The power pack

[wayne]

Well, taking time off from chasing up people who owe me wages on the phone (again) and calmed myself down by looking through some old, not properly examined digs, among them one of those 3xLP Polydor sets compiling recent pop hits off the label: this one being 'Pop Power 69', and bought because of a good spread of stuff like Swinging Soul Machine's 'Spooky's Day Off' and King Koss' 'Spinning Wheel', lots of James brown, Driscoll/Auger Trinity, etc etc.

What I hadn't clocked before was the presence of a cut by The Power Pack called 'The Opposite Lock', credited to Rice-Ingman-Hone, and so by the same crew as 'Soul Cure', but not from that LP. Very funky 60s vocal pop, sort of at an angle to what's on 'Soul Cure', but not wholly unlike it, either.

Anyway, since the 'Pop Power' set seems to be comped entirely from Polydor catalogue of the time, does this mean there was a 45, or even another LP by them?

Incidentally, a couple of Paul Nicholas 'Hair' tracks on it ain't too bad either... I assume this is the same Paul Nicholas from that god-awful 80s sitcom with Jan Francis or whatever her name was...

[Blighty]

Paul Nicholas did a nice psych track called 'Lamp Lighter' or something similar. The original is hard to find but it's on the b-side of a later single. There's definitely at least on Power Pack 45 but I don't know more than that. I think Matt or Rich or both have one.

[Rich Hero]

The Power Pack released at least two 45's that I know of (and I believe there's a second group by the same name to muddle things up - Matt?)The two I have are 'Soul Cure' and 'Oh! Calcutta!', but I'm not sure what the flips are - I'll check. But I don't think 'Oh! Calcutta!' is on the LP (I can't check since I don't own it) so that would certainly set a precedent for more recordings existing than simply the 'Soul Cure' LP.

And nope, there's no good Paul Nicholas records. So, if you find any Richie Havens covers by him, best pass them my way...  

<edit> By the way, I used to have a Saturday job in a gent's outfitters (R.J. Bryant in West Wickham - I expect Mark's passed it on a trawl through the charities). Paul Nicholas was the 'face' of Farah so there used to be all these promotional cardboard cutouts stored upstairs of the bubble perm with his cheesy grin.    (The closest we have to a puking icon).

[wayne]

'Oh Calcutta' is definitely not on 'Soul Cure'...and it'd be interesting if 'The Opposite lock' was a b-side, as it'd be unusual for Polydor to decide to comp the b-side without the a-side, surely? Getting curiouser and curiouser, then...



(it's as close as the icons get to Lewis Carroll)

[Rich Hero]

Quote[/b] (wayne @ July 26 2004,17:38)]'Oh Calcutta' is definitely not on 'Soul Cure'...and it'd be interesting if 'The Opposite lock' was a b-side, as it'd be unusual for Polydor to decide to comp the b-side without the a-side, surely? Getting curiouser and curiouser, then...

 

(it's as close as the icons get to Lewis Carroll)

I shall report back tomorrow. Memory permitting.

[Matt Hero]

From memory....

There are two 45s on Polydor attributed to 'The Power Pack' - although there might be more out there on promo only - and these are 'Oh ! Calcutta ! / Soul Searchin' (which also received a seemingly widespead European release) and 'Hannibal Brooks / Juliet Simpkins'.

The 'Opposite Lock' track from that boxset has never turned up on anything, but I believe that it is something to do with Emporor Rosko - maybe trying to emulate what fellow DJ  Robbie Dale was doing on Pink Elephant at the time (and failing IMHO) - but I have no idea whether there are any other tracks from that partnership out there.

Nice box set that though, makes you realise what a great roster Polydor had at the time.

[Edit : Corrected title ]

[sermad]

'Oh calcutta' is deffo not on the lp. There are indeed two power pack 45's. Both I want! 'Oh Calcutta 'being a lovely groover from memory.

[LDJB]

The B side of Oh Calcutta is 'Soul Searchin' which I believe to be the first track on the LP. I remain in eternal gratitude to Mr Matt Hero for trading me this 45.

[Col Wolfe]

Quote[/b] (Rich Hero @ July 26 2004,17:30)]And nope, there's no good Paul Nicholas records. So, if you find any Richie Havens covers by him, best pass them my way...  

Most of his Reaction 45s (recorded under the name of Oscar) are goodies - got the beat, the fuzz & ab it of the sike