SINGLES

BEATSTALKERS-When I’m Five/ Little Boy (CBS)
JOHN BROMLEY-Melody Fayre/ Sugar Love (Polydor)
ERIC BURDON/ANIMALS-Ring Of Fire/ I’m An Animal (MGM) #35
CALIFORNIANS-Mandy/ The Cooks Of Cakes And Kindness (Fontana)
CARAVAN-Place Of My Own/ Ride (Verve)
CARTOONE-Knick Knack Man/ A Penny For The Sun (Atlantic)
CONSORTIUM-All The Love In The World/ Spending My Life Saying Goodbye (Pye) #22
CREAM-White Room/ Those Were The Days (Polydor) #28
DAVE DAVIES-Hold My hand/ Creeping Jean (Pye)
EXCELSIOR SPRING-Happy Miranda/ It (Instant)
ELMER GANTRY’S VELVET OPERA-Volcano/ A Quick ‘B’ (Direction)
GENTLE INFLUENCE-Never Trust In Tomorrow/ Easy To Love (Pye)
HEAVY JELLY-I Keep Singing That Same Old Song/ Blue (Island)
ELTON JOHN-Lady Samantha/ All Across The Heavens (Philips)
THE LOCOMOTIVE-Mr Armageddon/ There’s Got To Be A Way (Parlophone)
THE LOOT-Try To Keep It A Secret/ Radio City (Page One)
NEIL MacARTHUR-She’s Not There/ World Of Glass (Deram) #34
MAN-Sudden Life/ Love (Pye)
THE MIXTURE-Sad Old Song/ Never trust In Tomorrow (Parlophone)
1984-This Little Boy/ Rosalyn (Big T)
NIRVANA-Wings Of love/ Requiem For John Coltrane (Island)
OPAL BUTTERFLY-Mary Anne With The Shakey Hand/ My Gration Or? (CBS)
THE ORANGE MACHINE-You Can All Join In/ Dr Crippen’s Waiting Room (Pye)
NICKY SCOTT-Honey Pie/ No More Tomorrows (Pye)
SCRUGG-Will The Real Geraldine Please Stand Up/ Only George (Pye)
STATUS QUO-Make Me Stay A Little Bit Longer/ Auntie Nellie (Pye)
TINKERBELL’S FAIRYDUST-Sheila’s Back In Town/ Follow Me Follow (Decca)
TOBY TWIRL-Movin’ In/ Utopia Daydream (Decca)
THE TROGGS-Evil Woman/ Sweet Madeleine (Page One)
TYRANNOSAURUS REX-Pewtor Suitor/ Warlord Of The Royal Crocodiles (Regal Zonophone)
UNIT 4 + 2-3.30/ I Will (Fontana)
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR-People You Were Going To/ Firebrand (Polydor)
VELVETT FOGG-Telstar ‘69/ Owed To The Dip (Pye)
GARY WALKER AND THE RAIN-Come In You’ll Get Pneumonia/ Francis (Philips)
WILD SILK-Vision In A Plaster Sky/ Toymaker (Columbia)

 

ALBUMS

THE BEATLES-Yellow Submarine (Apple) #4
FAIRPORT CONVENTION-What We Did On Our Holidays (Island)
GROUNDHOGS-Scratching The Surface (Liberty)
THE LIVERPOOL SCENE-The Amazing Adventures Of (RCA)
MAN-Revelation (Pye)
PROCESSION-Procession (Mercury)
SAM GOPAL-Escalator (Stable)
VANITY FAIR-The Sun, The Wind And Other Things (Page One)
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR-Aerosol Grey Machine (Mercury USA Only)
VELVETT FOGG-Velvett Fogg (Pye)

HAPPENING!

 

WATCHING!

 

 

REVIEWS

DotEric Burdon & The Animals

Ring Of Fire: This is a mysterious, evil and burning version of the old Johnny Cash favourite, sung by Eric with violence and menace. The accompaniment is the sound of medieval monks chanting and rocking and the production is superb. Even though the group may not be around promote their product, this could and should be a hit.

Ring Of Fire: Splendid performance of the Johnny Cash standard. Eric starts off most breathily, then injects some of those vocal snorts that have become his trademark. At his emotional, hard-hitting best, this.

DotCaravan

Place Of My Own: Group sounds on a fairly routine sort of production, yet there are ingenious moments which come off well. Basically a catchy theme.

DotCartoone

Knick Knack Man: I thought the worst group I had heard in a long while were that amazingly awful team with Lulu on the telly the other night, but this is especially vile and deserves an award as the worst record of 1969. Actually it's not that bad, as they "aah, aah" and "na, nah, nah" with boyish sincerity. Doubtless they have their fans.

Knick Knack Man: This gets a Record of The Week award and could even knock up the sales. Takes time to register fully, but it's a catchy, slightly off-beat production and is well worth hearing several times. Rhythmic too.

DotDave Davies

Hold My Hand: This is one of Dave's own compositions and it groans and strains strangely, a bit like Dave Mason freaking out with Family.

DotExcelsior Spring

Happy Miranda: Strange--the lead singer sounds like Steve Winwood, for about fifty seconds of the intro. But by Jupiter, the lad has his own style, and with a jolly hot potato accompaniment, suitably out-of-tune, over the heavy four-to-the-bar beat, one is hard put to conceal feelings of pleasure on hearing a sound that won't be a hit but will please anybody who stumbles across it on Radio Bilge.

DotFairport Convention

What We Did On Our Holidays: Fine second album from the Fairports. Lots of contrast. The music ranges from hard rock to gentle folk music. Sandy Denny's vocals are outstanding and the group provides excellent backings throughout.

DotHeavy Jelly

I Keep Singing That Same Old Song: Some people seem convinced this is Spooky Tooth at work, but I have my own ideas about this eight minute Guy Stevens production and the faces behind the voices. The leader's voice certainly rings a bell, and the skipping piano-and-drums rhythm that biffs one's consciousness so insistently is highly familiar. This is tremendously dramatic and exciting, with a vicious piano riff and clever guitar phrasing. The whole group explodes with excitement and can't get out enough emotion to satisfy themselves until the full eight minutes are ridden out. An absolute gas and I recommend it to heads everywhere, from Walthamstow to Claygate and from Earl's Court to Muswell Hill. Go ahead--blow your minds.

DotNeil Macarthur

She's Not There: Eerie electronic sounds first of all, then a breathy yet forcing vocal performance. Song has quality, but I'm not sure whether this is basically commercial stuff.

DotMan

Revelation (album) : An outstanding release is an album by a group simply called Man. It has some fine compostions 'And in the beginning...', 'And Castles Rise In Children's Eyes' and 'The Future Hides Its Face', though the track which stands out is 'Erotica' which features a woman reaching a climax! You hardly need a visual image to do that! The cover can easily be spotted - five nude guys in a steam bath. Maybe it won't be long before 16mm movies are provided to go with the records.

Revelation (LP): A competent enough Underground type group and somebody has obviously taken a lot of trouble with the arrangements.

DotOpal Butterfly

Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand: Potent mixture of nice sounds on a Pete Townsend song. Repetitive and light-edged. Not predictably a hit but nice to hear.

DotOrange Machine

You Can All Join In: A fine Dave Mason tune that should have been a hit for Traffic, if the dolts had played their cards right. These lads lose the essential hoe down quality of Traffic's LP version, but I still think the tune is strong enough for a single hit.

DotProcession

Procession (LP): The Mercury label seem to have a talent for spotting the mediocre and dull and instantly purveying it to the public via expensively produced albums. This tedious quartet actually play "Simon Says"!

DotSam Gopal

Escalator: Some obvious Clapton-Hendrix influence in the approach. Good vocal work from Lemmy Willis. If you like heavy music you'll like Sam Gopal.

DotStatus Quo

Make Me Stay A Bit Longer: Put on a psyched-out pair of Madrid style dancing boots and onion-a-go-go to the top of the chart! Here is a good hit for the lads, with a driving, Spanish flavoured introduction and unpretentious vocal and guitar sound. Reminds me a bit of the Move, but we'll be seeing them watching the monitor screens and smiling three seconds late on Top Of The Pops before the month is out.

DotToby Twirl

Movin' In: mason Williams and The Beatles appear to be a great inspiration to young Toby and his cohorts. The intro with powerful strings and brass reminds faintly of Classical Gas while the main theme is reminiscent of With A Little Help From My Friends, and there is a Sgt Pepperish whining guitar break. Apart from that it's highly original. And do you know what? I find it rather groovy.

DotTyrannosaurus Rex

Pewter Suitor: Another bopping opus, this time distinguished by a rather natty guitar phrase from Marc, which could be a selling point among fans of the jolly duo. Their rattling pots and tiny voices get quite heated at the end, rather like a couple of rough gnomes bashing each other with toadstools.

DotVan Der Graaf Generator

People You Were Going To: This is one of the best records of the week, interesting, intelligent, informative, intuitive, introvert, extrovert, yet strangely moving.

DotVelvett Fogg

Telstar 69: This is hilariously bad, staggeringly dreadful, unbelievably unplayable. Come home Cartoone, all is forgiven!

Telstar 69: Well whatta turn-up. The Joe Meek masterpiece revived and brought up to date with suitable space-age sounds and the organ stating the main theme. Never know with this sort of thing. 

Velvett Fogg (LP): All British commercial psychedelia, loosely based on Pink Floyd of two years ago, competently played and produced.

 

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