The Prophets seem to have been a short-lived group with one release on Kerston. At least three of the Prophets were British musicians who were based in Germany:
Billy Tabbert – guitar, vocals
Derek Moore – bass, vocals
Ron Howden – drums
? – guitar, vocals
In 1964, Derek “Mo” Moore was in two groups, the Upsetters and Beast. While touring France with the Upsetters, he met Ron Howden. I’ve seen conflicting accounts of what happened next, either Ron joined the Upsetters in France, or else Derek jammed with Ron when Beast toured through Hamburg.
In any case, the two of them formed the Prophets with guitarist Billy Tabbert. I’m not positive who the fourth member of the group was. It could have been Tommy McGuigan, a friend of Tabbert’s who had been vocalist and saxophonist in the Scottish rock band, the Waysiders from 1962-1965.
“You Missed by a Mile” and “Hey Mister” are two excellent originals by Moore and Tabbert. One is upbeat, the other more sedate, but each has fine vocals over expressive guitar playing, resounding bass lines and agile drumming.
Sometime between 1965 and 1967 Derek and Ron met keyboardist Allan “Taff” Freeman and guitarist Allan Murdoch from MI5, another English group who had relocated to Germany. Derek and Ron either joined MI5 or else formed a new group with them, Prophecy. By 1968 that group had evolved into Nektar, with LPs on Bacillus and United Artists. Billy Tabbert joined Allan Murdoch and Tommy McGuigan in Message, who also had releases on Bacillius. I’ve been told that Billy Tabbert passed away in 1995.
Fred Kerston ran his Kerston label from Oberkassel, Bonn with an impressive list of releases, including the Beethovens “I Want a Dog” / “She Is My Love”, the Party Brothers “Our Love Is Gone” / “Every Night”, the Magic Herbs “There’ll Come the Day” / “Still Hoping You Might Come Back Home”, the Strings “Don’t Play”, the Strangers “Hurt It”, the Tramps “I Do”, the Vampires “It’s Enough”, the Vanguards “I Know a Girl” / “My Babe” and the cool instrumental “A Life Like a Hound” by Bill Soap & the Dirties.
Sources include: The Crack in the Cosmic Egg website.
Thank you to Andy Paraskos for the scans of the sleeve and 45.
