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#347434 - 07/21/12 12:04 PM
Re: Bands you were in
[Re: btweengigs]
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Senior Member
Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
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#347447 - 07/21/12 03:30 PM
Re: Bands you were in
[Re: 124]
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Senior Member
Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 10606
Loc: Cape Breton Island, Canada
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A clip from a movie we did the title music and closing scene for in 1965. That's me on the far right playing a Watkins Telstar combo organ. I've somehow lost that 'slip of a lad' image since then, though. Almost missed this, 124, and it is so cool to have a treasure like this from the past. I have several "live" VHS clips of a few of the groups I played with and need to get them converted to DVD etc. Watkins "Telstar" organ...not a common instrument back in the day, and maybe worth a bit to a collector...any idea where it ended up? http://www.combo-organ.com/Others/others.htm#Wem Your band really had a great look, and a polished presentation...not to mention that you sounded pretty cool too. My first combo organ was a " Howard Combo Organ" by Baldwin...once described as the "57 DeSoto of the Combo Organ world"...not as screechy as the more common and popular Farfisas (Fast 4/5's) of the day...far more mellow. What did you use to amplify the Watkins? There's more on this great site about combo organs: http://www.combo-organ.com/ Ian
_________________________
Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.
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#347449 - 07/21/12 04:23 PM
Re: Bands you were in
[Re: btweengigs]
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Senior Member
Registered: 01/01/09
Posts: 2195
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Hi Ian,
I bought the Watkins in 1964(?) having gone the usual route of playing whatever piano happened to be in whatever venue we were booked - you know how that goes. I ended up selling it in order to raise the down payment on my first Hammond, an L102.
Most of the groups in the UK at the time had either a Farfisa Duo or a Vox Continental. Never really liked either of those, so went for the Watkins, which was a bit of a rarity even then.
I can't say I'd ever heard of a 'Howard Combo Organ'. I don't think they ever appeared over the pond. Thanks for that link, looks like a very interesting site. I'll be delving into that one.
Yes, it was a great band, we'd all been friends for several years - still see a couple of them when I'm over there. Everybody was a natural singer, and those harmonies all came so easily. You may have noticed early in the clip where two young fellas appear and one says, "they're playing our song!". That, pre-Small Faces, was Steve Marriott. In the dressing room that morning he told me he was putting a band together and asked me if I'd like to join. I said I was happy enough with the band I was in and turned it down.
We were doing pretty well, anyway. We recorded it with Shel Talmy who was producing The Kinks and The Who at the time. The single of that song was out on CBS in the UK, getting heavy radio rotation (7 plays a day), and reached no.32, not huge, but a no.32 record then was probably selling more than a top five song now.
Following that, in 1966, we had the original demo for Black Is Black, created the now-familiar arrangement and recorded it ready for release. Some internal corporate squabbles at CBS in London led to it being shelved (trust the suits - NOT), and the next thing we knew was that Los Bravos had copped it, our arrangement an' all, and had it out within three weeks and was the no.5 selling record in all of Europe that year.
Such are the stories of the biz.
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