FLASHBACK ISSUE #3

I'm delighted to announce that Flashback #3 will be available as of May 21st, and can be bought here. 

Mighty Baby are on the cover, and the accompanying feature includes full interviews with all the members, as well as several other figures close to the band. Also included are a jukebox from Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips, a study by Richie Unterberger of the rock memoir industry, Patrick Lundborg on the mono v. stereo question, producer / Harvest boss Malcolm Jones on Syd Barrett and the making of The Madcap Laughs, 50 Overlooked Singer-Songwriter LPs, a history of the rare Top Pops newspaper, and in-depth features on the Common People, Tripsichord Music Box and more, as well as music / book reviews and plenty of rare / unseen images and vintage music paper reprints. Enjoy! 

FLASHBACK #2 in Shindig

Thanks to Andy Morten for this warm review in the new issue of Shindig.

MARY-ANNE: Me again

Issued in 1970, the haunting Me by Mary-Anne is one of the rarest and best British folk albums of its time. I have only ever seen two copies, and rather to my surprise have just realised that they're different. What I assume is the first has the matrix numbers PR JOY S 162 A and PR JOY S 162 B, and textured labels with four rings (below right). The second has the matrix numbers PR JOY S 162 A 2 and PR JOY S 162 B 2, and smooth labels with only one ring (below left). In all other respects (cover included) they are indistinguishable. 

Pressing 1 has a subtly different mix, and includes completely different versions of two songs, The Gentleman Soldier and Candyman. Ironically, these are the only weak tracks on the album, their jaunty tone jarring with the prevailing air of restrained melancholy. The former runs 2:39 on Pressing 1 and 3:15 on Pressing 2, while the latter runs 1:45 on Pressing 1 and 3:08 on Pressing 2. In both cases, I consider the Pressing 1 takes to be superior. Not only are they shorter, but they're less theatrical. The Pressing 1 version of The Gentleman Soldier is pure guitar and voice, while Pressing 2 has a military drum, heavily mannered vocals and some obviously flubbed guitar. The Pressing 1 version of Candyman has flute and simple guitar backing, while Pressing 2 has ragtime guitar, bumptious kazoo and extra words (including unconvincing drug references). I can only assume that the longer versions appeared on Pressing 2 by accident - but of course we'll never know if that's the case, or how / why.

When I licensed the album for reissue on Sunbeam in 2006, President Records provided the master tape. Oddly, the 'wrong' versions of both The Gentleman Soldier and Candyman were on it, meaning that we had to drop in what I assumed to be the 'correct' versions from a vinyl copy. I included the 'wrong' versions as bonus tracks on the CD, little suspecting that they had in fact also been issued at the time. The only evidence for the album's existence that President possessed was the tape - they had no photographs, extra material or original LPs, and the label's boss could cast no light on the variant versions being on the tape. 

If you're interested in Mary-Anne, I've already posted about her here. If you haven't come across her, here's the loveliest version of this lovely song I've yet heard.

Flashback in Classic Rock magazine

The current issue of Classic Rock magazine contains this warm review of Flashback #2.

FLASHBACK in Ptolemaic Terrascope

A detailed interview with me all about Flashback has just been posted at the Ptolemaic Terrascope site - you can read it here.

FLASHBACK #2 in Ugly Things

Thanks to Mike Stax for these kind words in the new issue of Ugly Things. Issue #1 is now sold out (at source, anyway), but #2 can still be bought at flashbackmag.com and elsewhere.

THE BEATLES, THE STONES & MARY SCRUGGS

The Stones with Sally (left) and Mary (right)

As any Beatles nut will tell you, the crowded cover of Sgt. Pepper's, photographed by Michael Cooper, includes a nod to the Stones in the form of a Shirley Temple doll wearing a knitted sweater with the words 'WELCOME THE ROLLING STONES' stitched onto it. According to Wikipedia here, this item of clothing 'was provided by Cooper's young son Adam'. In fact, it seems to have been given to the Beatles by Mick Jagger himself, an earth-shattering discovery I made as I flicked through the packed August 1966 issue of Hit Parader (actually out in June).

As you can imagine, the Stones - like all touring bands in the mid-60s - were besieged by competition winners wherever they went. Two such were Mary Scruggs and Sally Ware from Memphis, Tennessee, who got to go backstage before the band's performance at the Mid-South Coliseum on November 17th 1965. Hit Parader - writing about the event some months after the show - made it clear that the Stones were not popular with the venue:

Nonetheless, the girls managed to meet the band after winning different sections in an art contest organised by a local radio station, WMPS (the sweatshirt does not say 'WMCA', despite what practically every source says). Sally's effort was a terrible charcoal portrait of Mick:

Mary, meanwhile, went down the knitwear route. According to the article, she was '17, a Senior at Immaculate Conception High School and an officer in a local Rolling Stones Fan Club':

As the extract above makes clear, Mary gave the sweater to Mick at his request. Far from dumping it as soon as she departed (the likely fate for Sally's drawing), he seems to have taken care to bring it back to the UK, ensuring its place in history when it was photographed in glorious technicolor on March 30th 1967. 

At the close of the year, the Stones repaid the Beatles' tribute by hiding their faces in the lenticular image on the cover of Their Satanic Majesties Request. You can read all about that here. As for Mary - well, she seems to have gone on to become an elementary school art teacher, under the name Mary Anne May. You can read a little more about her here.