UK 1960s MAR-APR 2009

BEE GEES
Odessa (Deluxe Edition)
Rhino/Warner 3 CD
www.rhino.com
On St Valentine’s Day, the 14th February in the year 1899, a British sailing vessel and all of its crew was lost at sea, having fallen prey to the North Atlantic Ocean’s unpredictable weather conditions. Or so the brothers Gibb had led me to believe for so many years.
The Bee Gees’ “Red Album”, their fourth album, their first double album, their only album with a flock sleeve and possibly their greatest album – Odessa – was released in 1969 at a seemingly low point in the Gibb brothers’ career. Barry was making noises about a life on the silver screen, Maurice had gotten hitched to Davey Jones’s ex, guitarist Vince Maloney quit during the recordings and Robin followed shortly before its release. All that aside, Odessa isn’t the sound of a group in the midst of disintegration as one might expect (unlike some contemporaries’ efforts of the time), but instead shows strength and unity in the songs, with flawless performances and a high-end production. Odessa is pure pop opulence, with themes of unadorned love and resolute friendship, exploration and invention, distant lands and new technology, and even the occasional drug deal – all played out in the Gibbs’ inimitable and modest style.
The one major single release lifted from the album, ‘First Of May’, is overshadowed by a host of superior tracks and would-be A sides: ‘Never Say Never Again’, ‘Black Diamond’, ‘Melody Fair’, ‘Sound Of Love’ and ‘May’’s flipside, ‘Lamplight’. A host of missed opportunities that could explain Odessa’s lukewarm chart “success” at the time, just scraping into the UK’s top 10 and the Billboard top 20.
The title track, ‘Odessa (City On The Black Sea)’, is a seven-minute opus to maritime disaster, complete with swirling orchestration mimicking the tempestuous deep and the central character, having been lost at sea, is writing imaginary letters to a lost love from an iceberg? An iceberg, which he incidentally carves into the shape of a sailing vessel in order to make his way “back to your lips” (It’s The Bee Gees, OK? Don’t even think about knocking ‘em!). It’s my opinion that this track alone would have been The Bee Gees’ ‘Good Vibrations’ if it had been released as a single as intended. Strangely, this three CD set dropped through my letterbox 40 years to the day from the intended release of ‘Odessa (City On The Black Sea)’ as a single, 17th January 1969. Good timing!
The lavish flock sleeve almost closed down the pressing plant due to excessive inhalation of red dust by the staff, which led later issues to be housed in cardboard sleeves. We owe it to the Atco workforce, who risked life and lungs producing this luxuriously tactile album, to restore Odessa to all its former glory. Rhino has done just that and more, by reinstating the original flock and lovingly restoring the stereo and mono mixes (believe me, Odessa has never sounded so good!) you have an above average release already. But, with disc three, devoted fans get the chance to explore Odessa as a work in progress; a peek at the “drawing board”, with an album’s worth of unreleased demos and alternate takes plus two gems, ‘Nobody’s Someone’ and ’Pity’, omitted from the original album.
Disc three replicates the original album’s running order and is made up of weird and wonderful bonus tracks – these sound like prototypes and give the listener an insight into Odessa as a project. It’s all “fly on the wall” stuff and trial runs, and captures the endeavour that went into the finished product. An early demo of ‘Black Diamond’ is probably the most diverse, with a jaunty, lullaby piano lead, a different set of lyrics, assertive acoustic guitar stabs and the addition of a “la la la” bridge – it definitely needed working on! The early take of ‘Marley Purt Drive’, sans strings, has a beautiful cranked-up bass and the hookline is changed to “who wants to go for a Sunday drive?” This alternate take tastefully captures a slice of Americana and you can certainly hear ‘The Weight’ in there. ‘Barbara Came To Stay’ is an early working of ‘Edison’ that carries the same arrangement and a surprisingly similar set of lyrics, topped off with Barry scatting the unfinished lines… nice!
The alternate mix of ‘Melody Fair’ is heavy on the Mellotron (thanks, Maurice), ‘Lamplight’ showcases the development of Robin’s lyrical wit and the demo of ‘First Of May’ is hushed, just piano and Barry’s delicate vocals. It feels like I’m intruding on a private moment here… heavy. An alternate ‘Never Say Never Again’ features a storming fuzz/wah guitar embellishment from Vince, but I’m undecided whether it works, or if it sounds like he’s winging it, noodling away with little interest. I’ll let you decide.
The ‘Odessa (City On The Black Sea)’ demo made me weep. It brought home the deep emotional attachment I have with this particular track and reconfirmed my feelings that, this two LP set is the perfect vehicle for it. I fucking love that song – it is my favourite Bee Gees song. It’s a joy to hear its humble beginnings, complete with Barry’s spoken intro and Robin’s Mellotron-accompanied vocals.
Odessa contains three heavily orchestrated instrumental tracks, of which ‘With All Nations (International Anthem)’ appears with a previously unheard vocal, lovingly reinstated. ‘Nobody’s Someone’ is a joy. It sounds like an outtake from Idea and is definitely on a par with ‘Let There Be Love’, with Barry’s lush vibrato and strident accompaniment on 12-string acoustic. Verdict: disc three is definitely an ear-opener!
I accept that Odessa isn’t an obvious starting point for any would-be fan and the £30+ price tag might discourage the curious. My advice is simple: start at the beginning, buy the six disc box set of the first three albums and then come back to Odessa once you’ve had time to absorb them. The Odessa-philes out there will benefit greatly – the remastering is second to none, with freshness and more definition, brighter vocals and acoustic guitars, with no loss to the bottom end (Maurice’s bass jumps out at you and rings your neck!), making this a worthwhile addition to the family.
Throw out that mid-90s Polydor CD edition; you’ll never listen to it again.
Louis Comfort-Wiggett

DONOVAN
A Gift From A Flower To A Garden
EMI CD
One of my first proper gigs was Donovan at the Royal Albert Hall on January 31 1969. His current album was In Concert but most recent studio offering was Gift from A Flower To A Garden, the ultimate flower power homage originally released in the US in December ‘67, but not in the UK until April ‘68. The double boxset import was way out of pocket money reach but Peel caned it so I already knew many of the songs as I boarded the coach outside Aylesbury Grammar School for a proper outing!
After Tyrannosauus Rex’s lovely opening set and Peel’s children’s story, Donovan took the flower-strewn stage in white Maharishi-style clobber and sang ‘Isle Of Islay’: pretty magical stuff for a wide-eyed 14-year-old as he proceeded through much of Gift…, recent hits like ‘Jennifer Juniper’ and not only brought on a jazz orchestra for songs like ‘Mellow Yellow’ but jazz singer Jon Hendricks halfway through too.
I don’t think I’ve heard Gift… since then as I got the [cheaper] live album but it’s great to finally have it as one of the quintessential souvenirs of that period. After the druggy London scenarios of the previous Mellow Yellow, Donovan, who’d got seriously into meditation, introduced a new strain of innocence, taken to its logical extreme with the second disc ostensibly being for kids but more like adults caught up in that whole brief time when you could get away with celebrating new born rabbits and talking starfish before things got political. Songs like ‘Widow With Shawl [A Portrait]’, ‘The Mandolin Man And His Secret’ and ‘Epistle To Derroll’ still intoxicate because of the gorgeous melodies which Donovan had a knack of ejaculating from his highly-fertile seed-sac.
The first disc refines the subtle folk-jazz hybrid Donovan had been delving in, tracks like ‘Mad John’s Escape’ and ‘Skip-A-Long Sam’ presenting a contagious shuffle for often vivid lyrics [like the former’s talking breakfast]. And ‘Wear Your Love Like heaven’ is a swooning psych-pop masterpiece which shouldn’t have been Donovan’s first comparative flop.
For the most shining example of flower power’s innocence married to maturing music, look no further.
Kris Needs

DEEP FEELING
Pretty Colours
Sunbeam CD
www.sunbeamrecords.com
Anything coming out of Britain before 1967 that sounds as if it’s actually defining rather than merely presaging the summer of love needs to be treasured like the un-hatched egg of a rare bird. Such are the first five tracks on this CD.
It’s autumn ’66 and five blokes from Worcester in the West Midlands formally known as The Hellions are recording some remarkable tracks for Giorgio Gomelsky. John ‘Poli’ Palmer’s use of vibes (especially) and flute elevate the music to another level. The band were a budding phenomenon live, but their planned album was nixed when Jim Capaldi left to form Traffic.
These five shining Brit psych tracks are months ahead of the game. They embrace a feel not dissimilar to Cream circa ‘I Feel Free’ or even The Mike Stuart Span. The CD is weighted with several post Deep Feeling tracks by Poli Palmer and Gordon Jackson from ’67, most of which are pretty worthwhile. Get this and marvel at what might have been.
Paul Martin

BILLY FURY
Classics And Collectibles
Decca
www.universal.com
This double disc anthology compiled and annotated by Chris Eley of The Sound Of Fury fan club does a great job of showing all sides of Britain’s best rocker.
The first disc mixes most of the hits with flip sides like ‘A King For Tonight’ and EP tracks like ‘You’re Swell’ from his first movie Play It Cool, which were the equal of his hits, and make for a great listen.
While the excellent sleeve notes detail the titles of a plethora of tracks lost in the vaults, the second disc offers only alternate takes of ‘Nothin’ Shakin’ (But The Leaves On The Trees)’ and ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ for the hardcore fans. However, with its mix of country, rock ’n’ roll, R&B and live tracks the second disc does show how versatile Billy truly was.
This is an excellent compilation but what’s really needed to do Billy justice is a box set containing all his Decca sides and the singles he cut for Parlophone in the late ’60s.
Pat Curran

THE MAGIC MIXTURE
This Is The Magic Mixture
Sunbeam CD/2 LP
www.sunbeamrecords.com
This London quartet’s lone 1968 album gets its first official reissue, including six bonus tracks. ‘Sad’ is an energetic rocker (Procol Harum playing in Traffic), featuring blistering solos from singing guitarist, Terry Thomas. Other highlights include the sleepy blues of ‘Urge To Leave’, the Cream-psych-le, ‘You,’ and Thomas’ string bending on ‘Living On A Hill’.
It’s not exactly the collectable classic it’s purported to be – despite his remarkable dexterity, Thomas’ vocals (from the Winwood-Brooker school of emoting) suffer from occasional flat notes, and Sunbeam’s remastering still can’t save the unbelievably bottom-heavy sound that feels like the floor is collapsing under you. Still, it’s worth the price of admission for Thomas’ solos, Stan Curtis’ organ flourishes (a prog-nostication of things to come), and the bonus cuts, including scratchy, pre-LP demos featuring the first recordings of future Free/Bad Company stick handler, Simon Kirke and marvellous covers of Traffic (‘Pearly Queen’) and Spirit (a prog-encrusted ‘Fresh Garbage’).
Jeff Penczak

THE MOVE
The Very Best Of The Move
Salvo/Fly CD
www.flyrecords.co.uk
Aimed squarely at those who didn’t partake of Salvo’s recent definitive, expanded reissue campaign (1968 debut Move, ’70’s Shazam and Looking On and the all-encompassing box set), this deftly selected but unimaginatively titled twenty-five tracker goes straight to the top of the not inconsiderable Move ‘Best Of’ pile.
This is largely down to the inclusion of selections from all corners of the band’s conundrum-filled, genre-bypassing, label-spanning catalogue. So, alongside the obligatory hits you’ll find nifty album tracks ‘Useless Information’ and ‘Beautiful Daughter’, bonkers flipsides ‘Disturbance’ and ‘Omnibus’, overlooked singles ‘Tonight’ and ‘Wild Tiger Woman’, late-in-the-day all-out classic ‘Do Ya’ and even a couple of selections from the ’68 Marquee live recordings.
Novices need look no further.
Andy Morten

TRUTH
Of Them And Other Tales
Missing Vinyl
Truth emerged as one of the final branches from the tangled tree of Them. Ray Elliot and Jim Armstrong featured on the second and final LP with Van Morrison, Them Again, and then split Stateside, taking vocalist Kenny McDowell with them and cutting a couple of albums for Tower. They finally settled temporarily in Chicago, adding a local member or two, and rooting their sound somewhere between the loose fluid jamming of San Francisco and the dark noir of LA.
Released for the first time ever on vinyl, this double set features three sides of tracks recorded for a lost B-movie, College For Fun And Profit, and three tracks intended to form part of an Epic album that never materialized. There’s an extended raga drone version of Them’s ‘Square Room’, an instrumental entitled ‘Sonic Sitar’ that delivers what it promises, and a host of other extended West Coast-flavoured tracks that take in jazz, Roger McGuinn, The Dead, gutbucket funk and even latter-day Traffic in places.
Hugh Dellar

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Maximum Freakbeat
Past & Present CD
www.normal-records.com
Reverberation’s ten-year old CDR gets a proper upgrade and informative liners. Capturing mid-60s R&B as it morphed into wild-eyed psychedelia, some tracks may be over-comped (Wimple Winch’s ‘Save My Soul’, The Syndicats’ ‘Crawdaddy Simone’), but the UK discographies of all the acts will help the uninitiated create their next shopping list. Highlights include two (pre-Creation) Mark Four tracks, The Troggs’ debut and Australia’s Missing Links’ fire breathing slice of Stonesy vitriol, ‘You’re Driving Me Insane’.
But the real payoff comes from unknown acts like Sweden’s Lee Kings (the superb ‘On My Way’) and The Mascots (an explosive ‘I Want To Live’), and the ferocious guitar shredding of Southern Sound’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Go’. We’re also treated to the freakbeat influence in Iceland (Thor’s Hammer’s ‘I Don’t Care’ is the height of Scandinavian freakbeat), Germany (The Ricketts’ finger-bleeding instro ‘Action Painting’), and Holland (The Motions, featuring a pre-Shocking Blue Robbie van Leeuwen).
Jeff Penczak

WIMPLE WINCH
Tales From The Sinking Ship
Bam Caruso/RPM CD
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Long held in lofty esteem due to the towering majesty of their ’66/67 cuts ‘Save My Soul’, ‘Rumble On Mersey Square South’ and ‘Atmospheres’, this cult Liverpudlian quartet had snagged an EMI deal in ’64 as Just Four Men resulting in a brace of strong Merseybeat singles before a swift change in style and name brought us three luminous Fontana 45s as Wimple Winch. A number of less visceral, Lovin’ Spoonful/Association-flavoured demos followed before the band’s dissolution in ’68.
These recordings first saw the light of day on the original Bam Caruso label back in the ’80s and have been circulating in varying degrees of quality ever since. It’s fitting therefore that they appear here – with further early demos, the best audio fidelity and most copious liner notes yet – on RPM’s reinvigorated Bam CD imprint.
Pretty much essential for fans of archival UK beat and psych collections.
Andy Morten

THE WHO
The Who Sell Out (Deluxe Edition)
Universal 2CD
For those of us who thought the remastered, expanded and generally intensified 1995 CD edition of The Who’s ’67 opus – sound quality improved 100 fold (those murky original pressings did the record no favours), a virtual second album’s worth of contemporary singles, out-takes and sketches tagged on the end – was the last word in definitive reissues, it’s time to think again.
So what else can The Who Inc possibly have come up with to warrant an entirely new, revamped take on this most loved of long-players? Well, the mono and stereo mixes are both present – the former with just enough alternate guitar parts, fade outs and subtle phasing to make it compulsory hearing for any true Sell Out-ophiles. The Who’s very own Revolver or Piper At The Gates Of Dawn if you like. Then there’s the addition of several more jingles – both actual Radio London idents and some of the band’s own twisted conception – “John Mason, we’ve got the best cars ‘ere” and its charming ilk. And yes, there are even a couple of proper, fully-fledged Who toons that have hitherto only inhabited the dark world of die-hard bootleg fiends: ‘Sodding About’ was intended for an aborted instrumental EP along with ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’ – its closest bedfellow here. The frantic ‘Summertime Blues’, cut months before the more familiar Odds & Sods version, sadly sounds primitive in such exalted company.
Other newly minted highlights include an alternate ‘Glittering Girl’ featuring a braver arrangement and a stronger Daltrey/Townshend co-vocal, an unedited ‘Rael 1 & 2’ and a truly ethereal early mix of ‘Tattoo’ with shimmering cymbals and cascading harmonies to the fore. Oh, and there are about 10 versions of ‘Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand’ too, just for fun.
And, les we forget, even shorn of such scintillating add-ons, Sell Out still boasts such unique and heavenly creations as ‘Our Love Was’, ‘Odorono’, ‘Can’t Reach You’ and ‘I Can See For Miles’ – the absolute pinnacle of The Who as “pop group” and music so futuristic and beatific that even now words fail to do it justice.
Andy Morten