Friday, February 1, 2008

John's Children - A Midsummer Night's Scene (1966-67)

This band started their career in Surrey and were earlier known as The Few and The Silence. They were discovered by Simon Napier-Bell who once was a manager of The Yardbirds. He brought them to London and they were renamed John's Children by him. Because of their limited muscial ability the band didn't play on the first two singles. The backing tracks were recorded by sessionmen and only Andy Ellisons vocals appear on the 45's. Their first 7-inch "Smashed Blocked" done well in the USA and it reached the Top 100 over there. White Whale offered them a record deal and the result was the eminently forgettable "Orgasm" album. The songs were played live in the studio by the band and overdubbed with screams and shouts from the Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night". Thankfully their singles were much more better and Bam Caruso compiled back in 1987 (Bam Caruso KIRI 095) all the 45's. And you might know that Marc Bolan was a part-time member and recorded with them two 7-inches ("Desdemona" and "A Midsummer's Night Scene"). All in all a fine mod/pop-art band that will please fans of The Creation, The Eyes, The Who ect.

Tracklist:
- Smashed Blocked (The Love I Thought I'd Found)
- Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get
- Desdemona
- Remember Thomas A'Beckett
- It's Been A Long Time
- Arthur Green
- Strange Affair
- Midsummer Night's Scene
- Sarah Crazy Child
- Jagged Time Lapse
- Go-Go Girl
- Come And Play With Me In The Garden
- But She's Mine

Personnel:
Andy Ellison (vcls) [ABC]
John Hewlett (gtr, bs) [ABC]
Geoff McClelland (gtr) [A]
Chris Townson (drms, gtr) [ABC]
Marc Bolan (gtr, vcls) [B]
Chris Colville (drms) [C]


Band origin:
London

Discographie:
Albums:
1. (B) Orgasm (White Whale 7128) 1967
       [US release only]

45's:
1. (A) The Love I Thought I'd Found (Smashed
       Blocked)/Strange Affair (Columbia DB 8030) 1966
2. (A) Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get/
       But She's Mine (Columbia DB 8124) 1967
3. (B) Desdemona/Remember Thomas A' Beckett
       (Track 604003) 1967
4. (B) Midsummer Night's Scene/Sara Crazy Child
       (Track 604005) 1967
5. (B) Come And Play With Me In The Garden/
       Sara Crazy Child (Track 604005) 1967
6. (C) Go Go Girl/Jagged Time Lapse (Track 604010) 1967

Get it here (Artwork included / vinyl rip)

Listen to Go Go Girl

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

In this album was the first hit for Marc Bolan;in the seventies under T Rex this guitarist was a star.Very nice to see a Bam Caruso album,like often impossible to fin issues of this label in France(the same story for Tenth Planet & others).

Anonymous said...

alright ... missed them in my younger days - so now i get a chance to see what the chatter was about.

Anonymous said...

Great Album,Do you have anything by The Silence I heard they cut some good tracks! Thank You Bob

Buffalo Billycan said...

Hi Bob,
you can get some unreleased material by The Silence on Incredible Sound Show Stories Vol. 5. This was posted at the Lost In Tyme blogspot.

http://lost-in-tyme.blogspot.com/2007/07/
va-incredible-sound-show-stories-isss.html

Anonymous said...

Fantástico. Muchas gracias. Thanks.

frumious bandersnatch said...

Once again, big thanks, because :
1. I love vinyl rips
2. beautiful scans (Phil Smee artwork deserves this)
3. I can't imagine myself listening to something like the 2 cds-set "Complete John's Children" or other cd reissue. But this Bam Caruso reissue is just perfect, like almost everything they did.

Splendid blog, daily pleasure to visit here ! Cheers !

Troy said...

Wow, thank you very much for posting this. I prefer Bolan's Tyrannosaurus Rex output to his later T-Rex incarnation, and I'd always been curious about John's Children... Looking forward to giving this a spin.

Cheers!