Laurie Wade’s Cavaliers started as a surf group, cutting one instrumental single for the Linda Lee label, “Cloudburst” / “The Phantom Guitarist” (written by Laurie Mudge). Hear this first singel on Big Beat’s excellent compilation: Board Boogie: Surf ‘n’ Twang from Down Under).

The Cavaliers included:

Laurie Wade – guitar, vocals
Ivan Norman – guitar, vocals
Robert Campbell – bass, replaced by Warren Isaacs
Chris Rees – drums

Laurie Wade signed to CBS and cut four excellent singles in 1965 and 1966. The style of music changed to beat, but his roots in surf served him well as all the records feature sharp original guitar work. I don’t know the membership of the group, but I assume Laurie played lead guitar, and sang lead on the CBS recordings.

First came the minimal “Say Hey”, backed by a song I haven’t heard, “The Adventurer”. Laurie Wade wrote both.

Warren Isaacs sent in the photo seen here and told me, “Robert Campbell was the bass player on ‘Phantom Guitarist’. I replaced him after that and was on all the CBS records. I was in the group right up to the very end which I think was about 1968.”

The second was an excellent Laurie Wade original, “To Win Your Love”. It’s probably my favorite of their recordings that I’ve heard, with two good guitar breaks, rollicking piano and solid rhythm backing over Laurie’s great vocal. The flip is another Wade original, “Don’t Quit Now”. It’s not a bad song, though I’m mystified by the engineering, as the rhythm guitar starts off too loudly, only to be dimmed along with the rest of the band just six seconds into the song.

In 1966 they cut their most adventurous song, Wade’s “The Colour of Her Eyes”, beginning with a riff like something out of a Sonics song. The rhythm guitarist takes a page out of the surf guitar book, strumming over deadened strings with heavy reverb for a cool background sound. Laurie’s vocals alternate between gloomy and wailing!

I guess CBS didn’t know what to make of this song, as they threw it on the b-side of a cover of “Greensleeves”. The band does an interesting version, with some eerie guitar in the background, but it’s an awkward song and hardly a good choice for them.

I knew Marty Rhone’s raving version of “Every Minute of You”, but I hadn’t heard Laurie Wade’s original recording of it when I first wrote this article. It surprised to hear the band going in a more soulful direction, though it suits Laurie’s voice. Marty Rhone’s release came shortly after.

Although the label credits read just N. Kipner, the notes to Big Beat’s CD Hot Generation! say that “Every Minute of You” was a collaboration between Carl Keats, guitarist for Steve and the Board and Nat Kipner, father of that band’s singer Steve Kipner. For once neither song was a Laurie Wade original. The flip, “Let Me Down Easy” was written by Glasser and Glasser.

Their producer at CBS was Sven Libaek, a staff producer from 1963-1968 whose credits include the Atlantics (including “Bombora”), Lynne Randall, the Jet Set, the Jackson Kings, the D-Men, Kenny Shane and the Pilgrims Five. As far as I know CBS hasn’t bothered to reissue Laurie Wade’s work, which is a shame, I’m sure a remastering from original tapes, if they exist, would sound excellent, and there’s probably some good unreleased songs.

If anyone has more info on the group, please let me know.

45 releases:

Linda Lee LL-008 – Cloudburst / The Phantom Guitarist
CBS BA-221215 – Say Hey / The Adventurer (1965)
CBS BA-221235 – To Win Your Love (Wade) / Don’t Quit Now
CBS BA-221273 – Greensleeves / The Colour of Her Eyes (1966)
CBS BA-221357 – Every Minute of You (N. Kipner) / Let Me Down Easy (Glasser – Glasser) (1966)