Ian Stuart Lane and The Davelto Swingers - Don't Rock Me Baby

 

Ian Stuart Lane and The Davelto Swingers - Don't Rock Me Baby (If You're Fine And Fair)/ See What You Can Do With Your Life -Greenwich Recording Company GSS 103 (1972 UK)

Here is a sublime piece of early 70’s UK lushness recalling Sunflower era Beach Boys with some unexpected chord changes. It also has a certain Spectorian elegance in its production values which predates some of Roy Wood’s Wizzard’s releases. There isn’t much about Ian Stuart Lane or his swingers to be found, although he sang backing vocals on Cherry Vanilla’s Bad Girl LP 6 years further down the line.

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Bill Case –I’m Your Hero

Bill Case –I’m Your Hero/ You Gotta Know –Bellaphon BF 18529 (1977 German issue)

Here is a weird one, created by Alan Blakley and “Chip” Hawkes as an extra-curricular Tremoloes excursion. Slip inside the cover and you will find two striking examples of top notch Crunching Glam. I’m Your Hero is a real stunner; a wild intense performance enlivened further by some fine specimens of Moog noodlings. Gary Glitter joining Black Sabbath channeling Chicory Tip. You Gotta Know starts in a quieter yet meaty fashion. It has a certain T. Rex meets Led Zep feel and really rocks out by the end. Both songs seem curiously out of date for 1977 and all the better for it. I believe this only got a German release and I can’t just see some Bellaphon A&R guy complaining with the lack of Punk potential on the label and coming across the sleeve photo in a draw. Ja  Ja das ist Punk! So I wouldn’t be surprised if this project had been hanging around for a couple of years. As for Bill Case? Who knows…but what a midriff! It’s nice to know that there are still oddities such as this one still laying around out there

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Factory –Time Machine

Factory –Time Machine/ Castle on The Hill –OAK RGJ 718 (1971 UK)

Here is a real MONSTER that doesn’t know when to quit. This is essential Heavy Psych cum Bonehead Crunching Proto Punk madness…Think of The Stooges if born in an East Sussex barn fed on exclusively on fermented scrumpy and ‘shrooms. The proceedings start all quiet and subdued then it all literally burst out of the vinyl with blistering lead breaks and a crazed lead vocal falling somewhere between a Jesse Hector and a goat-like Roger Chapman. The whole performance approaches the grandeur of Open Mind’s Magic Potion, only here Time Machine just goes on and on and on; squeezing as much sleazy noise and prolonging the madness until it reaches its delirious fuzzed-out ending. This Factory is not to be mistaken for the Factory who issued the psych gem Path Through The Forest, this lot were formed around the nucleus of Andy and Tony Qunta with Lol Cooksey and Geoff Peckham. Based in Hastings; Factory were in operation between 1970 and 1976. Although encouraged at different times by Robin Gibb and Roger Daltrey, Time Machine was their sole release. The B side is tamer, yet a fine example of early 70s Brit Psych owing a large debt to 1968.. There is plenty more information and photos of the band scattered around this great website http://ninebattles.com

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Burning -I'm Burning

 

Burning -I'm Burning/ Johnny B. Goode -Utopia 42520 (1975 French Issue)

This is the last Spanish installment on Purepop for a while and this time we feature the English language version of Burning's first single "Estoy Ardiendo". Burning is a long standing Spanish institution, but to these Anglo-Saxon ears this is their finest moment mixing Crunching Glam with straight-ahead Hard Rock moves. The B side is no more than perfunctory.

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