Results for “ ”

Welcome to our website. If you continue to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following Terms and Conditions of use, which together with our Privacy Policy govern Ace Records relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of these Terms and Conditions, please do not use our website.

I listened to no new music between 1984 and 1987. Instead, an obsession with 60s soul and R&B led me down the path of dusty record stores, car boot sales and charity shops in an attempt to find some musical thrills. I made an exception for the Prisoners. The Medway-based garage rock four-piece were one of the most exciting live acts I have ever seen – in those days, as a callow youth, they were mind-blowing. A devastatingly good rhythm section consisting of Johnny Symons on drums, James Taylor on organ and Allan Crockford on bass, were fronted by guitarist-vocalist Graham Day, whose voice gave them a soulful edge and who wrote songs that were truly memorable.

The group had formed at school and made their debut album “A Taste Of Pink” as a document to their early days together, at a point when Taylor was supposed to be heading North to start university. It had a raw sound influenced by the Kinks, the Beatles, the Who and the Small Faces, but its inception was fuelled by the DIY ethos of punk. The sleeve was put together around Graham’s kitchen table and they took the resultant pressing to Rough Trade to see if they would distribute it. Taylor didn’t stay on at university, John Peel picked up on the album and the Prisoners suddenly found themselves with gigs in London.

Their presence in the capital saw them sign to Ace Records’ Big Beat label, where they recorded their second album, “The Wisermiserdemelza”, and the “Electric Fit” EP. This period saw the band record many of their best-loved songs, including ‘Last Thing On My Mind’, ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Melanie’, honing their influences and creating their distinctive sound.

A side effect of being with Ace was Graham’s access to the company’s latest Northern Soul LPs, which inspired him to write a new set of songs for their next album. That release, “The Last Fourfathers”, is probably their most satisfying recording. The group worked with Russell Wilkins of the Milkshakes and Graham’s vocals were captured to perfection on numbers such as ‘Nobody Wants My Love’, ‘The More I Teach You’ and ‘Take You For A Ride’, whilst on the electrifying ‘I Am A Fisherman’ you could properly hear Alan’s harmonies for the first time. Our CD version of the album contains a recording of the live highlight ‘Hush’, the Joe South song the Prisoners made their own, only to have their arrangement appropriated by the Charlatans on their hit ‘The One I Know’ and by Kula Shaker for their cover of ‘Hush’.

The group could never quite bring themselves to want success enough, but in 1986 they made one final attempt by signing to the Stiff Records subsidiary, Countdown, run by future Acid Jazz Records owner Ed Piller. The band didn’t like what producer Troy Tate was trying to turn them into and were on the verge of falling apart. The record that emerged, “In From The Cold”, contained impressive songs and performances, but the group advised their fans not to buy it. Stiff Records collapsed into bankruptcy at about the same time.

There was just enough time left for a swipe at the music industry with ‘Pop Star Party’, which was then partially wiped and lost, before the Prisoners called it a day. In the years since, all except Johnny have kept up a presence in music, making many great records in a variety of settings, whilst they have reformed intermittently to make triumphant returns to the stage. I am thrilled to have seen them at their peak. Big Beat have reissued their whole catalogue, with plenty of bonus material. If you don’t own every piece of music by the band, you’re losing out.

A compiler’s answer to the most frequently asked question among Ace collectors…

The small but perfectly-formed canon of The Zombies belongs on the same shelf as the other major players of mid-1960s Britpop, such as the Kinks, Yardbirds and Small Faces. From their 1964 debut ‘She’s Not There’ onwards, there was never at any point a drop in quality and Zombies discs are acknowledged as some of the best-produced and distinctive in all pop music. In their day, the Zombies were one of the few English bands of the 1960s that enjoyed true global popularity, with two American number ones, chart records throughout the rest of the world, and a deep and lasting affection for their music. And ironically, right after the band split their final single ‘Time Of The Season’ quickly became their biggest record – US radio plays for the latter song has passed the four million mark. The Zombies’ first two American singles, ‘She’s Not There’ and ‘Tell Her No’, also remain two of the most heavily-spun vintage hits on American oldies radio.

More importantly, the popularity of the Zombies’ music, in keeping with their name, shows no sign of dying. Their unsurpassed oeuvre continues to influence musicians around the world, whether they be original fans of the stature of Tom Petty or Paul Weller, or more recent acts like Beck, Pavement and Badly Drawn Boy. Indeed, most cutting-edge alternative pop acts of any worth within the past two decades have openly cited their love of the Zombies. Thanks to high-profile reissues like Big Beat’s definitive 1997 box set “Zombie Heaven,” each new pop generation has been able to discover for themselves the undiluted magic of the band’s catalogue.

Beyond the statistics and continued inspiration, the Zombies had several remarkable attributes that set them apart from other artists. The sheer consistency of keyboardist Rod Argent and bass player Chris White’s songwriting, is perhaps rivalled only by Lennon and McCartney. Building upon the standard R&B and rock’n’roll influences, the Zombies introduced class and sophistication into a genre not noted for either, and in the most natural, unselfconscious way possible. The songs were lent an extra dimension by the voice of Colin Blunstone, widely acknowledged as one of the finest singers Britain has ever produced. Fellow Zombies Paul Atkinson (guitar) and Hugh Grundy (drums) should not be maligned, for as a whole, the chemistry of the band was unsurpassed.

The quintet came together in 1962 as school friends in the sleepy Hertfordshire town of St. Albans, purely for the love of beat and R&B music. Strictly an amateur schoolboy outfit at first, the band was about to pack it all in for work and college when they took a shot at the regional Herts Beat talent contest and won. Amongst the subsequent record offers, the Zombies opted to sign with the independent Marquis Music, which stood them in good stead when their first single ‘She’s Not There’ on the Decca label became first a top twenty hit in the UK, and then a smash all over the world in late 1964.

While their career would fail to return to such heights during the Zombies’ lifetime, their debut nevertheless set the template for an remarkable run of singles, from ‘Leave Me Be’ and ‘Tell Her No’ to ‘Remember You’ and ‘Indication’. Each ensuing release showcased Argent and White songs of an unparalleled standard. The group’s debut album, “Begin Here”, released in April 1965, is a classic of the beat age. Throughout 1965 and into 1966, the Zombies toured America and Europe, and also made a brief appearance in the potboiling thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing. In early 1967, at a time when their record career had almost ground to a halt in theUK, the band played to crowds of over 30,000 in the Philippines.

In the summer of 1967, the group switched from Decca to CBS, with a renewed resolve that came from a fabulous new batch of Argent and White tunes. The resultant album, “Odessey & Oracle,” recorded on a shoestring at Abbey Road studios, remains perhaps their greatest artistic statement. “Odessey” presents an evocation of memory that maybe has yet to be surpassed in pop music, with a peculiarly English, yet universal, slant on dreams, childhood and the attendant loss of innocence that derives from the passing of both. It is a record today as celebrated and influential as the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” or Love’s “Forever Changes.”

Having completed their masterwork, the Zombies had decided to split upon the release of  “Odessey” in April 1968. The final single, ‘Time Of The Season’, was issued that same month to little initial fanfare, but in a supremely ironic twist, it was picked up by US deejays almost a year later to become a massive stateside hit. This posthumous accolade could not induce the Zombies to regroup. With Chris White behind the scenes, Rod Argent had already formed the eponymously-named Argent, enjoying further success in the United States during the 1970s with the anthemic hits ‘Hold Your Head Up’ and ‘God Gave Rock & Roll To You’. Both he and Chris have since had a varied and successful career in the field of record production, as well as frequently scoring for television and stage. Colin Blunstone, meanwhile, has remained a familiar chart presence in the UK and Europe through hits like ‘I Don’t Believe In Miracles’ and ‘What Becomes of the Broken hearted’.

Big Beat has been proud to polish up this band’s exemplary catalogue, starting with our lynchpin 4-CD box set “Zombie Heaven.” Gathering virtually every vintage Zombies recording together in one fully-remastered place, it remains one of the best-selling titles in the Ace Records catalogue. Subsequent Zombies releases have included definitive stand-alone reissues of ‘Begin Here and “Odessey & Oracle”, the “Singles As & Bs” anthology, a comprehensive 2 CD set providing stereo versions of every Decca side; and “Into The Afterlife”, which gathers fascinating post-Zombies demos along with Colin’s rare solo recordings as Neil MacArthur. Vinyl fans will want to pick up our limited set of Zombies 7” EPs which include several tracks not available on any CD releases,

The former members of the Zombies continue to remain active in music. The original quintet have reformed just twice in the recent past: once for the launch party of “Zombie Heaven” at London’s Jazz Café, and then, on a sadder note, at a benefit for Paul Atkinson in Los Angeles, shortly before he died from liver disease in 2004. In 2008, the remaining members came together for several special performances marking the 40^th anniversary of “Odessey & Oracle”. Argent and Blunstone maintain a touring version of the group that regularly visits the United States and Europe.

In the roll call of 1960s garage band heroes, the Chocolate Watchband reside at the very top. Their notoriety derives from the handful of singles and LPs that they made, balanced between the Watchband’s own intense Anglophilic blues wailing, and mysterioso studio trickery on the half of producer Ed Cobb. Their best-known cut is probably ‘Let’s Talk About Girls’, which appeared on the seminal 1972 garage band sampler “Nuggets,”, but the Chocolate Watchband have many more such gems within their vintage catalogue, all of which is available to you in fully remastered sound on Big Beat Records.

The original Chocolate Watchband was formed in the autumn of 1965 at Foothill College on the San Francisco peninsula, with a six-man line-up that featured guitarist Mark Loomis and drummer Gary Andrijasevich. Playing the R&B and folk rock of the day, the outfit did some recording, but outside of their unusual name, made little impression beyond local gigs in the San Jose area. The draft and the departure of key personnel rent the group asunder late in the year, but Loomis determined to reassemble the band with a new line-up, including rhythm guitarist Sean Tolby, bass player Bill Flores and on lead vocals, San Jose State student David Aguilar.

Though it had been Loomis’ group up until this point, Aguilar was the spark that moved the Watchband to the top of the class. Within weeks of this line-up getting together, they took San Jose by storm, blasting their way to the top of the local circuit with a scintillating, mesmerizing set of Americanized Stones, Yardbirds and Animals covers. Aguilar in particular was a master of dynamics, and the singer directed his mod-togged combo through sets that made the new Watchband the talk of the local circuit. In the summer of 1966 the group signed with manager Ron Roupe, whose connections included Ed Cobb of Green Grass Productions, then riding high in the chart with the Standells. In quick succession Cobb inked the Watchband and ushered them to Los Angeles to record.

Technically, the first release was ‘Blues Theme,’ a pseudonymous instrumental cover credited to The Hogs, but the Watchband’s debut proper was the Cobb-penned ‘Sweet Young Thing’, perfectly suited to the group’s arrogant punk stance. It was released in December 1966 on Tower Records’ R&B imprint Uptown, an unusual choice of label which meant that the group was subsequently perceived by some agents as a black act. The single’s flip was an atmospheric reading of Dylan’s perennial ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’. 

Moving into 1967, the Chocolate Watchband was constantly at work, either at the plethora of teen hotspots and psychedelic ballrooms in the Bay Area, or at clubs and ballrooms up and down the California coast, leaving a trail of ardent fans and wrecked cloakrooms in their wake. They continued to record with Cobb, and made a remarkable and unforgettable appearance in the classic teen rampage flick Riot On Sunset Strip. The upbeat, undeniably commercial ‘Misty Lane’ became the next single, coupled with an orchestrated ballad, ‘She Weaves A Tender Trap’, a choice the group openly questioned, and only recorded under duress. It was a harbinger of things to come.

Another exploitation movie, The Love-Ins provided the third Watchband single, ‘Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)’, written and recorded in just one day in order to make the filming schedule. The freaky flip, ‘No Way Out’ was an equally off-the-cuff recording, evolving from a studio warm-up jam. Both sides of the single – this time on the Tower label proper - captured the Chocolate Watchband at the peak of their powers. Sadly, it was also to prove this line-up’s swansong, for shortly after the release of the single in June 1967, Aguilar, Loomis and Andrijasevich all suddenly quit the group, principally over musical direction. Flores and Tolby were left the lurch with a month’s worth of bookings, but the pair quickly assembled an interim Watchband, with personnel that included Tim Abbott on guitar. However, this line-up was to struggle through only until the end of 1967.

That September, shortly after the Loomis/Aguilar line-up had imploded, Tower Records had released the debut Chocolate Watchband album, “No Way Out”, following it swiftly in February 1968 with another long-player attributed to the combo, “The Inner Mystique”. The label had given both albums pop-art sleeves with little identification of the band or its members, while the contents of each mixed bona fide outtakes from the band’s sessions for Green Grass, with trippy instrumentals and overdubbed tracks, many of which did not feature the band at all. Most worryingly, in several places Aguilar’s original lead vocals had been replaced by those of a faceless sessioneer.

The group’s members were outraged, but despite, or perhaps because of, these disingenuous releases, interest in the Chocolate Watchband remained strong, prompting Green Grass to approach Tolby and Flores in the autumn of 1968 and induce them to reform the band for a third album. Loomis, Andrijasevich and erstwhile members Ned Torney and Danny Phay returned to the fold. The mostly original “One Step Beyond”, was the brief and somewhat diffuse result, with nary a trace of the Watchband of old. Some desultory tours followed in its wake, with Tolby the only visible original member of the group, and in 1970 the band finally split for good. In the late 1990s, the band reunited and have since intermittently returned to both the studio and the stage, thrilling fans both old and new.

Their live power brought them notoriety back in the day, but it was the band’s mysterious catalogue that spurred the growth of a posthumous cult reputation for the Chocolate Watchband as psychedelic punks par excellence. By the 1980s the group’s catalogue was getting regularly reissued and, with a degree of irony, the records were venerated as much for the duplicitous instrumentals and studio fill, as for the authentic snarl of David Aguilar. Big Beat is proud to be foremost amongst the champions of the Watchband, beginning with our original Best Of, “Forty Four”, followed by repackages of the band’s three vintage albums, and finally and most definitively with the “Melts In Your Brain . . . Not On Your Wrist” anthology. This double disc set not only contains their complete studio recordings, but also features demos, backing tracks and for the first time, Aguilar’s reclaimed vocals for ‘Let’s Talk About Girls’ and other tracks, along with detailed notes that explain which cuts are real Watchband and which are the fake.