Penfro Sounds

Leroy Brown [UK] One Woman Man / Instrumental EMI 2320 (1975) Not to be confused with the Jamaican artist with the same name this Leroy Brown was in-fact a pseudonym used by Charlie Crane who at one time was the lead singer with the Joe Meek produced band The Crying Shames. Mark Wesley began his music career working as a DJ on Radio Essex before joining the pirate station Radio Northsea International. He worked as DJ Mark West on Radio Scotland before eventually joining Radio Luxembourg.  Whilst broadcasting alongside Kid Jensen, Mike Read and Steve Wright (all well known in the UK) he was signed to Sunbury Music to write and produce records. He wrote this song (and several others) using the publishing name of M. Goble.  This 45 was also produced by him and he shared the arranger credits with Gerry Shury.   Gerry started as an arranger in the 1960s and then went on to work during the 1970s with pop acts such as Barry Blue, Lyndsey DePaul, the Rubettes & the Bee G...

Scaffold Livepool Lou / Ten Years After On Strawberry Jam Warner Bros. K 16400 (1974) Scaffold were a band consisting of Mike McGear, Roger McGough and John Gorman. Formed in Liverpool in 1964 performing a mixture of comic songs, comedy sketches and the poetry of McGough.  They released several 45 such as " Lily The Pink " & " Thank You Very Much ".  The former single reached #1 in the UK charts. Mike was born Peter Michael McCartney and is the younger brother of Paul McCartney. " Liverpool Lou " although thought of as a traditional tune, was in fact written in the early 60s by Dominic Behan.  The track was recorded during the recording sessions for Mike McGear's solo album " McGear " and featured among the musicians Paul and his band Wings. The flip side of this single features the Scaffold members talking over a track that was written, performed and produced by Paul (and Linda). Released in May 1974 it reached #7 in the UK charts. K1640...

Roman Stewart Why You Acting So? / Acting Dub Lovelinch Music LL 06 (1980) Roman Stewart (also known as Romeo Stewart) was born in Kingston Jamaica on 11 May 1957.  Releasing his first 45 single in 1968, he released around 50 45s in Jamaica during the 70s and 80s.  He also had some success in the UK releasing 45s on several reggae labels such as Island and Camel. Although not as well known as some for his peers, during his career he recorded with most of the big reggae producers including Phil Pratt, Everton Da Silva, Gussie P and Linval Thompson (who produced this 45).   Having left Jamaica in 1976 for New York, he remained there until his death in January 2004.  LL 06

David Bowie Golden Years / Can You Hear Me RCA 2640 (1975) Taken from Bowie's 10th album " Station To Station " Golden Years has an underlying funk and disco feel which was reminiscent of his previous album " Young Americans ". The song was written during May 1975 just prior to him undertaking the filming of " The Man Who Fell To Earth" . It is rumoured that the song was written by Bowie for Elvis Presley and that the King had heard the demos and turned the song down.  It is known that Colonel Tom Parker had suggest that as they were on the same label Bowie should write for Elvis but it appears, rumours aside, that nothing came to fruition. The 45 has appeared on several Bowie compilations and in 2015 Mojo magazine rated it the 11th greatest Bowie song. Classic Rock magazine placed also placed it 11th in 2016 in their Bowie singles list and in 2018 the staff at the NME placed it at #16 in their Bowie's top 40 singles listing. The 45 reached #8 in t...

Ken Boothe Grandma / Dub (Tradition All Stars) Cactus CT 84 (1976) Ken Boothe's (born 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica) is known as "Mr Rocksteady" for his prominence during the musical period 1966-1974 and was a major idol for the to-be members of UB40. Boothe started by recording a version of Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String" in 1967. Later the same year, Boothe and Alton Ellis had a successful U.K. tour with the group The Soul Vendors.  Under new direction from record producer Lloyd Chalmers, the song "Everything I Own" surprisingly was Number One in the UK in 1974. The song, written by David Gates, was given a sympathetic light reggae feel and found instant favour in the West Indies and in the U.K. Boothe seemed, at the time, to have the makings of an international, long-lasting, hit maker, certainly when compared to most of the other latter-day reggae acts. His smoother style gave him a wider appeal and his choice of songs also showed the breadth of...

The Chemical Brothers Settings Sun Freestyle Dust CHEMSD4 (1996) The Chemical Brothers had supported Oasis at Knebworth and although not a direct part of the brit-pop scene they were tied up in it especially as they remixed at the time many of the brit-pop tracks. Noel Gallagher had contacted the band wanting to produce a track with them and he was given a track at the time entitled "Mark One" which they thought might appeal to him as it had Beatles feel to it (think Tomorrow Never Knows).  Written by The Chemical Brothers (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons), Noel supplied the lyrics and then recorded the vocals. Once mixed the single was released in September 1996 and, having sold in excess of 90,000 copies in the first week, reached #1 in the UK charts.   The track has been critically acclaimed by many including Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger who wrote:  "without Gallagher’s input, without his weak but unpretentious voice trying to keep pace, the track just doesn’t work...