standing - Alan Bown, Jeff Bannister, Stan Haldane and Vic Sweeney
seated - John Anthony Helliwell, Robert Palmer and Tony Catchpole
Week of July 24, 2005
standing - Alan Bown, Jeff Bannister, Stan Haldane and Vic
Sweeney
seated - John Anthony Helliwell, Robert Palmer and Tony Catchpole
Personnel:
Alan Bown Trumpet
Stan Haldane - Bass, Vocals
Jeff Bannister - Keyboards/Vocals
John Helliwell Sax
Robert Palmer Vocals
Vic Sweeney Drums
Tony Catchpole Guitar
Jess Roden Vocals
Gordon Neville Vocals
Andy Brown - Bass, Vocals
Albums:
Outward Bown (Music Factory MF 12000) 1967
CD: See For Miles SEECD490, 1998
The Alan Bown (Deram DML/SML 1049) 1968
CD: Universal, Japan, POCJ-2835, 1999
Listen (Island ILPS 9131) 1970
Stretching Out (Island ILPS 9163) 1971
CD: Listen/Stretching Out, Edsel EDCD362, 1993
+ CD: Emergency 999 - singles and previously unreleased tracks, Castle NEMCD483, 2000
45s:
Can't Let Her Go/I'm The One (Pye 7N 15934) 1965
Baby Don't Push Me/Everything's Gonna Be Alright (Pye 7N 17084) 1966
Headline News/Mister Pleasure (Pye 7N 17148) 1966
Emergency 999/Settle Down (Pye 7N 17192) 1966
Gonna Fix You Good (Everytime You're Bad)/I Really Really Care (Pye 7N 17256)
1967
We Can Help You/Magic Hankerchief (Music Factory CUB 1) 1967
Toyland/Technicolour Dream (MGM 1355) 1967
Story Book/Little Lesley (MGM 1387) 1968
Still As Stone/Wrong Idea (Deram DM 259) 1969
Gypsy Girl/All I Can (Deram DM 278) 1969
Pyramid/Crash Landing (Island WIP 6091) 1971
Rockford Files/I Don't Know (CBS 3721) 1975
This was a long-running soul and blues influenced outfit who were very
popular on the club circuit. Perhaps their finest moment was We Can Help You,
a whimsical slice of late sixties pop, which surprisingly wasn't a hit - it
reached No.26 in the NME chart, leading to an appearance on Top of The Pops, but
in the week of their appearance, the company pressing the single was on strike,
and consequently there were no singles in the shops! Of their other releases, Headline
News was an Edwin Starr cover; Emergency 999 was played on
the Northern soul scene and Gonna Fix You Good was a Little Anthony
and The Imperials cover.
As you can see from the line-up information, some pretty prestigious musicians
passed through Bown's band. When he called it a day in 1974 he went to
work for CBS Records A&R Department.
The reissue of Outward Bown on Tenth Planet includes We Can Help You, along with their version of All Along The Watchtower, which impressed Hendrix sufficiently enough for Jimi to start including it in his set, plus other goodies such as the Bee Gees-influenced Sally Green. The album failed to happen, and Jess Roden left to pursue a solo career, with the band taking on a more progressive sound.
The Early Years is a reissue of their Deram album and includes both
sides of the Still As Stone 45 on which Jess Roden rather than
Robert Palmer sings vocals.
Compilation appearances have included: Baby Don't Push Me on The
R&B Era, Vol. 2 (LP & CD); All I Can Do on Broken Dreams, Vol.
6 (LP); Emergency 999 on Doin' The Mod, Vol. 1 (CD); Baby
Don't Push Me and Everything's Gonna Be Alright on Doin' The
Mod, Vol. 2 (CD); I Really Really Care on Echoes From The
Wilderness - Sixteen UK R&B Freakbeat Trippers (LP & CD); Can't Let Her
Go and I'm The One on Footsteps To Fame, Vol. 2 (CD).
Taken from The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson ISBN 1 899855 04 1
The Alan Bown Set was formed mid-1965 with the following personnel:
Alan Bown - leader/trumpet, Dave Green - sax/flute, Jeff Bannister - organ/lead
vocals, Stan Haldane - bass guitar/vocals, Pete Burgess - guitar/vocals and Vic
Sweeney - drums/vocals. Green, Haldane and Bannister had previously been in
The John Barry Seven with Alan Bown, whom John Barry had appointed as
leader.
After signing a deal with Pye Records, The Alan Bown Set recorded their
first single, which featured Jeff Bannister on lead vocals. Cant Let Her Go
was nominated the A-side with the Curtis Mayfield song, Im The One
Who Loves You on the B-side. Im The One was a much livelier track
and had previously been part of The John Barry Sevens repertoire thus
sounding more honed. Preferring this track, Tony Hatch, the producer, suggested
it should be the A-side, but a record company decision outvoted him. Cant
Let Her Go was released in September 1965.
In January 1966, Dave Green left the band and was replaced by John Anthony
Helliwell. Soon after, in February 1966, lead vocalist Jess Roden joined
the band and his vocals were featured on the next single, Everythings Gonna
Be Alright followed not long after with the more successful single, Headline
News.
In July 1966, The Alan Bown Set appeared on Ready Steady Go and two
days later, made their debut at The Windsor Jazz Festival. These events were
interspersed with appearances at the famous Marquee Club in London.
In September1966, the band recorded London Swings Live at the Marquee Club,
a live album with The Alan Bown Set featured on one side and Jimmy
James and The Vagabonds on the other. In November, Pete Burgess was replaced
by Tony Catchpole.
Early in 1967, Jacques Loussier commissioned The Alan Bown Set to record
a soundtrack for the film Jeu De Massacre. This was premiered at the1967
Cannes Film festival, which the band attended and whilst in the area made an
appearance on Monte Carlo TV.
Later in 1967, the band dropped the suffix Set and became The Alan Bown!
Another prestigious Windsor Jazz Festival followed and further singles, Toyland,
Story Book and the first album, Outward Bown, were released.
During 1968, the band made several television appearances. All Systems
Freeman, The Simon Dee Show and Eamonn Andrews Today.
In August 1968, the band appeared on Top of the Pops, performing the single We
Can Help You. Already at number 26 in the national charts, it was assured a
higher place the following week but then the pressing plant for the record label
MGM went on strike and halted production. By the time the dispute was resolved,
the single had lost crucial potential sales and disappeared from the charts.
Soon after this debacle, the band appeared on a major TV spectacular hosted by
Jack Good, entitled Innocence, Anarchy and Soul.
In 1969, two more singles were released, Still as Stone and Gypsy
Girl. A new album was issued on Deram, simply entitled The Alan Bown!'
Immediately after recording the album, Jess Roden announced his
departure. Alan Bown then recruited Robert Palmer who re-recorded the
vocals on the album prior to its release.
Island Records signed the band early in 1970 and a new album entitled Listen
was released, featuring Robert Palmer. An appearance followed on BBC TVs
Disco 2 (a forerunner of the Old Grey Whistle Test). Robert Palmer
decided to leave the band as soon as the new album had been completed. In
mid-1970, Gordon Neville re-recorded all the vocal tracks on the album and
Robert departed in October.
A new single, featuring vocalist Gordon Neville, was released in November
1970 on Island records entitled, Pyramid. In December, long
serving bassist Stan Haldane left and his replacement was Andy Brown. A new
album for Island Records followed, entitled Stretching Out.
In March 1971, the band made its second appearance on BBC TVs Disco 2. In July
1971, Jeff Bannister left the band to pursue a solo career. The band decided to
continue without a keyboard player. Andy Brown left in September 1971 and was
replaced by Dougie Thompson and during the following month, Tony Catchpole also
left. His replacement was Derek Griffiths.
This line-up continued until the demise of The Alan Bown! in February
1972. Alan then reformed the band for one last tour with Dave Lawson on
keyboards, Tony Dangerfield on bass/lead vocals, Frank White on guitar and Alan
Coulter on drums, but no recordings with this line-up were released. The last
appearances of this band were in July 1972.
More information can be found in the book The Alan Bown Set Before and
Beyond by Jeff Bannister, published by Banland Publishing Ltd. and
available via
www.banlandpublishing.com.
Jeff Bannister, 2007