April 11, 1997 GOLDMINE #436
10cc :
A Pure Injection Of Pop
By Dave
Thompson
Chapter Four
: The Runcible Spoon… what exactly is it?
Following
the break-up of the Mockingbirds, Gouldman decided to try his hand at solo
success, debuting in February, 1966, with Stop Or I’ll Be Gone. A
pleasant, up tempo ballad, it was nevertheless not one of his finest
compositions; indeed, Gouldman himself later expressed the wish to forget it
entirely, and lost himself instead in preparing that most quintessential of 60s
pop star businesses, a boutique called Zoo. His partner in this short-lived
venture, incidentally, was Peter Noone. Gouldman was also working with Friday
Browne, a Manchester singer who was to be involved in several Gouldman
projects, as well as having a later single, Ask Any Woman, produced by him. In
November, 1966, she joined Graham, former Country Gentleman Peter Cowap, Phil
Dermys, Clem Cattini and John Paul Jones in the High Society, an ad hoc
combination whose sole single, People Pass By, remains a forgotten
classic.
The same
team then became the Manchester Mob, and recorded Bony Maroni At The Hop
for a March, 1967, release, and later that year, Gouldman, Noone and Jones
began work on what would become the songwriter’s first solo album, The
Graham Gouldman Thing. Or rather, Gouldman and Jones began work. Noone
simply got his name on the record in a bid to boost sales, and most of the
studio work was done by Eddie Kramer.
“It was a
lot of fun” Gouldman recalls. “Eddie, John and myself, and lots of people
dropping in. I remember one night, I was doing Pamela Pamela and Steven
Stills walked in. All he said was ‘nice, that’s nice’ then he left again.”
Largely comprising Gouldman’s own versions of the songs he had written for
others, the album (which would be released in
“I wasn’t
an official member” Gouldman relates today. “I only joined right at the end of
their career, when Eric was the only original member left. I’d known him for a
while, it was just Eric doing the clubs, and he said do you fancy coming on the
road with us, so I did.” Nevertheless, both he and Stewart still recoil from
the memory of the group’s final release.
“We were
recording that at Olympic Studios, and The Stones were next door working on
their album,” Stewart remembers. “Mick Jagger popped his head round while I was
doing the vocal and said ‘Why are you singing this shit?’ It was the final nail
in the coffin.” The Mindbenders broke up almost before the record was in the
racks, calling it a day at the Liverpool Empire on November 20, 1968, the last
night of a
“The
studio area we had lined with egg boxes ‘cause we thought that we couldn’t
really afford acoustic tiles and that was the nearest thing,” Tattersall says.
“It was very basic. But, believe it or not we did some quite good things in
there. We even had the original Syd Lawrence Orchestra. But then we had to move
because it was… the studio was next to a listed building, and we were classed
as a fire hazard.”
“Then the
lease ran out,” Stewart says, “and they kicked us out. So we had to make a big
decision, whether we were going to build a real studio, or just give the whole
thing up. And, fortunately this building came up in
Gouldman,
meanwhile, returned to his maverick wanderings; one particularly bizarre
release around this time was an instrumental rendition of Noel Harrison’s
recent hit The Windmills Of Your Mind, credited to the Graham Gouldman
Orchestra. He was also playing some sessions for Giorgio Gomelsky’s newly
founded Marmalade label. “We recorded a few tracks” he says, “although it wasn’t
like we were going to do a Graham Gouldman album. I think it was just the odd
track. It’s a bit vague that period. What was I doing? I dunno.” Nevertheless,
it was through these auspices that
By the end
of 1968, the pair were making demos, funded by Jim O’Farrell (part of the
Renamed
Frabjoy and the Runcible Spoon, the duo began work on an album in September,
1969. Basic tracks were recorded at Strawberry Studios, with Eric Stewart on
guitar and Gouldman on bass, and things were progressing so wonderfully that by
the end of the month, Frabjoy and the Runcible Spoon’s debut single, I’m
Beside Myself, was on the shelves. Another track from the sessions, To
Fly Away, appeared on Marmalade’s 100% Proof sampler (where it was
mistakenly credited to Godley and Gouldman), while the same team convened for a
Graham Gouldman cut on that album, the whimsical The Late Mr. Late,
about a gent whose time-keeping was so slipshod that he missed his own funeral.
Unfortunately, Marmalade was not to be so lucky. The label folded only shortly
after this pair of release, and the Frabjoy album was abandoned. Hopes that
Marmalade’s parent label, Polydor, might pick up the option were raised
briefly, when I’m Beside Myself found its way onto a Polydor
compilation, but nothing came of it.
Eric
Stewart In Air Gun Revelation!!! |
|
Graham
Gouldman In Wrong Studio Revelation!!! |
|
Graham
Gouldman In Songwriting Technique Exposé!!! |
|
The
Runcible Spoon… What Exactly Is It? |
|
Strawberry
Puts The ‘Hit’ In ‘Shit’!!! |
|
So
That’s How They Got The Name… |
|
A
Million Dollars Buys A |
|
Strawberry
Studios South… Now You’re Dorking!!! |
|
I Said
‘You’ve Got To Be Joking Man, It Was A Present From Me Mum’!!!! |
|
Headline
Writer In ‘Stuck For Words’ Shock!!! |
|
Sometimes
Having Wax In Your Ears Can Be A Good Thing |
|
And They
Still Don’t Give A… |