THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,315) Winston’s Fumbs — “Snow White”
I’ve featured the A-side (see #582), here’s the B-side — from ex-Small Faces keyboardist Jimmy Winston’s group’s classic one-off psych 45. “Aside from kicking ass the vibe of both tracks is more like wizards pulling off dark magic than four dudes in a recording studio, incredible.” (Joe M’Geek, https://www.45cat.com/record/rca1612) This is not your mother’s Snow White! “Snow White is a “somewhat odd number that starts kinda slow, then ignites in the mid section into a blazing dose of psychedelic soul.” (Dave Furgess, https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1739/) Richie Unterberger says that as compared to the A-side, “Snow White” is “more psychedelic and more impressive, with the melodic story-song verses giving way to manic-tempoed, jazzy breaks, with frenzied organ.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/winstons-fumbs-mn0000670445/biography) David Wells explains that “[w]hile many psych-era bands wrote songs about storybook characters from their childhoods, Winston’s song cleverly reframed the fairytale princess into modern parlance as the ultimate, fairest-of-them-all, mini-skirted dolly-bird.” (liner notes to the CD comp Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970)
Not everyone is convinced. To 23Daves, it’s the poorer cousin, being a rather metronomic piece of work focussed on the shortcomings of a vain female scenester.” (http://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2011/10/winstons-fumbs-real-crazy-apartment.html?m=1)
As to Jimmy Winston, Unterberger writes that he “played on the first couple of singles by the Small Faces before getting kicked out and replaced by Ian McLagan”. (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/winstons-fumbs-mn0000670445/biography) Dave Furgess adds that:
Rumor has it that original Small Faces keyboardist Jimmy Winston was booted out of that group because he was too tall (in comparison to the other 3 pint-size Small Faces) and that his prescence made press photos look awkward. That may very well be true, as in the mid 60’s having the right look was sometimes more important than the music, look what happened to The Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart.
As Randy Newman once said, short people . . .
Anyway, back to Randy Furgess:
Whatever the reason for Winston leaving the Small Faces, he wasted no time starting his own group Jimmy Winston & The Reflections who issued the “Sorry She’s Mine” . . . 45 for Decca in 1966. However when [it] failed to set the world on fire, Winston decided a name change was in order and his next group effort was dubbed the more exotic Winston’s Fumbs. Remember this was 1967 in the UK where dozens of other unsuccessful Tamla/Motown flavored groups changed names overnight when the psychedelic craze hit. . . . Winston switched to guitar leaving the keyboard slot open for future Yes organist Tony Kaye (who really shines on both sides of this 45.) . . .
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