THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,476) The Perishers — “How Does It Feel?”
“This obscure quartet’s uplifting 45 is one of the most instantly catchy songs of the era” (liner notes to the CD comp Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: 82 UK Psych Classics), “[a]bsolutely brilliant given it was 42 years ago”, “[s]o ahead of their time”. (Stormin, https://www.45cat.com/record/tf965) So true, sounds like a 90’s hit that Chumbawamba might have come up with!
We were 16/17 when we recorded this”. (heath-7567, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xfXUzcnaf4)
The essential website 45cat.com tells us that:
Dave Stephenson (lead vocals/keyboards), Yanny Tsamplakos (lead guitar/vocals), Dave Edwards (bass guitar/vocals) and Mike Baron (drums) were schoolmates who were all in the same class at King David School in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall. The quartet formed The Seftons (the name being chosen as a result of one of the group members coming from Sefton Park) in 1963 at which point they played their first gig. The Seftons quickly gained popularity . . . . One of the group’s most important appearances was a gig at the Blue Angel where they were introduced to businessman and promoter Allan Williams, the original booking agent and first manager of The Beatles. Williams was enthralled with the group and their music and it is believed that Williams arranged for The Seftons to gig at The Cavern. Williams brought in an abundance of female teenagers as well as some magazine reporters. Williams introduced The Seftons as ‘Merseyside’s new number one band’ . . . . Due to this publicity, CBS records became aware of The Seftons and signed them to a recording contract. The group travelled down to London where they recorded “I Can See Through You” b/w “Here Today” for a January 1967 release. The single sold quite well but failed to enter the charts. The group continued to be very busy on the northern club scene but decided to become professional and move down to London from Liverpool, a decision that resulted in Dave Edwards quitting the group and continuing on to college, while Norman ‘hooligan bass’ Bellis was brought in as the replacement bass guitarist in January 1968. . . . Mike Berry, formerly with Sparta Music, had been hired as Apple’s new talent scout. Near the end of January 1968, Mike saw The Seftons . . . in Liverpool and signed them to Apple Publishing and became their manager. Mike rechristened The Seftons as The Perishers and found them a house to live in in London, with Apple funding the rent in the group’s early days. Mal Evans had wanted The Perishers to sign with Apple records since Mal wanted to get into record production. As a result, The Perishers began to work on the song “How Does It Feel” . . . . However . . . Berry decided to leave Apple and return to Sparta Music [and] was allowed to take The Perishers . . . with him to Sparta, along with the copyrights to the songs both groups had written and assigned to Apple publishing. . . . The Perishers [signed] to Fontana records, resulting in The Perishers recording “How Does It Feel” b/w “Bye Bye Baby” in July 1968 that saw a September release . . . . [T]he record did not get into the charts. . . . The Perishers . . . recorded many cover versions of hits of the day on the Sounds Like Hits series performed by uncredited artists released on the Fontana Special label . . . . In July 1969, Norman Bellis left for the US, where he worked for nine months, playing as session bassist for artists such as Jr. Walker and the All Stars, Four Tops, The Temptations and the Walker Brothers. Peter Combes became the bassist at this time. In 1969, The Perishers also released a cover of Netherlands group The Shocking Blue’s “Venus” under the name of Yankee Horse . . . . Upon returning to England, Norman Bellis joined Rusty Harness . . . . [and] met up with his former mates from the disbanded group The Perishers, with the re-formed group becoming Worth. Worth signed to CBS for the release of five singles including . . . the Norman Bellis composition “Hey Mr. Lonely”, a hit in several European countries. In 1975, Worth broke up, but Yanny Tsamplakos, Norman Bellis and Mike Baron continued as hard rock band Tiger with new member Steve Russell, who recorded one single . . . in 1975 before splitting.
Here is the Good Ship Lollipop (’69):
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