THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,284) Fortes Mentum* — “Saga of a Wrinkled Man”
Whimsical UK pop psych . . . as written by Frédéric Chopin! With its “distinctive, quasi-classical piano motifs” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Psychedelic Pstones III: House of Many Windows: A Morgan Blue Town Compilation), “Good Vibrations style organ, syncopated drums and bass with gothic lyrics about growing old, [it] stands out as one of the outstanding UK psychedelic seven inchers of the late 60s”. (The Strange Brew, https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/fortes-mentum/)
The song was written by Danny Beckerman, a “mercurial producer/arranger/writer/musician . . . an archetypically precocious studio whizzkid who was one of [the] Morgan [Blue Town label] owner Monty Babson’s favoured lieutenants”. (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Angel Pavement: Maybe Tomorrow).
As to Fortes Mentum (see #904, 1,003), Maggie Regan tells us that:
Danny Beckerman was a staff writer at Morgan Music in 1966 and wanted to get a band together to record his own material. He decided on talented London musicians Frank Bennett on vocals, Ron Regan on bass, Keith Giles on drums, Alan Ward on Organ and Barry Clark on lead guitar. Originally Danny didn’t want to be part of the band but as they all got on well together the other guys persuaded him to join them and so was born, Sons of Chopin??? Their first single was refused by the BBC, they wouldn’t play it under copyright rules because, wait for it . . . they were not actually the Sons of Chopin!!! So instead ‘Saga Of A Wrinkled Man’ became the first single from the newly named [Fortes Mentum]. . . . They released three singles as Fortes Mentum. Despite a good following, the band never made any money although they performed all over London and the UK including such famous venues of the time like The Whisky A Go Go and the Starlight Ballroom in Crawley, as well as the usual college gigs and such. In March 1969 they were offered a unique opportunity to work in Germany. Unfortunately Alan and Barry had very good ‘day jobs’ and they didn’t want to give them up. They were replaced by Rod Creasy on keyboards and Paul Coles on lead guitar. This line up worked the famous Top 10 Club in Hamburg and the K52 Club in Frankfurt. It was at the Starlight Ballroom later on that Frank and Danny had a falling out. Danny decided to pursue his career in songwriting and so left the band. The inimitable Bob Flag (ex-Riot Squad) joined on saxaphone and flute. Fortes Mentum then toured with David Bowie amongst others but prestige doesn’t pay the rent and the band disbanded around a year later due to lack of gigs. The band had known agents such as The London City Agency/Capital Artistes but earning a living was hard in those days. The scene went a bit dead, even though the band were getting terrific write ups.
* HarvestmanMan says: “If the name [in Latin] was supposed to mean ‘strong mind’ (just one), it’d be ‘fortis mens’… if it was supposed to mean ‘strong minds’ it’d be ‘fortes mentes’. Someone never completed their language classes in school… ;)”. (https://www.45cat.com/record/2400). Harsh!
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