Consequences is the latest edition of YHO, and can be downloaded here as a pdf – free for all. This issue is all about The Go-Betweens’ first three LPs and the musical climate in which they were made and first heard. The YHO way of working has been very much about roaring through the pop landscape, making unexpected connections, and zooming off in a new direction to explore whatever turns up. So, for a new challenge, I thought it would be fun to do something different, and write about something more specific like a short sequence of LPs by one artist. And that’s exactly what the new series will be about: context and sequences. This issue is a bit of a feature-length trailer. The ones to come will be far more concentrated and concise. And this one is, unusually, very close to home. It’s a rare glimpse behind the curtain. So please spread the news.
It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.
Central to this issue is the work of Ian Green as an arranger and as a producer. Among Ian's credits are the first two Labi Siffre LPs at the start of the '70s which are very much among my favourite things. I have to confess to being a relatively recent convert to Labi's work but I would rate what he and Ian Green did on these records up there with what Terry Callier and Charles Stepney did. Sometimes we miss what is right in front of us. We all know It Must Be Love or The Vulture but he came up with earlier, exquisite songs that defy categorisation and reflect the jumble of influences and experiences that shaped him.
Those first two LPs that Ian Green produced contain some real classics, such as A Little More Line, which Rosetta Hightower also covered. Actually people seem to do some very nice interpretations of Labi's lovely songs, like Olivia Newton John's cover of Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying.
Labi's songs could be deceptively simple, like Summer Is Coming, but the more you listen the more you notice how complex and clever they are. And he could be quite cutting when there was a point to be made, such as on Thank Your Lucky Star.
It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.
This issue starts with stumbling across a YouTube posting of the British soul treasure Joe E. Young & the Toniks' Flower In My Hand on the Toast label and setting off on an expedition to find out more about Vicki Wickham's boutique label. The song itself was written by Ebony Keyes and Pete Gage. Pete Gage is well known for his Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band connections. Ebony is one Kenrick Des Etages from Trinidad, who moved to London in the '60s, did a bit of singing, and ended up reinvented as Ebony Keyes. Along the way he made some great 45s with the legendary John Shroeder, such as the Northern Soul favourite If You Knew (written by Pete Gage). He also wrote some very smart soul songs of his own, such as What Love Brings for Kenny Bernard.
Into the '70s Ebony Keyes became Lee Vanderbilt, and along the way he became an essential part of Biddu's backroom staff. But there's a lot more to his story than that. Ian Levine rates his 1974 track Pick Up Your Troubles as one of his all-time favourites. And Lee's involvement with the Black Joy soundtrack produced an all-time classic in Lonely I.
Lee was also involved with Ian Green and Rosetta Hightower in Charge who made an LP for Tony Hall's Fresh Air label in 1975. A few more singles followed on Roger Greenaway's Target label, including the funk classic Show Me What You're Made Of.
It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.
Right at the heart of this issue is Vicki Wickham's fascinating label Toast, which was active for a short while in the late '60s. There were some heavy hitters involved with the recordings, including the arrangers Ian Green and Derek Wadsworth. Gerry Shury, one of the early YHO heroes, was also involved, doing the arrangements for the Steve & Stevie LP Toast put out. This was a slightly atypical Toast release which generally concentrated on the soul side. The Steve & Stevie sound was rather more baroque, much closer to the Beatles and Bee Gees than Cadet or Calla.
Steve and Stevie were the Australian duo Steve Kipner and Steve Groves who moved to London to seek success. The closeness to the Bee Gees sound, I guess, is understandable as Steve Kipner's dad Nat was very important in the story of the Brothers Gibb. Nat also relocated to London and worked for Major Minor, Toast's parent company, and it's pure speculation but that could have a lot to do with the Steve and Stevie coming out on Vicki Wickham's label.
The Steve and Stevie LP is gorgeous, and Gerry Shury's arrangements on tracks like Sunshine On Snow are totally wonderful. The duo were whisked away by the Robert Stigwood Organisation at the behest of the Bee Gees, and evolved into Tin Tin who occasionally had a bit more of an edge to their sound and it's easy to see their two LPs appealing to fans of Badfinger, Left Banke, Raspberries. Gerry Shury was involved again with orchestral arrangements on the two Tin Tin LPs and this had a lot to do with him being invited to work on the Bee Gees' 2 Years On LP.
Steve Kipner, incidentally, went on to do many more things in music, including the group Friend, and as songwriter he's had a hand in such delights as Olivia Newton John's Physical and Robert Wyatt's favourite Fight For This Love by you know who ...
It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.
Right at the heart of this issue is the fascinating label Fresh Air which seems to have been active in 1974 and 1975, and put out around 30 singles and at least four LPs. The man behind the label was legendary industry insider Tony Hall, one of the most significant figures in British popular music. Tony's background was in jazz, and in the late '50s he ran the Tempo label for Decca and was responsible for recording the best of the modernists active on the British jazz scene, such as Dizzy Reece, Victor Feldman, Tubby Hayes and Tony Crombie.
While Dizzy and Victor went to the States to chase their dreams, Tubby stayed in London as hero to some and an unknown to many more. His reputation has grown thanks to a series of reissues and so on. YouTube has helped too, revealing some great footage of Tubby's bands over the years. The general consensus now is that Tubby's 1967 set Mexican Green is his best work. It features a lovely song, A Dedication to Joy, for his girlfriend at the time Joy Marshall.
Joy was an American singer, who moved to England in the early '60s, worked with Johnny Dankworth's orchestra, appeared in Lionel Bart's Maggie May, recorded some sides for Ember and Decca, and had a minor hit with The More I See You. Her Decca releases include the majestic and very dramatic beat ballad Heartaches (Hurry On By) which just oozes class like a Nancy Wilson soul side.
Joy also had a single out on Vicki Wickham's Toast label in 1968 which featured the gorgeous And I'll Find You on the a-side. Sadly Joy died that autumn from an accidental overdose of sleeping tablets. In her book Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This Val Wilmer writes about Joy, her struggles, and the funeral itself. Tubby would be prompted to write another song for Joy, his sad lady ...
It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.
Right at the heart of this issue is the fascinating label Fresh Air which seems to have been active in 1974 and 1975, and put out around 30 singles and at least four LPs. The man behind the label was legendary industry insider Tony Hall, one of the most significant figures in British popular music. Fresh Air didn't have any hits in the UK, but had considerable success abroad, particularly with Velvet Glove's Sweet Was My Rose which was a massive success on the Continent. It is one of those songs that will seem curiously familiar to many people. It blends, say, The Band's country rock with Cook and Greenaway earworm qualities. It's also a great example of the '70s passion for 'story' songs, particularly those with a touch of tragedy about them, like Hot Chocolate's Emma.
Velvet Glove were the songwriting duo of Ken Leray and Roger Spooner. As Velvet Glove they put out a great Shel Talmy-produced LP on Fresh Air, but this has pretty much vanished. I can't add much about the duo. Ken Leray I know a little about. He wrote Rose-Coloured Windows which Mandy More recorded as a single for Fresh Air. It was Tony Hall who had been behind Mandy's rediscovered LP But That Is Me which Sunbeam salvaged for us. Ken wrote songs for the much loved Doctor Snuggles cartoon series, but his real success came when Fern Kinney got to number one in the UK with his song Together We Are Beautiful which he'd recorded (in a way that reminds me of the great Peter Skellern) in 1977. Fern's number one came in early 1980, between Blondie's Atomic and The Jam's Going Underground, and that's one beautiful sequence. I am particularly fond of Fern's hit as it's a perfect example of easy listening disco. It's also got an odd lovers rock feel to it. And, yes, inevitably there is a lovers rock version I am particularly fond of by Samantha Rose. As for Fern, she made some other wonderful light disco recordings around the same time, such as Love Me Tonight, but didn't match the success of this again ...
It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.
Right at the heart of this issue is the fascinating label Fresh Air which seems to have been active in 1974 and 1975, and was run by legendary industry insider Tony Hall. The label put out four or so LPs, and curiously these are all pretty much out of circulation, even if shall we say more unofficial circles. Among these was a 1975 recording by Mike Cooper, Life and Death in Paradise, which featured Mike Osborne, Louis Moholo and Harry Miller among the line-up. Tony Hall had managed to persuade Mike to record again against a couple of years or so of self-exile in Spain following a falling out with the Pye organisation.
The disagreement had been about the presentation of Mike's fantastic 1971 recordings. Mike wanted to release them as a double LP set, but Pye insisted on issuing them as discrete editions. The first to appear was Places I Know, which showcases Mike in a singer-songwriter role, with a strong country rock feel along the lines of Bob Dylan's New Morning and the Burritos. The songs are strong, but it's a real bonus that Mike Gibbs is involved with the occasional orchestral arrangement (which will particularly interest anyone who loves Bill Fays debut). Pye issued The Machine Gun Company set later which showcased Mike and his group exploring a bit more of a Tim Buckley Lorca or Loaded-era Velvets sound, with some nice free jazz touches. These two LPs were issued on one CD by BGO in the '90s but oddly even this is not generally available nowadays. There's not much on YouTube either, except the gorgeous track The Singing Tree.
Mike's career has been a fascinating one, stretching from the '60s London blues scene, alongside Tony McPhee, Jo Ann Kelly etc. to his present day activities which are very much rooted in abstract electronica and ambient exotica. Mike's recent recordings are really worth exploring ...
