"An Apple A Day" by APPLE – February 1969 UK Debut LP on Page One Records in Stereo - featuring Jeff Harrad, Robert Ingram, Denis Regan, Charlie Barber and Dave Brassington and Producer Caleb Quaye of Hookfoot and The Elton John Band (September 2020 UK Grapefruit Records Expanded Edition CD Reissue – Oli Hemingway Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Full Of Flavour..."

History is a double-edged sword when remembering, and I'd argue never more so than for the five-piece Welsh Psych-boys of APPLE. To understand the magnificence of this September 2020 Expanded Edition CD reissue from those hairy-men over at the much-loved Grapefruit Records, some musical backdrop is needed. 

In 2017, a Stereo (playable Mono) copy of the February 1969 LP "An Apple A Day" by Apple on Page One POLS 016 sold for a staggering four grand on a well-known auction site – the kind of Psych and Freakbeat rarity that makes fans of the genre sell small babies to unscrupulous piranha to acquire. And at that time little was known about the group in any discography anywhere – nearly half a century after the event. The band Apple and their fantastically grungy lone album were largely unknowns, which in some ways only added to the mystique. 

For this Grapefruit Records CD remaster and reissue, founder member and Bassist Jeff Harrad has finally come forth and upset the you-know-what cart by giving us a blow-by-blow account of the band's woes with Larry Page's Page One Records – a rushed signing to a London maverick they all came to bitterly regret. In fact the material is licensed from Harrad - remastered by OLI HEMINGWAY at The Wax Works and annotated by the much-lauded DAVID WELLS of Grapefruit Records (all good names amongst collectors). 

Page was a cheapskate on a gargantuan level. In a 20-page booklet, there are only three photographs of the band and they are in black and white because Page wouldn't pay for colour. The three 'demo' recordings they made with guitarist and future Hookfoot and Elton John Band member CALEB QUAYE as Producer at De Lane Lea Studios were only meant to be just that - demos. Then at another session in Page's Oxford Street studios, they recorded more demos only to find that instead of doing proper studio variants, Page slap-dashed the lot together and that became their February 1969 debut album. 

The front cover was a shot Page had borrowed from (wait for it) 'The Apple And Pair Development Council' of Great Britain and the album inexplicably contained a four-page insert of 'the juicy, full of flavour and crisp' nature of English Apples and Pears. It offered meringue recipes with further instructions on how to keep the fruits and ripen them - and even had a colour-coded calendar on their availability in English shops throughout the year (don't you just love it). Absolutely naught to do with the group or the wild music contained within the LP. The rear cover misspelled two of the band member names (Harrad as Harrod and Denis with two n’s) and the track list was arse-about face too. And worst of all of course, despite favourable press reviews, their debut barely made into any collection anywhere – hence its rarity value. In fact Harrad advises that keyboardist Charlie Barber was so appalled when he saw and heard the finished LP that he drew a nail across the tracks so they couldn't be played again. 

But here's the historical rub. The very kiss-me-quick nature of the demos where the fuzzed-up Psych guitar of Robert Ingram and Piano tinkles of Charlie Barber do battle with the barely audible drums of Dave Brassington, the vocals of Denis Regan and the bass of Jeff Harrad - gives the solos, passionate performances and sonic assault a wallop that polished studio variants would probably have lacked. This is a wee brute of a listen – so uncouth – and yet so bloody alive because of that. Page wouldn't have cared one way or the other at the time even if perfectionists in the band were appalled, but their mistakes then are a boon to us now – this being the kind of whig-out Syd Barrett Pink Floyd-esque sound subsequent collectors of the Psych genre worship at the feet of - and rightly so. 

Time to get Bramley Cake and Crumble on this sucker, here are the CD reissue details...

UK released Friday, 25 September 2020 - "An Apple A Day" by APPLE on Grapefruit records CRSEG079 (Barcode 5013929187924) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue and Remaster in a Card Digipak that plays out as follows (52:30 minutes):

1. Let's Take A Trip Down The Rhine [Side 1]
2. Doctor Rock 
3. The Otherside
4. Mr. Jones 
5. The Mayville Line 
6. Pretty Girl I Love You 
7. Rock Me Baby [Side 2]
8. Buffalo Billycan
9. Photograph 
10. Psycho Daisies 
11. Sporting Life 
12. Queen Of Hearts Blues
Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut and only album "An Apple A Day" - released February 1969 in the UK on Page One Records POLS 016 in Stereo

BONUS TRACKS:
13. Let's Take A Trip Down The Rhine (Mono Single Version) 
14. Buffalo Billycan (Mono Single Version) 
Tracks 13 and 14 are the A&B-sides of their debut UK 45-single released October 1968 on Page One POF 101

15. Doctor Rock (Mono Single Version)
16. The Otherside (Mono Single Version)  
Tracks 15 and 16 are the A&B-sides of their 2nd and last UK 45-single released December 1968 on Page One POF 110

The card digipak has a promo photo of the five-piece on one inner flap whilst a Grapefruit Records advert for other product lies beneath the see-through CD tray. DAVID WELLS has done a typically excellent job on the 20-page booklet and presentation. The genesis of Apple goes back to 1963 and a thriving Cardiff band on the popular R&B scene called Vance & The Vauqeros that featured drummer David Brassington and singer Denis Regan. Bassist Jeff Harrad came up through the ranks of another popular five-piece combo called Brother John & The Witnesses – both suited-and-booted beat groups are pictured on Pages 4 and 5 of the booklet. There are foreign pictures sleeves for the two 1968 singles hat preceded the album, a full repro of the ludicrous Apples and Pears insert and a fascinating flyer repro on Page 8 for a 25 June 1969 gig at the Paget Rooms in Penarth showcasing The Apple and support act, The Budgie (now there’s a noisy rocking gig). 

Apple (nothing to do with The Beatles of their label) managed two UK 45-singles in their short duration as band, both of which are pictured on the last page of the booklet in stock and demo copy form alongside a rare two-track Emidisc Acetate dated 7 September 1968 for their debut 7" single - "Take A Trip Down The Rhine" and "Buffalo Billycan" (see photos provided). I always wondered why the poppier "Let's Take A Trip Down The Rhine" debut 45 is listed in the Record Collector Rare Records Price Guide at more than "Doctor Rock" b/w "The Otherside" - because in my mind both sides of the second are way better - a genuinely stunning piece of mad Psych guitar frenzy that still amazes. 

As for the LP, of the twelve songs, you got nine originals and three contemporary covers - "Rock Me Baby" by Muddy Waters, "Psycho Daisies" by The Yardbirds and "Sporting Life" by Brownie McGhee. I love the Syd Barrett Floyd-era feel to "Mr. Jones" and the great grunge-drive of "The Mayville Line" despite its less than stellar Production values. Robbo (as the LP called him) puts in some fantastic guitar in "The Otherside" and although Grapefruit's Wells argues that the three covers dilute the original material and overall impact, I personally couldn't disagree more. The Bluesy "Sporting Life" is excellent and guitar frenzy is everywhere on the Morgan Mackinleyfield (Muddy Waters) classic "Rock Me Baby". We never do find out who the Brass Section is on one of the album's highlights - "Queen Of Hearts Blues" - and the delightfully titled "Buffalo Billycan" is surely the masterpiece 45-single Syd's version of Sixties Pink Floyd never made. 

For sure this kind of Psych and Freakbeat will not be everyone's idea of a pleasant punt down the canals of Oxford sipping tea and dreaming of strawberry spongecake. It's a snarler and I'd argue all the more brill for it (there is a reason why some collector parted with four large ones for an album listed at less than half that price). 

"...This is where their progress lies..." wrote Producer Caleb Quaye on the final line of his original 1969 liner notes. Well 51 years on, this unfairly forgotten band and we once-clueless admirers of them and their lone LP have at last progressed some, and we have Grapefruit Records of the UK to thank for it. Well done to all involved and nose bleeds to the rest...