Apr 10, 2009

DAVE DEE,DOZY,BEAKY,MICK & TICH - S/T (FONTANA 1966) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 13 bonus




Five friends from Wiltshire, David John Harman, Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies, John Dymond, Michael Wilson and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey, formed a group in 1961 called Dave Dee And The Bostons. They soon gave up their jobs (e.g. Dave Dee was a policeman) to make money from music. Apart from performing in Britain, they also occasionally played in Hamburg (Star-Club, Top Ten Club) and in Cologne (Storyville).
In summer 1964, British songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley became interested in recording them. The band was set up in the studio to make recordings with then famous producer of The Honeycombs, Joe Meek. These recording sessions failed to get anywhere off the ground as an interview with Dave Dee stated that Joe Meek "had very strange recording techniques. He wanted us to play the song at half speed and then he would speed it up and put all these little tricks on it. We said we couldn't do it that way. He exploded, threw coffee all over the studio and stormed up to his room. His assistant Patric Pink came in and said, "Mr Meek will not be doing any more recording today." That was it. We lugged all our gear out and went back home." While these recording session proved unsuccessful they eventually gained a recording contract with Fontana Records.
They changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich — an amalgam of their nicknames. The distinctive name, coupled with well produced and catchy songs by Howard and Blaikley, quickly caught the UK's public's imagination and their records started to sell in abundance. Indeed, between 1965 and 1969, the group spent more weeks in the UK Singles Chart than The Beatles.
Vocalist Dee, the ex-policeman, was at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dee had taken Cochran's guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family.
They also scored a Number One hit on the UK chart in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu".This particular track made it 'big' worldwide - even in the United States (where they had previously had little success). Their other Top Ten UK hits included "Hideaway", "Hold Tight!", "Bend It!", "Save Me", "Touch Me, Touch Me", "Okay!", "Zabadak!" and "Last Night in Soho".
In September, 1969, Dee left the group for a short-lived solo career. The rest, re-billed as (D,B,M and T) continued releasing records, until they broke up in 1972...[net]
Here

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the share! As one who has lived in the US his whole life, I never got to hear these guys on the radio -- not even Xanadu. Perhaps they would have had better success if they shortened their ridiculously long name. I'm finally discovering how good they are now. "Zabadak" almost sounds contemporary, bringing to mind current artists like the Ruby Suns or Animal Collective. -- Ion

Gerard said...

Thanks All those Japanese versions are great.

The Bomber said...

Did you watch the film "Death Proof"
directed by Q Tarantino ? ? ? ?

the part of the car-crash with the song hold tight
...

thanks Georgie

The Bomber said...

Death Proof Soundtrack

Georgie Hirezola said...

Yes!!!!I know the film...but I can't remember the car-crash song right now!!! jajajajaj...well..I'll check it again later tonight...
Q Tarantino is GREAT!!!!
Gracias Pablo+++++++++++++++++

Georgie Hirezola said...

hmmm...yeah..I guess the most of their songs sound a lot of better today...than did 40 years ago.... Here in Europe they are well known to all 60's fans, the most I guess because their output was on the famous & "cult" Fontana label!!!
...Definitely they were not the greatest British group but at least they had their own style & sound....I like them!
thanks Ion,Gerard & all of you
Georgie+++++++++++

Oldie said...

And now

THE HONEYCOMBS ????

Would be great!!!!!

Thx - Oldie

Tarkus said...

Thanx a lot!

Zandi said...

thanks a lot for the great oldies. any more dave dee, dozy ....?
all the other ups are very fine.

Georgie Hirezola said...

I have their complete "Fontana" output but....OK I can't post 4 DDDBMT albums in one day......
I'll post the rest of their LPs soon!!!
Georgie+++++++++++++++

Zandi said...

that´s ok, get so much time as you need. Thanks and greetz, Zandi

Anonymous said...

I'd argue and say there were one of the best UK groups of their time. Have you seen the live clips of them? Brilliant

MerseyBeat said...

Thank you! These tracks sound great. More British Beat ('62-'66) please!

Cheers.

Jon said...

Don't suppose you plan on posting 'If No One Sang'? I'd love to hear it in SHM-CD!

Cheers

Jon