Unlike the earlier versions, I have found very little information on Freddie Mack’s groups post-February/March 1969 when he split with the previous version. I would love to hear from anyone who can fill in the blanks.
Billed mainly as ‘The Freddie Mac Extravanganza’, an entirely new version debuted on 11 April 1969 at the New Market Hotel in Bristol. A few weeks later, they played at the New Rainbow Suite Co-op in Birmingham on 24 April.
According to the Nantwich Chronicle, the 13-piece band performed at the Civic Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire with Rubber Soul on 26 April.
The Freddie Mac Road Show played at the Royal Hotel, Walsall on 4 May 1969, according to the Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle. The Birmingham Evening Mail lists the band playing at Club Cedar with Passion Forest the next day.
According to Melody Maker, the new line up then toured West Germany in June.
Drummer Maurice McElroy remembers playing in a seven-nine piece band with Freddie Mack called the Freddie Mac Extravaganza II, which featured a female singer, a male singer, a female dancer plus two other dancers. However, it only lasted a few months.
McElroy confirms that his version played from late June (just after the West German tour above) but he himself left around October 1969.
McElroy says that the band’s roadie Roy Truman left soon after joining Freddie Mack to form a band called Swegas (alongside trumpet player Chris Dawe who worked with Mack in 1967-1968) in which he played bass.
Swegas appears to have been formed in mid-1969 and McElroy joined them later that year. Noel Norris appears to have played with Freddie Mack again in 1970 (see later line up below).
The drummer remembers the following musicians in Mack’s band:
Terry Jenkins – lead guitar
Buddy Bounds – trumpet (replaced by Noel Norris)
Nick Judd – keyboards
Maurice McElroy – drums have found the following gigs, which would cover McElroy’s time with the group:
23 June 1969 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London
14 July 1969 – Quaintways, Chester, Cheshire with Shady Lane and Wall City Jazzmen
19 July 1969 – Raven Club, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire with Stonewall Jackson and Dusk Soul featuring Clive Bond (billed as Freddie Mack Show)
21 July 1969 – Thomas A Beckett, Old Kent Road, south London (pictures of the group playing here on this date can be found at Getty) The same photo appeared in the Evening Standard, 22 July 1969, page 30
28 July 1969 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London
9 August 1969 – California Ballroom, Dunstable, Bedfordshire with Heatwave
14 August 1969 – Dreamland Ballroom, Margate, Kent with Lee Harmer’s Popcorn (billed as Freddie Mac Extravaganza)
25 August 1969 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (billed as Freddie Mac Extravaganza)
30 August 1969 – Kent Pop Festival with Deep Purple
5 September 1969 – The Factory, Birmingham
20 September 1969 – California Ballroom, Dunstable, Bedfordshire with First Back from Heaven and Respect (billed as Freddie Mack Extravaganza)
26 October 1969 – Le Metro, Birmingham
According to singer Bob Mundy (see comments section below), his group, The International Road Show from Southend-on-Sea joined Freddie Mack around November 1969.
Bob Mundy – vocals
Erline ? – vocals
Yudell Anderson – vocals
Steve Sallis – guitar
Brian Williams – bass
John Walsh – Hammond organ
Pat Green – drums
Jeff Bridges – tenor sax
Phil Presland – baritone sax
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Kenny Baxter – saxophone
Digby Fairweather – trumpet
I have found the following gigs for this formation:
13 December 1969 – Cue Club, Paddington, London (billed as Freddie Mack & The Mack Sound)
24 December 1969 – California Ballroom, Dunstable, Bedfordshire with Jimmy James & The Vagabonds and Lloyd Williams Soul Caravan
27 December 1969 – Flamingo, Wardour Street, Soho, central London with The Earthquakes (billed as Freddie Mack Extravaganza)
21-22 March 1970 – Tamla Village, D’Arblay Street, London with Freddie Notes & The Rudies and The Tonics
Lead guitarist Mick Clarke played with Freddie Mack from around mid-to-late 1970 (and possibly in the April-May 1969 line up too). Clarke was with a band called Hunter when he met Mack and this same band recorded under the name Orang-utan after he left the singer in late 1970.
Clarke says that the band was fluid, in as much as it would have different horn players on each gig. However, the rhythm section was pretty stable. The guitarist adds that the typical line-up would feature Freddie Mack, a go-go-dancer, lead guitar, bass, drums, organ and three to five horn players (but sometimes nine).
Noel Norris, who had played with an earlier line up, left in October 1970 to form the band Marriage. Norris and Geoff Peach both went on to play with Pacific Gas & Electric in the United States. They then reunited again in a version of The Foundations in the early 1970s.
Clarke also says that singer Carl Douglas sat with the band at times, which would have been after September 1970 when he returned from Spain.
Mick Clarke lists the following musicians who played alongside him:
Mick Clarke – lead guitar
Jeffrey Jai Seopardi – drums
Steve Humphries – bass
Eddie Thornton – trumpet
Noel Norris – trumpet
Geoff Peach – saxophone
Around 1971/1972, former members of the band Sonority joined forces with Freddie Mack. Bobby Morris got in touch and I’ve included his email details in the comments section below.
I have found the following gigs which may cover different line-ups:
25 April 1970 – Baths Hall, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire with Cloud Nine, Freddie Notes & The Dynamic Rudies and Maggie & Sharon
The Torbay Express & South Devon Echo lists a group called Tenderness (ex-Freddie Mac Show) performing at the Madison Club in Torquay on 2-3 October 1970, which suggests this band backed Freddie Mac at some point in 1970.
21 November 1970 – California Ballroom, Dunstable, Bedfordshire with The Carl Edwards Roadshow
25 October 1971 – Wall City, Quaintways, Chester Cheshire with Aquarius (billed as Freddie Mack Sounds)
28 October 1971 – Beau Brummell Club, Royal Hotel, Crewe, Cheshire (billed as Freddie Mack Road Show)
6 November 1971 – Aquarius Club, Lincoln, Lincolnshire (billed as Freddie Mack Sounds)
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