(Kenny Pickett - Eddie Phillips)
New
Zealand
#6 NZ
Popular band, from Ponsonby in Auckland, often in the New Zealand Top 10 in the late 60s. Vocalist Larry Morris later went solo and had six singles on the NZ charts 1969-1983 including The Hunt (1969, #5 NZ) and The Game (1970, #8 NZ). See also The Rebels.
Larry’s Rebels were New Zealand’s Animals. Our Paul Revere and the Raiders. The top notch local pop band with bluesy bite, who released a handful of vital discs, and for a brief few years were all over the media, the charts and the nation’s bedroom walls. They were Auckland’s first great homegrown pop band of the modern pop era; hard working and electrifying live. Their cover versions nipped at the heels of the originals.
– Andrew Schmidt at Audio Culture.
Painter Man was apparently pulled from airplay by national broadcaster NZBC after one listener complained that its lyrics were offensive. See Bruce Sergent’s NZ music site which expands on the story and quotes a NZ newspaper of the day.
See also Larry & The Rebels’ Mo’reen, Do What You Gotta Do, It’s Not True and I Feel Good.
Further reading: 1. The Larry’s Rebels page at Bruce Sergent’s New Zealand music website. 2. Larry Morris interview with Murray Cammick at NZ music website Audio Culture (January 2016). 3. Larry’s Rebels profile at Audio Culture.
Suggestion from Terry Stacey.
(Kenny Pickett - Eddie Phillips)
UK
Original version
#36 UK #8 Germany
Single on Planet, produced by the label’s founder Shel Talmy, producer of The Kinks, The Who, and (in London sessions that resulted in Friday On My Mind) Australia’s Easybeats.
Painter Man was written by Kenny Pickett and Eddie Phillips. Along with drummer Jack Jones, they were the original members who were still in Hertfordshire beat band Mark Four when they became The Creation in 1966. Future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood joined the band not long before it broke up in 1968.
Further reading: 1. The Creation from British Beat Boom [archived]. 2. The Wikipedia article on The Creation gives a detailed history 1963-present.
(Kenny Pickett - Eddie Phillips)
Germany
Later version
#10 UK
This was a track from the album Night Flight To Venus (1978) by popular disco group formed in West Germany by producer-songwriter-singer Frank Farian (b.1941).
Singles followed with Painter Man as A-side or B-side and with varying tracks on the other sides. The German single on Hansa International came out in August 1978, and the charting UK single was on Atlantic in February 1979. For a list of singles in various countries, see this page at 45cat.com.
Some other versions:
• Mass (1977) on album Back To
The Music by German metal band.
• The Hiltonaires (1978) on album Rasputin). This is not the late-60s Jamaican band.
• More listed at Covers.info
Further reading: Frank Farian timeline from his website [archived page].
(Mick McDougal - Jim Reynolds)
USA
Red herring
Same title but not the same song as
‘Painter Man’ by Larry’s Rebels.
Single on Five Star Productions, Tampa, Florida YouTube. B-side of Willow Tree.
The Non-Pareils were apparently from the Madeira-Redington Beach area [source].
Band member Monty Smith’s Facebook page was still being updated to July 2022. He notes at another Facebook page that the band’s slogan was Unequalled in musical entertainment.
I’m guessing this disc #FS-101 was a one-off for the label, as it was for the band.
Pop Archives
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2024. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…