Mystery Freakbeat on Ebay right, anyone know what it is?

[tfcbrian]

Hi, long time reader but a not often poster on here.
I thought some of you might find this interesting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Unknown-UK-6...torefresh=true
I'd love to know who it is.

[RhubarbRhubarb]

The A side seems to borrow somewhat from a track off the Deep Psychedelic Moods LP, though I can't remember the name of that track and it may just be coincidence. Cool track.

[spacefin]

The B-side is the same song as http://www.discogs.com/III-And-A-12-...elease/3904132 but putting that on shows it's not the same song. Either it was a demo run-through (possible, the singer is similar sounding, but there's a lot less energy on the acetate) or another band was doing it.

[birdman]

The A side seems to borrow somewhat from a track off the Deep Psychedelic Moods LP, though I can't remember the name of that track and it may just be coincidence. Cool track.

It's Trip #76 from the Psychedlic Moods LP.

[Col Wolfe]

cheap

[treeboy]

Blow up is brilliant Surprised that hasn't surfaced before.
III & 1/2 did a couple of anglo sounding 45s, one written by Graham Gouldman, so there may be a connection there.
Jeff Conoway was in the band pub quiz fans

[giantchicken]

Blow up is brilliant Surprised that hasn't surfaced before.
III & 1/2 did a couple of anglo sounding 45s, one written by Graham Gouldman, so there may be a connection there.
Jeff Conoway was in the band pub quiz fans

Here's The III and a 1/2 discography according to Conoway's Wikipedia entry;

"In addition to acting, Conaway also dabbled in music. In the mid-1960s, he was the lead singer and guitarist for a rock band, The 3 1/2. They recorded four singles for Cameo Records in 1966 and 1967:

"Don't Cry To Me Babe" / "R & B In C" (Cameo 425, 1966)
"Problem Child" / "Hey Mom Hey Dad" (Cameo 442, 1966)
"Hey Gyp" / "Hey Kitty Cool Kitty" (Cameo 451, 1967) (This single was produced by Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, who also wrote the B-side. The A-side is a song by Donovan.)
"Angel Baby (Don't You Ever Leave Me)" / "You Turned Your Back On Love" (Cameo 485, 1967)"

The song written by Graham Gouldman was 'Hey Mom, Hey Dad' - it's actually nothing to do with the Three and a Half at all - it's clearly Gouldman himself singing on it....

...in fact I believe it's a demo recorded in 1966 or 67 by Gouldman and Peter Cowap (of The Country Gentlemen) because it was also used (with a different lyric) as one of the later Downliners Sect singles 'The Cost Of Living' - again, it was nothing at all to do with the group themselves and is clearly Gouldman and Cowap's original demo...

You'll note that Harvey Lisberg is also given a songwriting credit on the latter - I doubt he was involved musically but as he was manager of both Gouldman and Herman's Hermits at the time, it was probably a bit of an 'arrangement'. This perhaps explains why Peter Noone received a writing and production credit on one of the Three And A Half singles. He was also credited with 'producing' Gouldman's solo album 'The Graham Gouldman Thing' despite being absent from all but the first morning of the sessions (at Olympic, if memory serves...)

'Don't Cry To Me Babe' was written by Carl D'errico and Rodger Atkins who also wrote 'It's My Life' for The Animals and as D'errico explains in this article, 'Don't Cry To Me Babe' was intended for them too;

"Another of our songs, "Don't Cry To Me Babe", was also written specifically for the Animals. Roger and I were excited about this one, because we knew it would be another hit for them. It was actually picked to be their next single but, as everyone knows, the Animals had heavy-duty personality conflicts and they decided to break up at that point. So the song was never recorded by them, or anyone else as far as I know."

He also mentions recording a demo in London around that time for a song called 'No Excess Baggage' which was later done by the Yardbirds, but stipulates that 'That was the only time I sang on one of our demos'....D'errico had strong connections with Regent Sound in the USA - does anyone know if that was connected to the London Regent Studios? And is there a songwriting credit on the 'Psychedelic Moods' track?...that might help...

[treeboy]

Good work Giantchicken, I love it when a knotty little quizzer like this slowly starts to unravel.
Wonder if we will see the tune pop up on a dodgy comp in the future....hope so.

[giantchicken]

So, we've established that the Three and a Half (whose singer/guitarist was American) weren't above putting out the work of British musicians on the B side of their singles. We have a demo single where both sides are vocals/guitar/bass/drums/organ. The vocalist on the demo sides sounds American to me. We know that The Three and a Half put out 'Don't Cry To Me Babe' on the A side of their first single (and it isn't difficult to imagine why The Animals were the intended recipients), although it would be nice to be able to hear something that is definitely that version as released.

The demo sides reveal a band of erm...well, let's say, limited musical ability, and the fact that the B side to 'Don't Cry To Me' was 'R&B In C' doesn't suggest great songwriting ability either. I haven't heard 'Problem Child', their second A side but we know the B side was Gouldman & Cowap for certain.

Their next A side was 'Hey Gyp', presumably the Donovan song*, the B side was 'Hey Kitty, Cool Kitty' with, allegedly, Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits as producer and composer of the flip. Herman's Hermits 'Blaze' album (the following year?) contains a version of Donovan's 'Museum', Gouldman's 'Upstairs Downstairs' and two Cowap songs,'The Last Bus Home' and 'Ace, King, Queen, Jack'. Just for good measure both Herman's Hermits and Donovan were being produced by Mickie Most.

Here's that 'Peter Noone' composed/produced B side:

Not great sound quality but switch it up and you'll hear vocals (American?), guitar, bass, drums and organ...played by a band of 'limited' ability...indeed if you took the vocals off it, you could almost call it 'R&B in C'...

Ergo, I'm prepared to hazard a guess at this stage that both demo sides are the work of The Three and a Half under their own steam - which would make 'Blow Up' an unreleased demo....unless somebody knows better?

EDIT - Just noticed a publishing credit for Manken Music on the label of 'R&B In C'...turned up nothing on ASCAP...when suddenly it hit....KENnedy Street MANagement, MANchester...seems good old Harvey had them signed up for publishing too...he's still around and still doing well it seems!

*Yes, I know it's actually a Memphis Minnie song, but let's not get into that right now, huh?

[The Divine One]

Listening to the lyrics it sounds like it's about the film. Which led me to wonder if there was a connection to Tomorrow, who were meant to have had a couple of songs in the film. Their track follows a similar lyrical theme, but sounds nothing like the mystery track.

http://youtu.be/d9ivkRcjzNo

In fact, The Who were meant to appear in Blow Up allegedly, which got me convinced that the acetate has shades of "So Sad About Us" melody with hints of "Arnold Layne"... I agree, thought this went cheap - under a ton for an unreleased (decent) psych track?

[wickerman]

...I agree, thought this went cheap - under a ton for an unreleased (decent) psych track?

me too