Folk-rock outfit the Hobbits was the studio project of Queens, New York-born singer/songwriter Jimmy Curtiss, who ranks as one of the more interesting footnotes in the history of rock & roll — the rare would-be teen idol who actually wrote his own material (and did so admirably), he later expanded his reach into psychedelia and harmony-laden folk-rock, but while the subject of a small cult following, none of his records ever made a commercial dent. Curtiss first surfaced in 1959 as a member of the doo wop combo the Enjays and issued his solo debut, "Without You," on United Artists in 1961 — the label attempted to position him as a teen crooner in the mold of Bobby Vee or Paul Anka, but he failed to make a commercial impact. After a period working as a songwriter he dropped out of music to pursue a career in advertising before resurfacing in 1967 with the bubblegum cult classic "Psychedelic Situation," a major hit in Germany that attracted little attention at home. Curtiss then signed to Decca, collaborating with producers Jerry Vance and Terry Phillips and songwriter Marcia Hillman on the Hobbits — despite borrowing their name from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels and titling their 1967 debut Down to Middle Earth, The Hobbits turned out relatively straightforward sunshine pop, and the album is much sought-after by soft-psych aficionados. The follow-up, Men and Doors: The Hobbits Communicate, appeared in 1968 — like its predecessor, the record didn't sell, and Decca terminated the contract. After rechristening the group The New Hobbits, Curtiss released 1969's Back From Middle Earth, essentially a solo effort. [Allmusic.com] 01 - Down To Middle Earth 02 - I'm Just A Young Man 03 - Daffodil Days (The Affection Song) 04 - Break Away 05 - Treats 06 - Hands And Knees 07 - Let Me Run My Fingers Through Your Mind (Buy My Flowers) 08 - Out Of My Mind 09 - Clap Hands Til Daddy Comes Home 10 - Sunny Day Girl LINK The Hobbits - 1968 - Men and Doors - The Hobbits Communicate
This is the second album by The Hobbits. Only remaining member of the band at this moment was Jimmy Curtis. New line-up includes Gini Eastwood, Heather Hewitt and flamenco guitarist Marius. 01 - Men And Doors.mp3 02 - Espanña Baby.mp3 03 - Let Me Make My Own Mistakes.mp3 04 - Feeling.mp3 05 - Words Get In The Way.mp3 06 - The Journey.mp3 07 - Will You Be Ready For Tomorrow.mp3 08 - Love Is.mp3 09 - Strawberry Children.mp3 10 - University Of The Street.mp3 11 - Artificial Face.mp3 LINK The New Hobbits - 1969 - Back from Middle Earth
01 - You Could Have Made It Easy 02 - Growin' Old 03 - I Could Hear The Grass Growin' 04 - Comin' Out 05 - The Devils Gonna Get Me 06 - Underground 07 - Love Can Set You Free 08 - Flora 09 - Woman So Worried LINK
The Peddlers formed in Manchester in 1964, as a pop trio of Trevor Morais, Tab Martin and Roy Phillips. Morais, the drummer, had previously played with Faron's Flamingoes and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (who had struggled to replace Ringo Starr after he had left to join The Beatles). Martin, the bassist, noted for his peculiar style of playing a Gibson EB2 bass guitar in an upright position as though it were a string bass; and Phillips, on vocals and keyboards, had both been in The Saints and The Tornados; Phillips had also been with The Soundtracks. The trio released six singles and an EP on the Philips record label before joining CBS in 1967. In 1968 they released the album Freewheelers, consisting of standards sometimes adventurously arranged by Keith Mansfield. The follow-up, 1968's Three In A Cell, included a downtempo version of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", from the 1965 musical of the same name, which was later heavily sampled for its bass and Hammond organ riff. Trevor Morais left the trio during an Australian tour in 1972, and was replaced on drums by New Zealander Paul Johnson. The Peddlers disbanded in 1976.
01 - Comin Home Baby 02 - On A Clear Day 03 - Basin Street Blues 04 - Nobody Likes Me 05 - I'm A Boy In Love 06 - People 07 - In The Still Of The Night 08 - Ebb Tide 09 - Just A Pretty Song 10 - The Lost Continent 11 - Prime Of My Life
The Twilights were an rock group of the mid to late 1960s. Alongside their own career successes, The Twilights are also notable for the inclusion of vocalist Glenn Shorrock, who later fronted Axiom, Esperanto and Little River Band, and guitarist Terry Britten who went on to become an internationally successful songwriter and producer and pen major hits for artists such as Tina Turner. Alongside The Easybeats and The Masters Apprentices, The Twilights are widely considered to be one of the most significant Australian rock groups of the 1960s. Highly popular bands with teenage audiences, they were renowned for their musical excellence and live prowess, as well as their on-stage humour, and they were held in high respect by fellow musicians. The group is also notable as one of the few major Australian rock bands of the period to retain the same personnel for virtually all of its career. Like most of their contemporaries, they began as a cover band, playing accomplished renditions of hits by popular overseas bands of the era such as The Beatles, The Who and The Small Faces, and their early hits in Australia were all cover versions. The Twilights were noted for being on top of current musical trends, and their early repertoire was regularly updated with the latest British and American rock hits, which were regularly sent to them on record and tape by family and friends in the UK. Later in their career guitarist Terry Britten began to write original material but the group did not last long enough for this to have a significant impact on their career. 1968, the watershed year for The Twilights started optimistically with the Aussie chart success of "Cathy Come Home" and continued with the invitation by the Seven Network to develop a weekly television sit-com series based around the group at work and play, loosely along the lines of "The Monkees" or "A Hard Days’ Night". At the time, Go-Set magazine documented the pilot of "Once Upon A Twilight" with photos of the group on location around Melbourne, with their proposed co-stars, comedienne Mary Hardy (playing the role of the band’s secretary), and a youthful Ronnie Burns. The fate of the TV show was decided at the end of the year, when the Ford Motor Company withdrew its sponsorship and the project was cancelled, but the project helped to propel work on what was to become The Twilights’ greatest recording achievement. The "soundtrack" to the shelved TV show took on a life of its own. A long gestation period, interspersed with the band’s most concentrated regime of live touring yet, resulted in one of the finest Australian albums of the era, "Once Upon A Twilight". 01 - Once Upon A Twilight 02 - What A Silly Thing To Do 03 - Bessemae 04 - Stop The World For A Day 05 - Mr. Nice 06 - Take Action 07 - Blue Roundabout 08 - Devendra 09 - Found To Be Thrown Away 10 - Tomorrow Is Today 11 - The Cocky Song 12 - Paternosta Row LINK
Tractor were formed in Rochdale in 1971 from the remains of three-piece band The Way We Live (originally formed in 1966 at Balderstone School, Rochdale). The band comprised Jim Milne (guitarist, vocalist and songwriter) and Steve Clayton (drummer, percussionist and songwriter) who had teamed up in 1971 with their manager and sound engineer John Brierley, who built his first studios (Dandelion Studios Rochdale) in his bedroom and attic. John later recorded Factory and many other bands at his Cargo Studios in Rochdale. As The Way We Live, Tractor made a 1971 album for Dandelion Records boss, the late John Peel. After the release of this album, "A Candle For Judith", Peel described guitarist Jim Milne as "...the man responsible for some of the most urgent flowing and logical guitar playing I've ever heard". Their second album, "Tractor” (as Tractor) got to number 18 in the Radio Luxembourg album charts and was frequently played on the BBC by DJs like Peel, Bob Harris and Anne Nightingale. It was also in the Virgin Top 30 selling album charts in 1972. 01 - All Ends Up 02 - Little Girl In Yellow 03 - The Watcher 04 - Ravenscroft's 13 Bar Boogie 05 - Shubunkin 06 - Hope In Flavour 07 - Everytime It Happens 08 - Make The Journey 09 - Lady Of Astorath 10 - Stony Glory 11 - Overture LINK
