– I Walk The Lonely Night / 20 Obscure Gems From The British Beat Era –
For what seems like a perfect sequel to Past & Present’s New Rubble series’ volumes 1 (Cleanbeat) and 3 (Primal British beat … both reviewed elsewhere on these pages), Ballroom Beat finds once again Nick Saloman (Bevis Frond) digging through the same depths of British underground, gathering another bunch of rare, and mostly overlooked by other compilers, beat tracks heard around the ballroom halls between 1963 and 1966.
What’s mostly on offer here, are Merseybeat-flavoured tracks, ranging from the usual early Beatlisms of DAVE & THE DIAMONDS, THE DRUIDS and, most authentically, Liverpool’s own IAN (EDWARD) & THE ZODIACS, to some more r’n’b-based pieces by THE ZEPHYRS, the Some-Other-Guy-inspired WACKERS, the Stick-and-stoned WEST FIVE, THE MIGHTY AVENGERS’ debut pre-Andrew Loog Oldham single, or THE CYCLONES, taking things towards The Undertakers’ sax-laden Mersey stomp.
Sticking to the formula in an equally firm way, the opening track by THE IMP-ACTS is quite a Pacemaking one, THE SECRETS (featuring future ‘70s solo artist Clifford T.Ward) sound like The Searchers-tryin’-to-sound-like-Orbison, and on a bit moodier side of things, there’s the pre-Voice (of Train To Disaster fame), Farfi-sized number by KARL STUART & THE PROFILES.
As well as the pair of BOBBY ALLEN & THE COMMANCHES and THE JYNX, or THE CHEVLONS’ (rubber) soulful attempt at the folk-rocking jangle, and MARK LOYD’s country-ish flavour as well, and at last, but surely not the least, the only one kinda sticking on it’s own, in a good way though, is the upbeat blue-eyed soul number by THE MIDNIGHTS.
Still walking the same lonely nights left somewhere far behind, in the parallel universe, it’s good for us to have this chance to take a short walk around ourselves.
[Released by Psychic Circle 2007]
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