Brian's Weekly Sleevenotes - 30 May 15

Discover the stories behind the songs in our playlist...

Puff (Up In Smoke) - Kenny Lynch

Born and bred in Stepney, East London, Kenny was one of thirteen children. He began singing with his sister, Gladys, who was a jazz singer working under the name of Maxine Daniels. In 1960, he was signed to EMI’s HMV label where his first single, a cover of Harold Dorman’s American top thirty hit, ‘Mountain Of Love’ made the UK top forty. Five further singles failed to make any impact before he made the charts again in 1962 with this track, Puff (Up In Smoke).

Reviewing The Situation - Sandie Shaw

By the time Sandie Shaw came to record her fifth album for Pye, her relationship with her manager Evie Taylor was more than a little frosty. Evie interference over the material she recorded caused Sandie to begin work on her album, ‘Reviewing The Situation’, in conditions of near secrecy, Evie was largely kept in the dark over the project and any requests of a progress report was met with a response along the lines of ‘Oh it’s all in tune’ or ‘it’s coming along nicely’.

Bless You Darling - Eddie Bo

Born in New Orleans, Edwin James Bocage formed his first orchestra when in his early twenties, The Spider Bocage Band, playing bebop jazz before their music style fell out of fashion as rock and roll began to take hold. Realising the rewards in that field were potentially greater, he signed to the American Ace label for his first single in 1956, ‘We Like Mambo’ recorded with a studio band led by Huey ‘Piano’ Smith. After further releases on Apollo, Checker and Chess, he went to the recently formed Ric Records to work as a carpenter, a trade he’d learned from his father, to help build their new offices. One thing led to another and soon Eddie had joined their roster of artists.

You Baby - Jackie Trent

We were sad to hear of the passing of singer and song writer Jackie Trent in March this year, once married to Tony Hatch, she wrote many hits on her own and in collaboration with Hatch and had her material recorded by artists that included Frank Sinatra, Petula Clark, Val Doonican, Scott Walker and Shirley Bassey. In 1965, she achieved a number one hit in her own right with ‘Where Are You Now (My Love)’ that she was commissioned to write for the TV series, ‘It’s Dark Outside’. In 1966, she began the year by releasing one of her few up tempo singles, a cover of The Ronettes ‘You Baby’ that became a huge Northern Soul hit.

Walk Away Renee - The Truth

North London based group, The Truth released seven singles between 1965 and 1968, scoring their only hit with the Lennon and McCartney song, ‘Girl’. Benefitting from working with some of the country’s top arrangers and musicians including Johnny Harris, Alan Price, Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page, then in 1967 the group moved from Pye to Decca and recorded a cover of The Left Banke’s ‘Walk Away Renee’ that began selling well and looked as though it would become a hit. They were then booked to appear on Top Of The Pops at the time that a new ruling had been made that all artists had to be backed by the programme’s own orchestra. The Truth’s performance with the musicians was a mockery and sales of the record slumped.

Soul Kitchen - The Doors

This track from The Doors’ eponymous debut album was recorded from late August into the first week of September 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood. The song, ‘Soul Kitchen’ is a tribute to the soul food restaurant, ‘Olivia’s’ in Venice Beach Los Angeles where Jim Morrison often stayed for long periods. The song later appeared alongside several other Doors tracks in the 1994 movie ‘Forrest Gump’ and has been covered by several other acts including Patti Smith, Echo And The Bunnymen and David Lee Roth.

He’s A Good Face (But He’s Down And Out - The Gaylords

Led by Junior Campbell, Dean Ford & The Gaylords became Scotland’s most popular group in 1964 resulting in a recording contract with EMI but initial releases failed to sell south of the border. They then began working in Germany where they honed their sound before finally moving to London in 1965. Shortening their name to simply The Gaylords, they gained interest with the release of ‘He’s A Good Face (But He’s Down And Out)’ released the following year that and tapped into the ‘mod’ music scene and enthusiastic plays on the pirate ship Radio London. Building a reputation as a successful club act for their close harmony work, they went on to find fame as The Marmalade.

Tired Of Waiting For You - The Kinks

After their first two hits, ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day And All Of The Night’, that were both hard rocking classics, Ray Davies knew that the group needed a slightly more subtle approach for their next release in order to survive. His view of not repeating the same formula, continued throughout their career. Ray had written a country styled instrumental that he decided to adapt, turning it into ‘Tired Of Waiting For You’, but after recording it, the group felt there was something missing and it was decided that it needed Dave Davies’s raunchy guitar sound so that was added and the record was complete despite the fact that the original thought was that it might spoil the feel of the song.

Here’s Where You Belong - P. F Sloan

Thanks largely to his success as a composer with Barry McGuire’s controversial hit, ‘Eve Of Destruction’, P. F Sloan became much in demand for his material in the sixties supplying a string of hits and songs for other artists including The Searchers, Jan & Dean, Herman’s Hermits and The Grass Roots often in collaboration with his writing partner, Steve Barri. In 1965, Sloan was signed to Lou Adler’s Dunhill label as an artist where he completed two albums within the space of six months along with a number of singles. ‘Here’s Where You Belong’ comes from his second album, ‘Twelve More Times’, released in 1966.

You Baby - The Turtles

Just for good measure, here’s that other P. F Sloan song that was suggested by Richard Jones, The Turtles recording of his song ‘You Baby’ that was co written with Steve Barri became the group’s second American top twenty hit and the title track to their second US album release, following in the footsteps of their debut hit single, Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’.