Showing posts with label HMV records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HMV records. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Fairies - Get Yourself Home

The Fairies are an odd group. They were led by their eclectic drummer who went by the name of Twink. The band hailed from Colchester, England and regularly swapped members with The Pretty Things and The Cops N' Robbers. At the time of this recording the band was John "Twink" Alder, Mick Weaver, John Acutt, John Gandy, and Nik Wymer on vocals.

Get Yourself Home was the band's second of three single and was the first with Wymer on vocals. The sophomore effort was released on HMV Records in March of 1965 in the UK. Dane Stephens of The Cops N' Robbers would soon replace Wymer and Twink would soon depart for a brief stop with The Pretty Things. Speaking of The Pretty Things, Get Yourself Home was co-composed by the band's road manager, one Johnnie Dee. Dee also composed The Pretty Things' sophomore release, Don't Bring Me Down. In fact, Don't Bring Me Down was originally written for The Fairies but wound up in the hands of The Pretty Things instead. And Get Yourself Home was written for The Pretty Things, but after that band rejected the number, The Fairies took this crack at it. I think we can agree that Wymer sounds a tad like The Pretty Things' Phil May. No? 
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Under The Covers: Do Wah Diddy Diddy by Manfred Mann and The Exciters

Manfred Mann
Here today we have one of the most recognizable songs known to man. The impossibly infections, ridiculously timeless, Do Wah Diddy Diddy as performed by Manfred Mann. The band was Paul Jones on vocals, Mike Hugg, Manfred Mann, Tom McGuness and Mike Vickers. The Manfred's recorded the number on June 11, 1964. The HMV Records single hit the number 1 spot on the UK charts in August and held on for 2 weeks as the top seller. In the US, the single was released on Ascot in late August and slowly climbed its way to the number 1 spot on the US charts in early October. Is stayed atop the charts for 2 straight weeks. Not bad. But, it is not a Manfred Mann original. It was a cover of...
The Exciters
...a song by US soul group, The Exciters. The Exciters were Brenda Reid, Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lilian Walker. They had already hit gold with their hit Tell Him when they recorded the Tin Pan Alley composition, Do Wah Diddy Diddy and released it on United Artists in November of 1963. The Exciters version fell pretty flat in the US.