' proposed new name 'Rupert's World'!

CAM-PACT- 'Drawing Room' (Aus: Festival FK 2364) 1968.
Who-like guitar, drums and harmonies + the strings from 'Big Country' + blue-eyed soul vocal inflections = Psych pop perfection, Which is then bludgeoned shapeless by a mighty wave of flangeing. LOVE IT!!!
.............................................

THE GREATEST NEW ZEALAND RECORD...EVER!-

TOM THUMB-'Ludgate Hill' EP (NZ: HMV GESM 6141) 1970.
Wowzer! Obviously New Zealand's response to Australian Russell Morris' (successful?) attempt to make the finest 7-inch ever! A four-parter ('Prelude', 'Destruction', 'Dawning', 'Tomorrow'), a piano phrase "adapted" from 'Air On A G-String', a quotation from 'The Grand Old Duke Of York' nursery rhyme, pealing church bells, psych effects, heavy guitar, mellotron...all coalesce around the theme of the great fire of London, plague and nuclear holocaust. Thematically akin to Team Dokus' 'Fifty Million Megaton Sunset', 'Ludgate Hill' is at once both more profound and more trivial. For it is the trivial which heightens the poignancy, by retaining a more human scale.
Although this ambitious work must rank as one of the pinnacles of musical achievement of the era, it is mercifully marked by a total absence of prog histrionics.
Interestingly, the subject matter- a wilful and gleeful invocation of a calamatious, purgative era which will usher in the beatific, hippie "neue ordnung"- is further proof of the strong millenarian thread running through the music and philosophy of the era. A thread most infamously evident in the homicidal activities of Charles Manson et famille; as well as musically in 'World War Three' (Dantalian's Chariot), 'Comet' (Pussy), and even the "Teenage Wasteland" section from 'Tommy' (The Who).
Also, the 'Ludgate Hill' EP came in a great art sleeve, illustrated with a suitably dispiriting, sepulchral scene.
.......................................................................

From an EMIdisc acetate. We herewith print the lyrics of this short 'n' creepy, Syd-like song, in the (vain?) hope that we can discover anything about this long lost band, who sound a bit like The Meek.

'Hellebore Grange' by JACKSON'S KIPPER.
Let's take a trip down to Hellebore Grange
We can visit Mr. Narcissus, he is quite strange
You'll find him staring at himself all day
He's got nothin' to say

chorus-
Take a wrong turn we'll lose ourselves in the wood
Take another turn and we'll be lost for good
Down at Hellebore Grange

We could talk to the flowers all day
Once you're there you'll never go away
Mrs. Spider she's gonna make you snug
Snug as a bug in a rug

[Chorus]

Let's take a trip down to Hellebore Grange
We'll visit Mr. Narcissus, he is quite strange
You'll find him staring at himself all day
He's got nothing to say

[Chorus] to fade.

Subject: Wimple Winch/Dee Christopholus - 'Vault '69' CD
From: Olaf Øwre
Hi,
Thanks for putting the facts right regarding the Dee Christopholus solo tracks included on the Wimple Winch Story CD released by Bam Caruso Records (KIRI 107 CD) back in 1992. Last year I bought the 'Waterloo Road' CD available at Keith Hopwood's Pluto Music website, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all those old demos.
Since then Keith Hopwood has dug even deeper in the Pluto vaults and there's now a new CD titled 'Vault '69' available from Pluto.
Again Dee Christopholus is involved on some of the tracks as writer and lead singer, and 'Vault '69' is highly recommended. Some of the songs are superb- notably 'Sleepy Head', 'Same Old Line' and 'Sultan's Daughter', the latter with Stan Dulson, also known as Stan "Red" Hoffman of The Measles back in the 60's. Great stuff for serious psych/freakbeat collectors everywhere!
Best wishes,
Olaf Owre.

Subject: Current Faves, A Late Entry
From: Andy Morten.
Dave
Hi, hope you enjoyed your holidays. I certainly did. I missed this whole SFA readers' charts thing as I've been in Spain with the band (and a couple of other guys, see www.honeybus.net). Anyway, just in case I'm not totally too late, here's mine (off the top of me head):
1. Russell Morris - The Real Thing Parts 1 & 2 / Part Three Into Paper Walls (all joined together on the PC to create 13 minutes of heaven)
2. The Twilights - The Way They Play
3. The Smoke - Sydney Gill (alternate version)
4. The Bee Gees - Mrs Gillespie's Refrigerator (1st version)
5. The Beatmen - Now The Sun Has Gone (from '65!)
Muchos besos,
Andy.

Subject: RE: Sweet Floral Albion- Current Faves
From: Joe McFarland
Hello SFA,
This has to be the millionth note on this, but I feel obliged to respond to Rob Prince (see SFA 9.5- 'Current Faves'), via you guys, just to let him know that the version of "Shy Boy" on the Mark Wirtz CD is Kippington Lodge.
Maybe he has a tape of it or something, and I'm sure others of our obsessive ilk have been apprising him of the difference, but I need to do my part just because everyone needs to know about Nick Lowe's early psychedelic effort.
Undoubtedly one of your sharp-eyed editors noted this as well, but we need an informed psychedelic public. Just the same, I wouldn't quite call the Tomorrow version "crap", just a little more sparse. I do think that "Mr. Rainbow" by Rob Flynn (Wirtz) is better than the similar "Hallucinations" however, so...to each his own ,
etc. etc.
Yours in perpetuity,
Joe.

SWEET FLORAL ALBION- the world's only periodical devoted to British Psychedelia- is published monthly.
All contents: Copyright (c) Sweet FA, Sept 2002.
Editor- Dave Thubron.
Deputy Editor- the Rt. Hon. Paul Cross.
Writers- Scott Charbonneau, Jon Kerr, Mark Frumento, Jim McAlwane, Andy Morten, Ashley Norris, J.B. Phillips, Paul Hodges, John-Paul Hortus, Nick Philips.
'The Bumper Book Of Psych Quotations', by Roger St. John, quoted with the kind permission of the publisher- Tangerine Books, London. Copyright (c) 2001.
........................................................................Designed & Published, Zapped & Ejaculated by two legendary Editors and Poets at a secret location in the Lower East Side, New York City, U.S.A. Printed by Feck Yow Press for the World Grobble Gope Fellowship.