The Alan Franklin Explosion have received some attention from collectors of private underground albums, but this 45 is worth discussing. Both “Piece of My Heart” and “Bye Bye Baby” were taken from Alan Franklin’s second LP, the one that has his b&w photo and both “The Alan Franklin Explosion” and “The Blues Climax” on the front cover, on the Horne label, J.C. 888-L.
Franklin was from Tampa, Florida, but recorded at Bee Jay Recording Studio in Orlando. The musicians were:
Alan Franklin – lead vocals, rhythm guitar Chris Russel – lead guitar Buzzy Meekins – bass Dave Dix – drums
Apparently this was not an actual band but consisted of some teenage musicians invited to play with Alan in the studio. David Dix would go on to join the Outlaws.
“Piece of My Heart” is a wild, weird come-on. “Bye Bye Baby” more conventional blues-based rock. The label was Horne, with a release # J.C. 888-4. These two songs were included on the first side of the album, Alan Franklin Explosion – The Blues Climax cut in 1969 and 1970. Alan Franklin produced and Bill Vermillion engineered. Alan Franklin wrote all the songs, published by Penetraion Sound Publishing Company.
The notes on the back cover of the LP are worth quoting in full for their hype:
This is a wild savage approach to hard rock blues combining vicious jungle rock rhythm with very tight and lightening fast rhythm and lead progressions with a base that goes right inside of you. The vocals are wild and insane yet loving and caressing. The sound that these four cats put out is so fantastic that you won’t be able to turn it off. This is a new sound, a sound as wild and free as the Climax itself. For the Climax is made up of four rebellious wild fanatical musicians who literally go insane on stage, causing riots at every performance. People are going all the way with the Blues Climax. If you like hard rock music then you will love the Blues Climax.
– Albert Freeman ~ Penetration Publishing Company
The LP was chosen as Album of the Week in a small ad featuring “Brite Star’s Pick Hits”, run by a Nashville promotion company that was probably paid for the endorsement.
Alan Franklin’s first LP was called simply Blues Climax, recorded about 1968. The musicians are only Alan Franklin on guitar and vocals and Ray Vaughn on drums. It was released with red Horne labels, J.C. 333-7. Three of songs on this first would appear on the second LP in somewhat more polished versions. This earlier version of “Piece of My Heart” is so amazingly raw and crude, with great Bo Diddley type rhythm guitar playing:
His next LP seems to be titled Alan Roy Franklin released sometime in the 1970s. I haven’t heard any of it, nor his 1980 LP, Come Home Baby, credited to The Alan Franklin Explosion. This last one has a cover that has to be seen to be believed: Alan reclines on a bed, long-haired and shirtless, a jug of wine, copy of High Times, some cash and what looks to be a bong next to him on the red velour sheet.
Unfortunately I cannot recommend a google search for “Alan Roy Franklin”. I can only hope this is not the same Alan Franklin as turns up in the results.
The Statics are an obscure band from the St. Louis, Missouri area. In the spring of 1968 they cut their only single. “Again and Again” veers from a slow start to a hurried pace and back again, with some very gloomy organ playing and frantic drumming.
The Library of Congress catalog shows it was copyrighted in April, 1968 as simply “Again”, featuring words by Lanny McCormick and music by Bob Gleitze, who seems to have signed my copy of the 45.
The designated A-side was “I Can’t Hold It Back”, a sedate ballad also written by McCormick and Gleitze, but this side suffers from a constant high-pitched sound throughout the song.
Produced by Albert Gleitze, and with a credit to Leeander Productions at 2335 Weaton in the Hanley Hills section of St. Louis, a little north of Washington University. Seems to be the only release on the JB Leeander label.
The band had one further copyright for a song called “You Didn’t Believe Me”, again by McCormick and Gleitze, and submitted by Mark Schieferle in November 1968.
The Original Sinners formed at Yale University in New Haven. Robert Brentson Smith wrote “You’ll Never Know (What Love Is All About)”, which borrows the opening riff of the Stones’ “Empty Heart” for an archetypal garage single, with put-down lyrics, good harmony vocals, harp and a guitar break.
Brent Smith and Stew Metz wrote the stomping, bluesy “(Any Time You Need Me) I’ll Be Home”, freshened like the flip by good harmonies and balance in rhythm & lead guitar.
Both songs were copyrighted in April of 1966 with Cowardly Lion Music BMI. Produced by Bass & Reiser, it was released in May, 1966 on Discotech DTR-1001 (stamped Columbia custom pressing code ZTSP 122156/7 – 1A).
There’s no link between this Discotech label and the Ohio label that had cool releases by the Nomads and others.
The Bristols have a 45 well-known among soul collectors, “(Go Away) With a Girl Like Her” / “Where Am I Going”. Cash Box gave it a positive review in August, 1967.
According to a youtube comment from band member Dale Monette:
The black label was the first issue of the recording. After Audio Dynamics re-released it on the white label. It was engineered by Don Carmody who owned the studio, and Dick Booth who was a great guy and helped us get airplay on WHYN is Springfield MA and other stations around the western New England area in the summer of 1967. It rose to number 11 on the WHYN top 40. It stayed on the chart 8 weeks.
The band was from Worcester, Massachusetts, and included Dave Rivers on vocals and Dale Monette on drums. Judging from song writing credits on their first 45, other members may have been Gabrenas and Strom.
Much more obscure is their second single, also on Audio Dynamics. “Cross Your Heart” has some of the soulfulness of their first single, but I like the slow dreamy quality of the flip, “I Need Only You”. Both sides lack the commercial production of the “(Go Away) With a Girl Like Her” / “Where Am I Going”.
Like their first single, there’s a credit to Dick Booth for arrangment and production, but no song writing credits, only the Audyn Music BMI publishing.
The Audio Dynamics discography is a jumble of different codes, making an exact release chronology difficult. Some releases have numbers ending three digits beginning with 6: the Pentagons is 671, the first Bristols 45 672, and the second Bristols single has 673 on one side and 674 on the other. The Chain Reaction single has 682 in the code.
The Nomads were from the Toledo and Sylvania, Ohio area.
Members were:
John Radabaugh – lead vocals Carter Rae – lead guitar Jerry NcNutt – bass Jim Smith – drums
They released their only single in June, 1967, it was actually recorded at Motown Studios in Detroit.
“I Need Your Love” is stellar 12-string harmony rock, with an interesting middle section. It was written by Carter Rae and John Radabaugh and published by B-W Music, Inc. BMI.
“Willow Wind” is a Kingston Trio cover; the Nomads version is a favorite of some teen doo-wop fans.
The Nomads opened for the Byrds. Johnny Paris of Johnny and the Hurricanes used to sit in with them sometimes. Chip Davis, later of Mannheim Steamroller, was a drummer with the Nomads for a time.
The band broke up when members entered college.
Gary Rhamy produced the 45. Discotech was his label and also released the Last Exit’s “It’s The Same The Whole World Over” and the Sands ov Tyme.
Credited as a WilMat-Rhamy Production, his partners were Willis Parker and engineer Bob Matthews.
Gary Rhamy became chief engineer of United Audio in Youngstown, which he renamed Peppermint Productions Recording Studio in the early ’70s.
The Bacchantes were a studio creation of producer Carsten “Kit” Haaland. Kit Haaland ran the Bacchanalia label and production company in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with enough of a presence to get a listing in the Billboard Buyer’s Guide for five years running from 1968-1972, once with Tom McBryde and DanTaylor listed as Vice Presidents.
Beginning in 1967, Haaland registered a number of songs with the Library of Congress copyright office, including such intriguing titles as “Sun Machine Goddess”, “Bad Dream”, “Focus Your Love Lamp Baby”, “Get Off Your Rock” and “I Want You, Big Man”. I’d like to see the lyrics for these as Haaland seems to have had some message he was trying to deliver.
This single also appears to be from 1967. “Child of the Morning Sun (Bacchanalia #9)” was one of the first songs Haaland copyrighted. The production is upbeat baroque-psychedelic with female vocals. “I’m Leaving You (Bacchanalia #3)” has complicated shifts in tempo and melody.
A second single has “I’m Leaving You (Bacchanalia #3)” done in a soul style with a different arrangement and vocalists. This exists on a white label with blue print, No. G-1219. The A-side has a vocal version credited to the Bacchantes, the flip is an instrumental track credited to Daddy Bacchus Basic.
As far as I can tell, these were the only releases on the Bacchanalia label.
If music was a dead-end for Haaland, he received much more attention for his next venture as an expert on UFO sightings. A 1975 profile in the Kingsport Times-News states “Dr. Kit Haaland is a physicist in the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, currently working on a study of how the nation might survive a hypothetical nuclear war. In his spare time, he directs a group of about 40 scientists who are establishing a tracking network for aerial phenomena [UFOs].”
I believe Carsten Haaland passed away in December 2010.
The Conception came from Louisville, Kentucky, releasing only one single circa 1969 when the band were in their teens.
“Babylon” is an excellent cover of the Blue Cheer song from Outsideinside, featuring a heavily phased guitar break. “The Game” is an original by lead guitarist Charlie Day: a very different sound featuring acoustic guitar and harmonies.
Charlie Day listed the band members in a comment on youtube:
Bill Tullis – rhythm guitar and low harmony vocals Charlie Day – lead guitar and high harmony vocals Mark Zurlage – bass Jim Dant – drums
Mike Siebold was also in the group at some point.
Stuart Paine produced the single and also played Fender Rhodes on “The Game”. Paine released it on Perfection P-1001, and published “The Game” through Stuart Paine Music BMI.
Paine also co-produced the Waters “Mother Samwell” with Fred Baker as “A Paine-Baker Production”.
The Dystraction came from Reno, Nevada, its members were juniors in high school when they recorded their single in 1969:
Rick Yancey – lead guitar Rob Hanna – rhythm guitar Danny Herring – bass Scott Monroe – drums
Though young, they cut a great single of original hard rock on Coast Records 6969. Their connection to the Coast label out of Hollywood was Rob Hanna’s father, Bob Hanna, a member of the lounge trio the Esquires who had two releases on Coast. “Where Are We Now” is available on youtube, but I prefer the A-side, the slower and heavier “Wonder What Ya Feel”.
I’ve read the single had two pressings because the labels had songwriter Hanna listed before the band name, leading to confusion as to the group’s name. I haven’t seen the other version of this label, if you have a copy please contact me.
The Dystraction receive notices in the Reno Gazette-Journal, first on March 22, 1969.
Dystraction Releases Disk
The All-Reno youngster Dystraction hard-rock group has released its first record on the Coast label. Both sides of the single were written by the four-member group. “Wonder What you Feel” is the most popular song on the recording and the flipside is “Where Are We Now?”
The three Wooster High School and one Sparks High School students represented Nevada in Atlantic City last year after winning the state-side competition in the “Battle of the Bands.” Danny Herring plays bass, Rick Yancey plays lead guitar, Rob Hanna (son of Bob Hanna of the popular Esquires) plays rhythm and Scott Monroe plays drums for Dystraction. Terming themselves “Hard-rock” musicians, the youths will tour teen-age nightclubs in California and Oregon this summer with a probable engagement at the popular Sound Factory in Sacramento.
Then again on May 17:
For teen-agers only … a dance set to coincide with the Annual Custom Car and Boat Show at the Centennilal Coliseum May 16018. The Reno-formed, Reno-based Dystraction, featuring Danny Herring on bass, Rob Hanna on rhythm, Rich Yancey on guitar and Scot Monroe on drums, will feature new tunes of its own creation like “Where Are We Now,” “Wonder What You Feel” and “Nassar Blues.” The group should grow in prominence this summer with scheduled northwest tour.
On June 22, 1969 the Nevada State Journal covered the finals of the Reno area Battle of the Bands, with four winners going on to the state competition in Las Vegas the following week. The Dystraction was one of the winners, along with the Town Squires, Frog Rock and Jonathan Goodlife. The article included a couple of quotes from Danny Herring and a photo of the Jonathan Goodlife band, whose members were Jerry Werms, James Stipech, Steve Dunwoodie, James Mask and Terry Peterson.
Other bands in the competition included Chipped Beef on Toast, Wheet Straw Blew Grass, Chalk, Mr. Enzyme & the Electric Bean, Snow, and the Hellenic Invasions.
The Cosmic Tones, from left: Morris Ochoa, Vincent Hernandez, David Silva, Terry Williams and (kneeling) Alex Hernandez
The Cosmic Tones came out of Bell Gardens, CA, the same town as the Nite Walkers. They cut one single for the Discovery Records label, “Gonna Build Me a Woman” / “Hold It”. Discovery Records later released a cool single by the Missing Links. Like the Missing Links, publishing was through Jarhill Pub. Co, (an amalgam R. Jarrard and James Hilton, who are credited on the Missing Links single).
Members of the Cosmic Tones were:
David Silva – lead guitar Morris Ochoa – rhythm guitar Terry Williams – rhythm guitar Alex Hernandez – bass guitar Vincent Hernandez Jr. – drums
Bass player Alex Hernandez sent me a photo of the group and told me about the Cosmic Tones:
My name is Alex Hernandez and I played bass in the Cosmic Tones in Bell Gardens, CA. I had wanted to play the guitar since I was about 5 years old. My uncle Chris asked me what song I wanted him to teach me and I said “La Bamba” by Richie Valens. He taught me this song and it was the start of my playing.
When I was 13 I wanted to start a band so I started asking around and my friend Terry Williams was interested. He was 13 also and played rhythm guitar for us. My brother Vincent wanted to play drums, he was 14 years old.
We found David Silva who played lead guitar for us. He was a little older, he was 17 years old. We had a 5th addition in the band, Morris Ochoa and he was 14 then. He only stayed with us for about two months.
We all styled our hair back after ratting it up. We all used about a 1/2 can of Aqua Net hairspray before each play. After being together for about a month we had our first gig on Channel 34, a Mexican channel. We played an instrumental of “La Bamba” and it seemed to be a big hit.
We played songs such as “Whittier Blvd”, “My Girl”, “Land Of a Thousand Dances”. What a great time the ‘60s were. “Twist and Shout” was a favorite. We used to practice at any park that would let us, City of Commerce Park, Bell Gardens Park, Ford Park, and also at a park in Watts. We played at the junior high assemblies.
We also played in many battle of the bands and came in second at Ford Park out of around 12 groups. We played at the Cinnamon Cinder in Hollywood & at the Bob Hope telethon in Hollywood. We played at the Watts Festival and had a great time. We played at the White Front store in L.A. for two weeks after school to promote cerebal palsy research. We played at a teen club the Diamond Horseshoe in La Puenta, & for a CB club in Hidden Valley.
My dad Vincent Hernandez had us cut one 45 record, side A was sung by my brother, “I’m Gonna Build Me A Woman” and side B was an original instrumental.
Our rival band in Bell Gardens was the Nite Walkers. They were a real good group and we all went to school together. We always tried to be better than them and they wanted to be better than us.
The group broke up after about two years and I started playing the upright bass in high school. I joined the Army for 8 years in 1971, My brother joined the Army in 1969 and went to Viet Nam.
We lost sight of David Silva, and Terry Williams holds a jam session up towards San Diego weekly. I don’t know where Morris Ochoa went, My brother retired with the railroad and now manages a trailer park. We are all in our mid ‘60s now but I do know we still enjoy music every day. I retired with FedEx freight in 2013.
The last play I had was with my brother’s group the TCB Flash which is one of the best Elvis groups in southern CA. I sang and played four songs for New Years in 2016 at the Grove Theater in Upland CA. My songs were “House of the Rising Sun”, “Hang On Sloopy”, “Gloria” and “Wooly Bully”. Had a blast from the past and the audience seemed to really enjoy the show.
Left to right: Colin Pullen, Roy Manderson, Kenny Bernard, Phil Lanzon and Alan Griffin. Thanks to Colin for the image.
Kenny Bernard – lead vocals Alan Griffin – lead guitar Colin Pullen – bass Phil Lanzon – keyboards Roy Manderson – drums
Hailing from South London Cats Pyjamas released two highly inventive yet extremely rare and collectable 45s for the Direction label during 1968. The quintet’s music bridged psychedelia and progressive rock with hints of soul/R&B and both releases were notable for their top notch production and the superlative musicianship of its players.
Trinidad-born singer Kenny Bernard had first come to prominence with R&B outfit The Wranglers during 1963. Formed around the Lewisham area, the previous year, the group subsequently recorded a lone single for the Pye label, “The Tracker”, which was released in August 1965. Around the same time, the musicians were captured live at the Ad Lib Club in Leicester Square for a rare acetate that years later found its way into the hands of Mark Lamarr. The DJ passed the live tracks to the Acid Jazz label, which released the recordings as the Kenny Bernard & The Wranglers Live ’65 CD in 2011.
When The Wranglers splintered a few months later, Bernard stayed with Pye Records and recorded a cache of stylish R&B/soul-inspired singles during 1966 and 1967, none of which troubled the charts. However, as Bernard noted in his autobiography, You Came Into My Life, he found going solo a daunting experience and missed working with a band on stage.
One night (the most plausible date is sometime in June 1967), the singer was out at the Scotch of St James nightclub in Mayfair with his old friend Pete Gage, former guitarist in Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band, when he heard that South London group, The Loose Ends, were looking for a singer to front the band.
Originally from Bexley Heath in Kent, The Loose Ends had cut a couple of singles for Decca Records with singer Alan Marshall at the helm before undergoing a major overhaul in October 1966, which left the singer with the name. Marshall’s manager Bryan Mason then linked him with Croydon outfit, The Subjects, who featured guitarist Alan Griffin, keyboard player Phil Lanzon and drummer Roy Manderson.
The Subjects, 1966. Left to right: John Manderson, Malcolm Rudkin, Roy Manderson, Phil Lanzon and Alan Griffin. Thanks to Alan for the image.
Over the next few months, The Loose Ends’ manager also started to bring in musicians from Bexley band, Bob ‘N’ All to replace outgoing musicians. These included new bass player Colin Pullen and second singer Bob Saker. However, shortly before taking up a residency at the Bang Bang Club in Milan in mid-January 1967, first Roy Manderson and then Alan Griffin dropped out to make way for new recruits. Both, however, kept in touch with Phil Lanzon.
Fast forward to early March and The Loose Ends were back in London, and with Alan Griffin back in the fold, the group performed at the Scotch of St James and the Speakeasy. Shortly after a gig at the Central London Polytechnic on 15 April, where they opened for The Savoy Brown Blues Band, singers Alan Marshall and Bob Saker took up soul legend Otis Redding’s offer to fly to the US to record at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals.
Left without their two front men, The Loose Ends, who’d brought Roy Manderson back on board after his replacement Tony Glyde had left to join first The Fenmen and then Simon K & The Meantimers, put out feelers for another singer. With Marshall and Saker out of the picture, the musicians also decided to revamp themselves as Cats Pyjamas.
After spending a month or so working up a stage set with Kenny Bernard, Colin Pullen recalls that the group’s debut gig took place at a college in Epsom, Surrey, which quite possibly could have been nearby Ewell Technical College Refectory, a popular local venue for up and coming bands to perform at.
Over the next few months, Cats Pyjamas gigged fairly incessantly, and one of the band’s most notable gigs during this period was an appearance at the Starlight Room at Boston Gliderdrome in September with The Original Drifters. Pullen also recalls playing in Bournemouth’s Winter Gardens during the first few months of the group’s existence.
However, in early December, Cats Pyjamas secured a crucial deal with the Rik Gunnell Agency, which most likely was brokered by their manager Pete Gage, who’d co-written one of the band’s standout songs, “Virginia Water” with Kenny Bernard and had previous dealings with the agency during his time with The Ram Jam Band.
Selected gigs:
According to the Reading Evening Post, 12 August, Kenny Bernard plays at the Bag O’Nails around this time (and this would be with Cats Pyjamas).
13 August 1967 – Starlight Ballroom, Crawley, West Sussex with The Geranium Pond (Crawley Advertiser)
30 September 1967 – Starlight Room, Boston Gliderdrome, Boston, Lincolnshire with Original Drifters and The Magic Roundabout (Lincolnshire Standard)
7 October 1967 – Clouds, Derby (Derby Evening Telegraph)
22 October 1967 – Elm Hotel, Southend, Essex (Southend Standard)
4 November 1967 – The Place, Hanley, Staffordshire with Scots of St James (Evening Sentinel)
11 November 1967 – Cesar’s Club, Bedford, Bedfordshire with Geranium Pond (Bedfordshire Times)
2 December 1967 – Cliff’s Pavilion, Southend, Essex with John Walker and The Timebox and The Seychells (Southend Standard)
2 December 1967 – Luton Boys Club, Luton, Bedfordshire with Tramline (Evening Post: Hemel Hempstead)
8 December 1967 – The Place, Hanley, Staffordshire with The Wafer Board (Evening Sentinel)
The link-up with the Rik Gunnell Agency brought in steady stream of live work and importantly gave the band a regular spot to shine at the agency’s top Soho club, the Bag O’Nails on Kingley Street. It also led to a recording deal with the Direction label and, that same month, the musicians recorded a superb version of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector’s “Baby, I Love You”, originally a top 30 US hit for The Ronettes in 1963, at Olympic Studio’s in Barnes.
To this listener’s ears, however, it is the flip, the Pete Gage/Kenny Bernard penned “Virginia Water” that is the more impressive recording. A psych/prog-rock masterpiece, the song, named after the Surrey commuter town, benefits greatly from Mervyn Conn’s excellent production and demonstrates the inventiveness of a band that is only a few months old.
Alan Griffin sets the scene with a sizzling “nosediving” guitar effect, which is soon buried in the rhythm section’s intricate, syncopated bass and percussion lines. The action then cuts back to the guitarist, who interjects with a series of strident riffs, signalling the arrival of Phil Lanzon’s majestic, prog-rock Hammond fills. As the brooding atmosphere threatens to spill over, Kenny Bernard joins the fray with his distinctive, powerful and soulful lead vocals.
The single, when released on 26 January 1968, should have been a massive hit, but instead sank without a trace. Perhaps “Virginia Water” would have fared better had it been promoted as the A-side but then again the band’s unique style, marrying psych-progressive rock with soul influences was probably far too inventive and dare I say it, “ahead of its time” to meet the narrow demands of the pop charts. Needless to say, breaking into top echelons of the charts was practically an impossibility anyway given The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and others’ virtual stranglehold.
Interestingly, “Virginia Water” caught the attention of Scottish progressive-rock band, Writing on The Wall, who later recorded the track under an “unknown” title for their Power of The Picts LP.
Selected gigs:
15 December 1967 – Sibyllas, Swallow Street, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
16 December 1967 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
18 December 1967 – Kettering Working Men’s Club, Kettering, Northamptonshire (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings/Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph)
28 February 1968 – Rasputin’s, New Bond Street, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
2 March 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
3 March 1968 – Beachcomber, Nottingham (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
Undeterred by the chart failure of their debut 45, Cats Pyjamas returned to Olympic Studios in Barnes with Mervyn Conn to record a follow up release. According to Rik Gunnell’s agency bookings, the group spent two days recording (4 and 5 March).
Colin Pullen remembers that The Steve Miller Band were recording tracks for Children of The Future in the studio next door and when Cats Pyjamas had finished their session they watched the San Francisco group at work.
During the sessions, Cats Pyjamas recorded two new Kenny Bernard songs, “Camera Man” and “Houses”. Bernard would revisit the pedestrian “Houses” in later years and but here the rest of the band give the song a semi-acoustic treatment complete with progressive organ fills. To this listener’s ears, the track wouldn’t sound out of place on The Small Faces’ Autumn Stone or Family’s Music From a Doll’s House. Far better is the raving Mod/prog cross-over “Camera Man” with its infectious chorus and stomping, driving beat.
Like “Virginia Water”, “Camera Man” demonstrates just how innovative Cats Pyjamas could be in the studio; unfortunately the group’s second outing would follow its predecessor into obscurity. The tragedy is that the group never got the opportunity to cut more material towards an LP.
Selected gigs:
7 March 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
21-22 May 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
24 May 1968 – Rasputin’s, New Bond Street, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
30-31 May 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
Released on 24 May 1968, “Camera Man” c/w “Houses” was another creative step forward but all was not well within the band. As Bernard later admitted in his autobiography, the singer was increasingly coming to blows with the rest of the group, both musically and personally. A rare high point was a month-long residency at the Stones Club in Madrid during June where Cats Pyjamas took over from Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede.
29 September 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
4 October 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
5 October 1968 – Fellowship Inn, Bellingham, southeast London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
6 October 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
11 October 1968 – Kingston College of Art, Kingston Upon Thames, southwest London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
18-19 October 1968 – Rasputin’s, New Bond Street, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
20 October 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
21 October 1968 – Rasputin’s, New Bond Street, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
25 October 1968 – Bag O’Nails, Kingley Street, Soho, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
26 October 1968 – White Hart, Acton, west London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
27 October 1968 – Mercer’s Arms, Swan Lane, Coventry, West Midlands (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
28-31 October 1968 – Playboy Club, Park Lane, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
1-9 November 1968 – Playboy Club, Park Lane, central London (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
10 November 1968 – Swan Hotel, Yardley, West Midlands (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
16 November 1968 – El Grotto, Ilford, east London (Redbridge & Ilford Recorder) Missing from Colin’s diary
The band late 1968. Left to right: Phil Lanzon, Alan Griffin, Kenny Bernard, Roy Manderson (back) and Colin Pullen. Thanks to Alan for the photo.
Having returned to the UK after working in Madrid for a month during June 1968, tensions between Kenny Bernard and the rest of the band continued to grow and following some final gigs for Rik Gunnell in mid-November, the singer parted ways to resume a solo career.
Cats Pyjamas stuck together a bit longer but sometime in 1969 Colin Pullen left. Around November of that year, remaining members Alan Griffin, Phil Lanzon and Roy Manderson joined Geno Washington and worked as his Ram Jam Band until the spring of 1970. Griffin remained with the singer when he put together a new version that year.
Phil Lanzon, however, maintained the greatest profile over the succeeding years, later working with Grand Prix, Chris Spedding and Sweet among others before joining Uriah Heep in 1986 with whom he continues to play.
Huge thanks to Colin Pullen (who kindly shared the Rik Gunnell Agency booking list), Alan Griffin and Phil Lanzon for providing information about the band.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
The Alan Franklin Explosion have received some attention from collectors of private underground albums, but this 45 is worth discussing. Both “Piece of My Heart” and “Bye Bye Baby” were taken from Alan Franklin’s second LP, the one that has his b&w photo and both “The Alan Franklin Explosion” and “The Blues Climax” on the front cover, on the Horne label, J.C. 888-L.
The LP was chosen as Album of the Week in a small ad featuring “Brite Star’s Pick Hits”, run by a Nashville promotion company that was probably paid for the endorsement.
16 March 1968 – Gaiety Ballroom, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire with The Friction (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings/Cambridgeshire Times)
6 April 1968 – Stax Club, Cirencester, Gloucestershire with The Purple Barrier (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings)
21 April 1968 – Tower Ballroom, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (Rik Gunnell Agency bookings/Yarmouth Mercury)
