"...Ten Legged Friend..."
When I worked as a Rarities buyer at Reckless
Records in Soho, London (a 20-year stretch) - Brett Marvin and The Thunderbolts
albums didn't sell. Even in the 2018 Rare Record Price Guide, the first is
listed at £15 and the second at £20 - peanuts really for albums spewed forth in
1970 and 1971 - 50 years ago. A strong contender for a top-ten placing in the
worst artwork ever issued, the third LP called "Ten Legged Friend"
from 1973 isn’t listed at all - even though I can count on one hand the number
of times I’ve actually seen a copy across 40-50 years of collecting on all
formats.
But here's the point - and it's one that's made
in the 36-page booklet that accompanies this surprisingly brill 6CD box set.
Although the music rocked and is a discovery many will thoroughly enjoy making
in 2020 - the made-up-name of 'Brent Marvin and The Thunderbolts' complete with
the cheesy artwork on their debut album that looked like some bad budget
calypso compilation (the likes of which you used to see in Woolworth's for 69p)
- did for the band. The music was ace - the presentation, a complete misfire.
You look at that name and these records and think cheapo Rock 'n' Roll
revivalists - when this British five-piece Blues Boom ensemble was one of the
best good-time Boogie bands on the scene (and on vinyl records, damn good too).
Hell, the first LP even has the magical Jo Ann Kelly giving it some downhome
duet vocals - masquerading under the pseudonym of 'Memphis 'Lil'.
So what are we dealing with here musically –
for the first three LPs think of the homemade percussion-stick-with-bells Jug
Band stomp and fun of Mungo Jerry combined with the chromatic Harmonica of
Canned Heat meets the Bluesy slide guitar of Duster Bennett on Blue Horizon
records and then add the three-string gutbucket modern-day geetar-sound of
Seasick Steve - and you get an idea of what's on offer here. Tony McPhee of The
Groundhogs caught them in their natural live habitat, liked what he heard and
with an invite (recorded June 1969), both founder members Graham Hine and Jim
Pitts and the band all got some first-audio-outing tracks on the Blues Rock
Sampler LP "I Asked For Water, She Gave Me GASOLINE" issued in
October 1969 (Liberty LBS 83252 is in itself a collectable these days). They
then signed to the Blues and Folk orientated Sonet Records of Sweden in early
1970, recorded the debut and it was in the shops by May.
They then morph into a sideshow group called
'Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs' for a one-off novelty track that was issued
on Sonet in 1971 and dies. But talent hunter Jonathan King at UK Records smells
a hit, licenses it for a July 1972 re-launch on UK R 5 and suddenly they have a
huge No. 2 chart smash with "Sea Side Shuffle". From this two-band
identity, John Lewis turns into the alter ego of Jona Lewie and goes into a
solo career on Sonet until 1977 (he finally has a solo hit with "You'll
Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties" on Stiff Records in 1980 -
unfortunately outside the remit of this Box Set).
So it's all a bit mad really and actually
rather brilliant too. With six discs, there's a boatload of seaside shuffles to
wade through, so let's have at it...
UK released 28 February 2020 - "The Sonet
Anthology" by BRETT MARVIN and THE THUNDERBOLTS featuring Terry Dactyl and
The Dinosaurs and Jona Lewie on Grapefruit CRSEGBOX064 (Barcode 5013929186408)
is a 6CD Clamshell Box Set of Remasters that plays out as follows:
CD1 (50:49 minutes):
1. Dust My Boom [Side 1]
2. Too Many Hot Dogs
3. Haven't Got Any Hay
4. Walking Blues
5. Eyesight To The Blind
6. Shave 'Em Dry
7. Drop Down Mama [Side 2]
8. Calcutta Got Beggar
9. Don't Start Me Talking
10. Cincinnati Cream
11. Highway 61
12. Hairy
13. Bye Bye Baby
Tracks 1 to 13 are their debut album
"Brett Marvin And The Thunderbolts" - released May 1970 in the UK on
Sonet Records SNTF 616. The album version of "Shave 'Em Dry" is 7:42
minutes and features duet vocals by 'Memphis 'Lil' who is JO ANN KELLY
BONUS TRACKS:
14. Shave 'Em Dry (Single Edit, 3:08 minutes) -
1970 French-Only 45 single on Barclay 061388 ("Too Many Hot Dogs" was
the B-side)
15. Standing On The Platform - 1970 UK
Non-Album 45 single on Sonet SON 2011 ("Too Many Hot Dogs" was the
B-side)
CD2 (45:15 minutes):
1. Take Your Money [Side 1]
2. I'm Coming
3. Southbound Lane
4. Love In Jest
5. Thoughts Of You
6. I'm Ready
7. Milk Cow Blues [Side 2]
8. County Jail
9. Little Red Caboose
10. Come On In My Kitchen
11. Goin' Back
Tracks 1 to 11 are their second studio album
"12 Inches Of Brett Marvin And The Thunderbolts" - released May 1971
in the UK on Sonet Records SNTF 619
BONUS TRACK:
12. Coming Back - 1971 UK Non-Album 45 B-side
to "Thoughts Of You" on Sonet SON 2015 ("Coming Back" is an
Alternative Version of "I'm Coming" on the second album)
CD3 (57:55 minutes):
1. Thunderbolt Rag [Side 1]
2. Bank Holiday
3. Bye Bye Baby
4. Wrong Man
5. Bay Roller
6. Drinking Song
7. She Walked Right Out Of The Blue [Side 2]
8. You Got Me On The Hook
9. Doo-Dah-Doo-Dah
10. The Clown
11. Make It To The Woods
12. Boys In The Band
Tracks 1 to 12 are their and final studio album
of the period "Three Legged Friend" - released December 1973 in the
UK on Sonet SNTF 651.
BONUS TRACKS:
13. Thunderbolt Rag (Alternative Version)
14. Caribbean Zob-Rock
Tracks 13 and 14 are the non-album
A&B-sides of a March 1974 UK 45 Single on Sonet SON 2038
15. Blow Me Down
Track 15 is the non-album A-side of a May 1975
UK 45 on Sonet SON 2053 ("Take Your Money" from the 2nd LP was its
B-side)
16. Hawaiian Honeymoon
17. If You Need Somebody Call On Me
Tracks 15 and 16 are the non-album
A&B-sides of an August 1975 UK 45 Single on Sonet SON 2062
CD4 (62:35 minutes):
1. Roll And Tumble
2. Short Woogie
3. Nervous
4. Walking Blues
5. Don't Start Me talking
6. Cincinnati Underworld Woman
7. Milk Cow Blues
8. Come On In My Kitchen
9. Little Red Caboose
10. Take Your Money And Go Down The Road
11. I'm Ready
12. Hot Weather
13. Too Many Hot Dogs (aka "Chicken A La
Blues")
14. Walking Blues
15. Make It To The Woods
16. Spoonful
17. Phonograph Blues
Tracks 1 to 17 issued as the CD compilation
"Vintage Thunderbolts" in October 1999 on Mooncrest CRESTCD 041Z (Barcode
766126804129)
BONUS TRACKS:
18. Brian Matthew trailer
19. Brian Matthew intro
20. Goin' Back
21. Too Many Hot Dogs
Tracks 18 to 21 are a May 1970 BBC Radio 1
Session with Brian Matthew – taken from Top Of the Pops Transcription Disc 291
– PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (2020)
CD5 "Boogie Street" (69:48 minutes):
1. Crossroads
2. No Worries
3. Be Ready When He Comes
4. Hurry Up Train
5. How Many More Years
6. You're Gonna Need Somebody By Your Side
7. Little Red Rooster
8. Big City Beat
9. Free Again
10. Phonograph Blues
11. Greedy Woman
12. Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
13. Lost Lover Blues
14. Tough Times
15. A Change Is Bound To Come
16. Big City Beat (Remix)
Tracks 1 to 16 are the CD "Boogie
Street" released 1993 on Habana HABCD 201 (Barcode 0045395000327)
17. King Bee
18. Hurry Up Train
19. Miss You
20. Dust Me Broom
Tracks 17 to 20 are the 1981 UK 4-Track EP
"Brett Marvin And The Thunderbirds" on Sun House EJSP 9586
CD6 (47:26 minutes):
1. Sea Side Shuffle
2. Ball and Chain - TERRY DACTYL AND THE
DINOSAURS
Tracks 1 and 2 are the A&B-sides of a 1971
UK 45 Single on Sonet SON 2027 (its rare Picture Sleeve is shown on Page 30 of
the booklet). Reissued July 1972 on UK Records UK R 5 in a UK Records label bag
- that variant charted and rose to No. 2 in the UK Singles Charts. Originally
non-album, both tracks were finally issued on the 1972 LP "Alias Terry
Dactyl & The Dinosaurs" on Sonet SNTF 630. The two sides were reissued
again as a single in May 1976 on UK Records UK 133.
3. On A Saturday Night
4. Going Around The World - TERRY DACTYL AND
THE DINOSAURS
Tracks 3 and 4 are the non-album A&B-sides
of a November 1972 UK 45 issued on UK Records UK R 20 - it entered the charts
in January 1973 and peaked at No. 45 some weeks later
5. She Left I Died
6. Too Self-Centred - TERRY DACTYL AND THE
DINOSAURS Featuring JONA LEWI
Tracks 5 and 6 are the non-album A&B-sides
is a May 1973 UK 45 on UK Records UK R 39 (it didn't chart)
7. Piggy Back Sue
8. Papa Don't Go - JONA LEWIE
Tracks 7 and 8 are the non-album A&B-sides
of a 1974 UK 45 Single on Sonet SON 2048
9. The Swan
10. Custer's Last Stand - JONA LEWIE
Tracks 9 and 10 are the non-album A&B-sides
of an October 1975 UK 45 Single on Sonet SON 2056
11. Hallelujah Europe (Parts 1 and 2)
Track 11 is the non-album A&M sides of a
July 1976 UK 45 on Sonet SON 2081 (Part 1 is Side 2, Parts 1 & 2 is Side b)
12. Come Away (Bate O Pe)
13. Cherry Ring
Tracks 12 and 13 are the non-album
A&B-sides of an October 1977 UK 45 on Sonet SON 2115
14. Rocking Yobs
15. After We Swun
Tracks 14 and 15 are the non-album
A&B-sides of a December 1977 UK 45 on Sonet SON 2117
Grapefruit Records is known for their in-depth
and chunky booklets and with six CDs to explain, this is no different. Compiled
and Annotated by DAVID WELSS with support from reissue specialist JOHN REED –
there is new input from the leading BM light and Lead Guitarist GRAHAM HINE as
well as the usual slew of rare photos (the boys doing the Abbey Road crossroads
shoot) as well as 60ts shots of The Corsairs with John Lewis/Jona Lewie. There
is a Sonet Records advert for the debut LP and single whilst a collage shot of
concert posters (a double-page spread) shows their legendary support of Derek
& The Dominoes (Clapton wanted to buy the National Steel but Hine wouldn’t
sell), gigs with Caravan, tours as Terry Dactyl when Sea Side Shuffle became a
huge hit - and most famous of all – headlining a 10 December 1975 (Vegetarian
Buttery) gig at the City Polytechnic in London with some reprobates third on
the bill called The Sex Pistols. The future Anarchists had only been together a
month or so and it was their sixth or seventh gig – but their first (I believe)
mention on a concert poster is enough to make that 70p admission piece of paper
worth a bloody fortune. The Mastering is by SIMON MURPHY for Another Planet and
the three studio albums sound great – with Number Two for me – sounding the
best. To the music...
The debut is a mix of Blues Rock and Jug Band
with a few touch points in-between. Bizarre and almost Beefheart in its
nuttiness – imagine the keyboard intro to "Baba O'Riley" by The Who
stretched out into a song and given muffled words and strange Indian-esque
boogies. You get an idea of what "Calcutta Got Beggar" has in store
for you as Jona Lewie almost goes Psych with the synths. We then get the
utterly extraordinary Harmonica-nasty Blues Boogie cover of "Don't Start
Me Talking" - a near eight-minute tour-de-force for the Sonny Boy
Williamson infidelity classic. Like its Side 1 predecessor "Shave 'Em
Dry" (minus the decidedly fruity lyrics) - it feels like Canned Heat with
The Bear on vocals – but a CH that has gone all Mungo Jerry Jug Band whilst
still rocking that piano, guitar and Harmonica. It is either genius or taking
the piss and part of me thinks it's both.
Sonet issued the Pete Gibson-penned piano and
guitar slow Chicken Shack Blues of "Thoughts On You" in early 1971 as
a 45 with the album cut "Coming Home" on the B-side but it unfairly
disappeared despite some glowing reviews. Just when you think they're dwelling
too much on the Jug Band schtick - they hit you with an Acoustic Blues
shuffling gem - "Southbound Lane". I love this track where Gregory
Hine shows his playing prowess as he sings of a band at two in the morning
travelling down the motorway - "Been playing up north trying to build
ourselves a name...seen a hundred miles of cat's eyes in the road...every mile
we travelled is a copy of a record we sold..."
By the time we get to album number three, the
Jug Band sound has instead overstayed its welcome somewhat. Better than the
cover versions are the original goodies like the Graham Hine written "Bank
Holiday" and "Wrong Man" and the Pete Gibson lay all your love
light on me "Bay Roller". Vaudeville and knees up Mother Brown
codology comes in the shape of "Drinking Song", "She Walked
Right Out Of The Blue" and "Doo-Dah-Doo-Dah" where they sound
like The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band but not in a good way. Pete Gibson channels his
inner Satisfaction as he Mick Jagger’s "The Clown" and sounds
unconvincing when he sings of touring joy in "Boys In The Band". The
singles give us the Scott Joplin entertainer piano romp "Thunderbolt
Rag" while "Caribbean Zob-Rock" name-checks the Skiffle-type
instrument called the Zob Stick that used to be once known as a lagerphone.
Best of the bunch is the Foghat-ish Rock of "Blow Me Down" – slow
ride slide guitars over a likeable rhythm. The Graham Hine guitar rocker B-side
"If You Need Somebody Call On Me" is a good barroom boogie that
redeems an otherwise disappointing Disc 3.
The "Rare Thunderbolts" CD
compilation offers unidentified live recordings of Meade Lux Lewis covers
alongside Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson - best of which
is the muffled-vocals slide-guitar "Walking Blues" and "Come On
In My Kitchen". If feels like some semi-bootleg recording for some better
than average bar band - but no more. "Hello...do you dig the blues...well
dig this!" Brian Matthew gives it some groovy Top Of The Pops intros for
50 and 20 seconds before the boys go into a grungy version of Leadbelly's
"Goin' Back" - and actually the sound is excellent as in the
fantastic lead-guitar. Bringing back the band for another intro - we get the
band's original "Too Many Hot Dogs" which sounds great too.
Being 1993, the upgraded sound quality of the
"Boogie Street" CD compilation comes as a blessed relief after much
of Disc 3. It kicks off with a superb interpretation of Robert Johnson's
"Crossroads" - our heroes flagging a raucous ride. The Gospel of the
Lord comes sailing in like The Blind Boys Of Alabama on the cool groove that is
"Be Ready When He Comes". All seven members of the ensemble wrote
"Hurry Up Train" but better is the warbling gritty Harmonica of
Howlin' Wolf's "How Many Years" - dogging me around - rather be six
feet in the ground - a great boogie rendition. Equally slick is the electric
slide menace in "Little Red Rooster" - too lazy to crow for days. The
Blues Band comparisons continue with the 4-Track EP that tail ends Disc 5 -
Slim Harpo and Elmore James covers doing the business even if the original
"Hurry Up Train" doesn't quite work.
After all the Mungo Jerry Jug Band Blues and
Seasick Steve slide guitar – the last disc with Terry Dactyl and Jona Lewie
feels like a creature from another planet - albeit a welcome one. The big
accordion-driven single "Sea Side Shuffle" by Terry Dactyl and The
Dinosaurs sounds good in Remastered form as does its boozy 'you are driving me
insane' B-side "Ball And Chain". I can't even remember the follow-up
"On A Saturday Night" as a single, but its very obvious effort to
reproduce what made "Sea Side Shuffle" great feels a little too
contrived - Part 2 but not as good as Part 1. Better is the Fats Domino
piano-boogie shuffle of the B-side "Going Around The World" where a
catchy chorus is doubled with a slide-guitar – great little number and the
Remaster rocks. The Jona Lewie solo stuff comes on like Jerry Lee Lewis – a
chicken shack pumping piano is soon joined by a New Orleans band on "Piggy
Back Sue" – while its B-side "Papa Don't Go" taps into
"Going Up The Country" by Canned Heat both musically and vocally (top
stuff and a cool Remaster). The rest are a combo of weird and quirky rhythms
that kind of amaze and impress in equal quirky measure.
For sure, six discs of some unknown group from
the early Seventies that can't decide whether they're Mungo Jerry's uppity
younger brother or Canned Heat's mellowed whiskey older uncle will probably not
get the knees a-shakin' in 2020. But there is so much to love here and that second
album is a wee bit of a lost diamond in my book while the Lewie solo stuff, something
of a pleasant discovery.
Grapefruit Records of the UK go the hog once more for
the musical underdogs, and we old bowsers are the ones to benefit...
