The Cops N' Robbers - There's Got To Be A Reason

The Cops N' Robbers hailed from Watford, England where they kicked out only three records. Amazingly all three were also released in the US. The first on Parrot Records and the other two on Coral Records.

We focus today on the Flip-Side of their debut single. Released in November of 1964 in the UK on Decca and on Parrot in the states, There's Got To Be A Reason was the Flip-Side of the band's perfectly fine cover of the US folk/blues song, St. James Infirmary. The band, at the time of this recording was Terry Fox on keyboards, Henri Harrison on drums, Steve Smith on bass and Brian Smith on vocals. Brian Smith would soon depart the band to front a Pretty Things related band, The Fairies. The Fairies singer, Dane Stephens, would, in turn, sing for The Cops N' Robbers final single. To further complicate things, There's Got To Be A Reason was co-composed by some cat named Stephens. Dane?

The Cops N' Robbers barely made a blip in their home country and made not even a ripple here in the US. But they get credit for composing the song You'll Never Do It Baby. That song was only released on a French EP but was covered by Berlin band The Boots and UK band, The Pretty Things. More on that in a later post.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Jet Harris - Main Title Theme from Man With The Golden Arm

[originally published 4/13/10]

Yeeha! From Nineteen Sixty fricken Two, we have Jet Harris performing this killer baritone guitar song, Main Title Theme (The Man With The Golden Arm). Yep, baby's got back. Jet Harris, as you may know, was the bassist for the formative instrumental band, The Shadows. In April of '62 he embarked on a solo career. This song, Main Title Theme (The Man With The Golden Arm), was his second single, released in August of '62 for Decca Records.

Car accidents and searching for the answer in the bottom of a bottle led to his immediate obscurity. But here we have Jet, his drumming companion and former Shadow, Tony Meehan, and a host of studio musicians laying down one groovy number. Enjoy.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The Zombies - Gotta Get A Hold On Myself

Following on yesterday's post about Dee Dee Warwick's 1965 number, Gotta Get A Hold Of Myself, we return with The Zombies' very different take on it from September 1966. The single was released in the UK on Decca but failed to get a US release. 

The Zombies change the opening and closing riffs, remove the lead guitar, speed the whole number up, reorganize some of the lyrics and bassist Chris White really steps up the bass work to propel the song to a new plateau. I'm particularly fond of his descending run following the line "late at night I hear footsteps sound down the hall" at 1:18. It's a nice musical play with the lyrics. As usual, Colin Blunstone's vocal performance is stellar. In addition, Rod Argent and Chris White really do a wonderful job with the harmonies. Play the two back to back. It's a nice comparison of how a song can be approached differently and come out perfect no matter which is on the turntable.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of The Week: The Small Faces - All Or Nothing

Yesterday we spun an Ides of March cover of The Small Faces' third single, Sha-La-La-La-Lee. So today we are going to make the obvious connection and play a Small Faces single for you. As we decided which of the many fine singles from The Small Faces to feature, we thought about how Sha-La-La-La-Lee is about our least favorite single from The Small Faces. Not bad, but just a little bit of a "meh" factor when compiling our favorite songs from the diminutive mod wonders. So we are going to with our favorite Small Faces single ever (at this moment at least. Ask me tomorrow and I may have a different single picked out).

From August of 1966, The Small Faces perform the Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane penned, All Or Nothing. We already featured the superb Flip-Side, Understanding, back in 2012, so it's only right that we flip that seven inch over and play the A-Side now. The single was released on Decca in their native UK and it was one of only two singles of the band's to be released on RCA Victor in the US. It even came with a beautiful picture sleeve. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Parrot Records Spotlight: The Zombies - Whenever You're Ready and I Love You

Whenever You're Ready

I Love You

You can't leave everything to fate. Sometimes just because you do good work, doesn't mean you will meet success. Such is the case with The Zombies. Note for note, perhaps the most consistent band to come out of the UK in the 60s. The band of nerds met only modest success.

Now that said, behind perhaps only Tom Jones, no group was more successful for the under achiever Parrot Records than were The Zombies. The Zombies were far more influential and appreciated in America than in their native UK. Yet even in the British Invasion hungry US, The Zombies limped and crawled under the radar too often. Case in point is today's Song of the Week. This August 1965 release on Parrot Records failed to chart in the US top 100. Similarly, when it was released a month later in the UK for Decca Records, the single failed to chart in the UK top 100. Such was the life of a Zombie. Make incredibly great music, influence other musicians (mostly in the US), fail to sell many records, fail to fill even the smallest venues.

Whenever You're Ready was written by the band's pianist, Rod Argent, the band's most prolific songwriter. As is always the case, the vocal work from Colin Blunstone is hauntingly good. The harmonies spot on. The electric piano break wickedly clever. The lyrics tight and thoughtful. How did this not sell records?

The Flip-Side is equally as good. I'm telling you, EVERYTHING they put out was superb. I Love You was written by the band's bassist and secondary songwriter, Chris White. From the title alone, I should hate this song. But I don't. The trademark Zombies minor chord work, the theme of frustration and unrequited love and Colin Blunstone's voice. Rod Argent even better on the keyboards on this song. You can't go wrong with any Zombies record.

As mentioned earlier, The Zombies had a larger influence than they had record sales. To point, a California band with the dreadful name of  People covered I Love You very nicely and released it on Capitol Records in January of 1968. They had a hit with it. Meanwhile, at the same time, The Zombies were getting dropped by Decca Records and were begging for studio time to record their second and last album, Odyssey and Oracle.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Parrot Records Spotlight: The Alan Price Set - I Put A Spell On You and Iechyd Da

I Put A Spell On You

Iechyd Da

By popular request (one anonymous request to be exact), On The Flip-Side will feature each day this week a different single from the US based Parrot Records.

Parrot Records was created in 1964 as a subsidiary of London Records to release singles licensed from the UK version of Decca Records. Got it? While it was mostly a front to release these UK recordings, Parrot Records did, however, release a few US based records. We'll try to hit some of both this week. One note before we move on to today's single, we want to lay it out there that from a graphic design stand point, few company's had a cooler looking label/sleeve combination. 

The first record in our Parrot Records Spotlight is from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The artist is The Alan Price Set, and as any serious Flip-Side reader will know already, Alan Price was the founding member of The Animals. He was also their earliest casualty, exiting the band he formed by mid-1965.  In March of 1966, his new band, The Alan Price Set, released their second single in the UK, a cover of the oft-covered Screaming Jay Hawkins song, I Put A Spell On You. In this writer's estimation, hands down the finest version to be committed to wax. A month later The Alan Price Set version was released in the US on Parrot Records, his first US release. As one can well imagine, the single failed to light the world on fire. But that doesn't mean it isn't great. Not a chance. Alan Price's beautiful organ work builds slowly from a smoldering ember to a full on blazing fire. at 1:53. But Price's strong vocal work doesn't get lost by his immense organ skills. He belts out the vocals with confidence and composure and brings the song to a soaring conclusion. 

The Flip-Side is included here today. It is the Alan Price composed jazz instrumental Iechyd-Da. We hope you enjoy.

Until tomorrow, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Under the Covers: Time is On My Side by The Rolling Stones and Irma Thomas

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones released Time Is On My Side as a single in the US on September 26, 1964, their 4th US single. The number quickly ascended the charts and peaked at #6, their first top ten hit in the US. Two versions were actually recorded, the US single version and a later, better version that was included on the LPs. This version is the second.

Irma Thomas

Just three months prior to The Rolling Stones releasing Time Is On My Side, New Orleans soul singer, Irma Thomas recorded the Jerry Ragavoy (under the pseudonym Norman Meade) number for Imperial Records. It appeared as the Flip-Side to her 11th single, which reached only #52 on the charts. 

Enjoy. We'll see you next time On The Flip-Side!

Under The Covers: Leaving Here by The Birds and Eddie Holland

The Birds

Leaving Here! This is one of those songs that can be done by just about anybody and it will still sound great. It's just one of those songs. Leaving Here was first recorded by Eddie Holland for Motown in December of 1963. Eddie Holland's name may sound familiar, despite the fact that he had only a brief frontman career for Motown. Eddie was the lyricist for one of THEE most potent songwriting teams ever -- Motown's house composers, Holland-Dozier-Holland. Eddie was the lyricist behind the label's biggest hits such as Heatwave, Baby I Need Your Loving, How Sweet It Is, Stop In The Name Of Love, Baby I Need Your Lovin'....Ah, hell, you get the picture. I could go on and on with the songs he wrote and produced of which you know every frickin' word. But back to one of his lesser known songs....

Leaving Here got picked up early by mod kings, The Who. They recorded it two or three times and did a pretty damn good job of it too. But none of the recordings ever made it to vinyl. From The Who the song was picked up by Ron Wood and his bandmates in his first band, The Birds. (nope, not The Byrds, but The Birds). Ron Wood substantially rearranged the song and turned it into a barre chord burner with a nice 1 and 1/2 step down twist for the lead guitar riff. The band released it on Decca on the 30th of April, 1965. While an obscure recording, The Birds version inspired many other covers of the song by artists as diverse as Motorhead, The Morlocks and The Cracked Jaffers. Pearl Jam, it should be noted, clearly covers The Who version. 

Eddie Holland

Enjoy. We'll see you next time On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers -- Crawling Up A Hill

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers get the same bum rap that The Yardbirds suffer through. Specifically, the comments akin to "I only listen to them because [insert famous guitarist name here] was in the band for 5 weeks." Yep, Eric Clapton and Peter Green both did time in the Bluesbreakers. So did John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. But, like The Yardbirds, the Bluesbreakers were better than just being a footnote in some guitar heroes resume. And this song proves it.

This live version of Crawling Up A Hill is the first song off of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers' first album, John Mayall Plays John Mayall (aka Live at Klooks Kleek). The album came out in December of 1964 and features the aforementioned John McVie on bass and relative unknown Roger Dean on guitar and Hughie Flint on drums. An inferior studio recording was released as Mayall's first single five months prior to this release. 

It's a hell of a two minute song that I never tire of. The musicianship is really quite stellar. All of them, but, in particular, take a listen to Roger Dean's tasteful guitar work. He was months away from being replaced by Eric Clapton and falling into the shadow of obscurity. His work here -- and on the whole album -- is really quite good. Surprising to me that he didn't resurface elsewhere in a more famous band. Of course Mayall, on his own composition, is quite strong vocally, on organ and on harmonica on this song as well.

We'll see you on the Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: The Small Faces - Understanding

From one of all my all time favorite bands comes one of my all time favorite songs of the band. The Small Faces, newly inducted in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, released Understanding as the flip-side to the equally stellar All Or Nothing in 1966 on Decca Records. This is perhaps their best single ever. They were the only band to ever rival The Who for the affection of the Mods and they were certainly one of the most talented to hit the stages in their day. Not much happened for them Stateside until they scored a hit when Itchycoo Park hit number 16 in the late Summer of '67.

Click here to listen to the A-Side, All Or Nothing. 

Song of the Week: "I'm Gonna Dress In Black", Them

Listen - Them perform I'm Gonna Dress In Black.

Ahhh, it's Them. I must say, it has been a while since I had Them on the turntable. Too long. So how sweet it was when, just the other week, I pulled out some of my US label Parrot Records-stamped Them 45's, a few O'Dell's IPA beers, and had a grand old time playing records at ear splitting volumes.

Understandably, Them is often recognized for only two things: 1) being the first band of the 5'4" musical giant that is Van Morrison, and; 2) being the originators of the garage band standard, Gloria, a Van Morrison penned flip-side to the stellar cover of Baby Please Don't Go. But Them were much more than that. The Belfast boys put out two excellent records and a healthy amount of solid 45's. Them albums sounded different than most of their "British Invasion" brethren. Certainly part of it is their Irish homeland influence, but most of it can be traced to the multi-instrumental ability of their frontman and predominant song composer, Van Morrison. He brought Irish folk, American folk, American Jazz, American blues and rock-n-roll influences, and mixed them all together in a wonderful little stew. Only Manfred Mann albums had as much diversity as did the two albums by Them.

Today's SoTW comes from Them's first album, the excellent 1965 release, The Angry Young Them. The song seems to be neither a cover nor an original, but rather a song brought to the group. Perhaps by sometime Them producer and songwriter, Bert Berns. (See an old post on a bitching Garnett Mimms song he produced, As Long As I Have You). The song for the week is I'm Gonna Dress In Black. Thematically and musically, it has a certain feel similar to The House of the Rising Son as performed by The Animals. The organ dominant song features some of the most unexpected chord progressions, mixing up minor and major chords nicely, you're likely to hear out of song from this era. Van Morrison is, as always, exceptional on the song. You can really feel the Ray Charles influence in his performance. But it is really the organist who shines on this. Who that organist is, we just can't say. You see, Them was really a revolving cast of musicians with only bassist Alan Henderson and Van Morrison remaining constant. Additionally, it is very evident that studio musicians were employed generously on Them recordings. Question me on that? Just watch a live performance of Them and you'll hear a great difference in ability from stage to record. Whomever the musicians were, the song is killer.

Enjoy, today's SoTW, I'm Gonna Dress In Black. And enjoy the two vids below. The first is a live performance of the Bert Berns produced/composed Here Comes the Night, the latter a lip-synch version of Van Morrison's composition, Gloria.

Song of the Week: "Inside-Looking Out", The Animals

{right click here to listen to the song in another window while you read this article}

The last Song of the Week for the decade! And without doubt or hesitation or even a semblance of second guessing, I can tell you emphatically that our SOTW, this week, is my favorite Animals song ever. It is, I dare say, a perfect song. The song is called Inside-Looking Out and was recorded for Decca Records in 1966.

Let me tell you how I came to this song. Back in my high school days (or more likely shortly thereafter) in the 80s, I went out to a party with some of my lesser quality friends. The party was a dud and I sat in the living room with my mates picking through our hosts' father's records. As was always the case back then, it was a repository of 60's dinosaurs, and a few faded 70's soft rock records. I don't really recall, but he probably had the typical crappy Herb Alpert albums (though I always linger of the Whip Cream and Other Delights album cover) and the Herman and the Hermits dung heaps. But one could usually still find a good album like a Ray Charles or The Beatles Rubber Soul album. On this particular night, we ran across the US pressing of The Animals' Animalization album. I'm sure that in our always diplomatic way, we yanked off a Duran Duran or Howard Jones album and stuck this on. Just what the teens of the 80's wanted to listen to, right? Well, skip ahead a few hours and this album somehow ended up in the car with us as a newly adopted record. Liberated from it's lesser cousins in this forgotten stack and given a rebirth on a Marantz turntable just a few short blocks away. At home I was able to understand just how damn good this record was. Don't Bring Me Down and See See Rider as the first listen stand-outs. About the same time I picked up my newest issue of Ugly Things, the Mike Stax published fanzine. This would have been something like issue No. 3. In the back, Stax had a Top 10 list of songs that he was digging. One of them was...Inside-looking Out. So I put it on and gave it another listen. Who doggie. That is one hot number.

Inside-Looking Out was recorded as a stunning double sided single in the UK (the uber cool Outcast is the flip-side) and appeared in the US on Animalization and as a single where it flopped like New Coke. It's one of the last recordings with original drummer John Steel and well after band leader and organ player phenom Alan Price had left the band to be replaced by Dave Rowberry. The song was written by the Lomax brothers with Eric Burdon and bassist Chas Chandler. It tells the tale of an incarcerated man who keeps his will to live by dreaming of the day he will be released and, like the record I had in my hand, given a rebirth to live again.

Ice cold waters running in my brain/and they drag me back to work again. Pains and blisters on my minds and my hands. From living daily with those canvas bags/thoughts of freedom they're driving me wild/and I'll be happy like a new born child. We'll be together, girl, you wait and see/no more walls keep your love from me.

Besides Eric Burdon's beautiful pained performance, the song is driven by Chandler's powerfully melodic Gibson EB-2D bass and Hilton Valentine's stabbing guitar work.

It's getting louder. Can't you hear it? I'll be home soon. Whoa!