UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH 2014: THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2)
* * *
The plan was always to move directly from the Mick Farren tribute to a description of the Fairies as the Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month; Twink was in that band in 1964-1965. That would be three different likely homosexual references among the band names that I have mentioned, including the Deviants and the Pink Fairies. None of the bandmembers in any of these groups is gay as far as I know – Mick Farren certainly wasn’t – and none of their music could be described as wimpy or lightweight either, so I guess this is guerilla theatre mostly.
Unfortunately, in November 2013, someone wrote a Wikipedia article on the Fairies, so I can’t do that now. Fortunately, it is a really good article, so check it out: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairies_(British_band) . So I had to find a different Under-Appreciated Rock Band, and of course it has to be a 1960’s British band.
* * *
First though, I realize that I have quoted Allmusic dozens of times through these posts and have never really said anything about who they are. In 1991, Michael Erlewine founded the All Music Guide as an Internet-based consumer guide; he later launched All Movies Guide and All Games Guide. The owners reported in 2011 that there were 3,000,000 unique visitors per month to the three sites. The music site – which has undergone several name changes: AMG, Allmusic, allmusic and back to Allmusic – has become a very popular resource. Michael Erlewine’s nephew, Stephen Thomas Erlewine later became a senior editor at Allmusic.
Michael Erlewine was active in the Michigan folk scene in the 1950’s and 1960’s; he hitchhiked with Bob Dylan in 1961 and made his way to Greenwich Village in New York and also to San Francisco. In 1965, he and his brother formed a blues band called the Prime Movers; original bandmembers were Michael Erlewine (lead singer, harmonica), Dan Erlewine (lead guitar), Robert Sheff (keyboards), Robert Vinopal (bass), and Michael “Spider” Wynn (drums). After Wynn left the band, he was replaced by James Osterberg. A few years later, Osterberg began performing as Iggy Pop; and under this name, he founded the proto-punk band the Stooges. His nickname was due to Osterberg’s serving as the drummer for another Michigan band called the Iguanas.
What I have found about most Internet music sites is that they are mostly geared toward modern music and don’t help me very much. Even Rolling Stone only goes back to 1967; the Rolling Stone Record Guide that I had pre-Katrina covered only albums in print except for the biggest artists. Allmusic truly tries to cover everything, though some of the UARB’s and UARA’s don’t show up in their database. Generally speaking, Allmusic has more bands and artists than Wikipedia, though some bands with a big write-up in Wikipedia have almost nothing in Allmusic.
* * *
This month’s last-minute replacement as the Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month is THE SONS OF FRED. Bandmembers in the Sons of Fred were Ray Redway (lead vocals), Alan “Boh” Bohling (rhythm guitar and vocals), Mick Hutchinson (lead guitar), Pete Sears (bass guitar), and Tim Boyle (drums). Alan Bohling wrote 5 of the 6 songs on their three singles; “Baby What You Want Me To Do” is the Jimmy Reed blues standard. Pete Sears was just 16 when he joined the band. The Sons of Fred are described by Allmusic as an “obscure but intense British beat band”.
The Sons of Fred released their first single, “Sweet Love” b/w “I’ll Be There” in 1964 on Columbia Records – not the same as our Columbia Records (outside the U.S. and Canada, their releases are on CBS Records due to the name conflict) but rather a subsidiary of EMI Records. This was an R&B record.
For their second single, they moved to another EMI label, Parlophone Records (the Beatles’ record company in Britain) and adopted a more pop-oriented sound reminiscent of another Parlophone band, the Hollies, releasing “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” b/w “She Only Wants a Friend”. For the final single by the Sons of Fred for Parlophone in 1966, they went back to R&B for “Baby What You Want Me To Do” b/w “You Told Me”.
The Sons of Fred performed “Sweet Love” on the pioneering British rock/pop program, Ready Steady Go! (probably in June 1965) and also lip-synched “Baby What You Want Me To Do” on another TV show, Thank Your Lucky Stars on March 5, 1966.
* * *
There is some misinfomation out there about the Sons of Fred – such as the caption on the above photograph – and I found a letter from Pete Sears that was reprinted on the Radio London website at:
www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/scrap60/fabforty/65fabs/jun65/fab130665/fab130665.html . Much of what I am presenting in this post is based on this letter. Contrary to what Allmusic says, the Sons of Fred are not from the coastal town of Great Yarmouth. The band was actually based in Dulwich and Beckenham, where Ray Redway and Alan Bohling were from. Mick Hutchinson and Tim Boyle were from Chislehurst, while Pete Sears grew up in Hayes, near Bromley. However, Sears does not know where the band name the Sons of Fred came from. Also, the Sons of Fred are not at all related to another band called Odyssey, despite what is shown on Allmusic, along with plenty of other Internet sites.
* * *
I have the Sons of Fred singles on two albums in the English Freakbeat Series; both sides of their 1965 single, “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” and “She Only Wants a Friend” are the opening tracks on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD (and are also included on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP); and three more of their songs are on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 CD (but not on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 LP) – all but “You Told Me”. “You Told Me” is included on the Rare 60’s Beat Treasures, Volume 5 CD and also a later compilation album called Magic Spectacles.
While “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” and “She Only Wants a Friend” feature the harmony vocals and intricate guitar that are hallmarks of the Hollies’ sound, the band’s R&B roots are still evident on both songs. The liner notes on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD (probably by Greg Shaw) says that “their three releases are consistently intense, brilliant R&B ravers”. The Sons of Fred broke up after Mick Hutchinson and Pete Sears left the band.
With its fierce vocals and fine organ solo, “Sweet Love” is my favorite song by the Sons of Fred; despite its early recording date, it is probably also closest to the psychedelic-tinged freakbeat sound. “I’ll Be There” reminds me of the band that was originally slotted as the UARB for this month, the Fairies.
* * *
The music on the English Freakbeat Series is similar to what is on the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP that was mentioned earlier; indeed, when that album was reissued on CD in 1996, it was named English Freakbeat, Volume 6. The series collects songs from obscure British “beat” bands and Mod groups and comes from a somewhat earlier period (typically 1964 to 1966) than the American garage rock and psychedelic rock bands that are presented on the Pebbles series (typically 1965 to 1968). “Freakbeat” is a reference to the transition from the earlier beat band sound to a more psychedelic rock style of music.
Many of the songs in the English Freakbeat Series were by musicians that became famous in later bands or in other contexts. For instance, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP includes cuts by the In Crowd, which later became Tomorrow, and the Mockingbirds, a predecessor band to 10cc; also, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD has a song by the Raving Savages, who were the backing band for Screaming Lord Sutch. The real attraction for the CD reissue though are three songs by a band called the Ravens; their bandleader Dave Davies and his younger brother Ray Davies were later in the Kinks, with Ray being the frontman and main songwriter for that stellar British Invasion group. Ray Davies was supposedly not involved in the Ravens at all according to the band’s official history; however, the CD liner notes as well as the review by Allmusic notes that some of these songs bear Ray Davies’ stamp and might have been sung (if not written) by him.
* * *
In 1966, two of the bandmembers in the Sons of Fred joined an underground psychedelic rock band called Sam Gopal’s Dream. Sam Gopal is from Malaysia and plays the tabla, a type of drum that often accompanies the sitar in Indian music. Bandmembers initially were Sam Gopal (tabla), Mick Hutchinson (guitar), and Pete Sears (bass guitar); a little later, Andy Clark was added on organ.
Sam Gopal’s Dream performed at The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, the benefit concert mentioned earlier for the International Times underground newspaper, and also at the UFO Club. To date, the recordings made by Sam Gopal’s Dream for Screen Gems Records in 1967 remain unreleased.
Sam Gopal formed a new line-up known simply as Sam Gopal that included as vocalist and guitarist Ian Willis, better known as Lemmy; this reorganized band released one album, Escalator in 1968. Lemmy later played bass guitar for Hawkwind and, in 1975, founded the pounding British heavy metal band called Motörhead.
After Sam Gopal broke up in 1968, Mick Hutchinson and Andy Clark recorded three albums under the name Clark-Hutchinson. Hutchinson also played guitar and bass guitar on the 1980 album Tennis by English singer-songwriter Chris Rea, who is best known in America for his 1978 hit “Fool (If You Think it’s Over)”. Along with Magic Dragon, Mick Hutchinson was later involved in the creation of the four-CD box set, The Woody Guthrie Story that was released in 2000.
* * *
Pete Sears briefly played keyboards for the British freakbeat band Les Fleur de Lys; according to Wikipedia, his sole recording with the band was the “A” side of their second single, “Circles” (written by Pete Townshend).
Pete Sears moved to San Francisco after he was asked to be a founding member of Jefferson Starship as bass guitarist and keyboardist. Sears played with the band from 1974 to 1984 and was also on the debut album by Starship, Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985). As of 2014, Sears sometimes appears as a guest musician at Jefferson Starship concerts. Pete Sears also played with Hot Tuna from 1992 to 2001.
Additionally, Pete Sears has been a prominent session bass guitarist and keyboard player for more than four decades. He played on four early Rod Stewart solo albums, including the classic Every Picture Tells a Story (the album that includes Rod’s mega-hit “Maggie May”), plus Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, and Smiler. Pete Sears has also worked with Steamhammer, Stoneground, Long John Baldry, Los Lobos, and three of the founding members of the Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh.
* * *
Alan Bohling is currently playing with a 1960’s cover band called On the Rocks, which is based in Hampshire, U.K. A man named Alan Bohling is credited with writing and performing several Christian contemporary songs, but he is evidently not the former bandmember in the Sons of Fred. Recent photographs of Pete Sears (L) and Alan Bohling (R) are given above.
* * *
Flashback: The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2012 –Stratavarious
As the only UARB thus far to be a disco band, I was not surprised to find several tracks by Stratavarious; in fact, at least 5 of the 6 tracks on the album are given on YouTube. The full-length version of their hit “I Got Your Love” is available (all of these are audio only) at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=07v4UNWVqkU . There are others for this song: “Part 1” and “Part 2” plus a “special disco version”. “Let Me Be Your Lady Tonight” can be heard – evidently as taken from the album – at www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqKXY6VmUDE; this song also has a “disco mix” available. Here is one last song, “Touching” that has more tempo and mood changes than are normally encountered in the disco world, plus some lovely harp: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8V9MJOvNc . As far as I know, there are no synthesizers on this album; these are all “real” instruments.
* * *
Picture Gallery: The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2011 – Index
This is the Index album that I have:
This is the other album by this band, Red:
Here are photographs of the bandmembers as taken from the back of the album cover:
This is a group shot of the band:
* * *
Story of the Month: BOBBY DARIN (from June 2011)
Bobby Darin had health problems all of his life that were exacerbated by having several bouts of rheumatic fever beginning at age 8, though the general public was completely unaware. He still had a colorful musical career that is entertaining just to read about. As an example, Darin wrote his first hit song “Splish Splash” on a bet (via the mother of a musician friend of his – they both made the songwriting credits) that he couldn’t write a song that started out, “Splish, splash, I was taking a bath”. He had a generous spirit to match his outsized talent; he passed along “Danke Schoen” to his friend Wayne Newton, when it was really sent for him to record. Bobby Darin also served as a mentor to Jim McGuinn (later known as Roger McGuinn) prior to his founding the Byrds. Following his huge hit songs “Mack the Knife” and “Beyond the Sea”, Darin had record-breaking appearances at the Copacabana and was starting to give Frank Sinatra a run for his money as America’s favorite song stylist. As shown in Beyond the Sea (masterminded by and starring Kevin Spacey, and one of the best musical biopics I have seen), Bobby Darin fought a losing battle to record and perform as much music as he possibly could before his inevitable death at age 37 in 1973.
* * *
The plan was always to move directly from the Mick Farren tribute to a description of the Fairies as the Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month; Twink was in that band in 1964-1965. That would be three different likely homosexual references among the band names that I have mentioned, including the Deviants and the Pink Fairies. None of the bandmembers in any of these groups is gay as far as I know – Mick Farren certainly wasn’t – and none of their music could be described as wimpy or lightweight either, so I guess this is guerilla theatre mostly.
Unfortunately, in November 2013, someone wrote a Wikipedia article on the Fairies, so I can’t do that now. Fortunately, it is a really good article, so check it out: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairies_(British_band) . So I had to find a different Under-Appreciated Rock Band, and of course it has to be a 1960’s British band.
* * *
First though, I realize that I have quoted Allmusic dozens of times through these posts and have never really said anything about who they are. In 1991, Michael Erlewine founded the All Music Guide as an Internet-based consumer guide; he later launched All Movies Guide and All Games Guide. The owners reported in 2011 that there were 3,000,000 unique visitors per month to the three sites. The music site – which has undergone several name changes: AMG, Allmusic, allmusic and back to Allmusic – has become a very popular resource. Michael Erlewine’s nephew, Stephen Thomas Erlewine later became a senior editor at Allmusic.
Michael Erlewine was active in the Michigan folk scene in the 1950’s and 1960’s; he hitchhiked with Bob Dylan in 1961 and made his way to Greenwich Village in New York and also to San Francisco. In 1965, he and his brother formed a blues band called the Prime Movers; original bandmembers were Michael Erlewine (lead singer, harmonica), Dan Erlewine (lead guitar), Robert Sheff (keyboards), Robert Vinopal (bass), and Michael “Spider” Wynn (drums). After Wynn left the band, he was replaced by James Osterberg. A few years later, Osterberg began performing as Iggy Pop; and under this name, he founded the proto-punk band the Stooges. His nickname was due to Osterberg’s serving as the drummer for another Michigan band called the Iguanas.
What I have found about most Internet music sites is that they are mostly geared toward modern music and don’t help me very much. Even Rolling Stone only goes back to 1967; the Rolling Stone Record Guide that I had pre-Katrina covered only albums in print except for the biggest artists. Allmusic truly tries to cover everything, though some of the UARB’s and UARA’s don’t show up in their database. Generally speaking, Allmusic has more bands and artists than Wikipedia, though some bands with a big write-up in Wikipedia have almost nothing in Allmusic.
* * *
This month’s last-minute replacement as the Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month is THE SONS OF FRED. Bandmembers in the Sons of Fred were Ray Redway (lead vocals), Alan “Boh” Bohling (rhythm guitar and vocals), Mick Hutchinson (lead guitar), Pete Sears (bass guitar), and Tim Boyle (drums). Alan Bohling wrote 5 of the 6 songs on their three singles; “Baby What You Want Me To Do” is the Jimmy Reed blues standard. Pete Sears was just 16 when he joined the band. The Sons of Fred are described by Allmusic as an “obscure but intense British beat band”.
The Sons of Fred released their first single, “Sweet Love” b/w “I’ll Be There” in 1964 on Columbia Records – not the same as our Columbia Records (outside the U.S. and Canada, their releases are on CBS Records due to the name conflict) but rather a subsidiary of EMI Records. This was an R&B record.
For their second single, they moved to another EMI label, Parlophone Records (the Beatles’ record company in Britain) and adopted a more pop-oriented sound reminiscent of another Parlophone band, the Hollies, releasing “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” b/w “She Only Wants a Friend”. For the final single by the Sons of Fred for Parlophone in 1966, they went back to R&B for “Baby What You Want Me To Do” b/w “You Told Me”.
The Sons of Fred performed “Sweet Love” on the pioneering British rock/pop program, Ready Steady Go! (probably in June 1965) and also lip-synched “Baby What You Want Me To Do” on another TV show, Thank Your Lucky Stars on March 5, 1966.
* * *
There is some misinfomation out there about the Sons of Fred – such as the caption on the above photograph – and I found a letter from Pete Sears that was reprinted on the Radio London website at:
www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/scrap60/fabforty/65fabs/jun65/fab130665/fab130665.html . Much of what I am presenting in this post is based on this letter. Contrary to what Allmusic says, the Sons of Fred are not from the coastal town of Great Yarmouth. The band was actually based in Dulwich and Beckenham, where Ray Redway and Alan Bohling were from. Mick Hutchinson and Tim Boyle were from Chislehurst, while Pete Sears grew up in Hayes, near Bromley. However, Sears does not know where the band name the Sons of Fred came from. Also, the Sons of Fred are not at all related to another band called Odyssey, despite what is shown on Allmusic, along with plenty of other Internet sites.
* * *
I have the Sons of Fred singles on two albums in the English Freakbeat Series; both sides of their 1965 single, “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” and “She Only Wants a Friend” are the opening tracks on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD (and are also included on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP); and three more of their songs are on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 CD (but not on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 LP) – all but “You Told Me”. “You Told Me” is included on the Rare 60’s Beat Treasures, Volume 5 CD and also a later compilation album called Magic Spectacles.
While “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” and “She Only Wants a Friend” feature the harmony vocals and intricate guitar that are hallmarks of the Hollies’ sound, the band’s R&B roots are still evident on both songs. The liner notes on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD (probably by Greg Shaw) says that “their three releases are consistently intense, brilliant R&B ravers”. The Sons of Fred broke up after Mick Hutchinson and Pete Sears left the band.
With its fierce vocals and fine organ solo, “Sweet Love” is my favorite song by the Sons of Fred; despite its early recording date, it is probably also closest to the psychedelic-tinged freakbeat sound. “I’ll Be There” reminds me of the band that was originally slotted as the UARB for this month, the Fairies.
* * *
The music on the English Freakbeat Series is similar to what is on the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP that was mentioned earlier; indeed, when that album was reissued on CD in 1996, it was named English Freakbeat, Volume 6. The series collects songs from obscure British “beat” bands and Mod groups and comes from a somewhat earlier period (typically 1964 to 1966) than the American garage rock and psychedelic rock bands that are presented on the Pebbles series (typically 1965 to 1968). “Freakbeat” is a reference to the transition from the earlier beat band sound to a more psychedelic rock style of music.
Many of the songs in the English Freakbeat Series were by musicians that became famous in later bands or in other contexts. For instance, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP includes cuts by the In Crowd, which later became Tomorrow, and the Mockingbirds, a predecessor band to 10cc; also, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD has a song by the Raving Savages, who were the backing band for Screaming Lord Sutch. The real attraction for the CD reissue though are three songs by a band called the Ravens; their bandleader Dave Davies and his younger brother Ray Davies were later in the Kinks, with Ray being the frontman and main songwriter for that stellar British Invasion group. Ray Davies was supposedly not involved in the Ravens at all according to the band’s official history; however, the CD liner notes as well as the review by Allmusic notes that some of these songs bear Ray Davies’ stamp and might have been sung (if not written) by him.
* * *
In 1966, two of the bandmembers in the Sons of Fred joined an underground psychedelic rock band called Sam Gopal’s Dream. Sam Gopal is from Malaysia and plays the tabla, a type of drum that often accompanies the sitar in Indian music. Bandmembers initially were Sam Gopal (tabla), Mick Hutchinson (guitar), and Pete Sears (bass guitar); a little later, Andy Clark was added on organ.
Sam Gopal’s Dream performed at The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, the benefit concert mentioned earlier for the International Times underground newspaper, and also at the UFO Club. To date, the recordings made by Sam Gopal’s Dream for Screen Gems Records in 1967 remain unreleased.
Sam Gopal formed a new line-up known simply as Sam Gopal that included as vocalist and guitarist Ian Willis, better known as Lemmy; this reorganized band released one album, Escalator in 1968. Lemmy later played bass guitar for Hawkwind and, in 1975, founded the pounding British heavy metal band called Motörhead.
After Sam Gopal broke up in 1968, Mick Hutchinson and Andy Clark recorded three albums under the name Clark-Hutchinson. Hutchinson also played guitar and bass guitar on the 1980 album Tennis by English singer-songwriter Chris Rea, who is best known in America for his 1978 hit “Fool (If You Think it’s Over)”. Along with Magic Dragon, Mick Hutchinson was later involved in the creation of the four-CD box set, The Woody Guthrie Story that was released in 2000.
* * *
Pete Sears briefly played keyboards for the British freakbeat band Les Fleur de Lys; according to Wikipedia, his sole recording with the band was the “A” side of their second single, “Circles” (written by Pete Townshend).
Pete Sears moved to San Francisco after he was asked to be a founding member of Jefferson Starship as bass guitarist and keyboardist. Sears played with the band from 1974 to 1984 and was also on the debut album by Starship, Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985). As of 2014, Sears sometimes appears as a guest musician at Jefferson Starship concerts. Pete Sears also played with Hot Tuna from 1992 to 2001.
Additionally, Pete Sears has been a prominent session bass guitarist and keyboard player for more than four decades. He played on four early Rod Stewart solo albums, including the classic Every Picture Tells a Story (the album that includes Rod’s mega-hit “Maggie May”), plus Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, and Smiler. Pete Sears has also worked with Steamhammer, Stoneground, Long John Baldry, Los Lobos, and three of the founding members of the Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh.
* * *
Alan Bohling is currently playing with a 1960’s cover band called On the Rocks, which is based in Hampshire, U.K. A man named Alan Bohling is credited with writing and performing several Christian contemporary songs, but he is evidently not the former bandmember in the Sons of Fred. Recent photographs of Pete Sears (L) and Alan Bohling (R) are given above.
* * *
Flashback: The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2012 –Stratavarious
As the only UARB thus far to be a disco band, I was not surprised to find several tracks by Stratavarious; in fact, at least 5 of the 6 tracks on the album are given on YouTube. The full-length version of their hit “I Got Your Love” is available (all of these are audio only) at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=07v4UNWVqkU . There are others for this song: “Part 1” and “Part 2” plus a “special disco version”. “Let Me Be Your Lady Tonight” can be heard – evidently as taken from the album – at www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqKXY6VmUDE; this song also has a “disco mix” available. Here is one last song, “Touching” that has more tempo and mood changes than are normally encountered in the disco world, plus some lovely harp: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8V9MJOvNc . As far as I know, there are no synthesizers on this album; these are all “real” instruments.
* * *
Picture Gallery: The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2011 – Index
This is the Index album that I have:
This is the other album by this band, Red:
Here are photographs of the bandmembers as taken from the back of the album cover:
This is a group shot of the band:
* * *
Story of the Month: BOBBY DARIN (from June 2011)
Bobby Darin had health problems all of his life that were exacerbated by having several bouts of rheumatic fever beginning at age 8, though the general public was completely unaware. He still had a colorful musical career that is entertaining just to read about. As an example, Darin wrote his first hit song “Splish Splash” on a bet (via the mother of a musician friend of his – they both made the songwriting credits) that he couldn’t write a song that started out, “Splish, splash, I was taking a bath”. He had a generous spirit to match his outsized talent; he passed along “Danke Schoen” to his friend Wayne Newton, when it was really sent for him to record. Bobby Darin also served as a mentor to Jim McGuinn (later known as Roger McGuinn) prior to his founding the Byrds. Following his huge hit songs “Mack the Knife” and “Beyond the Sea”, Darin had record-breaking appearances at the Copacabana and was starting to give Frank Sinatra a run for his money as America’s favorite song stylist. As shown in Beyond the Sea (masterminded by and starring Kevin Spacey, and one of the best musical biopics I have seen), Bobby Darin fought a losing battle to record and perform as much music as he possibly could before his inevitable death at age 37 in 1973.
The plan was always to move directly from the Mick Farren tribute to a description of the Fairies as the Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month; Twink was in that band in 1964-1965. That would be three different likely homosexual references among the band names that I have mentioned, including the Deviants and the Pink Fairies. None of the bandmembers in any of these groups is gay as far as I know – Mick Farren certainly wasn’t – and none of their music could be described as wimpy or lightweight either, so I guess this is guerilla theatre mostly.
Unfortunately, in November 2013, someone wrote a Wikipedia article on the Fairies, so I can’t do that now. Fortunately, it is a really good article, so check it out: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairies_(British_band) . So I had to find a different Under-Appreciated Rock Band, and of course it has to be a 1960’s British band.
* * *
First though, I realize that I have quoted Allmusic dozens of times through these posts and have never really said anything about who they are. In 1991, Michael Erlewine founded the All Music Guide as an Internet-based consumer guide; he later launched All Movies Guide and All Games Guide. The owners reported in 2011 that there were 3,000,000 unique visitors per month to the three sites. The music site – which has undergone several name changes: AMG, Allmusic, allmusic and back to Allmusic – has become a very popular resource. Michael Erlewine’s nephew, Stephen Thomas Erlewine later became a senior editor at Allmusic.
Michael Erlewine was active in the Michigan folk scene in the 1950’s and 1960’s; he hitchhiked with Bob Dylan in 1961 and made his way to Greenwich Village in New York and also to San Francisco. In 1965, he and his brother formed a blues band called the Prime Movers; original bandmembers were Michael Erlewine (lead singer, harmonica), Dan Erlewine (lead guitar), Robert Sheff (keyboards), Robert Vinopal (bass), and Michael “Spider” Wynn (drums). After Wynn left the band, he was replaced by James Osterberg. A few years later, Osterberg began performing as Iggy Pop; and under this name, he founded the proto-punk band the Stooges. His nickname was due to Osterberg’s serving as the drummer for another Michigan band called the Iguanas.
What I have found about most Internet music sites is that they are mostly geared toward modern music and don’t help me very much. Even Rolling Stone only goes back to 1967; the Rolling Stone Record Guide that I had pre-Katrina covered only albums in print except for the biggest artists. Allmusic truly tries to cover everything, though some of the UARB’s and UARA’s don’t show up in their database. Generally speaking, Allmusic has more bands and artists than Wikipedia, though some bands with a big write-up in Wikipedia have almost nothing in Allmusic.
* * *
This month’s last-minute replacement as the Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month is THE SONS OF FRED. Bandmembers in the Sons of Fred were Ray Redway (lead vocals), Alan “Boh” Bohling (rhythm guitar and vocals), Mick Hutchinson (lead guitar), Pete Sears (bass guitar), and Tim Boyle (drums). Alan Bohling wrote 5 of the 6 songs on their three singles; “Baby What You Want Me To Do” is the Jimmy Reed blues standard. Pete Sears was just 16 when he joined the band. The Sons of Fred are described by Allmusic as an “obscure but intense British beat band”.
The Sons of Fred released their first single, “Sweet Love” b/w “I’ll Be There” in 1964 on Columbia Records – not the same as our Columbia Records (outside the U.S. and Canada, their releases are on CBS Records due to the name conflict) but rather a subsidiary of EMI Records. This was an R&B record.
For their second single, they moved to another EMI label, Parlophone Records (the Beatles’ record company in Britain) and adopted a more pop-oriented sound reminiscent of another Parlophone band, the Hollies, releasing “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” b/w “She Only Wants a Friend”. For the final single by the Sons of Fred for Parlophone in 1966, they went back to R&B for “Baby What You Want Me To Do” b/w “You Told Me”.
The Sons of Fred performed “Sweet Love” on the pioneering British rock/pop program, Ready Steady Go! (probably in June 1965) and also lip-synched “Baby What You Want Me To Do” on another TV show, Thank Your Lucky Stars on March 5, 1966.
* * *
There is some misinfomation out there about the Sons of Fred – such as the caption on the above photograph – and I found a letter from Pete Sears that was reprinted on the Radio London website at:
www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/scrap60/fabforty/65fabs/jun65/fab130665/fab130665.html . Much of what I am presenting in this post is based on this letter. Contrary to what Allmusic says, the Sons of Fred are not from the coastal town of Great Yarmouth. The band was actually based in Dulwich and Beckenham, where Ray Redway and Alan Bohling were from. Mick Hutchinson and Tim Boyle were from Chislehurst, while Pete Sears grew up in Hayes, near Bromley. However, Sears does not know where the band name the Sons of Fred came from. Also, the Sons of Fred are not at all related to another band called Odyssey, despite what is shown on Allmusic, along with plenty of other Internet sites.
* * *
I have the Sons of Fred singles on two albums in the English Freakbeat Series; both sides of their 1965 single, “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” and “She Only Wants a Friend” are the opening tracks on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD (and are also included on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP); and three more of their songs are on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 CD (but not on the English Freakbeat, Volume 4 LP) – all but “You Told Me”. “You Told Me” is included on the Rare 60’s Beat Treasures, Volume 5 CD and also a later compilation album called Magic Spectacles.
While “I, I, I Want Your Lovin’” and “She Only Wants a Friend” feature the harmony vocals and intricate guitar that are hallmarks of the Hollies’ sound, the band’s R&B roots are still evident on both songs. The liner notes on the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD (probably by Greg Shaw) says that “their three releases are consistently intense, brilliant R&B ravers”. The Sons of Fred broke up after Mick Hutchinson and Pete Sears left the band.
With its fierce vocals and fine organ solo, “Sweet Love” is my favorite song by the Sons of Fred; despite its early recording date, it is probably also closest to the psychedelic-tinged freakbeat sound. “I’ll Be There” reminds me of the band that was originally slotted as the UARB for this month, the Fairies.
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The music on the English Freakbeat Series is similar to what is on the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP that was mentioned earlier; indeed, when that album was reissued on CD in 1996, it was named English Freakbeat, Volume 6. The series collects songs from obscure British “beat” bands and Mod groups and comes from a somewhat earlier period (typically 1964 to 1966) than the American garage rock and psychedelic rock bands that are presented on the Pebbles series (typically 1965 to 1968). “Freakbeat” is a reference to the transition from the earlier beat band sound to a more psychedelic rock style of music.
Many of the songs in the English Freakbeat Series were by musicians that became famous in later bands or in other contexts. For instance, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP includes cuts by the In Crowd, which later became Tomorrow, and the Mockingbirds, a predecessor band to 10cc; also, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 CD has a song by the Raving Savages, who were the backing band for Screaming Lord Sutch. The real attraction for the CD reissue though are three songs by a band called the Ravens; their bandleader Dave Davies and his younger brother Ray Davies were later in the Kinks, with Ray being the frontman and main songwriter for that stellar British Invasion group. Ray Davies was supposedly not involved in the Ravens at all according to the band’s official history; however, the CD liner notes as well as the review by Allmusic notes that some of these songs bear Ray Davies’ stamp and might have been sung (if not written) by him.
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In 1966, two of the bandmembers in the Sons of Fred joined an underground psychedelic rock band called Sam Gopal’s Dream. Sam Gopal is from Malaysia and plays the tabla, a type of drum that often accompanies the sitar in Indian music. Bandmembers initially were Sam Gopal (tabla), Mick Hutchinson (guitar), and Pete Sears (bass guitar); a little later, Andy Clark was added on organ.
Sam Gopal’s Dream performed at The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, the benefit concert mentioned earlier for the International Times underground newspaper, and also at the UFO Club. To date, the recordings made by Sam Gopal’s Dream for Screen Gems Records in 1967 remain unreleased.
Sam Gopal formed a new line-up known simply as Sam Gopal that included as vocalist and guitarist Ian Willis, better known as Lemmy; this reorganized band released one album, Escalator in 1968. Lemmy later played bass guitar for Hawkwind and, in 1975, founded the pounding British heavy metal band called Motörhead.
After Sam Gopal broke up in 1968, Mick Hutchinson and Andy Clark recorded three albums under the name Clark-Hutchinson. Hutchinson also played guitar and bass guitar on the 1980 album Tennis by English singer-songwriter Chris Rea, who is best known in America for his 1978 hit “Fool (If You Think it’s Over)”. Along with Magic Dragon, Mick Hutchinson was later involved in the creation of the four-CD box set, The Woody Guthrie Story that was released in 2000.
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Pete Sears briefly played keyboards for the British freakbeat band Les Fleur de Lys; according to Wikipedia, his sole recording with the band was the “A” side of their second single, “Circles” (written by Pete Townshend).
Pete Sears moved to San Francisco after he was asked to be a founding member of Jefferson Starship as bass guitarist and keyboardist. Sears played with the band from 1974 to 1984 and was also on the debut album by Starship, Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985). As of 2014, Sears sometimes appears as a guest musician at Jefferson Starship concerts. Pete Sears also played with Hot Tuna from 1992 to 2001.
Additionally, Pete Sears has been a prominent session bass guitarist and keyboard player for more than four decades. He played on four early Rod Stewart solo albums, including the classic Every Picture Tells a Story (the album that includes Rod’s mega-hit “Maggie May”), plus Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, and Smiler. Pete Sears has also worked with Steamhammer, Stoneground, Long John Baldry, Los Lobos, and three of the founding members of the Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh.
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Alan Bohling is currently playing with a 1960’s cover band called On the Rocks, which is based in Hampshire, U.K. A man named Alan Bohling is credited with writing and performing several Christian contemporary songs, but he is evidently not the former bandmember in the Sons of Fred. Recent photographs of Pete Sears (L) and Alan Bohling (R) are given above.
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Flashback: The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2012 –Stratavarious
As the only UARB thus far to be a disco band, I was not surprised to find several tracks by Stratavarious; in fact, at least 5 of the 6 tracks on the album are given on YouTube. The full-length version of their hit “I Got Your Love” is available (all of these are audio only) at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=07v4UNWVqkU . There are others for this song: “Part 1” and “Part 2” plus a “special disco version”. “Let Me Be Your Lady Tonight” can be heard – evidently as taken from the album – at www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqKXY6VmUDE; this song also has a “disco mix” available. Here is one last song, “Touching” that has more tempo and mood changes than are normally encountered in the disco world, plus some lovely harp: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8V9MJOvNc . As far as I know, there are no synthesizers on this album; these are all “real” instruments.
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Picture Gallery: The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2011 – Index
This is the Index album that I have:
This is the other album by this band, Red:
Here are photographs of the bandmembers as taken from the back of the album cover:
This is a group shot of the band:
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Story of the Month: BOBBY DARIN (from June 2011)
Bobby Darin had health problems all of his life that were exacerbated by having several bouts of rheumatic fever beginning at age 8, though the general public was completely unaware. He still had a colorful musical career that is entertaining just to read about. As an example, Darin wrote his first hit song “Splish Splash” on a bet (via the mother of a musician friend of his – they both made the songwriting credits) that he couldn’t write a song that started out, “Splish, splash, I was taking a bath”. He had a generous spirit to match his outsized talent; he passed along “Danke Schoen” to his friend Wayne Newton, when it was really sent for him to record. Bobby Darin also served as a mentor to Jim McGuinn (later known as Roger McGuinn) prior to his founding the Byrds. Following his huge hit songs “Mack the Knife” and “Beyond the Sea”, Darin had record-breaking appearances at the Copacabana and was starting to give Frank Sinatra a run for his money as America’s favorite song stylist. As shown in Beyond the Sea (masterminded by and starring Kevin Spacey, and one of the best musical biopics I have seen), Bobby Darin fought a losing battle to record and perform as much music as he possibly could before his inevitable death at age 37 in 1973.
