Day 2 of our hunt for White Whale records leads us to a little known UK mod band called John's Children. Today they are probably best known for being the launching pad for T-Rex frontman, Marc Bolan. But Marc wasn't in the band when John's Children (previously known as The Silence) released their debut single. It was released in the UK on Columbia Records in October of 1966 as The Love I Thought I'd Found. In the US it was released in November of '66 under it's intended name, the more abstract title of Smashed! Blocked! It would prove to be the only release in the US the band would ever get. The song was composed by bassist John Hewitt and ostensibly producer Simon Napier-Bell. We look at writing credits by producers with a VERY jaundiced eye, however. Andy Ellison was on vocals, Chris Townson on drums and Geoff McClelland on guitar.
Smashed! Blocked! is a wonderfully odd number that starts off with haunting disembodied intro that climaxes into a full chorus of "Smashed, Smashed, Smashed". Then it goes into a totally new direction - a rather soft and melodic croon. All that before it fades off with a horn section. The song is a funky little thing, indeed. Most of the band's work was a little odd. After just two singles they were dropped by Columbia and then picked up by their mentor's label, The Who's Track Records. After a handful of singles and one UK album called Orgasm, the band smashed apart.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!
Brilliant stuff. Napier Bell probably gave them some direction on organizing the song, and forgot that it's not the same as coming up with the song. Shit, if that were the case George Martin's name would be on half the Beatles stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Come And Play With Me In The Garden aka Remember Thomas a' Becket.
Excellent point re: George Martin. Truth be told, John's Children were a second tier band if not third tier band before Marc Bolan. While I really dig songs like But She's Mine you can feel they were trying to be like other bands. Namely The Who. Compare them to other Mod bands like The Action, The Who, Small Faces, Artwoods, The Birds, The Creation, and I just don't think they hold up to the light. Then Marc Bolan came in and you can feel the compositions and musicianship increase exponentially. Singing too!
DeleteTrue, they don't hold up to those other acts. But they get lots of points for experimentation on this song. You get the feeling they really don't care about making a hit - in fact they do not want a hit - but they still want a song that holds together even if it is tenuous. They also get knocked a few points for the same zeal for experimentation elsewhere in songs that just don't work, however.
DeleteAgree.
DeleteThe fake Live Audience -- taken from The Beatles' Hard Days Night film -- is awful. I wish someone would release the album without the overdub.
ReplyDeleteNice write-up! Another big fan here (actually these days I'm IN the band but that's another story), and I'd certainly agree that while John's Children always get compared to certain other bands, when you turn it around and look at it the other way, no one quite sounds like them! Even if you can tell where they were coming from, there's something uniquely irreverent about their take on things. And while the Small Faces, The Creation and The Who of course are untouchable, I certainly prefer John's Children to The Artwoods and The Birds. Heck, The Sorrows, The Eyes, The Attack and a few others as well.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea they ever had a release in the US. Too bad they didn't have more. I don't think they released too many in the UK however. I've never even heard of White Whale.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Their discography is a little murky as they had a few duplicative releases just with a name switch. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteIrreverent is a good word for them. I mean, if you want to thumb your nose at music industry prudishness and care little about promotion let alone sales name your album Orgasm. At the time, I'm sure this took some major nerve.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to some youtube stuff last night and came across a video of a recent John's Children performance of Come And Play. Are you (Mikko) in that configuration? Very nice job! What's the story?
Mikko, thanks for stopping by. I agree with Jack, your use of the word "irreverent" is the perfect word to describe the band.
ReplyDeleteJack, as I understand it the Legendary Orgasm Album was over dubbed with those silly audience participation parts to make the US audience think they were yet another British phenomenon. The album was prepared for White Whale to release but WW balked at the title. Surprised the whole thing was scrapped as opposed to a renaming of the album.
Mikko and Jack, links on the performance? I heard one album on Spotify the other day, Black and White, which appears to be a new album. Mikko, can you tell us a little bit about that? I like it, BTW.
One last note, Mikko. I was in a band in the 80s that covered Remember Thomas à Beckett. I got to do the "ooh! Ahh!" part.
Jack, regarding the "Come And Play" YouTube clip from a few years back, yes that would be me on guitar. For the story you can check out the "articles" section at http://www.johnschildren.co.uk
ReplyDeleteMorgan, yes the Black & White album is relatively new and it's Boz Boorer from Morrissey's band on guitar on that. I also like the album.