THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,241) The Artwoods — “Keep Lookin’”
The Artwoods (see #58, 845) — yes, founded by Art Wood (Ronnie Wood’s older brother) — were a top touring UK R&B band, but their success never translated to record. Here is “one of the many highlights” on their sole LP (liner notes to the CD comp Keep Lookin’: 80 More Mod, Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets), a cover of Solomon Burke’s “Keep Looking” (which earlier in ’66 had reached #109 (#38 R&B) for Burke) that “explod[es] into driving rhythms, drum-breaks and ‘badaboomlam-samalam’ high-energy. But beneath its styling, it’s still another Solomon Burke Rock ‘n’ Soul cover”. (Andrew Darlington, http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-artwoods-story-of-cult-mod.html)
As if that’s a bad thing! Well, it is in the sense that, as Andrew Darlington writes: “Every sixties name-group started out with covers-based sets, from the Beatles and Rolling Stones through the Kinks and the Who. But by 1966 they’d all evolved to a predominant reliance on original material. Despite the odd ‘B’-side, the Artwoods found themselves stranded on the wrong side of the culture-shift.” (http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-artwoods-story-of-cult-mod.html) And Len writes that “[i]n contrast to the commercially-successful but artistically-bankrupt pop sensations of the UK’s 1960s beat era there was a small hardcore of bands in the UK who couldn’t get arrested record-sales-wise but whom other musicians would cross continents to catch playing live.” https://therisingstorm.net/the-artwoods-art-gallery/
Bruce Eder tells us more of the Artwoods:
The Artwoods[‘] . . . . following was confined to the clubs they played, despite releasing a half-dozen singles and an LP during their four years together. Art Woods . . . had been involved with the London blues scene almost from the beginning, as an original member of Blues Incorporated . . . . He was the backup rhythm singer in the band’s early lineup . . . [and] he also had a group of his own that he fronted on the side, called the Art Woods Combo. They later became the Artwoods in 1963 and Jon Lord later joined along . . . . [T]hey joined Decca Records’ roster in 1964. The Artwoods’ early records are some of the most fondly remembered British R&B singles . . . . Their sound was as steeped in soul and funk as it was in blues, which set them apart from many of their rivals. . . . [T]hey had a virtuoso lineup . . . . [and] a top stage attraction. Club audiences always knew they were good for a great show and the band loved playing live. Ultimately, in fact, the group’s success in touring and their love of playing live may have hurt them. They had no problem playing hundreds of gigs a year at venues like Klooks Kleek in Hampstead and dozens of lesser clubs for the sheer enjoyment of it, but they earned relatively little money doing it. At the same time, their singles never seemed to connect . . . . Their failure as a recording outfit is inexplicable upon hearing the singles — they weren’t strong songwriters, to be sure, but when covering American-style R&B, their records were soulful, funky, and played not only well but inventively; close your eyes and it seems like they were the U.K. answer to Booker T. & the MG’s. And the vocals . . . were attractive and memorable and sounded authentically American. And, in contrast to a lot of other British bands of that period, they did manage to capture something of their live sound on those records, which made them very potent. . . . A series of label switches in 1967 to Parlophone and then Fontana gave them some furtive success on the continent (in Denmark, of all places) and after four years of hard work, the Artwoods called it quits after a brief foray under the name the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-artwoods-mn0000033079/biography
Oh, and Darlington reminds us that Deep Purple’s Jon Lord cut his teeth with the Artwoods:
[A]lthough focused on R&B and Soul, [John Lord’s] virtuoso organ-flourishes were already nudging towards the beginnings of more ambitious prog-Rock projects. . . .
Lord was their strongest writer, but he still saw himself primarily as their keyboard-player. . . . After the demise of the Artwoods Jon admits “I had nothing to go to and for eight or nine months I did not work apart from a few sessions to pay the bills.” He was even touring-MD for the Flowerpot Men . . . . [who] hit no.4 on the chart with “Let’s Go To San Francisco[“] . . . . Bassist Nick Simper was also with the Flowerpot Men, and through him, around the end of 1967, Jon met Ritchie Blackmore, the core of the first Deep Purple . . . .
http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-artwoods-story-of-cult-mod.html
Live ’67:
Solomon Burke:
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