Rock Archeologia

Focal Point - First Bite Of The Apple Recordings 1967-68 Artist: Focal Point
Album: First Bite Of The Apple
(The Complete Recordings 1967-68)
℗ 1967/1968 Paul Tennant 
© 2005 Kissing Spell Record Ltd.
Catalog#: KSCD 953
Made in the UK.
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Pop Rock
Format: FLAC (img+.cue)
BiTrate: lossless
Cover: JPG, 600dpi - Full Scan
Total Time: 00:59:37

• Уроженцам и жителям Ливерпуля, композиторам-песенникам Полу Теннанту (Paul Tennant ) и Дэйву Родсу (Dave Rhodes) несказанно повезло - в 1967 г. они подписали пятилетний контракт со знаменитой конторой "Apple Publishing" после того, как к ним проявили интерес Пол Маккартни с Джоном Ленноном и менеджер The Beatles Брайан Эпштейн. Кроме того, у этих джентльменов была группа под названием Focal Point, заключившая не менее выгодный договор с престижной студией граммзаписи "Deram", где они записали и выпустили свой успешный сингл "Sycamore Sid / Love You Forever".

• Интересно, что приверженцы рок-сцены 1960-х годов часто упоминают группу в качестве наиболее яркого примера в рассказах о давно потерянных лентах и невыпущенных записях, которые, казалось бы, исчезли навсегда, но тем не менее рано или поздно становятся достоянием общественности.
• Выполненная в стиле "поп-псих" песня "Sycamore Sid" в те времена помогла группе заработать репутацию одной из самых интригующих и таинственных британских групп шестидесятых годов. Ничего больше не было слышно о Focal Point вплоть до 2002 г., когда два ранее нереализованных трека, записанных ещё во время работы над упомянутыми синглами в студии "Deram", появились на компиляции "94 Baker Street" (CD) вместе с композициями других исполнителей, подписанных на битловской компании "Apple Music Publishing". Обе вещицы, "Never Never" и "Girl On the Corner", доказывают, что чудесная песня "Sycamore Sid" была не случайным единичным актом и Focal Point возможно была одной из лучших "забытых" поп-групп Англии 60-х годов. 
• После этого Paul Tennant, Dave Slater и Tim Wells из Focal Point предприняли попытку разыскать другие свои ранее нереализованные записи, датируемые 1967-1968 гг., для чего им пришлось исколесить всю страну. Итогом этого труда стал альбом "First Bite Or The Apple", на 20 треках которого представлены плоды их творчества. В дополнение к четырём песням, записанным на "Deram" в начале 1968 г., "First Bite Or The Apple" включает несколько треков, зафиксированных в свободной манере на 8-дорожечной плёнке в одной из студий Манчестера в конце 1968 г.

                                                                                                                                      - VaTAga

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• Liverpool-based songwriters Paul Tennant and Dave Rhodes in 1967 signed a 5 year contract with the fledgling Apple Publishing after peaking the interest of both Paul McCartney, John Lennon as well as their manager Brian Epstein. The band, Focal Point, ultimately signed with Deram and released a single "Sycamore Sid"/"Love You Forever".

• Keen Followers of the 1960s Rock scene have become used to tales of long lost tapes and unissued recordings that have seemingly disappeared forever. Every so often, however, a cache of "lost" recordings does surface.

• In subsequent years, the finally crafted pop-psych of "Sycamore Sid" helped earn the group a reputation for being one of the more intriguing- and most elusive- UK bands of the sixties. Yet nothing more was heard from Focal Point until 2002, when two previously unreleased tracks recorded at the same session as their Deram single appeared on the compilation CD 94 BAKER STREET which features artists who were signed to The Beatles' Apple Music Publishing company. Both, "Never Never" and "Girl on the corner" confirmed that "Sycamore Sid" was no fluke and that FOcal Point were perharps one of the great lost English pop groups of the 60's.

• Since then, Paul Tennant, Dave Slater and Tim Wells of Focal Point have scoured lofts and basements across England in an effort to uncover tracks that were recorded during Focal Point's 1967-1968 heyday but were misplaced during ensuing decades. FIRST BITE OR THE APPLE represents the fruit of their labours. In addition to the four songs recorded for Deram in early 1968, FIRST BITE OF THE APPLE includes a number of tracks that were recorded independently at an 8-track studio in Manchester in late 1968.

                                                                                                                          - Stefan Granados.

• Although the Focal Point put out just one single (1968's "Sycamore Sid"/"Love You Forever," included on this CD), they did record about an album's worth of unreleased material. This 20-track compilation has (in addition to the aforementioned 45) all of it, though a few of the half-dozen bonus cuts are previously unissued demos and alternate versions of some of the songs. If the principal section of the disc is to be considered a facsimile of what the album might have been like had it been issued, you can see why it might not have been considered as quite demanding of official release at the time, but also how it can certainly be appreciated these days by late-'60s psychedelic pop collectors. The group were very much in the dreamily fanciful storytelling/observational school of British psychedelia, though with a little darker and more melancholy edge than many such outfits. Echoes of the 1967-era Beatles, Zombies, and, more specifically, Bee Gees and Hollies are often present, and while the songs aren't superb, they're pleasing in a low-key, broodingly ethereal sort of way. It falls between those cracks of not being distinctive enough to command much attention, yet promising enough to show potential of developing into something more worthwhile. Like many such groups then and since, however, they didn't get the opportunity to do so. Unlike many such special-interest reissues from the era, the sound quality of most of the material is very good, though it's a little shakier on some of the demos and alternates.

                                                                                                                     - Richie Unterberger.

                                                                                                                       

             

              ♪ Tracklist:

            01. Miss Sinclair - 2:29  
            02. Sycamore Sid - 2:39  
            03. Hassle Castle - 3:39  
            04. Never Never - 3:27  
            05. Lonely Woman - 3:31  
            06. Far Away From Forever - 3:42  
            07. Love You Forever - 2:56  
            08. Tales From The GPO Files - 2:19  
            09. McKinnley Morgan The Deep Sea Diver - 3:10  
            10. Falling Out Of Friends (Paul Tennant, Dave Slater, Tim Wells) - 3:29  
            11. Girl On The Corner - 2:22  
            12. Goodbye Forever (Dave Slater, Paul Tennant, Tim Wells) - 2:29  
            13. This Time She's Leaving (Dave Slater, Paul Tennant, Tim Wells) - 3:22  
            14. Cept Me - 2:28  
              • Bonus Tracks:
            15. Miss Sinclair (Demo) - 2:38  
            16. Miss Sinclair (Alternate Version) - 2:57  
            17. Hassle Castle (Demo) - 3:02  
            18. Never Never (Alternate Version) - 3:04  
            19. Reflections (Demo) - 2:54  
            20. Reflections - 2:59  

• Members:

Paul Tennant - Vocals, Guitar

Dave Rhodes - Guitar, Vocals

Neil MacDonald - Guitar, Backing Vocals

Dave Slater - Bass

Ray Gobin,  Ted Hesketh - Drums

Dave Hardbattle - Drums, Backing Vocals

Tim Wells - Keyboards

Lionel Morton - Vocals

Cosmo - Guitar

Remastered at Whitby Studios, Wallasey.
Photos and memorabilia courtesy of Nigel Lees and Jim McAlwane.
The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Paul Tennant
under exclusive license to Kissing Spell Ltd. 

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