Patsy Peters - Down Country Roads (1979)

Looking for all the world like Cher in Sheffield on the back sleeve, Irish-born Patsy Peters here delivers an incongruously sincere selection of pop country favourites. As I've noted previously, solo female artists are something of a rarity in the fags- and booze-strewn world of 70s cabaret that forms the beating heart of this blog, but I'm always gratified to come across apparent labours of love like this. Of particular note is her langorous 6-minute treatment of Ode to Billy Joe, the wonderful Bobbie Gentry song that inspired the 1976 gay guilt film that touched my young heart, for better or worse.

The wonderfully sparse sleeve notes offer nothing more than a 21 word testimony from one Paul Toscani that rather tentatively assures quality within, so I can't add much more colour to this synopsis. But this is another one of those albums that bears testament to the wonderfully liberating, pre-punk, moment when committed artists came to realise that there were other distribution channels for their talents.

SUCCEEDED COMPLETELY

Patsy Peters in Down Country Roads
MAM Records TPR 260

SIDE ONE
1. Country Roads
2. Crazy Arms
3. Follow Me
4. Stand By Your Man
5. Ode to Billy Jo

SIDE TWO
1. Snowbird
2. Me and Bobby McGee
3. You've Got a Friend
4. My Man
5. Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues

This beautifully orchestrated album attempts to capture the range, warmth and versatility of Miss Patsy Peters, and they have succeeded completely.

Paul Toscani

Printed and made in Great Britain by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd

Harmony Revival - S/T (1974)

From 1974, and thus squarely within the heyday of lapels and harmonies and good humour, comes Harmony Revival. Despite the typical reliance on cover versions, there's some solid musicianship on diplay here, and a general air of proficiency that suggests a band with actual ambition (despite the cover shot set against a swampy riverside). It obviously it wasn't to be, unless my researches have failed to spot a breakout, but here's a lovely middle-ground testament to the optimistic enterprise I set out to record. To whit, I present the Harmony Revival revival.

WELL REPRESENTED

Harmony Revival - S/T
Swan Records Swan 01

Side A

1. TOP OF THE WORLD 2.23
(Carpenter/Bettis) - Rondor
2. LET ME IN 3.28
(Osmond) - Copyright Control
3. STAY WITH ME 4.08
(Greenaway/Cook) - Cauliflower
4. CALL ME, HONEY 2.17
(Linde) - Combine
5. DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE 2.08
(Pauling/Bass) - P. Maurice
*6. BAND OF GOLD 2.30
(Dunbar/Wayne) - Gold Forever

Side B

1. RANDY 2.52
(Greenaway/Cook) - Cookaway
2. GOODNIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT 2.47
(Hall/Filkins) - Tyler
*3. ELEANOR 3.30
(Turtles) - Carlin
4. BYE BYE BABY 2.05
(Gaudio/Crewe) - Cavanaugh
*5. HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT 3.12
(Kristofferson) - Combine
6. BANNER MAN 2.14
(Greenaway/Cook) - In-Music/Cookaway

* Mono

SWAN RECORDS 14 Swannington Street, Burton-on-Trent, DE13 ORT
Printed by West Brothers . Printers . Limited . London S.W.19

Maxwell Plumm - We Can Work It Out (1975)

The second album from one of the few bands that I have come across in my diggings that has much of an internet presence. This is chiefly because of the inclusion of an edited version of the track Flyin' Hi on Licorice Soul Record's compilation Working Man's Soul which I've not mentioned before having only found out about it after I started this blog. But the story of the band, as summarised on the Licorice Soul site is an interesting one. After putting out three LPs including this one on vanity stalwart Raven Records, a presumed schism led to - how can I put this - a change in the business model which saw singer Alan Humber pursue the stand-up comedy which like so many bands of this ilk, had formed part of Maxwell Plumm's schtick since the beginning. This also goes some way to explaining my initial confusion on finding this LP, having previously picked up an apparently unrelated album also under the name Maxwell Plumm that featured a freshly permed individual on the cover but which I now realise was Humber's first solo album following his split in 1979. That blip aside, his career in stand-up continues to this day, backdropping the evening alcohol shift on cruise ships, and generating rave reviews like "...very funny without having to resort to blue humour".

So, to the music. Beatles obsessives almost to a man, Maxwell Plumm bring an undoubted focus to this LP, although not without the occasional surrendering to cliche. But the standout is undoubtedly Flyin' Hi, a riot of wah-wah guitar and phased drums, incongruous both within the context of the LP and the genre, and presented here in its full 6'16" glory.

FOUR CONSECUTIVE SEASONS

Maxwell Plumm - We Can Work It Out
Raven Records KS 1007

EVOLUTION The group derived from "BUTCH" HUMBER and RAY DOHERTY as the "TOPLINERS" in July 1970. With a chnage in January 1974 to the name of "MAXWELL PLUMM" RICHARD McGOWAN joined the group in August 1971, with ALAN BROOKS coming into the band two weeks later. While working the North East in Feb. 1973 they met up with Dave Chandler who joined the band a few weeks later.
PAUL SANDERS is the latest member of the group. In Nov. 1974 PAUL was asked to do session work on this album and was immmediately recruited into the group.

ORIGIN OF NAME Comes from the restaurant in New York called the MAXWELL PLUMM RESTAURANT.

PERSONAL CHANGES None

FIRST PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE Camber Sands, Sussex, 1972

FIRST BROADCAST The New Years Eve Television Arts Ball, Capitol Radio in December 1973.

SPECIAL APPEARANCES Royal Albert Hall, December 1973. Winstons, Bournemouth, Oct/Nov, 1972, Cats Whiskers, Streatham, Dec. 1974.

SUMMER SEASONS Four consecutive seasons with Pontins at Camber Sands, Sussex.

PREVIOUS ALBUM "MAXWELL PLUMM" 1974.

Newton's Apple - A Taste Of... (1976)

This wholesome bunch originated from Grantham in Lincolnshire, birthplace of the titular physicist and astronomer but more known these days as the place that created Margaret Thatcher. Not that that has anything to do with the record, but once again there is precious little out there about the group, so that's the sound of me clutching at straws. The sleeve notes, although refreshingly brief and non self-aggrandising, also offer little. There's not even much to say about the low-key artwork, except I've been finding myself slighty smitten by the lovely mumsy face of Jo-ann on the lower right - she looks like butter wouldn't melt but her dirty Hammond dominates the LP. Interestingly, when I was taking the photo of the sleeve for this post, my camera's face recognition feature picked up all but the Ray Davies lookalike in the top left. Possibly this is because his face is partly obscured but I like to think it is because of the schoolboy doodle on his head which looks variously like a knife or a willy (sorry Ray). In fact, anything but the apple stalk I eventually realised it was supposed to be, and not just graffiti scribbled on by the previous owner.

There's something rather sweet about the music on this record. As ever, it's mostly covers but with one slightly unorthodox choice, the Supremes fantastic and pretty much forgotten Automatically Sunshine, although the version here is a bit underpowered compared to, say, the band's Spinning Wheel, which I'm assuming from the little improvisation in the middle was a live favourite. There's one original, a slightly twee personality song called Gravity, thanking Newton for allowing us to stay attached to the planet (we must have been tethered to ground by ropes before then), but it's in the same lineage as the many such songs that litter innumerable UK pop-psych LPs from 1967-1968...albeit with a rather more cheesy organ sound.

Grantham Anthem

A Taste Of...Newton's Apple
PIXIE PIX 0006 Stereo

SIDE ONE
1. Mama (sic) Mia
2. Feelings
3. Summertime City
4. Automatically Sunshine
5. Spinning Wheel

SIDE TWO
1. The Hustle
2. Please Tell Him That I Said Hello
3. S.O.S.
4. Rhinestone Cowboy
5. Gravity
6. Let Me Try Again

Newton's Apple are a combination of four personalities well known in clubland for their ability to suit all age groups both musically and with their own brand of comedy. Based in Grantham Linconshire - birth place of Sir Isaac Newton to whom they pay their tribute by taking his name and basing their own song (Gravity) on his great discovery. So sit back and enjoy this L.P. of old and new songs. Barry White

RECORDED AT DEREK TOMPKINS STUDIO, WELLINGBOROUGH

PIXIE RECORDS, 186 CASTERTON ROAD, STAMFORD, LINCS
Printed and made in England by Senol Printing Ltd.