Sold Date: August 2, 2015
Start Date: July 23, 2015
Final Price: £14.99 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 90
Buyer Feedback: 0

LEGAY

Rod Read - Lead Vocals

Robin Pizer - Lead Guitar & Vocals

John Knapp - Electric Piano (“Selmer Pianotron”) & Vocals

David “Mac” McCarthy - Bass & Vocals

Drums: Legay Rogers, Jul. ’65 – Jan. ’67 / Rob Townsend, Jan. – Aug. ’67 / David “Moth” Smith, Aug. ’67 to Aug. ’69 and on to “Gypsy”.  

 Formed by school and work mates from greater Leicester in mid.1965. At the start their drummer already had his name lettered across his kit’s bass drum (a la Ginger Baker), so they became “Legay” as a result. From the outset, an immaculately styled / contrived teenage Mod band, they benefited from seeing the cream of post-Beat Boom acts live in the city’s clubs, the “Il Rondo” in particular. Initially inspired by current Soul and R&B sounds, the band’s musical direction went through many changes, along with attendant hairstyles and clothing. Their ‘anything goes’ attitude to instruments, including John’s choice and use of the “Pianotron” keyboard plus their collective vocal skills set them apart from ‘the norm’. Often sporting very long-collared button-down shirts designed by Rod, everything was right about this handsome bunch. Hundreds of Leicester girl fans agreed  and populated their gigs, to the dismay of less charismatic groups and jealous boyfriends. Rarely failing to get a reaction from audiences in general, gigs began at The Casino in London Road and took in prestigious support slots at Leicester University, the Marquee and Speakeasy clubs in London and even a visit to Sweden. Robin Pizer and Rod Read both wrote songs, those featured on their sole February 1968 single (recorded almost 6 months previously) were both written by Robin: Their memorable leap into psychedelia, “No One”, a pounding shot of excitement, powered, unusually, by Rob Townsend’s furious drum pattern and John Knapp’s insistent, effect-laden Pianotron riff. Couple this with the soulful surrealism of it’s tempo-changing b-side “The Fantastic Story of the Steam Driven Banana” and you were surely looking way into the future? Despite huge amounts of creative thought and deed being put into the band by it’s members, perhaps they were just too unusual for the time and place? Times were changing again: Urged further forward by Rod Read, they built on their  interests in American ‘West Coast’ music and became Gypsy in August 1969 (but that’s a different story…)

What we like present here, are four previously unreleased songs from different parts of the band’s near four years together. Intended as demos, before and after their single.

Side ‘A’ starts with High Flying Around (1968) written by Robin Pizer about the excitement of being young. From a sudden, clattering intro., the song builds around a cycle of guitar strums, lonely piano notes, Spector-style percussion and vocal effects. A burst of sustained feedback arrives like a spaceship that continues to hover in and out. Breathy lead vocals and angelic harmonies feature throughout as you’re paused and sped-up several times then left to relish the whole experience ‘‘til  tomorrow’. Unusual and original psych-pop which reveals more depth with every play. Rescued from ‘the’ surviving one-sided acetate.

Minstrel Boy (1969) is next, a soulful Rod Read song, only surviving on master reel tape. Although recorded at possibly too high a level, it’s been ‘helped back to earth’ somewhat with restoration. From a late time in the band’s existence, it conversely says everything about the kind of records Rod had been listening to in the early days!

On to Side B and while You’re On My Mind (1967) shares a title with The Birds (Ronnie Wood’s seminal British mod group whom writer Robin saw in person), that’s where the similarity ends. Being more of an amped-up cousin of the John Barry Seven hit “Walk Don’t Run”, it flies through a tale of not being able to ‘do it’ without someone nor being able to explain about it further. All over (bar the shouting) in less than two minutes, it’s left your ears before you realise what hit them.

Impartial Judge (1967) is the fourth and final track on the disc, a gentle song, at least compared to the preceding ‘spaceships,soul and speed’. John’s keyboard takes on a vibraphone effect, whilst Rod writes and sings of a court appearance ‘ending his world’, all cushioned by ‘even more’ trademark multi-part backing vocals. No more than two acetate copies of this pairing are known to survive.

(Adapted from the postcard text (c)Circle Records Ltd. 2015)