If she winks an eye the bread slice turn to toast

Continuing my trip back through the 1965 album charts.

14/02/65 : Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders - Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders


Before we get to Wayne, we have to discuss an album that I wasn't sure I should ignore or not - Keely Smith Sings The John Lennon/Paul McCartney Songbook. A lot of the female solo singer albums this year have been all or mostly cover versions, so it nearly got included on that front - but because they were all Beatles numbers, I just didn't feel it quite deserved it. She's got a nice voice though and the songs are all done in a jazz cabaret style, which certainly makes them a bit different - and it may yet get a write-up if we run out of albums in the next couple of weeks.

So we move on to Wayne and his Mindbenders who I don't believe I've ever heard of - it's possible I'll recognise a single off the (obviously debut) album, but currently I have no idea what to expect from this and I can't say their name is exactly filling me with encouragement.

Hmmm - it's kinda rocky pop with a surprisingly amount of falsetto vocals. It's not terrible, but it's all very average and feels like it's looking back to the fifties rather than trying anything new so it all kinda drifted past me without sticking in there. I did recognise "The Girl Can't Help It", but only because it's a Little Richard cover and we heard a version recently from The Animals. It's got a very US sound to it, so I was quite surprised to see they hailed from Manchester.

We're at #18 in the charts this week with a new entry - and this was the only week that they ever spent in the album charts. The top five this week were The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Jim Reeves, The Kinks and Val Doonican and there were no other new entries.

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for the album, but their entry tells us that they first had success in '64 with the strangely titled single "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" but are probably best known for "The Game Of Love" which got to #1 in the US. They released three albums, all in this year (coincidentally, on the Fontana label - Wayne Fontana wasn't his real name, but he'd picked it several years earlier) but then Wayne decided to quite the band mid-concert. The Mindbenders continued on without him and had some success with "A Groovy Kind Of Love", which you probably know from the Phil Collins version. Wayne's entry tells us he was a "character" - in '70, he was arrested for pouring petrol over a bailiff's car and setting it alight with someone inside and he "later appeared at Derby Crown Court dressed as Lady Justice, complete with a sword, scales, crown, cape and dark glasses". Yes, quite.

I always find it interesting to visit someone I've never heard of before, but I think it's safe to say I won't be revisiting this album - it's pretty average.

07/02/65 - Some most peculiar songs
21/02/65 - A very fine album indeed

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