{"id":7345,"date":"2025-11-05T14:13:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7345"},"modified":"2025-11-05T14:13:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:13:49","slug":"shindig-169-orange-bicycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7345","title":{"rendered":"Shindig! #169 – Orange Bicycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE ORANGE BICYCLE exemplified the schizophrenic nature of British pop in the late \u201960s like few others. During their four-year lifetime, they recorded numerous BBC sessions, almost entirely consisting of hits of the day, despite numbering supremely talented writer\/arranger Wilson Malone in their ranks. None of their 10 major label singles troubled the charts, they left dozens of unreleased tracks in the vaults, and by the time their sole album belatedly appeared in 1970, the magic was gone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

ANDY MORTEN peels away the layers of this baffling, occasionally brilliant outfit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOrange Bicycle was committed to being a commercial band,\u201d Malone recalled. \u201cWe played everything that was popular so we could get gigs!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Quite apart from the new name (\u201cWe were called Orange Bicycle because a friend of ours painted his face with wheels around his eyes and handlebars joining at the side,\u201d Wil Malone told elvinyl. \u201cIt didn\u2019t seem important to be honest\u201d), \u2018Hyacinth Threads\u2019 was unlike anything the group had released before. Powered by a hammered-out harpsichord riff and played at a furious pace, powered by Malone\u2019s military drum rolls, its multi-layered high-pitched vocals almost obscure the lyrics. (Is that \u201cHyacinth Threads\u201d or \u201cHarekrishna\u201d in the choruses?) The single gained airplay in the UK and became an EP in France (the country\u2019s preferred format at this time) by adding the otherwise unavailable \u2018Dropping Out\u2019 and superb \u2018Competition\u2019. The myth that \u2018Hyacinth Threads\u2019 reached #1 in France is just that: a myth. The blurb on the back cover of the EP notes the song as being their \u201ctitre No 1\u201d; it\u2019s merely the first track on the EP. To save future reiteration, none<\/em> of The Orange Bicycle\u2019s records enjoyed any chart action anywhere, we\u2019re sad to report.<\/p>\n

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The quartet appeared in Halifax Evening Courier & Guardian <\/em>on 7th September, clad in their lace shirts and velvet jackets and talking of \u201cprogressive pop\u201d and having recorded \u201cenough material for an LP, to be called The Orange Bicycle Can Sing\u201d<\/em>. \u201cOrange Bicycle was committed to being a commercial band,\u201d Malone told Morton Jack. \u201cWe played everything that was popular. That\u2019s what we were, so we could get gigs. As the band developed and the music scene changed, we changed with the current musical fashion. When the fashion became the head period \u2013 or hippys as the media called them \u2013 we thought, \u2018Yeah, we can do that.\u2019\u201d They debuted as Robb Storme & The Orange Bicycle at their regular gig at The Pilgrim in Haywards Heath, West Sussex on 30th September but continued to be regularly billed as Robb Storme & The Whispers until October 1968, which can\u2019t have helped record sales. \u201cDo you have the new Robb Storme & The Whispers record?\u201d \u201cSorry, their last one was two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n