Chart entered : 5 January 1966
Chart peak : 2
Number of hits : 10
The Birmingham music scene spawned another major band when this lot broke through. They're the last band we're saying hello to whose hits fell primarily in the sixties. It's a complicated story as four out of the five members had a previous recording history.
The first to make a record was Roy Wood ( born 1947 ) the guitarist with a band called The Falcons who played old style rock and roll. Their single "Stampede" from November 1963 is an instrumental somewhere between The Shadows and Duane Eddy. It's passable but the time had gone by for such things.
By the end of the year he had decamped to Gerry Levene and the Avengers and stayed long enough to be on their only single "It's Driving Me Wild" in January 1964. I've only heard the B-side "Dr Feelgood" which is a decent enough stab at Manfred Mann / Animals blues-influenced pop. I should have mentioned this one previously as Graeme Edge of The Moody Blues was also in the line-up. Shortly afterwards Roy answered a newspaper ad to join a well-established band Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders who'd already released a couple of singles.
They released their first single with Roy in the line-up in June 1964 , a cover of the Goffin-King song "What A Sweet Thing That Was" popularised by The Shirelles . It's a competent piece of beat pop that could have been a hit with the right breaks. Roy's spindly guitar lines help give it some distinctiveness.
Also on the local circuit were a band called Carl Wayne and the Vikings. Their leader was originally Colin Tooley ( born 1943 ) , an accomplished singer who wore a pink suit on stage. After honing their craft in Hamburg in 1963 they got a record deal with Pye and released their first single "What's The Matter Baby ?" in September 1964. It's an accomplished version of a Timi Yuro song with Carl sounding very like the Manfreds' Paul Jones. Shortly after the single was released they changed bass players with Chris "Ace" Kefford ( born 1946 ) from the unrecorded Chantelles joining the line-up.
The next Night Riders single was "Here I Stand" a cover of a US hit by Wade Flemmons. They're clearly trying for a Four Seasons sound with a Frankie Valli impersonation ( doesn't sound like Roy ) for a second vocal. It doesn't quite come off.
At the same time another Brum band Danny King's Mayfair Set released the single "Pretty Things". King was a local singer whose earlier singles as a solo act don't concern us but his new band included guitarist Trevor Burton ( born 1949 ). The single benefits from Norrie Paramor's production , Roger Harris's organ work and King's vibrato.
In April 1965 Carl Wayne and the Vikings released "This Is Love" ( written by and featuring Danny King on co-vocals ) which is brash and noisy but easily forgettable. In September the Night Riders were re-christened as Mike Sheridan's Lot for the release of "Take My Hand" where Roy shares vocal duties with Sheridan and gets his own song on the B-side. It's still standard beat fare albeit with superior guitar work.
In November 1965 Carl Wayne and the Vikings had "My Girl" released in the USA only. It's The Temptations song played at a faster tempo, mildly interesting but inessential. After that Pye dropped them and another German tour was the best option available. At that point the drummer bailed out and was replaced by Beverley "Bev" Bevan ( born 1944 ) who had played with the unrecorded Denny Laine and the Diplomats.
In December Danny King's Mayfair Set released the quasi-religious "Amen" ( a King song ) which is pretty good but would have benefited from a cleaner production.
By that time the forces were already in motion to create The Move. Ace and Trevor had met up at a gig by Davy Jones ( the future Mr Bowie ) in December and it was he suggested they form their own outfit. Roy Wood soon came on board after one last single with the Night Riders the aptly titled Jackie DeShannon song "Don't Turn Your Back On Me" where he again shares the vocals and plays some mean fuzz guitar. It helped I guess that the three existing groups were more or less stuck at the same level. When Carl heard about the new group he offered his own services and was accepted. Bev followed him shortly afterwards.
They also acquired a manager Tony Secunda who had formerly worked for The Moody Blues. He believed that outrageous publicity stunts were the best way to break the band , some of them politically dubious such as having busts of Hitler on stage and signing a contract on the back of a topless model. On the positive side he got them a weekly residency at the Marquee Club and encouraged Roy Wood's writing, their original repertoire being mainly covers of West Coast bands or Motown acts.
By the end of 1966 they had a deal with Deram and struck gold with this first single. "Night Of Fear" was written by Roy and , in a sign of things to come, incorporated a phrase from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture . The song concerns night time terrors ( or perhaps more pertinently, a bad trip ) although the music -upbeat and jaunty - doesn't really match ; it's hardly The Green Manalishi. It's definitely bang up to date though with sitars and cello underpinning the sound and all the band save Bevan doing four part harmonies on the chorus. They'd make better records but not many that were as successful.
Here's Lena's take : the Move
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