Love Sculpture

Last updated

Love Sculpture
Origin Cardiff, Wales
Genres Blues rock [1]
Years active1966–1970
Labels
Past members Dave Edmunds
John David
Rob 'Congo' Jones
Mickey Gee
Terry Williams

Love Sculpture were a Welsh blues rock band [1] that was active from 1966 to 1970, led by Dave Edmunds (born 15 April 1944 in Cardiff, Wales), with bassist John David (born 19 January 1946 in Cardiff) and drummer Rob "Congo" Jones (born 13 August 1946 in Barry, Wales).

Contents

Career

Love Sculpture were founded in Cardiff in 1966 by former members of the Human Beans. [3] The band mostly performed blues standards, slightly revved-up, but still close to the originals. Their debut album Blues Helping included the songs "Summertime" and "Wang Dang Doodle".

They are best known for their 1968 novelty hit in the UK Singles Chart, a high-speed cover version of the classical piece "Sabre Dance" by Aram Khachaturian, released on the Parlophone label (R 5744), which reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1968. [4] The recording was inspired by Keith Emerson's classical rearrangements. [5] "Sabre Dance" became a hit after receiving air play by British DJ John Peel, who was so impressed that he played it twice in one programme. [5] In December 1968, UK music magazine NME reported that Love Sculpture had signed a US recording contract with London Records, guaranteeing £250,000. [6] The band were also given an invitation to perform "Sabre Dance" live on the German Beat-Club television programme of Radio Bremen, being broadcast in monochrome at that time.

Second album Forms and Feelings followed, including the aforementioned "Sabre Dance", and additional songs including , "In The Land of the Few", "Farandole", "People People", "Seagull (West Coast Oil Tragedy)", written by Paul Korda, and the equally fast cover of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me". [1] The US version of the album also featured a recording of "Mars" from Gustav Holst's The Planets , but Holst's estate refused to license the tune for the UK version.

They recorded for BBC Radio 1's John Peel sessions in 1968 (twice) and 1969. [7]

In 1970 Mickey Gee joined the band as a second guitarist, and Terry Williams replaced Rob Jones on drums. [8]

Love Sculpture split up in 1970 after a US tour, having recorded just the two albums. Edmunds went on to solo number one hit success with "I Hear You Knocking" later in 1970, and collaborated heavily with ex-Brinsley Schwarz bassist Nick Lowe, eventually forming the band Rockpile with him and Terry Williams.

Band members

Discography

Albums

Blues Helping – (October 1968) [9] Parlophone

Released in the US in mid-May on Motown's new Rare Earth label (RS-505), with a different cover design.

  1. "The Stumble" (Freddy King, Sonny Thompson) (shown as "Stumble" on cover, "The Stumble" on label)
  2. "3 O'Clock Blues" (B. B. King, Jules Taub)
  3. "I Believe to My Soul" (Ray Charles)
  4. "So Unkind" (Elmore James, Marshall Sehorn)
  5. "Summertime" (George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward)
  6. "On The Road Again" (Floyd Jones, Alan Wilson)
  7. "Don't Answer the Door" (James Franklin Johnson)
  8. "Wang-Dang-Doodle" (Willie Dixon)
  9. "Come Back Baby" (Ray Charles)
  10. "Shake Your Hips" (Slim Harpo)
  11. "Blues Helping" (John David Williams, Dave Edmunds, Rob Jones)

2007 Esoteric Records reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Morning Dew" (Human Beans)
  2. "It's a Wonder" (Human Beans)
  3. "River to Another Day" (Single)
  4. "Brand New Woman" (Single)
  • Dave Edmunds - guitars, lead vocals, organ, piano
  • John Williams - bass, backing vocals (3, 5, 6, 8), piano (10)
  • Bob "Congo" Jones - drums, backing vocals (3, 5)

Forms and Feelings – (December 1969) – Parlophone

Released in the US in 1970 on Parrot (PAS-71035).

  1. "In the Land of the Few" (Mike Finesilver, Pete Ker, Dave Edmunds) – 3:55
  2. "Seagull" (Paul Korda) – 3:28
  3. "Nobody's Talking" (Finesilver, Ker) – 3:37
  4. "Why (How Now)" (Finesilver, Ker) – 7:42
  5. "Farandole" (Georges Bizet, arranged by Dave Edmunds) – 3:42
  6. "You Can't Catch Me" (Chuck Berry) – 3:25
  7. "People People" (Finesilver, Ker) – 3:23
  8. "Mars" (Gustav Holst) – 1:58 (US version only)
  9. "Sabre Dance" (Aram Khachaturian, arranged by Dave Edmunds) – 11:12

2007 Esoteric Records release bonus tracks

  1. "Think of Love"
  2. "Seagull" (Mono Single Version)
  3. "Farandole (Mono Single Version)
  4. "In the Land of the Few" (Mono Single Version)
  5. "People People" (Mono Single Version)
  6. "Sabre Dance" (Single Version)
  • Dave Edmunds - guitars, lead vocals, keyboards
  • John Williams - bass, backing vocals, keyboards
  • Bob "Congo" Jones - drums, backing vocals

Both albums were reissued in May 2008, remastered and with bonus tracks (including the tracks from the two singles listed below).

Singles

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manfred Mann</span> English rock band

Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two different lead vocalists, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Edmunds</span> Welsh musician

David William Edmunds is a Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s-style rock and roll and rockabilly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street Fighting Man</span> 1968 single by the Rolling Stones

"Street Fighting Man" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, written by the songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Considered one of the band's most popular and most controversial songs, it features Indian instrumentation contributed by Brian Jones, which has led to it being characterized as a raga rock song. It also features controversial and ambiguous lyrics about armed revolution. In the United States, it was released as a single in August 1968, while it was not released in the United Kingdom until four months later on the Beggars Banquet album, where it opened side two. The B-side of the American single featured "No Expectations", considered one of the final Stones tracks in which founding member Jones played a significant role in its construction.

<i>Mr. Fantasy</i> 1967 studio album by Traffic

Mr. Fantasy is the debut album by English rock band Traffic, released in December 1967. The recording included group members Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, and Dave Mason; Mason temporarily left the band shortly after the album was released. The album reached the number 16 position in the UK Albums Chart, and number 88 on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Groundhogs</span> British blues and rock band

The Groundhogs were an English blues and rock band founded in late 1963 in London. Named after John Lee Hooker's song "Ground Hog Blues", they were part of the burgeoning British rhythm and blues scene, backing Hooker on his album ...And Seven Nights. They were predominantly a power trio of Tony McPhee, Peter Cruickshank (bass) and Ken Pustelnik (drums), with Clive Brooks replacing Pustelnik in 1972 until the band split in 1974. They issued seven albums via Liberty/UA, including the UK Top 10 Thank Christ for the Bomb, Split and Who Will Save the World?.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Python Lee Jackson</span> Australian rock band

Python Lee Jackson were an Australian rock band active from 1965 to 1968, before a brief sojourn in the United Kingdom from late 1968 to mid-1969. The group had recorded a single, "In a Broken Dream", featuring Rod Stewart as guest vocalist in April 1969. The group reformed in 1972 and the single was re-released in August: it peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 56 on the United States Billboard Hot 100. The group disbanded again later that year. Their early vocalist, Mal McGee (1966–68) died on 17 May 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muruga Booker</span> American musician

Steven Bookvich known as Muruga Booker is an American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, recording artist, and an autonomous Eastern Orthodox priest.

<i>Tracks on Wax 4</i> 1978 studio album by Dave Edmunds

Tracks on Wax 4 is the fourth album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. The record was the first Edmunds solo effort to feature all four members of the band Rockpile: Edmunds, Billy Bremner, Nick Lowe, and Terry Williams.

Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, at various times also known as Velvet Opera, was a British rock band active in the late 1960s. Members of the band, Richard Hudson, John Ford and Paul Brett, would later become members of The Strawbs, Hudson Ford and Stretch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire (Arthur Brown song)</span> Song by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

"Fire" is a 1968 song written by Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker. Performed by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, it was released as a single and on the band's debut album, also called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The single became a transatlantic hit, reaching number one in the UK and Canada and number two in the United States, while hitting the top 10 in markets across Europe.

<i>The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972</i> 2009 box set by Neil Young

Neil Young Archives Vol. 1: 1963–1972 is the first in a planned series of box sets of archival material by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. It was released on June 2, 2009, in three different formats - a set of 10 Blu-ray discs in order to present high resolution audio as well as accompanying visual documentation, a set of 10 DVDs and a more basic 8-CD set. Covering Young's early years with The Squires and Buffalo Springfield, it also includes various demos, outtakes and alternate versions of songs from his albums Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest, as well as tracks he recorded with Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during this time. Also included in the set are several live discs, as well as a copy of the long out-of-print film Journey Through the Past, directed by Young in the early 1970s.

<i>Rockpile</i> (album) 1972 studio album by Dave Edmunds

Rockpile is the first solo album by Dave Edmunds, released in 1972. It is principally focused on remakes of late 1950s and early 1960s hits, with a few new songs included. Edmunds plays almost all the instruments except for bass and backing vocals, which are played by John Williams, Edmunds' former bandmate in Love Sculpture. The album included a 1970 British #1 and worldwide Top 10 single, "I Hear You Knocking". A 2001 reissue of the album includes both sides of Edmunds' three pre-album singles as bonus tracks.

<i>Plugged In</i> 1994 studio album by Dave Edmunds

Plugged In is a 1994 album by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds. The album is the last completely new studio album released by Edmunds to feature vocals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets</span> Welsh rock band

Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets were a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1969. They released several records and toured throughout the 1970s and their lead singer Shakin' Stevens went on to become a successful solo artists in the 1980s. A version of the Sunsets, containing original members, still tours annually in the UK, Europe and Australia.

Michael Richard Gee was a rock and roll guitarist who played alongside some of the most prominent Welsh musicians of the last forty years.

John David Williams is a Welsh bassist and songwriter known equally for his work with Dave Edmunds and for his songwriting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didn't Know I Had It</span> 1994 single by Cheap Trick

"Didn't Know I Had It" is a song by American rock band Cheap Trick, released in 1994 as the fifth and final single from their twelfth studio album Woke Up with a Monster. It was written by Rick Nielsen and Todd Cerney, and produced by Ted Templeman.

The Led Zeppelin Deluxe Edition is a series of albums reissued by English rock group Led Zeppelin, distributed by Atlantic Records. It contains all nine of the original Led Zeppelin studio albums remastered from the original analog tapes. Along with the remastered albums, there is a companion disc with each album, consisting of previously unreleased audio tracks and alternate mixes of released tracks. Many of these are described as work-in-progress or alternate mixes made during the original production rather than new remixes generated to highlight discarded recording elements. The first companion album consists of the 10 October 1969 concert in Paris. The albums were released in chronological order, each with inverted album covers.

<i>Step Up</i> (Flamin Groovies album) 1991 studio album by Flamin Groovies

Step Up is a compilation album of in-studio demos recorded by the Flamin' Groovies in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1984 and 1989 and released in 1991. The demos were produced by Cyril Jordan and engineered and mixed by Karl Derfler, and the album was released shortly after the band broke up. However, after the breakup, eight of the 13 songs were reworked and remixed by Jordan and Derfler, along with removing all lead and backing vocals except for those by Jordan and Groovies' bassist George Alexander, and were then ultimately issued on the Groovies' eighth studio album Rock Juice in 1993.

Ronald Robert Peel, who also performed as Rockwell T. James, was an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of numerous bands starting with the Missing Links and the Pleazers in the mid-1960s; then the La De Da's from 1972 to 1975 and in various backing bands for John Paul Young. He released a solo album Shot of Rhythm and Blues in 1977 under the James pseudonym, which provided his only top 40 single, "Roxanne". He co-wrote "Rock Me Gently" for Sherbet with its band members, which is a top 10 hit for that group. Peel died in 2020 due to an unspecified cancer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Love Sculpture at AllMusic
  2. Thompson, Dave (2002). The Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting. Backbeat Books. p. 408. ISBN   9781617132025.
  3. "Love Sculpture". Making Time. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  4. "Sabre Dance". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 7 December 2010.
  5. 1 2 Rick Clark, liner notes from The Dave Edmunds Anthology (1968–90), Rhino Records R2 71191 (1993)
  6. Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 191. CN 5585.
  7. "Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – Love Sculpture". BBC. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  8. Mannerisms II – Man and Roots/Offshoots by Michael Mycock, published June 1995, page 108
  9. "Album Reviews" (PDF). Melody Maker. 2 November 1968. p. 14. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  10. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 331. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.