Various Artists "The Roots Of Rock - 28 Footsteps To Fame"
(Sanctuary Records CMRCD 066 - CD-2000)

Artists

CD 1
01. The Remo Four
02. The Dave Clark Five
03. The Undertakers
04. John Paul Jones
05. Carl Wayne & The Vikings
06. The Riot Squad
07. The Hellions
08. Tony Colton
09. James Galt
10. The Mockingbirds
11. Revolution
12. Episode Six
13. David Bowie with The Lower Third
14. A Band Of Angels
15. The Epics
16. The Loving Kind
17. John Kongos
18. The Knack
19. The Spectres
20. Dana Gillespie
21. Murray Head
22. The Bystanders
23. Nico
24. Justin Hayward
25. Rod Stewart
26. David Essex
27. Timebox
28. The Ugly's feat. Steve Gibbons

Both pictures above are from the booklet. Wonderful shot of my all-time favourite artist Dana Gillespie!

Steve's releases

Compiled and coordinated by John Reed with thanks to: Phil Smee at Waldo's Pictorial Press and Deke Wheeler. Remastered by Nick Watson at SRT, St. Ives, Cambs. Design and artwork by Paul Bevoir.

An amazing collection of 60's pop 'n' rock. It contains the only official track on CD so far by The Ugly's with the Ultimate Pubrocker Steve Gibbons! Buy!

07.03.04 - Their complete single catalogue will soon be out on CD!

"The swinging 60's was a breeding ground for many would-be rock stars who even- tually found fame in the 70's and beyond. "The Roots Of Rock" unearths 28 skeletons in the closet from these hard-up heroes making their first footsteps to fame".

Liner notes:
The NME used to run a regular photo feature called 'Blackmail Corner', in which ardent young punks and flamboyant new romantics were exposed in their former guises as hirsute prog-rockers or coiffured cabaret hopefulls. But not every youthful adventure needs to be wreathed in shame. For many of the pop and rock icons of the 60's and 70's, fame would have been unattainable had they not served their apprenticeship on the British beat and R&B scene...

Dana Gillespie was another artist who tackled one of the Hollies' backlog of potential hits - in her case "Pay You Back With Interest" in 1967. Teenage champion swimmer (?) Gillespie emerged as a protege of Donovan in 1965, fell briefly in Bob Dylan's entourage during his UK tours in 1965/66, and survived the resulting media melee to record the attractive blend of summer pop and folk-rock. There is no hint in her innocent delivery that Gillespie would become a glam-rock pin-up alongside David Bowie in the Mainman table, or emerge as Britain's most popular, and raunchiest, female blues singer in the 80's and 90's.

Gillespie's childhood friend and future collaborator, David Bowie, was also struggling to make his own mark on the mid 60's pop scene. He'd already missied out with singles back by the King Bees And The Manish Boys, before he formed the Lower Third in 1966 and released the remarkable "Can't Help Thinking About Me". Compelling and utterly original, the single may have been wrapped in mid-60's trappings, but it contains the pure essence of Bowie's later persona as an alienated, self-obsessed chronicler of London life, caught between guilt and nostalgia for the past that is already slipping through his fingertips...

There were few greater social gufs in the 60's than that between Bowie's working- class roots in Bromley, and the Harrow education enjoyed by A Band Of Angels. As the Zombies proved, the merest hint of academic prowess was regarded as an event in the pop media and A Band Of Angels were required to pose in school uniform, silly hats and all, for their publicity photos. More notable in retrospect was the fact that the group boasted a songwriter, Mike d'Abo, who could write superb blue-eyed soul songs - something illustrated on their last 45 "Invitation" (another track belatedly picked up in the early 1970's by the Northern soul scene). The fact that he also sounded exactly like Paul Jones can't have been a hindrance when he came to replace the Manfred Mann frontman later that year...

Though Latin soul left an enormous impact on New York in the 60's, few British acts dared to flirt with the South and Central American rhythms of masters like Mongo Santamaria and Tito Puente. But the Timebox were no ordinary club band. As their 1967 version of Cal Tjader's "Soul Sauce" proved they were a multi-faceted instrumental band, whose later singles for Deram flirted with psychedelia. At the end of the decade, they underwent their most significant transformation, emerging as Patto - one of the most underrated British bands of the early 70's.

When The Kinks' leader Ray Davies was suffering from nervous exhaustion in 1966, he diverted his traumas into a whimsical song about a cricketer facing the "End Of The Season". Intensely personal though it was, the tune attracted the attention of the Ugly's - a Birmingham band whose ever-changing line-up was a breeding ground for future Midlands rock luminaries. Of the musician on this single, Steve Gibbons led his band to fame in the 70's: Dave Pegg became a key member of Fairport Convention; Roger Hill mad a fleeting appearance as a member of the Move; Jimmy O'Neill and Jimmy Holder ended the decade with the Mindbenders. Future Move star Trevor Burton and ELO instrumentalist Richard Tandy also passed through the Ugly's ranks, to prove that there was no better preparation for 70's rock stardom an apprenticeship in the frenetic British pop scene of the 1960's
--Peter Doggett - September 2000

The picture of the Ugly's single is taken from internet. So far I don't have any of their singles. Here you have some information on this release:

A-side: "End Of The Season"
B-side: "Can't Recall Her Name"
Pressing: Pye Records 7N 17178 - 1966 - Holland

Do someone have a copy for me...

Curious about other bands here? Do yourself a big, big favour and check out Timebox which later changed name to Patto. Patto is a fantastic progrock album with sometimes a jazzy touch. Ollie Halsall (R.I.P.) might be one of the best guitarist ever, but not on the commercial market. What a shame!