British Imposters: The Last Laugh

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:11 pm

I think a big part of what made the British invasion sound was a combination of many things including a lot of harmonies, very melodic tunes, loud bass especially hollow body boomy bass sounds, Shimmering clear guitars, mostly very happy cheery songs, lots of woo's, long hair, suits. Saxes were out (except for the DC5 who sounded American to me) sweaty American rock n roll was out (read black music), although it was covered a lot. I really think it was style as well as sound, a style exported out of England by The Beatles and widely imitated. The hair was really the beginning of it all, that is the main thing that got them all that attention in the beginning until everyone realized just how great they were. Everyone imitated them at least here in the states. The style was a British assimilation of our rock n roll, and The Beatles were much better at it than any of the other bands and also had the gimmick of the hair. They just took our rock n roll, country, blues and even jazz music and made it more poppy and gave it back to us.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:38 am

Roy: Thanks for sending along the Western Union songs by The Five Americans and The Searchers. A number of differences emerge from such a comparison and these samples have been helpful to listen to side by side. Some of the points Bob Young mentions can be heard. The Five Americans had the requisite "mop tops" while with the exception of perhaps Chris Curtis at times, the photos I have seen of The Searchers did not show evidence of this hair affliction.

It is of interest to me that The Searchers cover is almost a carbon copy of The Five Americans. This is somewhat of an aberration to my way of thinking, in that most British groups made covers more their own. Having said that, a number of differences emerge that I consider worthy of discussion.

To begin, to my ear the version by The Five Americans is understated throughout both vocally and instrumentally. The Searchers' cover has more presence, is less subdued and has been given that extra sparkle by means of moderate reverb. This has the benefit of highlighting the vocals as well as the instruments, giving it a live feel of being "in the hall" if you will.

Further, the vocals of The Searchers include more harmony and more background harmonies as well. This takes away from the rather lack lustre verse melody with which both groups had to contend.

Additionally, the instruments are front and centre in the version by The Searchers. The 12 string guitar of Pender and the Telecaster of John McNally have an attack that is better stated than in the original and removes some of the blandness of the tune. The bass by Frank Allen of the Searchers is less defined than that of The Five Americans wich I suspect reflects the difference between the Gibson and Fender bass models, respectively.

I confess that I am not a fan of this composition, but do lean toward the version of The Searchers for its greater presence in vocals, harmonies and instrumentation. Alas, they did not have the success of The Five Americans on this song. The Searchers did not have a major ingredient of the British Invasion here, namely an original composition. This I consider held them back in the end.

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:14 am

The Guilloteens - I Don't Believe certainly influenced by Brit Sound in my view.

http://www.mytempdir.com/746110

Don't think this was a hit in States but again covered by The Searchers but not officially released by them till it turned up many years later as a bonus track, biased I know but Searchers version far superior
Interestingly this link to Guilloteens website claims it made number 3 in US and number 1 in Memphis, perhaps some of you could clarify because i can't find any reference to it charting in states.

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/louispauljr/index.html

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:46 am

I don't remember it at all. I doubt very much it was #3 in the US charts although it is possible as I don't like it and would have switched the station the first time I heard it after about 15 seconds when I was a kid. It could have been #1 in Memphis as there were a lot of regional hits back then and you wouldn't find that noted on a national chart.
As far as Western Union I may be prejudiced as I had that 45 when I was a kid and loved the song, but I thought the 5 Americans version was a lot better, tighter rhythm section and just produced better overall. That quick boob ba boom is hard to play and get tight with the drummer, I never though that The Searchers rhythm section was their strong point although I liked the way they played, kind of primitive, but I thought overall the rhythm section was mixed down too far, it also kind of lagged somewhere in the middle, I don't think they spent a lot of time on this song. I didn't like the reverb in it either, thought it sounded kind of murky, thought the 5 Americans version was a lot cleaner sounding. You can't beat The Searchers vocals though.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:43 am

Strawberry Alarm Clock? Brian, you may be interested to know that I just acquired Mark Weitz' (keyboard player and composer of "Incense and Peppermints") 1968 Elka Panther organ. I'm in the process of repairing it and recovering some of the Tolex, which was torn in shipping.

Another "boo" for FedEx, who damaged the formerly-mint keyboard through very rough handling. In fact, it looks like it was dragged on the tarmac from there to here...

winston · Post by **winston** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:56 pm

That's is an interesting acquisition Paul. When you get it back up to snuff I would like to see some pics. FedEx can be rough on musical gear at times. Mind you so can UPS.

I used to have the first Strawberry Alarm Clock LP. But then along came CD's and all my vinyl was chucked out. Silly eh? What I do remember of them was that they looked like many of the British bands on their album cover. Incense was a cool song though. It would have fit well on a a Moody Blues album, such as Days of Future Passed.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:14 am

Here are two pics of it before it was damaged. Damage was to the Tolex on the organ's bottom, and to the key contacts for the lower keyboard, which were bent when the power supply cut loose inside the case and bounced around a bit.

It came in three cases: organ, leg case and bass pedal case.

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:24 am

Cool!! Do you need a forklift to move it, Paul?

winston · Post by **winston** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 2:38 pm

Wow! Forklift aside (that's where roadies came in handy) those two pics represent a significant piece of history, at least in my mind.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:38 pm

Roy: Thanks for the clip from The Guilloteens. "I Don't Believe" has some merit as a composition, however, I can see why it was restricted to a "local hit".

To my ears, the most redeeming feature is the voice of the lead singer Lewis Paul. It will be interesting to do some research to see if he surfaced after the guilloteen. The group is aptly named given their handful of "on the edge" recordings that ended all abruptly.

I concur that the sound has British influences, but there is an American soul sound that permeates this recording that I consider takes away from the invasion equation that they may have been trying to prove.

Who knows what The Guilloteens might have done had they honed their chops with Phil Spector. Going with the producers of the Yogi group certainly seems to have been a Boo Boo.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:15 am

Interesting Guilloteens track, sounds a bit chaotic to me - fine for a garage recording or a local hit (imho). Is it a live or a studio recording?
Not sure about the Searchers version being better, though - it might be better played/sung, but doesn't add much to the original (imho). Same refers to their version of "Western Union".

dbailey62 · Post by **dbailey62** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 8:32 pm

Tim,

The name Beefeaters was forced on the Byrds by Elektra in an attempt to cash in. They were against it but who's going to turn down getting a record released.

They were going by "The Jet Set" at the time if memory serves.

No excusing those phony accents though.

db

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:55 pm

That Elka Panther organ looks like a direct ripoff of the Vox organs - Dark gray and orange cases.