THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,069) Katch-22 — “Don’t Listen”
Here is an exquisite, ebullient and endearing early British Invasion number. What’s the catch? It was a ‘68 album track by Katch-22! It coulda been a huge hit — four years earlier!
Who were Katch-22? Well, let’s have the band’s website explain:
Mike Eastman and Paul Bonner were pupils at the same school, in Wallington, Surrey, England, and formed a band together in 1964. They were joined by brothers Martin and Robert Godbold to complete the band’s first line-up. Whilst playing at the 100 Club in . . . London in 1966, they were spotted by record producer and songwriter, Tokenam Aw, who was born in Hawaii and later became their manager. They were signed to the Fontana Records label, and released their first single, “Major Catastrophe” . . . . written by Aw . . . . In June 1967 Robert Godbold left the band and was replaced by Paul Clifton. With this new line-up, the band recorded their second single on the Fontana Records Label, “Makin’ My Mind Up” . . . . During this period they were regular support artists to many bands of the era, including The Small Faces, the Alan Price Set, The Animals, and more. In November 1967 they turned full time professional, and went on their first Continental Tour with . . . a package show supporting . . . Keith West and Tomorrow, Cat Stevens, Zoot Money and Dantalions Chariot, Spencer Davis Group, and The Soft Machine. On return . . . They made their first B.B.C Radio One recording . . . for the ”David Symonds Show” in December 1967. . . . They became regular performers on sessions for BBC Radio One . . . . Their . . . first [LP was] on the Budget Label Saga Records . . . Soft Rock and Allsorts, It’s Katch 22 . . . for the first time featur[ing] some songs written by the band [including “Don’t Listen”] . . . Released in May 1968, [it] went on to sell somewhere in the region of 75000 copies, and became the BBC Radio One ‘ LP of the Week’, on the ”David Symonds Show”, leading to the band becoming one of the most regular ‘session bands’ on many programmes from the time. During 1968, ‘Katch 22’ continued to play as support . . . to [bands] including, ‘The Kinks’, ‘Bay City Rollers’, ‘Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders’, etc., but were gradually gaining main band status in their own right . . . . [and they] also became session singers for other artistes in the Fontana stable, the first of which was backing vocals for ‘Wayne Fontana’, on his record “Never An Everyday Thing” . . . . Due to the Radio popularity of the LP, ‘Katch 22’ were approached to play themselves in a discotheque scene in the Michael Klinger, film‘Baby Love’ . . . . They continued to record many BBC Radio One Sessions . . . . [and] were also further in demand as session players . . . . January – February 1969, ‘Katch 22’ were resident at the famous Star Club in Hamburg . . . . At the end of March 1969 Paul Clifton . . . left to join ‘Cliff Bennet and the Rebel Rousers’, and later that year . . . Martin Godbold . . . left also to form a progressive rock band calling themselves ‘Nimbus’. . . . [Katch-22] played their last show as ‘Katch 22’ on February 5th 1972. The three remaining members went on to work with Harry Vanda and George Young, (ex ‘The Easybeats’ ), and later formed a new band called ‘Paintbox’.
https://katch-22-band.jimdosite.com/about-the-band/
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