The Kirkbys — “It’s a Crime”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — November 23, 2022

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

648) The Kirkbys — “It’s a Crime”

This is where it all started for Jimmy Campbell, who was responsible for the 23rd Turnoff’s “Michael Angelo” (see #22), the most sublime psychedelic masterpiece of the 60’s, and so much more. I need to do a special edition focusing on this extraordinary and underappreciated artist who really is, as Get into This says, “[t]he greatest songwriter you’ve never heard of.” (https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2019/06/lost-liverpool-25-jimmy-campbell-the-greatest-songwriter-youve-never-heard-of/)

In any event, it’s a crime that “It’s a Crime” didn’t chart. It is a freakbeat masterpiece with a killer riff.

Jimmy joined a group called the Tuxedos in the late 1950s and in 1961 they changed their name to the Panthers. . . . The group decided to turn professional in 1964 [as the Kirkbys] and at one time were managed by Brian Epstein’s former secretary, Beryl Adams. The group had their first single, “It’s a Crime” . . . penned by Jimmy, issued in Finland in 1966, a country in which they had a large following.

http://triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/a-z/jcampbell.shtml

But, where did the name the Kirkby’s come from? Vernon Joynson tells us that:

This Liverpool band was first known as The Panthers who revolved around Jimmy Campbell who then formed 23rd Turnoff (named after a motorway junction) before doing solo work. Bob Wooler of Cavern fame actually gave the band the name Kirbys during a live radio Luxembourg recording at the Cavern Club. He suggested that the band may gain support from all the people of Kirby if they used such a name. Actually at that time all the band members (except for Marooth) lived in Kirby, which is on the outskirts of Liverpool.

(The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

Here’s the demo:

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