Bandmembers in the Primitives at this point were Jay Roberts (lead vocals), Geoff Eaton (lead guitar), John E. Soul (rhythm guitar and harmonica), Roger James (bass guitar), and Mike Wilding (drums) – the latter gentleman is the son of Elizabeth Taylor and British actor Michael Wilding.
The first release by the Primitives was “Help Me” b/w “Let Them Tell”. Both sides of this monster single are included on the English Freakbeat, Volume 1 CD. Bruce Eder has this lavish description of the single in his Allmusic article:
“[The Primitives] could and should have been one of the top groups on the Pye label, based on their rough-and-ready debut ‘Help Me’, a cover of a Sonny Boy Williamson [II] number that was beautifully raw and authentic, and wonderfully intense across an astonishingly long three minutes and 39 seconds, [John E.] Soul’s harmonica and [Geoff] Eaton’s guitar keeping the verisimilitude right up there like a Chess Records session gone out of control, amid [Jay] Roberts’ ever more intense romantic lamentations. The group-authored B-side, ‘Let Them Tell’, was almost as much a showcase for the harmonica and rhythm section as for Roberts’ singing. Amazingly, that November 1964 release even made it out in America, as part of the very short-lived licensing agreement between Pye and Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway Records, which also issued the Kinks’ first U.S. single, before Pye headed for the greener pastures of Warner-Reprise.”
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After two flops, the Primitives were feeling the pressure and reacted the way that many young bands do when this happens: They broke up, but they then reformed around a new lead singer, MAL RYDER. Ryder was already established in the British scene to some extent, having released four singles, so the band was redubbed Mal and the Primitives. In this new incarnation, John E. Soul stayed on for awhile as rhythm guitarist, and Jay Roberts became the bass guitarist, though Ryder indicates that Roberts began using his birth name Jeffrey Farthing; they were joined by Stuart Linnell on lead guitar and Mick Charleton on drums.
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Mal and the Primitives released just one single in Great Britain; “Every Minute of Every Day” b/w “Pretty Little Face” (the latter song written by bandmember John E. Soul) came out on Pye Records and also made no impact on the charts, like the earlier Primitives singles. About their final U.K. single, Bruce Eder has this praise: “They had a sound similar to the original group, although [Mal] Ryder was more of a dramatic singer, with an intense but less raspy delivery, more along the lines of a pop-soul vocalist like Chris Farlowe in his later 1960’s incarnation. ‘Every Minute [of Every Day]’ was a suitable A-side, similar to the group’s past work, while ‘Pretty Little Face’ was a lot more elegant than anything the original group had ever done, right down to the rather lyrical acoustic lead guitar doubling the opening piano part, similar to what the guitars on Bill Wyman’s ‘In Another Land’ [by the Rolling Stones] do on the middle and final verse of that song.”
(May 2015)
