171 Goodbye The Mindbenders - The Letter

Chart  entered : 20  September  1967

Chart  peak : 42

Wayne  Fontana's  old  band  now  followed  him  out  of  the  charts.

Having  decided  to  carry  on  without  Wayne, with  guitarist  Eric  Stewart  taking  over  on  vocals, they immediately  scored  big  with  "A  Groovy  Kind  Of  Love"  which  reached  number  2  in  the  UK  and went  one  better  in  the  US.  However  their  self-titled  LP  did  not  follow suit   Two  more  hits   followed  in  1966  but  their  last  two  singles  had  stiffed  and  their  ambitious  second  album  "With Woman  In  Mind "  had  failed  to  improve  on  its  predecessor's  poor  showing. They  also  had  a  couple  of  tracks  on  the  soundtrack  of  To  Sir  With  Love   after  appearing  in  the  film. Prior  to  the  release  of this  single  drummer Ric  Rothwell  left saying  he  was  fed  up  of  touring  and  wanted  a  sports  shop  and  was  replaced  by  Paul  Hancox.

"The  Letter"  was  about  to  hit  the  top  of  the  US  charts  for  the  newly-formed  Box  Tops  and  the  boys  were  perhaps  gambling  they  wouldn't  have a  UK  distribution  deal  fixed  up  yet. The  song  is  an  urgent  pop  classic  about  being  summoned  back  by  your  ex-girlfriend  and  the  original  is  in   a white  soul  vein  distinguished  by  the  young  Alex  Chilton's  husky  tones. The  Mindbenders'  version  is  a  bit  flat  by  comparison ; Stewart's  vocal  sounds  like  he's  playing  it  cool, fine  for  I'm  Not  In  Love  but   less  appropriate  here  and  Graham  Gouldman's  production  is  too  polite. John  Paul  Jones's  arrangement  gives  the  strings  a  more  prominent  place  but  that's  the  only  area  where  it  scores  over  the  original  and  the  public  obviously  agreed.

The  band  then  went  back  to  their  last  album  and  re-recorded  Gouldman's  "Schoolgirl" with  a  new  set  of  lyrics, if  anything  more  explicit  than  before. Young  Graham  really  did  have  a  bee  in  his  bonnet  about  teen  sex  as  this  is  yet  another  song  of  corrupted  innocence with a  storyline  about  a  studious  girl  who  stuffs  things  up  by  getting  knocked  up. I  suspect  it  didn't  get  much  radio  play  which  is  a  shame  because  whatever  your  thoughts  about  the  subject  matter   ( The  Hollies  recorded  it  too  but  decided  not  to  release  it  until  the  1990s )  it's  a  terrific  song. The  heavy  beginning  predicates  The  Green  Manalishi   and  Gouldman  as  producer  works  in  some  exquisite  string  parts  to  bolster  his  unerring  gift  for  pop  melody.

In  February  1968  they  released  "Blessed  Are  The  Lonely"  originally  recorded  by  Robert  Knight which  sounds  like  an  attempt  to  ape  Love  Affair's  big  pop  sound. It's  competent  enough  but   Jones's  orchestral  arrangement  ends  up  swamping  the  band.  At  this  point  bassist   Bob  Lang  bailed out  leaving  Stewart  the  only  original  member. Gouldman  was  invited  on  board   to  replace  him   which  was  surely  a  friendship  thing ; why  else  would  a  successful  songwriter  want  to  hitch  his wagon  to  an  obviously  struggling  band ?  Shortly  afterwards  they  decided  to  expand  to  a  five  piece with  another  guitarist, Graham  Foote  and  a  keyboard  player  Jimmy  O  Neil.

In  fact  there  was  just  one  more  single  to  come  in  August  1968. Gouldman  wrote  "Uncle  Joe  The Ice  Cream  Man" which   fairly  obviously  attempts  to  mine  the  same  seam  of  nostalgic  pathos  as Excerpt  From  A Teenage  Opera  though  Jones, arranging  again,  resists  the  temptation  to  bung  in  a kiddies' chorus.  According  to  Eric, Mick  Jagger  popped  his  head  in  during  the  session  and  told  him  it  was  crap  but  I  think  it's a  decent  swansong.

Gouldman  didn't  enjoy  his  time  with  the  band , later  commenting "They  were  sliding  down, they  were pretty  well  finished  by  the  time  I  joined  them". The  band  were  booked  on  to  a  tour  in  support  of The  Who  in  the  autumn  of  1968. They  announced  their  split  after  the  final  concert.

Eric  Stewart    ( and  Gouldman ) of  course  we  return  to  in  the  reasonably  near  future. There  aren't too  many  musicians  who  clock  up  the  required  number  of  hits  with  two  separate  bands   and  he's almost  certainly  the  first  to  do  it.

Bob  Lang   dropped  out  of  the  music  scene  completely. You  will  find  some  references  on  the  web to  him  being  in  Welsh  one  hit  wonders  Racing  Cars  but  that's  not  true. Nor  is  he  the  same  person as  the  Seattle-based  recording  engineer  Bob  Lang.

Ric  Rothwell  briefly  joined  Manchester  bands  The  Harbour  Lights   and  Tristar  Airbus  after  leaving The  Mindbenders  but  the  trail  has  long  gone  cold.

Paul  Hancox  was  in  a  later  line  up  of  Chicken  Shack  from  1971  to  1973  and  he  can  be  heard on  their  fifth   and  sixth   albums  "Imagination  Lady "  and  " Unlucky  Boy". The  former  is  38  minutes worth  of  heavy  blues  rock  and  Paul  certainly  gets  the  opportunities  to  pummel  his  kit  particularly on  a  six  and  a  half  minute, barely  recognisable  version  of  "If  I  Were  A  Carpenter"  and  the  eleven minute  "Telling  Your  Fortune"  where  his  drum  solo  accounts  for  over  half  that  length. The  latter  LP is  less  self-indulgent  but  mostly  rather  dull.

By  the  time  of  "Unlucky  Boy"'s  release  Paul  had  already  jumped  ship  for  Mungo  Jerry , in  time  to play  on  their  last  Top  5  single,  the  glam  rock  stomper  "Alright, Alright, Alright". By  their  next  single he  was  out   and  he  drops  off  the  radar  until  showing  up  for  Mungo  Jerry's  30th  Anniversary shows  in  2000.