VA - 60s UK Harmony Pop Battle Royale (The Gibsons vs The Cymbaline)

Repost

Teensville presents the ultimate UK harmony pop battle royale, featuring two of the most underrated pop groups from the mid-sixties: The Gibsons and The Cymbaline! Features the complete issued recordings of both groups in their original punchy mono single mixes. Also included are two pre-Gibsons tracks by The Cicadas. 

The Gibsons aka The Cicadas 

Members :

John Brommell (drums), Geoff Dart (bass), John Kaye (vocals/guitar), John Rigby (guitar), 

" The Cicadas were one of the first of Australia's bands to be influenced by The Beatles. Other early Beatle bands were Melbourne's Flies (which gave the world Ronnie Burns), Sydney's Rajahs, who had transformed themselves from 50's rocker Dig Richard's backing band, The R'jays, by putting on Beatle wigs and turbans, and The D-Men, whose main claims to fame were that they were the first resident band at Sydney's first disco, Beatle Village, and came from the Sydney suburb of Liverpool (their lead singer Freddie Cooke later migrated to Melbourne, joined The Vibrants and changed his name to Marc Leon).

Originally known as The Hi Fi's they formed around 1960 performing on TV variety shows like Bandstand and Sing Sing Sing and they recorded a couple of singles on the Astor label ''I Want The World To Know'' and ''Step By Step''. In 1964 The Hi Fi’s gained a recording contract with RCA Victor, jumped on the Beatles bandwagon and released a cover of British band The Marauder's ''That’s What I Want''. Johnny Devlin produced the record, renamed the group The Cicadas, and backed them up with The Denvermen. This single was their most successful release.

The Cicadas toured Australia and New Zealand with Billy J Kramer, Robbie EG and Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs; and continued appearing at night clubs, RSL clubs and leagues clubs. Their second single with a similar Beatles title, ''I Need You'' was written by Devlin. This was a minor hit in Sydney. After a further, unsuccessful, single, a cover of another Marauders single, Carter-Lewis's ''Always on My Mind'', they headed to the UK adding John Brommell as drummer. Like a lot of Aussie bands at the time they worked their passage on the P&O ship, SS Canberra. 

The group was managed by Phillip Solomon, who did not like the name The Cicadas (as no one in UK knew what a cicada was) so renamed the band The Gibsons. The Gibsons worked many BBC Radio and TV shows, night clubs, Working Men’s Clubs, Social Clubs and American bases across the UK and Germany and released a number of singles on various labels there, including the catchy ''The Magic Book'' (rated elsewhere as one of 1966's better singles). Although they outlasted their Beatle boom contemporaries back in Australia, none of their singles was successful. They put out their last single in 1968. All the members of the band returned to Australia by 1970." ~ kimbo 

The Cymbaline

"The Cymbaline, consisting of Stuart Claver on vocals, John Hollis on guitar and vocals, Gerald Morris on bass, Anthony Mortlock on lead guitar and vocals and Philip Chesteron on drums, were apparently all Ilford boys and were an ever-present sight on the release schedules throughout the mid to late sixties. Kicking their careers off on Pye with "Please Little Girl" in 1965, they jumped to Mercury for their next release in the same year, then finally settled on Philips in 1967 until their demise in 1969. Seven singles were released throughout the whole period, and the group were clearly deemed bankable by a number of people at the time - but it all came to nought.

It's somewhat surprising under the circumstances. The lads were clearly able musicians, and vocally their record performances are actually of an extremely high quality. What stands out overwhelmingly across many of their 45s are the tight, precise and pretty vocal harmonies Mortlock, Hollis and Claver were capable of delivering, and Claver's lead vocals in particular strike out from your stereo convincingly. 

"Matrimonial Fears" is widely regarded to be their finest single, and found its way on to volume 4 of the Rubbles rarities series. However, the rest of their catalogue is by no means a total waste of time. "Peanuts and Chewy Macs", for example, is a sunshine-drenched piece of harmony pop which focuses on the activities of a slightly illicit market stall owner flogging tasty snacks to the public. It's as good as most of the harmony psych flops that came from the West Coast of the USA, and must have felt like a cheering listen leaking out of transistor radios in April 1967. Carefully arranged and with intricate arrangements, it's no lazy piece of work.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, after The Cymbaline dissolved Stuart Calver went on to do session vocal work for Roger Daltrey, Cockney Rebel and Linda Lewis. Chesterton later drummed for Marc Ellington." ~  23 Daves

(The Gibsons vs The Cymbaline)

https://www.discogs.com/release/15197399-The-Gibsons-Vs-The-Cymbaline-60s-UK-Harmony-Pop-Battle-Royale

 1. The Gibsons - Any Time That You're Lonely  (2:33)

 2. The Gibsons - Born To Be Free  (2:01)

 3. The Gibsons - Come Summertime  (2:47)

 4. The Gibsons - A Summer Affair  (2:43)

 5. The Gibsons - Two Kinds Of Lovers  (2:01)

 6. The Gibsons - Hey Girl  (2:29)

 7. The Gibsons - The Magic Book  (2:47)

 8. The Gibsons - You Know I Need Your Loving  (2:57)

 9. The Gibsons - Night And Day  (3:06)

 10. The Gibsons - City Life  (3:03)

 11. The Gibsons - She's Not Like Any Girl  (2:36)

 12. The Gibsons - Lazy Summer Day  (2:36)

 13. The Gibsons - Only When You're Lonely  (3:13)

 14. The Gibsons - Ode To A Dolls House  (2:13)

 15. The Cymbaline - Please Little Girl  (2:12)

 16. The Cymbaline - Top Girl  (2:43)

 17. The Cymbaline - Can You Hear Me  (2:25)

 18. The Cymbaline - I Don't Want It  (2:17)

 19. The Cymbaline - Where Did Love Go Wrong  (2:57)

 20. The Cymbaline - Peanuts And Chewy Macs  (2:23)

 21. The Cymbaline - Found My Girl  (2:44)

 22. The Cymbaline - Matrimonial Fears  (3:52)

 23. The Cymbaline - You Will Never Love Me  (2:39)

 24. The Cymbaline - Down By The Seaside  (2:10)

 25. The Cymbaline - Fire  (2:38)

 26. The Cymbaline - Turn Around  (3:01)

 27. The Cymbaline - Come Back Baby  (2:20)

 28. The Cymbaline - Comin' Home Baby  (2:51)

 29. The Cicadas - That's What I Want [Bonus Track]  (2:42)

 30. The Cicadas - Let's Try Again [Bonus Track]  (2:09)

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