The Flame - Psychedelic Essentials (2011 Purple Pyramid) 1970

Biography The Flame are most known for their connections to the Beach Boys, though they'd been active for quite some time in a much different part of the world than Southern California before they came to the Beach Boys' attention. Originally known as the Flames, the group with brothers Ricky Fataar, Steve Fataar, and Edries Fataar, as well as Blondie Chaplin was a popular act in their native South Africa in the mid- to late '60s, moving to London near the end of the decade to try to break into a larger market. Still using the name the Flames, they put out an obscure album in the U.K. in 1968, Burning Soul. In July 1969, they were seen at the London nightclub Blaise's by Beach Boys guitarist Al Jardine, who brought the band's other guitarist, Carl Wilson, to see them the following night. Wilson offered to produce an album for the band on the Beach Boys' label, Brother, in California, although it wasn't until the late '70s that the LP was released. By this time, the group was using the name the Flame to avoid confusion with James Brown's backup singers, the Famous Flames.

Abbey Road The album (also called The Flame) didn't actually sound much like the Beach Boys, instead bearing a quite prominent late-'60s Beatles influence in the intricately arranged vocal harmonies and guitars, as well as showing traces of other, more hard rock-oriented late-'60s British acts. Cuts such as "Don't Worry, Bill," "Another Day Like Heaven," and "Highs and Lows," in fact, came about as close as anyone did to simulating the feel of Abbey Road, though the material wasn't as brilliant as that penned by the Beatles. Although a single from the album, "See the Light," made the bottom reaches of the national charts, a second album was recorded but not released, the band breaking up shortly afterward. Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin were absorbed into the Beach Boys for some recordings and touring in the mid-'70s, and Ricky Fataar, in addition to acting and recording as part of the Beatles parody group the Rutles, played on numerous sessions (mostly as a drummer). Chaplin has also had a busy session career, mostly notably in the studio and on-stage with the Rolling Stones since the late '90s. allmusic.com

Tracklist

01.See The Light 3:06

02.Dove 2:18

03.Make It Easy 3:06

04.Get Your Mind Made Up 4:10

05.Don't Worry, Bill 3:17

06.Lady 3:28

07.I'm So Happy 3:17

08.Another Day Like Heaven 5:42

09.Hey Lord 3:49

10.Highs And Lows 4:49

11.See The Light (Reprise) 1:28

Line-up

Brother Fataar - Bass, Vocals

Ricky Fataar - Drums, Vocals

Blondie Chaplin - Guitar, Vocals

Steve Fataar - Guitar, Vocals

The Avengers - Everyone's Gonna Wonder - The Complete Singles Collection....plus (2016 Frenzy Music) 1967 - 1969

Biography One of the more successful New Zealand pop bands of the late 1960s, the Avengers were formed in Wellington in mid-1966. (Confusingly, another group with the same name -- a backing unit for singer Ray Woolf -- emerged in Auckland at much the same time.) The Avengers were formed at the behest of promoter Ken Cooper, who was seeking a house band for his nightclub the Place; he first approached guitarist Dave Brown, who in turn recruited guitarist Clive Cockburn, bassist Eddie McDonald and drummer Hank Davis. With their name decided as a result of a local newspaper contest, the quartet amassed a repertoire of some 75 Beatles songs in addition to covers of hits by Herman's Hermits and the Hollies; within a year, they were easily Wellington's most popular group, and in mid-1967 issued their debut single, the Top Ten hit "Everyone's Gonna Wonder." A series of smashes followed, including "Only Once in My Life," "1941," "Love Hate Revenge" and "Days of Pearly Spencer." However, the Avengers' success remained confined to New Zealand's shores, with all attempts to crack the lucrative Australian market proving futile; they disbanded in mid-1969, leaving a legacy which included the LP The Avengers Live at Ali Baba's (the first live album in the annals of Kiwi rock). allmusic.com

Tracklist
01.Everybody's Gonna Wonder
02.Midnight Visitation
03.Summer Set Morning
04.Sunshine Lady
05.Love-Hate-Revenge
06.Days of Pearly Spencer
07.1941
08.Daniel the Postman
09.You Don't Understand
10.Waterpipe
11.Only Once in My Life
12.I Wouldn't Do That
13.Night Time
14.Fisherwoman
15.Take My Hand
16.You Better Come Home
17.Night in the City
18.Sally
19.September Winds
20.Only Last Year
21.What Price Love
22.Flower Girl
23.Out of Sight, Out of Mind
24.Love Is a One Way Ticket
25.Top 20 (Radio Spot)
26.Top 20 Time Check (Radio Spot)
27.This Show Is Groovy (Radio Spot)

Line-up
Ian (Hank) Davis - drums, vocals
Eddie McDonald - bass, vocals
Dave Brown - rhythm guitar, vocals
Clive Cockburn - lead guitar, organ

Band Of Joy - Band Of Joy (2008 Cherry Red Records) 1978

Biography This Band of Joy was originally formed in West Bromwich, near Birmingham, England by Vernon Pereira, also the lead guitar player in the Wellington Kitch Jump Band

and great friend of John Hill, who was later to die in a tragic road accident when his then band’s (Possessed) van was in a crash with a stationary truck. However this Plant/Bonham lineup was the definitive and legendary one

The band is notable as the last of several line-ups included two musicians, Robert Plant and John Bonham who went on to join Led Zeppelin; and, to a lesser degree, because the band’s roadie was Noddy Holder. The earliest incarnation of the group was formed in 1966 by Plant. Conflicts with the band’s management led to Plant leaving the group after a few months. He quickly tried to form his own Band of Joy, but it soon folded. A third incarnation of the band, including Plant’s childhood friend John Bonham, lasted from 1967 to mid-1968. Their brand of soul and blues was popular with Birmingham mods.

The final lineup recorded a number of demo recordings in early 1968, but broke up in May 1968 when a recording contract failed to materialise. At some point the lead guitar duties were taken by Dave Pegg, who later played the bass guitar with Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull. The story was recalled by Robert Plant when he joined Fairport at the Cropredy Festival in 1986, with Dave Pegg recalling, that it was Plant who fired him from the band. The very last line up of The Band Of Joy consisted of Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Hill and Mick Strode in 1968. John Hill was a great friend of Bonham, they were at school together, he was playing bass in a band Called Uncle Joseph.

This was a blues three piece with Simon Fox on drums, later the drummer with Be bop Deluxe.

At a famous art students party in Lye, a black country town, Robert and John co-opted Hill and strode into the band to complete a tour of scotland for the infamous promoter Duncan Macinon.

Please read George Melly’s first book where he devotes a chapter to Duncan. There are many fond memories of this tour, alas not for Bonzo. John Hill continued playing in The Wellington Kitch Jump Band and also did a stint with the Foundations.

In the 1990’s he was the bass player with Vincent Flatts Final Drive ( stage name Boss Hog ), they produced two albums and more recently with The Notorious Brothers

( stage name Johny Flambe ), also producing two albums. Mick Strode is still playing fine blues guitar. Plant and Bonham eventually joined Led Zeppelin.

Kevyn Gammond (stage name “Carlisle Egypt”) and Lockey subsequently formed the country-rock band Bronco, with singer Jess Roden, bassist John Pasternak,

drummer Pete Robinson, and future Robert Plant sideman Robbie Blunt.

They made two albums before breaking up after a serious road accident.

In 1977 Gammond and Lockey revived the Band of Joy, rounding out the lineup with Pasternak, Robinson, and keyboardist Michael Chetwood.

They invited Plant and Bonham to contribute to their 1978 self-titled album, but nothing came of it. The group released a second album in 1983 before breaking up.

Gammond later joined Robert Plant in the Priory of Brion from 1999 to 2001.

A few years after BOJ split up, Gammond and Lockey went on to play in Bronco when Jess Roden left Bronco to go solo.

Pete Robinson, from an earlier incarnation of BOJ, was on drums, with John Pasternak (bass) and Dan Fone (keyboards). Jess Roden and Paul Lockey were never in Bronco at the same time. allmusic.com

Tracklist
01.3am In The City 3:31
02.Woman 3:43
03.Overseer 4:44
04.So Cold 5:44
05.Live Bait (to Highway 8) 5:06
06.Like a River 3:32
07.Please Call Home 4:17
08.She's The One 3:08
09.Shock House 3:43
10.Lonely Nights 3:20

Line-up
Kevyn Gammond - guitar, vocals
Paul Lockey - guitar, vocals
Michael Chetwood - keyboards, vocals
John Pasternak - bass, vocals
Peter Robinson - drums

Jerry Corbetta & Sugarloaf - Don't Call Us-We'll Call You (Repertoire Records) 1973

Biography : For most intents and purposes, Sugarloaf was finished after their 1973 album I Got a Song failed to generate any attention, but the band continued to push ahead, channeling their frustrations into the bubblegum sarcasm of “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.” The song became a fluke hit in 1975, prompting a re-release of I Got a Song under a new title borrowed from the hit, which also was prominently featured on the new release. Of course, the fizzy pop of “Don’t Call Us” sounded very little like the rest of the earlier record, which itself wasn’t all that reminiscent of their percolating 1970 hit “Green Eyed Lady,” either. It was a curious mix of pompous neo-prog  best heard on the charging instrumental “Myra, Myra”  light hippie funk, and coolly trippy soft rock, all sounds redolent of the early ‘70s, but certainly not the epitome of it. Which isn’t to say that lead singer/songwriter Jerry Corbetta couldn’t write in addition to the hits, he knocked off Billy Joel/Elton John’s Western fantasia quite well on “Colorado Jones” but this album tends to drift in and out of focus, making it a period piece but not much more. Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracklist:
01.I Got A Song 5:11
02.Myra Myra 5:12
03.Lay Me Down 6:42
04.Wild Child 4:02
05.Don't Call Us - We'll Call You 3:23
06.Lookin' For Some Fun 4:13
07.Round And Round 3:48
08.Colorado Jones 3:58
09.Easy Evil 4:09
10.I Got A Song - Reprise 3:37
Additional Tracks:
11.Boogie Man 3:31
12.Texas Two Lane 4:02
13.Stars In Her Eyes 3:28
14.Last Dance 2:25

Line-up:
Jerry Corbetta - Vocals, Organ, Piano, Clarnet, Arp
Bob Webber - Guitar
Bob Raymond - Bass
Myron Pollock - Drums

Blue Mink - Melting Pot (Japan Remaster) 1970

One of the giants of British pop in the early '70s, Blue Mink was formed in fall 1969 by keyboard player Roger Coulam, around a nucleus of musicians based at London's Morgan Studios bassist Herbie Flowers, guitarist Allan Parker, and drummer Barry Morgan were also involved. Having already recorded a number of backing tracks, Coulam then approached soul singer Madeleine Bell and former David & Jonathan star Roger Greenaway as vocalists; Bell accepted, Greenaway declined but recommended his songwriting partner (and fellow David & Jonathan-er) Roger Cook in his stead. With this lineup, Cook and Greenaway's "Melting Pot" was released as Blue Mink's debut single, a plea for multi-racial harmony that reached number three in the U.K. that November. An album of the same title was released in the new year, alongside the single "Good Morning Freedom" for reasons unknown, the single did not originally appear on the LP. However, its swift rise into the U.K. Top Ten prompted a rethink, and subsequent pressings packed it on board.
Throughout Blue Mink's career, the members maintained their high profile session careers in March 1970, Cook and Bell appeared on Elton John's eponymous album; John reciprocated by covering "Good Morning Freedom" on the compilation album Pick of the Pops (while waiting for his own career to take off, the pianist made ends meet by recording anonymous covers of top hits for the budget Deacon label). The following month, Cook rejoined Greenaway briefly in a new band, Currant Kraze, while the pair maintained their songwriting career with such anthems as "You've Got Your Troubles," "I've Got You on My Mind," and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing." Other extracurricular activities over the next few years included Alan Parker's the Congregation and Herbie Flowers' pivotal involvement with Lou Reed's Transformer album.

Titled for the group's third hit single, Blue Mink's second album, Our World (U.S. title Real Mink) was released in September 1970. The group then faded from view for some six months before resurfacing with "The Banner Man" in spring 1971. Their first release for the Regal Zonophone label (earlier records were issued by Philips), "Banner Man" reached number three. However, close to another year elapsed before Blue Mink reconvened for a two-week-long engagement at London's Talk of the Town nightspot in January 1972, to be immortalized on the Live at the Talk of the Town album two months later. Oddly, Blue Mink's next studio album, A Time of Change, was released simultaneously with the live record (the set was originally to be titled "Harvest," but was changed to avoid confusion with Neil Young's latest release). With the band now featuring percussionist Ray Cooper and keyboardist Ann Odell, November 1972 brought another number three hit, "Stay with Me," their last for Regal Zonophone before parent company EMI merged the historic label into a new imprint, also named EMI. Blue Mink's fourth album, Only When I Laugh, followed in March 1973. However, the group's appeal was clearly slipping, as glam rock elbowed Blue Mink's brand of light-hearted pop out of the way their latest single, "By the Devil (I Was Tempted)," struggled to break into the Top 30 and, while June 1973's "Randy" would return Blue Mink to the TopTen, it was to prove their final hit. Blue Mink released one further album, January 1974's Fruity, together with the single "Quackers." Neither did anything, and the band broke up that fall, following one final American tour. Elton John was among the celebrities present to say goodbye, introducing the band on-stage at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Blue Mink's final single, "Get Up," was released in July 1974 it passed by completely unnoticed, but would resurface two years later, retitled "7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle)" scoring a massive disco hit for the Rimshots. Since the band's demise, each of the members maintained a loud presence in the world of sessions and songwriting. Blue Mink, meanwhile, have been immortalized on a string of compilations, each recounting the string of effervescent hits that established them among Britain's best-loved pop groups of the early decade. allmusic.com

Tracklist:
01.Melting Pot 3:54
02.Gidda Wadda Wobble 3:50
03.Gimme Reggae 3:13
04.But Not Forever 3:02
05.Chopin Up Stix 4:21
06.I Can Feel It Baby 4:32
07.Country Music 4:33
08.Mary Jane 3:19
09.Over The Top 6:23
Bonus Track:
10.Good Morning Freedom 2:54

Blue Mink:
Roger Coulam - Keyboards
Madeline Bell - Vocals
Roger Cook - Vocals
Alan Parker - Guitar
Herbie Flowers - Bass
Barry Morgan - Drums