This two-minute clip is from a must-see documentary A Year In The Life made for the BBC by
Paul Watson during 1968 and 1969 which follows Brighton pop group The Span (aka
Mike Stuart Span, best known for their "Children of Tomorrow" 45) and their bid for stardom.
The stark, cynical realities of the music industry are
best summed up by the television producer who books them yet says, “This particular
record is like most of the other rubbish that’s turned out by the pop world; it’s
ordinary, dull, silly and very predictable”.
Shifty managers come and go, they change their name to Leviathan
(very 1969), yet by the time the film was broadcast in September they had
spilt up, deciding they could earn more money labouring on building sites.
To view a half-hour edit of the film (and you really should) see Adam Curtis’s blog article Between The Gutter and the Stars which also features an interesting film Gene Vincent’s 1969 trip to the UK.
To view a half-hour edit of the film (and you really should) see Adam Curtis’s blog article Between The Gutter and the Stars which also features an interesting film Gene Vincent’s 1969 trip to the UK.
Since posting this yesterday, I’m grateful to Span
vocalist Stuart Hobday for getting in touch with the following background
information:
“Just a couple of points you might like to know about
this clip. The song, written by Ken Howard and Allan Blakely (who wrote all the
hits for Dave See, Dozy, Mick & Titch) was recorded at Radio Luxembourg
studios in London and produced by Albert Hammond (It Never Rains In Southern
California etc). It was universally hated by the group but our previous single
Children of Tomorrow had not sold so we were persuaded to release it by our
manager.
At the time of recording CoT we had also recorded a
number of demos of similar material, and it was these recordings that our
manager had originally taken to Tony Palmer, the TV producer who you see in
this clip. He liked what he heard and he booked us when our new record was due
to be released. Of course the new record was nothing like CoT and he was, shall
we say, underwhelmed; hence the acerbic comments about the song and the manager
– both of which were, of course, true.
One more fact – the documentary was actually called ‘Big
Deal Group’ and was transmitted first in the series ‘A Year In The Life’. It
was actually 50 minutes long (not 30 minutes) and was shown again over the
Christmas period in 1989, along with one or two other programmes from the series,
under the heading ’20 Years On’. This was an updated version and included
contemporary interviews with the members of the group on how their lives had
changed. The Adam Curtis blog article is an edited-down version of the original
programme from 1969.”
Brilliant documentary, even if they're not playing any of the tunes we've come to know and love by them!
ReplyDeleteExactly. On this evidence it's little wonder they were ignored by the record buying public. I had to listen to "Children of Tomorrow" afterwards to cleanse my ears.
ReplyDeleteYes, a great documentary - Mr SDS and I were holidaying in Brighton soon after we saw it in '89 I think it was, and decided to see if we could track any of them down - we did! We met up with Gary Murphy and Roger McCabe and the conversations and insights were all very interesting, Mr SDS continued to have quite a bit of involvement with them thereafter.
ReplyDeleteAs you say - stark realities of the music business - love the bit in the film where their agent manages to secure a high percentage commission out of their manager for 'doing that little bit more', and then tells him all the things he still has to do himself: basically everything!... :-(
Just a couple of points you might like to know about this clip. The song, written by Ken Howard and Allan Blakely (who wrote all the hits for Dave See, Dozy, Mick & Titch) was recorded at Radio Luxembourg studios in London and produced by Albert Hammond (It Never Rains In Southern California etc). It was universally hated by the group but our previous single Children of Tomorrow had not sold so we were persuaded to release it by our manager.
ReplyDeleteAt the time of recording CoT we had also recorded a number of demos of similar material, and it was these recordings that our manager had originally taken to Tony Palmer, the TV producer who you see in this clip. He liked what he heard and he booked us when our new record was due to be released. Of course the new record was nothing like CoT and he was, shall we say, underwhelmed; hence the acerbic comments about the song and the manager – both of which were, of course, true.
One more fact – the documentary was actually called ‘Big Deal Group’ and was transmitted first in the series ‘A Year In The Life’. It was actually 50 minutes long (not 30 minutes) and was shown again over the Christmas period in 1989, along with one or two other programmes from the series, under the heading ’20 Years On’. This was an updated version and included contemporary interviews with the members of the group on how their lives had changed. The Adam Curtis blog article is an edited-down version of the original programme from 1969.
Stuart Hobday
Great piece of detective work! The whole thing now looks like a spoof with exagerated characters. Be nice to think bands have learnt since those days but I doubt the business is very much different.
ReplyDelete(Previous comment was for C).
ReplyDeleteThanks ever so much for getting in touch Stuart and adding some useful background. Really appreciate it. I'll add your comments to the main text above to ensure they're not missed. Would love to see the whole film someday. All the best. "Children of Tomorrow" of yours in particular is much loved still today as you probably know.