In the greater context of sixties pop history, "94 Baker Street" may not have the same cachet as "The Brill Building" or even "Denmark Street," but it was from that building - on the corner of Baker and Paddington in London - where some of the most exciting English pop and psych sounds of 1967 and 1968 originated.
It was from 94 Baker Street that THE BEATLES launched their APPLE organisation, starting with APPLE MUSIC PUBLISHING, which opened for business at Baker Street in September 1967.
Apple Records began with high spirits and hope. Although, in addition to the Beatles themselves, Apple saw success with artists such as Badfinger and Mary Hopkin, various signings had their hopes dashed.
Over the course of two years, Apple Publishing would nurture the careers of artists such as Focal Point, Grapefruit, the Iveys (and later Badfinger), Tony Hill (of TheMisunderstood and later High Tide), Drew & Dy, The Marmalade, Paintbox, Timon and Mortimer, the Cups, Second Hand, John Fitch & Associates, the Fire, Sands, Ways and Means, Denis Couldry. They released songs administered by Apple's publishing company, without actually releasing material on the Apple label. There a lot of Apple psych cuts such as Focal Point's 'Never Never', Fire's "Father's Name Is Dad", Paintbox's 'Getting Ready For love', The Sands' "Listen To The Sky", Paul Jones' "The Dog Presides"...
Focal Point were actually the first group ever signed to Apple Pubishing and not Grapefruit, as reports have always indicated.
FOCAL POINT signed to Apple Publishing in September 1967. A small studio was set up on the top floor of the Baker Street building and Focal Point traveled down to London to begin recording all their material. They recorded their single for DERAM (DM 186 - SYCAMORE SID). Four tracks were recorded. "Never Never", "Girl on the Corner", "Love You Forever" and "Sycamore Sid". The one the group all wanted out as a single was "Never Never", but the really tacky Decca committee decided on the safe bet. "Never Never" was a really psychedelic piece of music, with a Boeing 747 taking off at the beginning and end, with this fantastic song.
GRAPEFRUIT were one of the better Beatlesque late-'60s British pop-rock bands. They signed to Apple Publishing in December 11, 1967. In 1968 they seemed on the way to stardom, with a couple of small hit British singles and, more importantly, some help from the Beatles themselves. Led by George Alexander, brother of the Easybeats' George Young, the group were at the outset cheerful harmony pop/rockers with similarities to the Easybeats, Bee Gees, and some Paul McCartney-penned tunes from the Beatles' own psych-pop era. A disappointing second album, however, helped sink them out of sight, and the Beatles couldn't be of help as they were preoccupied with their own imminent dissolution.
George Alexander (born Alexander Young), who wrote most of the songs for Grapefruit, was the older brother of George Young and had stayed behind in the U.K. when the rest of his family emigrated to Australia. He was signed to Apple Music Publishing in 1967 by Terry Doran, who had been affiliated with Brian Epstein and the Beatles' organization for some time. Doran also managed the band, which was completed by several members of the light harmony pop-rock group Tony Rivers and the Castaways (who were managed by Brian Epstein's NEMS Enterprises). Guitarist and lead singer John Perry has remembered that the idea behind Grapefruit would be to play music in the mold of the Beatles' earlier pop image, filling a gap left empty by the Beatles' growth into psychedelia and more sophisticated territory. The Beatles also got behind the group to some extent, as John Lennon named the band (after Yoko Ono's book with the same title) and went to press receptions introducing the band to the media. Members of the Beatles pitched in ideas for Grapefruit arrangements and recording sessions, and Paul McCartney even directed a promotional video for their single, "Elevator."
Grapefruit, despite all the Beatles associations, were not on Apple Records, which might have seemed their logical home. There was a pragmatic reason for this: Although Grapefruit began releasing discs in early 1968, Apple Records was not officially launched until quite a few months later.
Grapefruit just missed the Top 20 with their first single, "Dear Delilah," with its lilting melody, uplifting harmonies, and creative use of orchestration and electronic phasing. A cover of the Four Seasons' "C'mon Marianne" just missed the Top Thirty, and although there were several other singles in 1968 and early 1969, nothing else made the charts. Their first LP, Around Grapefruit, was largely comprised of songs from their first five singles.
In contrast to Around Grapefruit, their second album, 1969's Deep Water, was an utterly undistinguished effort that could have been by an entirely different band, as its routine late '60s rock was quite unlike the band's debut. Grapefruit went into a much heavier sound, with deeper traces of blues and occasionally country, and virtually abandoned the harmonies, pop melodicism, and creative multi-textured arrangements that were the strongest points in their favor. For good measure, their association with Apple Publishing ended in November 1968, although John Lennon did suggest in early 1969 that the band should record the then-unreleased Lennon-McCartney song "Two of Us" (which they didn't). Following some personnel changes, the group broke up around the end of the 1960s, although Alexander did revive Grapefruit for a 1971 single, "Universal Party"/"Sha Sha," which also featured ex-Easybeats George Young and Harry Vanda.
TONY HILL Tony Hill is considered to be a pioneer of the psychedelic guitar back in the sixties when he was with cult band The Misunderstood. He later went on to form High Tide who's music broke down all barriers and gave a new meaning the word PSYCHEDELIA.
The Misunderstood recorded tracks as "Children of the Sun", "I Unseen" and "Find the Hidden Door", all released on Fontana.
The "Children of the Sun" single didn't come out until 1969; Tony Hill had a buddy working at Apple Publishing in 1968, when he was between the Misunderstood and High Tide. The T-Man was evidently in sore need of cash at the time, and sold the publishing rights to the three tracks to Apple for a princely 60 pounds...so when the Fontana single came out in '69, Apple actually owned the publishing rights to the tracks.
DREW & DY
The story of Drew & Dy is yet another little known episode of the Apple Records story. The duo comprised Keith Drewett, born May 19 1947 and Peter Dymond, born August 2 1947. The two school friends formed their partnership in 1963.
In May 1968 they arrived in London for an audition and they saw Paul McCartney in the street outside the Apple boutique in Baker Street. They wanted the Paul's opinion about their songs and Paul asked for a tape.When they explained that they didn't have a tape, he said, "Okay, we'll have a little audition.
Paul liked especially 'Taurus The Bull' and 'Tales Of Frankie Rabbit' and... the contract came by post, along with a letter from Terry Doran, and they signed to Apple Records. They had a record out on Philips, two of the songs they did with Apple ("Dedicated To Love" and "Taurus the Bull").
THE SANDS
The Sands had previously been the Others, and later were in Sundragon in 1968.
They were Paul Stewart (vocals), John Stanely (guitar), Robert Freeman (guitar), Ian McLintock (bass) and Nigel Baldwin (drums). They published Mrs Gillespie's refrigerator (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb (1966))/ Listen to the sky. UK: Reaction, 1967.
This single is much sought after for the B side, considered a classic psychedelic anti-war piece.
THE MARMALADE
were signed to Apple Publishing. One of his songs "I See the Rain" is derivative of that loveable drone-fuzz sound made famous by The Beatles' "Rain" and "If I Needed Someone". Their cover of The Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da went to #1 in late '68.
© 1998 MELGAR PRODUCTIONS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
©1998 Jordi and Amparo. ©2000 Jordi, Amparo and Jordi Jr. ©2002 Jordi, Amparo, Jordi Jr and Marian.
