Orange Bicycle was an English psychedelic pop band, which existed between 1967 and 1971. The band played a style influenced by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and the hippie counter culture. Previously, they acted as support, and backing band for the duo Paul and Barry Ryan as well as completing sessions for other vocalists, recording over 100 BBC Radio One sessions and appearing on UK TV.
Starting life as a skiffle group from Crouch End, North London in 1959, the start of the rock 'n' roll movement at the 2 I's and other coffee bars in Soho, convinced the group to move to electric guitars and drums becoming 'Robb Storme and the Whispers' in the transition.
In 1960 the group won a recording contract with Decca having impressed at a competition called the Soho Fair. The group recorded several singles for the label without much success and they continued to tour the UK
Early members of the group were Robb Scales (lead vocals) Jim St. Pier (saxophone) Chuck Hardy (guitar) Gary Hooper (bass) and Lewis Collins (bass) who later went on to gain fame in the TV series The Professionals. [1]
The group continued to tour throughout the sixties recording singles for Columbia and Piccadilly and toured Colleges and Universities in the UK in 1964, Robb Storme and the Whispers were the first rock/pop band to play behind the Iron Curtain, touring Poland with Helen Shapiro.[ citation needed ] Later as fashions changed they morphed into The Robb Storme Group. In 1966 they covered the Beach Boys track, "Here Today". [2] Finally when the psychedelic revolution arrived they renamed to Orange Bicycle. The first single from Orange Bicycle, "Hyacinth Threads", was a record chart #1 hit single in France, and quite successful in some other European countries. It was their best known recording, and has appeared on numerous compilations. [2]
In 1968 the band started to cover The Rolling Stones' "Sing This Song All Together". The same year they performed at the Isle of Wight Festival on a line-up that included Jefferson Airplane, The Move, T-Rex, Fairport Convention, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and The Pretty Things. In July 1969, they appeared on BBC Two's television programme, Colour Me Pop . Their most successful album, Orange Bicycle, included covers of "Carry That Weight", "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You", "Say You Don't Mind" and "Take Me to the Pilot". [2]
Finally, in 1970, the band released their first LP entitled The Orange Bicycle but the psychedelic style was considered out of fashion.
The band broke up in 1971. [2]
Malone released a solo album as "Wil Malone" on Fontana, and the album Motherlight under the name "Bobak, Jons, Malone" on Morgan Blue Town, featuring Malone on vocals, keyboards and drums with Morgan studio engineers Mike Bobak on guitar and Andy Jons (Johns) as recording engineer. Malone went on to become a successful arranger and record producer. His string arrangement for The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" caused controversy. [2]
Currie joined Supertramp, then Burlesque, later becoming a session musician.
John Bachini (also known as John Baccini, John Bacchini and The Wop) carried on as a session bass player and session backing vocalist/producer/engineer.[ citation needed ] He opened the Wopalong Recording Studios and the Superwop Music Publishers in Luton, Bedfordshire with partner, Don Larking, and produced children's characters and TV formats. In 2004 John Bachini received a large out-of-court settlement from Celador Productions, ITV and five Individuals after claiming one of his game show formats, Millionaire, was plagiarised to create Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? . [3]
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a wide range of musical styles. Their sound has merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz.
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, and several of their albums ranked in the Top 30 of the Billboard Pop charts. They were part of the new wave of album-oriented bands, achieving renown and popularity despite a lack of success with their singles. Though not as commercially successful as contemporaries Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver was integral to the beginnings of their genre. With their jazz and classical influences and a strong folk background, the band attempted to create an individual, innovative sound. Music historian Colin Larkin wrote: "Of all the bands that came out of the San Francisco area during the late '60s, Quicksilver typified most of the style, attitude and sound of that era."
The Electric Prunes are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Much of the band's music was, as music historian Richie Unterberger described it, possessed of "an eerie and sometimes anguished ambiance." Their most successful material was by songwriters Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, though the group also penned their own songs. Incorporating psychedelia and elements of embryonic electronic rock, the band's sound was marked by innovative recording techniques with fuzz-toned guitars and oscillating sound effects. In addition, guitarist Ken Williams' and singer James Lowe's concept of "free-form garage music" provided the band with a richer sonic palette and exploratory lyrical structure than many of their contemporaries.
Pretty Things were an English rock band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent. They took their name from the 1955 song of the same name. In their early years, they had several singles charting in the United Kingdom. Their album S. F. Sorrow (1968) was one of the first rock operas. Although they would change their style throughout their career, they never managed to recapture the same level of commercial success of their early releases.
Trapeze is the debut studio album by British rock band Trapeze. Recorded in 1969 at Morgan Studios and Decca Studios, it was produced by the Moody Blues bassist John Lodge and released in May 1970 as the second album on Threshold Records, a record label founded by Lodge's band. Trapeze is the band's only album to feature founding member John Jones ; both he and Terry Rowley left shortly after its release.
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band's contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, Rock Love, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams, among others. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hank Brian Marvin is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for the Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the backing band for Cliff Richard, and subsequently for Marvin, Welch & Farrar.
John Charles Edward Alder, also known as Twink, is an English drummer, actor, singer, and songwriter who was a central figure in the English psychedelic movement.
Tomorrow were an English musical group active in the 1960s, whose music touched on psychedelic rock, pop and freakbeat. Despite critical acclaim and support from DJ John Peel, who featured them on his "Perfumed Garden" radio show, the band was not a great success in commercial terms. They were among the first psychedelic bands in England, along with Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. Tomorrow recorded the first John Peel show session on BBC Radio 1 on 21 September 1967. The band included Keith West of "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera" fame on vocals and Steve Howe on guitars, who would later join the British progressive rock band Yes.
Simon Dupree and the Big Sound were a British psychedelic band formed in 1966 by brothers Derek (vocals), Phil, and Ray Shulman ; also known for their later prog rock band, Gentle Giant.
Open Road is the eighth studio album, and ninth overall, from British singer-songwriter Donovan and the debut album from the short-lived band Open Road. While his previous work was composed by his playing solo on acoustic guitar and then recorded with a shifting cast of session musicians, Open Road was Donovan's effort toward writing and recording music as a member of a band.
The Buckinghams are an American sunshine pop band from Chicago. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top-selling acts of 1967, charting their only five top 40 hits in the U.S. that year. The band dissolved in 1970, but re-formed in 1980 and as of 2022 they continue to tour throughout the United States.
The Wild Cherries were an Australian rock group, which started in late 1964 playing R&B/jazz and became "the most relentlessly experimental psychedelic band on the Melbourne discotheque / dance scene" according to commentator, Glenn A. Baker.
The Litter was an American psychedelic and garage rock band, formed in 1966 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. They are best remembered for their 1967 debut single, "Action Woman". The group recorded three albums in the late 1960s before disbanding, but they re-united in 1990, 1992, and again in 1998, when they recorded a new studio album consisting of both old and new material. All of their Minneapolis recorded material was produced by Warren Kendrick, who owned the Scotty and Warick and Hexagon labels.
Tomorrow is the only studio album by the English psychedelic rock band Tomorrow. It was originally released in 1968 by EMI Parlophone in the U.K. in a black and white sleeve. A slightly different version of the album was also released in the U.S. in 1968 by Sire Records, one of the first releases on that label. Although it was not a success when it was first released, it is now widely regarded as one of the best psychedelic rock albums ever made.
The Gods were an English rock band founded in 1965. The original band members included Mick Taylor, Brian Glascock, his brother John, keyboardist Ken Hensley and Joe Konas. Lee Kerslake (drums) joined in 1967 and would later also play in Uriah Heep. Greg Lake joined in 1967 and left the band after approximately one year.
Brian Davison, was a British musician. He is best known for playing drums with The Mark Leeman Five, The Nice, Brian Davison's Every Which Way and Refugee.
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers were a 1960s British rhythm and blues, soul and beat group who had two top 10 hits with "One Way Love" and "Got to Get You into My Life".
The Mike Stuart Span was a British 1960s pop band consisting of Stuart Hobday, Brian Bennett, Roger McCabe, and Gary Murphy (drums). Their critical reputation is based almost exclusively on the merits of a handful of rare or unreleased recordings. In 1969 they briefly changed their name to Leviathan, before splitting up.
The Symbols were an English pop music band, who were founded in 1965 and lasted until 1974. They had two hits on the UK Singles Chart with "Bye Bye Baby" (1967), and "(The Best Part of) Breaking Up" (1968).