Flip It! #6 - Teenage Fanclub

An occasional series, focusing on flipsides.

Marie, over at the consistently excellent It's All in the Grooves, recently posted Tommy Roe's 1963 hit 'Everybody', which inevitably set me thinking about Teenage Fanclub's appropriation of large parts of the tune as the basis for their own 1996 track, 'Kickabout'. I asked Marie if she'd ever heard 'Kickabout'. It turns out that she hadn't at the time, but I think it's safe to say that she was less than impressed when she did catch up with it! I have to confess that I'm somewhat surprised that Teenage Fanclub failed to acknowledge the pretty obvious, ahem, inspiration of Roe's original on their own composition, but I've always loved its lightly psychedelic joie de vivre nonetheless.

'Kickabout' initially cropped up on a surprisingly good Euro 96 related compilation, 'The Beautiful Game', before reappearing the following year as the b-side of 'Ain't That Enough', the first single taken from my favourite Teenage Fanclub LP, the mighty 'Songs From Northern Britain'.

Flip It! #5 - Beat the Intro

Hanni El Khatib's 'Moonlight' is a real grower, that's for sure, but, until recently, growing in tandem with my enjoyment of the song was my frustration as to what exactly the brief 'dum dum dum dum' intro reminded me of.

Cue John Medd's perfectly timed post on RCA record sleeves (here). Ding! Light-bulb moment! In my mind's eye, I could immediately see my 14 year-old self flipping over his RCA 7" single of David Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs' to reveal 'Holy Holy' on the b-side. Check that 'dum dum dum dum' intro. Thanks for helping me put my mind at rest John.

Flip It! #4 - Dib Cochran & the Earwigs

Off the top of my head, I can only remember ever meeting a mere handful of my youthful prog-rock heroes in the flesh, usually while bagging post-gig autographs in the 1970s. One, who shall remain nameless, was, disappointingly, an utter arse, the combined membership of Van Der Graaf Generator were very amiable and Rick Wakeman, who was friendly and extremely funny.

A couple of evenings ago, round at our local petrol station, I was surprised to see Rick Wakeman walk across the forecourt in front of me, from the shop back to his car. I've no idea what might have brought him out to my neck of the woods, but was suddenly taken with the urge to go over and renew our brief acquaintance of nearly 40 years earlier. Halfway out of the car, though, I changed my mind. What could I possibly say to him that would justify invading his privacy?

In retrospect, perhaps I could've quizzed him about his involvement in a short-lived group, Dib Cochran & the Earwigs, which also featured Tony Visconti on bass and vocals, drummer John Cambridge (from the band Juniors Eyes) and a certain Marc Bolan on guitar. Dib Cochran & the Earwigs issued one single, 'Oh Baby', in September 1970, a month before T.Rex released 'Ride a White Swan'. What if 'Ride a White Swan had bombed? What if 'Oh Baby' had been the hit? The 1970s might have been a very different place.

The b-side of 'Oh Baby', a short instrumental sketch entitled 'Universal Love', features Rick to the fore.

Flip It! #3 - John's Children

While flicking through a scruffy cardboard box of old 7" singles, on a junk stall on Walthamstow Market, one Saturday morning in early 1973, my fingers alighted on a picture sleeve for 'Desdemona' by John's Children. I was nearly 13 years of age and knew that before T.Rex there had been Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose albums I had recently discovered via the 'Toofa' double LPs released by Fly. I also knew, somewhat vaguely, that before Tyrannosaurus Rex Marc Bolan had briefly been a member of a group called John's Children and made a single with them, but that was back in 1967, nearly half my lifetime ago. I'd certainly heard no music by John's Children and had seen only one photograph of the band, which, luckily, was the very one used on the picture sleeve in front of me. If it hadn't been for that particular shot, I might well have flicked right on by to the back of the box, none the wiser.

Diane Wynd, wherever you are, thank you.

So I was aware that this was a potential rare gem, but convinced that when I pulled the record from the sleeve, I would find either a copy of 'Desdemona' so damaged as to be unplayable or, even worse, a Frank Ifield single in the wrong cover. In the event, the sleeve contained a near pristine copy of 'Desdemona'. With uncharacteristic maturity, I tried to control my breathing and told myself not to become over-excited, as I swallowed hard and asked the price. The man in the cap who ran the stall took a drag from his cigarette, sucked his teeth, thought for a second and said - '10p'. That was the hardest moment of all, I stifled a yelp of delight. He didn't realise the significance of the record! Hands shaking, I gave him the coin, he dropped the single into a brown paper bag and I was off home, heart beating fast and sweat trickling down my back.

The old faithful.

Back in my room I fired up my trusty Fidelity HF43 mono record player and listened to 'Desdemona' a couple of times. It was impossibly thrilling to hear Marc's voice, instantly recognisable, as he echoed the title refrain. Then, needless to say, I phoned all my friends to gloat about my good fortune. Everyone was at my place within the hour and it was orange squash and jaffa cakes all round as we played the single several times over to let it all sink in and make all-important attempts at transcribing the lyrics. Then we played the b-side. If we'd considered 'Desdemona' to be somewhat raw and primitive, compared to the lush Tony Visconti T.Rex productions our ears were attuned to, the opening few seconds of 'Remember Thomas à Becket' completely blew our young minds. 40 years on from that first play, it still sounds pretty far-out to me.

'Remember Thomas à Becket' features no Marc Bolan involvement - that's his predecessor in John's Children, Geoff McClelland, on guitar. The song was re-written and re-recorded later in 1967, emerging as a slightly more trippy, less freaky A-side, with the flowered-up title, 'Come and Play With Me in the Garden'.

Flip It! #2 - David Essex

The first three CBS released David Essex singles in 1973 and 1974, 'Rock On', 'Lamplight' and the often overlooked 'America', were exotic little pop oddities that retain their quirky appeal today. Flip these singles over and you'll find 'On and On' (a theatrical power ballad), 'We All Insane' (a bass-driven curio with nonsense lyrics, a drum solo and an unexpectedly sudden conclusion) and, best of all, 'Dance Little Girl'.

Once again driven by it's bassline, 'Dance Little Girl' is a strangely unsettling amalgam of stabbing strings, sleazy horns and a fairly peculiar, multi-layered, at times deliberately off-kilter vocal from Mr Essex himself. Loved it then, love it still.

Flip It! #1 - Earle Mankey

Earle Mankey was guitarist with the pre-'Kimono My House' Sparks, but in 1973, when Ron and Russell relocated to the UK, Mankey stayed in LA and began a long career in record production that continues to this day. Along the way he's twiddled the knobs for such artists as The Long Ryders, The Three O'Clock, The Dickies and Concrete Blonde, in addition to engineering albums by Elton John and The Beach Boys.

Mankey the performer has reappeared only sporadically since the Sparks days, one 7" single, 'Mau Mau',  on Bronze Records in 1978 and two mini-albums in the 1980's being the sum total of his output. Look out for a copy of 'Mau Mau' on your travels, it's a good tune, but not as good as the brilliant 'Crazy' on the flipside.