( * as part of The Equals )
Chart entered : 21 February 1968
Chart peak : 44
Number of hits : 19 ( including 8 as part of The Equals )
Two almost milestones here . Eddy was born in Guyana so he's not quite the first black British male to qualify and the Equals don't qualify on their own account so they're not the first mixed race band on here.
Eddy following on from Status Quo seems quite appropriate as both have been accused of milking a winning formula dry.
The Equals were formed in Hornsey in 1965 comprising Eddy ( Edmund not Edward ) on lead guitar, the Jamaican twins Derv Gordon on vocals and Lincoln on bass and two white Londoners , Pat Lloyd on guitar and John Hall on drums. In 1966 they were signed by Edward Kassner's President records.
Their first single "I Won't Be There" is an energetic stomper written by the twins' father. The single is a bit ramshackle with Derv shouting rather than singing the verses and Eddy chanting "Hey Hey" at seemingly random points in the song. It did well enough in Germany to get them on to Beat Club in early 1967.
Their next single was in June that year. It had "Hold Me Closer" written by Eddy and Lincoln and "Baby Come Back" by Eddy alone. It did nothing here at the time but was a big hit in Europe reaching number one in Belgium. Some countries were playing the B-side more or maybe getting confused as the two songs have exactly the same rhythm track ( not the last time Eddy would be accused of recycling ).
Their third single in October 1967 was "Give Love A Try" written by Eddy. It sets some rather clumsy universalist lyrics to the tune of Hey Joe or very close to it.
This one was their fourth single in the UK. Written by Eddy and Derv, it's a very simplistic record, little more than a circular riff and a repetitive chant of the title for a chorus.It's also pretty similar to "Baby Come Back" which makes the disparity in their relative chart fortunes rather difficult to explain.
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