Genre: rock
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Junior's Eyes
Company: A&M
Catalog: SP-4189
Year: 19
Country/State: UK
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG
Comments: cut corner lower left corner; white label promo copy
Available: SOLD
GEMM catalog ID: SOLD
Price: SOLD
Cost: $66.00
Here's a short-lived and little known late-1960s outfit with an impressive pedigree and a criminally overlooked LP.
Formed in London in 1968, Junior's Eyes was led by ex-Tickle singer/guitarist Mick Wayne. The original line up was rounded out by ex-Pandas/Pandamonium drummer Steve Chapman, and bassist John 'Honk' Lodge (no - not the Moody Blues guy). Wayne found support in the form of Peter Jenner's London-based Blackhill management company. The group's initial performance found them opening for Traffic and they quickly became staples on the London club circuit attracting a fan base with performances at The Marquee, The Middle Earth, The Roundhouse, etc.. 1969 saw the line up undergo extensive changes with the addition of singer Graham Kelly, lead guitarist Tim Renwick, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Original drummer Chapman was replaced by John Cambridge who had played with Wayne in The Hullabaloos. The group's growing recognition also attracted the attention of Denny Cordell and Tony Visconti's Regal Zonphone label which signed them to a contract (A&M somehow acquiring US distribution rights).
1969 saw the band debuting with a series of three nifty singles:
- 1969's "Mister Golden Trumpet Player" b/w "Black Snake" (Regal Zonophone catalog number RZ-3009)
- 1969's "Woman Love" b/w "Circus Days" (Regal Zonophone catalog number RZ-3018)
- 1969's "Sink Or Swim" b/w "Star Child" (Regal Zonophone catalog number RZ-3023)
While the singles didn't do much commercially, Regal Zonophone went ahead and financed an album. Released in late 1969, the band's self-titled debut LP teamed them with Visconti in the producer role. Unlike his work with The Hullabaloos and Tickle, this time out the set was quite diverse though there was also a clear blues-rock base to much of the material. Wayne was responsible for all five songs including the side-long, multi-part title suite. Divided into seven separate segments, 'Battersear Power Station' had it's moments, but came off as a series of disjointed songs that had been somewhat haphazardly stitched together. Powered by Wayne's excellent lead guitar (check out his chops on 'Imagination'), the set bounced along between outright pop ('My Ship'), English music hall ('Miss Lizzy'), conventional rock ('So Embarrassed'), and occasional stabs at lite-psych ('Playtime'). Elsewhere, perhaps a reflection of Visconti's work with Marc Bolan, the brief 'I'm Drowning' sounded like a Tyrannosaurus Rex throwaway. While "Junior's Eyes" was never less than professional, to my ears there was a clear absence of imagination in the grooves, leaving me with the feeling I'd heard most of these moves somewhere else. Curiously Wayne saw the album as a concept piece. In an interview with Nigel Cross he described the album as ‘to do with numerology, to do with Tibetan Book of the Dead. It was to do with layers of conscience and consciousness starting with total war and with total peace’. Who knew?
"Junior's Eyes" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Battersear Power Station
i.) Total War (Mick Wayne) -
ii.) Circus Days (Mick Wayne) -
iii.) Imagination (Mick Wayne) -
iv.) My Ship (Mick Wayne) -
v.) Miss Lizzy (Mick Wayne) -
vi.) So Embarrassed (Mick Wayne) -
vii.) Freak In (Mick Wayne) -
(side 2)
1.) Playtime (Mick Wayne) -
2.) I'm Drowning (Mick Wayne) -
3.) White Light (Mick Wayne) -
4.) By the Trees (Mick Wayne) -
Before a follow-up could be recorded, at producer Visconti's request Cambridge, Renwick and Wayne provided backing on David Bowie's "Space Oddity" album. With the addition of Lodge they briefly served as Bowie's backing band. Cambridge, Renwick and Wayne then recruited Bowie, former Rats guitarist Mick Ronson and Visconti on bass to form The Hype. Cambridge then dropped out, replaced by Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey. The enterprise collapsed within a matter of months when both Renwick and Wayne quit. At least a bit of studio material was saved and finally saw daylight via the 2000 Bowie compilation "Bowie at the Beeb".
Cambridge reappeared in a string of short-lived bands, including Dib Cochrane and the Earwigs.
Chapman went on to work with Poco and Al Stewart before forming his own management group.
Renwick became an in-demand sessions player, as well as becoming a member of Quiver, which was later incorporated into The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver.
Wayne recorded some material with Steve Took's post-T Rex band Shagrat. He then recorded with an early Pink Fairies lineup before relocating to Southern California where he apparently recorded a solo album, only to have the tapes stolen and lost. He remained active in music working with an impressive list of artists, but died in a 1994 Michigan house fire.
In 2000 the British Aural label released a compilation set (catalog number 69). Cleverly titled "Junior's Eyes" the collection included the album in its entirity, along with Wayne's Tickle single ('Subway (Smokey Pokey World'), four demos, and the non-LP singles.
