(Pete Dello [Peter Blumson])
Australia
#4 Perth
British musicians Terry Clarke and Brian Curtis formed the Australian Birds, not to be confused the UK Birds [see here].
The Australian band’s background isn’t easy to get a handle on, but it goes something like this:
Before moving to Australia, Clarke and Curtis, previously together in UK band The Clockwork Oranges, played in a touring line-up of West London band The Birds. This was after the departure of UK Birds founding members Ron Wood (later of The Faces and The Rolling Stones) and Kim Gardner (later of Ashton Gardner & Dyke).
The story has met with some scepticism, for example by David Thompson in The Music Goes Round My Head who uses the word “claimed”.
One certainty is that this is not a migration of the UK Birds, as some have assumed. No doubt adding to the confusion were the Australian Birds‘ covers of a couple of UK Birds tracks: Say Those Magic Words and No Good Without You (the B-side of I Can’t Let Maggie Go).
Suggestion from Andrew Ainsworth.
(Pete Dello [Peter Blumson])
UK
Original version
#8 UK #35 Brisbane
Honeybus was a melodic, harmonic band with high production values that never achieved the popularity it deserved. Formed by Pete Dello (born Peter Blumson) and Ray Cane (Raymond Byart), who first played together in Grant Tracey & The Sunsets (see Cry Of The Wild Goose).
I Can’t Let Maggie Go, arranged with oboe, bassoon and cor anglais, was Honeybus’s only UK hit. Their song (Do I Figure) In Your Life (1967) is familiar in the version by Joe Cocker. Both of those songs were written by Pete Dello, who left the band during 1968.
For other Australasian records with Honeybus connections, see Flake – Under The Silent Tree and The Sundowners – Baby Jane.
Further reading: 1. Honeybus biography by Bruce Eder at All Music. 2. The official Honeybus site.
(Pete Dello [Peter Blumson])
USA
Single on Elf, produced by Buzz Cason, the label’s co-founder and – more famously – the co-writer of Everlasting Love.
For other Australian connections with Elf and Buzz Cason, see Hayride, La La and Groupie.
There is speculation at 45cat.com that Sons Of Ginza was a one-off studio band, possibly consisting pretty much of Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden. That seems plausible, and I have wondered the same about another Cason–Gayden project, Saturday Morning Cartoon Show: see under Obscure Originators.
Further reading: 1. For more on Buzz Cason and his label Elf, owned with Bobby Russell, see my post at PopArchives: The Blog. 2. Elf singles discography at Global Dog.
Some other 60s-70s recordings, from the files of 45cat.com:
• Jan Önnerud Sweden 1968 45 on Sonet [as Maggie + credit to Sven-Olov Bagge]
• Equipe 84 Italy 1968 [as Un Angelo Blu, + credit to Mogol = Giulio Rapetti] 45 on Ricordi
• Jenny Maynard Portugal 1969 EP on Alvorada Internacional
• J. Vincent Edwards UK 1974 45 on Fontana
(Pete Dello [Peter Blumson] )
Argentina
Track on Conmocion, the band’s third LP, on RCA. The title is in Spanish, but the lyrics are in the original English.
Formerly a quartet, Los In were now a trio: Amadeo Álvarez (vocals), Richard Green (bass, keyboards), Osvaldo López (drums).
References: 1. Band history by Mario Antonelli, from The Magic Land: A guide to Beat, Psychedelic and Progressive Rock music between 1966 & 1977 in Argentina and Uruguay [archived page]. 2. More details at ArtistInfo and Red Poyote.
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