 Something
In The Water?!A Short Story Of The Idle Race... Part Two |
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They signed to Liberty Records and hired Ray Williams as their manager. Recording a cover of Wood's "Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree", they backed it with an excellent Pritchard composition "My Father's Son" scheduling its release for September 1967...  At the time, the Move were enjoying tremendous chart success with "Flowers In The Rain". The flip to "Flowers" was the Move's own cut of "Lemon Tree" which was also receiving quite a lot of airplay! As the Idle Race didn't want to be seen as a covers band, they reluctantly pulled the plug on their potential hit single although it did see the light of day in the US and parts of Europe... A replacement single had to be found quickly. Lynne had just started to write himself and so a month after the US release of Lemon Tree the band issued Lynne's "Impostors Of Life's Magazine", a loud and slightly offbeat ditty but never the less a masterpiece. The advertising budget had obviously been blown on the aborted Lemon Tree single and therefore the un-promoted Impostor's 7" disappeared without trace.  Their
music reflected influences drawn from sources both obvious, and some not
so obvious...  They
dabbled here and there, painting stories with a palette loaded with pop,
psychedelia and old English music hall (!) to rock, reggae, blues and
the West Coast sound, the latter emanating from the state of California
in the US. No wonder critics and music people were enamoured with this
new outfit from Brum.
Besides their regular radio performances, they also appeared on several television shows in the UK. It would indeed be a major miracle if these shows survived as we all know the fate of many early  episodes
of Dr. Who and other classic British TV shows in the 60's... They were
incinerated!Their live repertoire included some interesting covers ("Purple Haze" Jimi Hendrix, "Deborah" Tyrannosaurus Rex, "Big Leg Emma" Frank Zappa,"Mellow Yellow" Donovan and "Born To Be Wild" Steppenwolf) some of which were inspired after borrowing albums from the Liberty offices by bands that were on the very same label as themselves. The list included artists such as The Doors, Sopwith Camel and The Lovin' Spoonful to name but a few.  They toured constantly building up a very healthy reputation. They would often appear on the same bill with the likes of The Spencer Davis Group, The Who, The Small Faces, Pink Floyd and The Pretty Things, The Moody Blues, Status Quo, Chicken Shack, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Yes, Free, The Nice and The Move. On a quite a few occasions they would even steal the show!  Influences
on their music ranged from the Beatles ala' Rubber Soul & Revolver
followed by
a good helping
of the Byrds (Fifth Dimension), Nilsson (Pandemonium
Shadow Show & Aerial
Ballet), the Lovin' Spoonful (Hums, Everything Playing), Del Shannon,
the Kinks (Village Green Preservation Society) and the Lemon
Pipers (Green Tambourine & Jungle Marmalade)... The latter quite
literally the US equivalent of the Idle Race!The albums were critically acclaimed and at times the singles received extensive airplay but success was never to be... The Idle Race will be ultimately remembered for acting as a teething ground and a showcase for the ever blossoming talents of a young kid from Shard End. The failure of the Idle Race to crack the big time remains one of the 1960's greatest musical mysteries... Perhaps it was something in the water?! 
In January 1970 Jeff finally quit the Idle Race to team up with Roy Wood in The Move. Grandiose schemes were afoot! After his departure Dave, Roger and Greg recruited Mike Hopkins (guitar) and Dave Walker (vocals) to fill the void left by Lynne. A third and final Idle Race album called "Time Is" was recorded in '71 before Pritchard, then Spencer and finally Masters left the band. The Idle Race were no more and in 1972 the remains gave birth to the Steve Gibbons Band who built up a very healthy live reputation during the 1970's and are still active to this very day. Click
on the albums below to unearth more information on one of the 1960's
most hidden musical gems that were the Idle Race... (includes guitar
chords, song lyrics, photographs and much more!)
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They
made numerous live appearances on BBC's Radio One... Shows such as John
Peel's Top Gear, The David Symonds Show, The Radio One Club, Pop North,
The Saturday Club and The Jimmy Young Show. John Peel was a huge fan
of the band whilst Honorary president of The Idle Race fan club, non
other than the late Kenny Everett, reckoned that the Race were "second
only to the Beatles!"
