Penfro Sounds

Crabby Appleton Lucy / Some Madness Elektra EKM-45702 (1970) Originating from Los Angeles, California the band took it's name from a character in the Tom Terrific cartoon series. Signing with Elektra Records, their first album was released in 1970 and gained rave reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone and Creem magazines.  This mono single was an alternative version the track found on the album and later stock copies credited the title as "My Little Lucy".  The band toured extensively opening for The Doors, Sly & The Family Stone and Three Dog Night, however, the band's second album "Rotten To The Core" did not receive the positive vibes of the first and accordingly did not sell as well.  By the end of 1971 the band had split up and moved on to other ventures. FLAC

Ann Peebles Do I Need You / A Love Vibration London HLU 10460 (1974) Ann Peebles (born 27 April 1947) was a popular R&B/Soul singer during the 1970s.  Having began performing in her father's church she then started performing in clubs in the St Louis area. In 1968 she performed in Memphis and was there introduced to Willie Mitchell who was a producer at Hi Records. She recorded a string of 45s for the label achieving success on the R&B charts. Her perhaps best known recording was "I Can't Stand The Rain", released in 1973 to worldwide acclaim. This 45, released in 1974, came from her fourth album "I Can't Stand The Rain", released on Hi Records it also contained the title track and a later single "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" which was later covered by Paul Young. In the UK Hi Records were released on the London label. Ann continued recording with Hi Records until the label closed in 1979 at which point she took break from th...

Jerry Lordan Who Could Be Bluer? / Do I Worry? Parlophone R 4627 (1960) Born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in London in 1934, Jerry first entered the UK charts in 1959 with the a 45 titled "I'll Stay Single".  This 45, produced by George Martin and featuring accompaniment by Johnny Spence was his follow up, released in February 1960. Over the period 1959-1962 he released 6 singles on the Parlophone label and unlike many pop acts of the time, Jerry wrote each title.   After his last 45 release on Parlophone in 1962 he concentrated more on the song writing side of the music business.  Among his many song writing credits are "Apache", "Wonderful Land" and several other Shadow's hits along with "A Girl Like You" for Cliff Richard. In 1963 he wrote "Diamonds" for Jet Harris & Tony Meehan which reached #1 in the UK charts. By the end of the 60s his musical success was over. In the 1970s he became involved with a band called Onyx, later ...

Middle Of The Road Soley Soley / To Remind Me RCA Victor RCA 25 (1971) Before ABBA the sound of Europop was this band from Scotland. The band originally began in 1967 playing under the name Part Four before changing their name to Las Caracus.  Under the later name they won the UK TV show Opportunity Knocks. In 1970 they moved to Italy where the producer Giacomo Tosti assisted them to international success under their new name, Middle Of The Road.  They debuted with "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" which reached #1 in the UK charts as well as being very popular in Germany.  The follow-up single "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" reached #2 and this, their third 45 release, reached #5 as well as hitting the top of the charts in 6 European countries. "Soley Soley" was written by Spanish musician Fernando Arbex and the band recorded a demo whilst they were in Spain. The demo was sent to RCA in Rome to be finalised. It was first released in the Netherlands in August 1971 an...

Wigan's Ovation Super Love / Stand In Line Spark SRL 1133 (1975) In order to cash in on the Northern Soul scene of the 1970's, Russ Stanley (the DJ who is credited with championing Northern Soul music at the Wigan Casino) met up with a Wigan band called Sparkle and renamed them Wigan's Ovation. They hit the charts in 1975 with three 45s which led to over a dozen appearances on Top Of The Pops.  The band from the start were written off as being uncool, laughable and an imitation of the bands the soul fans idolised (and danced too). Although all three 45s charted the band were never a hit with the purists, however credit should be given to the band as their TV appearances on TOTP was the way many UK teenagers, me included, got their first experience of the Northern Soul subculture which had till then been a limited underground scene. This 45 released in October 1975 was their third and last 45 on the Spark label. It reached #41 in the UK charts. FLAC

The Arthur Lyman Group Taboo / Dahil Sayo Vogue Pop V 9153 (1959) Arthur Lyman (born 1932) was a Hawaiian jazz musician that popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica.   He began his musical career in 1954 when he was offered a place in the Martin Denny band playing in Hawaiian hotels.  He stayed with Martin Denny up until 1957 when he was then persuaded to leave and form his own band. During the peak of his popularity Lyman recorded more than 30 albums and almost 400 singles, earning three gold albums. His album "Taboo" peaked at number 6 on Billboard's album chart and stayed on the chart for over a year, eventually selling more than two million copies.  This 45 reached #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1959.  Into the 1960s and the Polynesian trend had faded somewhat but he continued to record. He also played regularly at New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel in Honolulu well into the 1990s both...