TURQUOISE - The Further Adventures Of Flossie Fillett:The Collected Recordings 1968-1969

Turquoise are best known to 60’s music aficionados for their two oft comped numbers, the wistful “Sayina” and the jaunty “Village Green” era Kinks feel of “The Tales Of Flossie Fillett”. True the band produced just two sought after pop psych 45’s on Decca over the course of their short career but Revola have unearthed much more.

The problem with many bands from this era that only produced a few singles is that when someone throws a CD compilation of them together they can be patchy affairs. Sometimes these are full of half baked demos, live BBC numbers recorded from the telly or tranny with a hand held mike or acetates that sound like (as Bam Caruso records once put it) ”a pan of frying chips”. Fortunately this one is not among those.

Turquoise should have been big. I can’t think of a band who had more elbow rubbing with stardom than they did. Some of the members grew up in London’s Muswell Hill neighborhood around the corner from Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks . Through their acquaintance with “car dealer to the stars” John Mason they met Keith Moon and John Entwistle of The Who (who would attempt a John Mason advert for the “Sell Out” LP in the hopes of getting a free car out of it, only to be left on the cutting room floor till resurrected for the 1994 CD reissue of the LP). With Mason managing them (like many British 60’s businessmen who thought anyone could manage their own pop group) the band went into the studio with Moon and Entwistle producing. The result of this brief 1967 session was a jaunty number titled “Village Green” (no relation to The Kinks number). Despite The Who connection there was no forthcoming label interest. Enter Mason’s associate Tom Keylock , The Rolling Stones road manager (and the sinister “fixer” character in the Brian Jones film “Stoned”). Seeing that Mason was no pop svengali Keylock got the band signed to Spencer Davis new management company (which boasted the brilliant Deram act Tintern Abbey among others) in early ’68 and a Decca contract soon followed.

The result was Decca F12756 aka “53 Summer Street” a harmonium backed pop ditty about the closing of a nightspot. Complete with lines about police inspectors, jail time et al it is not a happy tune, but fascinating nonetheless. The flipside “The Tales Of Flossie Fillett” is the previously noted Kinks styled number which has surfaced on no less than ten different compilations in the last 20 years!! Bouncy, infectious and happy go lucky it cheekily ends with name checks to Tom (Keylock), Dave and Ray (Davies) and “Moon The Loon”. The bands next (and final 45) was “Woodstock” b/w “Sayina”. Forget odes to the hippie love- in crapfest that closed the decade, this “Woodstock” was cut and issued in November 1968 and follows the band’s grand tradition of catchy pop songs, again in the Kinks meets pop-psych mould with some silly Dylanesque chorus bits. Production was credited to Tom Keylock (as was their previous 45) but it was in fact the handiwork of the Stone’s then producer Jimmy Miller (of Spencer Davis Group, Wynder K Frog, Jackie Edwards, V.I.P’s fame). Sadly the band’s career was through, without a hit Decca quietly released them. But the CD offers many more glimpses of a band that indeed left it’s best bits in “the bin”. “Flying Machine”, a proposed 45 cut from ’68 is a perfect example of the late 60’s Decca/Deram pop psych heavy on harmonies, Hammond, phased piano and rumbling Ace Kefford styled bass while "Sunday Best" effects a tongue and cheek "posh" accent with kazoos. “The Sea Shines” and the previously mentioned “Village Green” are in a similar vein though more “pop” than “psych” as are the other odd half a dozen other numbers (filled out by a few demo/alternate versions). Of curious note is a version of “Mindless Child Of Motherhood” presented to the band by Dave Davies which was then an un-issued The Kinks tune recorded in 1969 shortly before the band’s demise. Most bands in the 60’s that had numerous star connections needed them because they had no substance to begin with. Turquoise were not of that ilk.

TURQUOISE - The Further Adventures Of Flossie Fillett:The Collected Recordings 1968-1969

UK 60's Decca pop-psych act Turquoise have their day in the sun.

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