THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,041) Tony Rivers and the Castaways — “Pantomime”
The band-written B-side of Tony Rivers and the Castaways’ (see #905) last single is “one of the closest approximations of the late-1960s Easybeats [see #201, 1,310, 1,359, 1,415, 1,683, 1,777, 1,877] that you’re likely to hear from a rival group.” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-tony-rivers-collection-vol-2-harmony-grass-mw0000621713) I’d say it’s equal parts Easybeats and music hall — delightful.
Rivers recalled:
[It was a] quite original sounding song with some great vocal bits and double tracked bass guitar. . . . [The single] was another good record, but once again got no “airplay” and disappeared without trace. We did as we were told, but we still couldn’t get that elusive first hit.
http://www.craftweb.org/web/tony/cast_disc.html, http://www.craftweb.org/web/tony/cast.html
Bruce Eder tells us more about TR&C:
Led by Tony Rivers, this group started out doing R&B-based material in the early ’60s. Originally signed to EMI’s Columbia label, they covered songs by Jackie Wilson in their early days, and had a special penchant for recording songs from American artists, regardless of the idiom. As the decade progressed, they moved into more of a pop and harmony based sound, recording songs like “She” and, in 1966, a single of their version of the Beach Boys’ [see #667, 1,825] “God Only Knows.” They jumped to Parlophone later that year, and then Immediate, where they stayed for one single, “Girl Don’t Tell” b/w “Girl From Salt Lake City,” then released a single through Polydor. They split up in 1968 when Rivers, with Ray Brown and Kenny Rowe, formed Harmony Grass [see #1,631], a more overtly psychedelic outfit.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tony-rivers-the-castaways-mn0001341073/biography
Tim Sendra
As both a singer and vocal arranger, Tony Rivers had a part in two of the most overlooked bands of the 1960’s U.K. music scene — the beat group-turned surf aficionados Tony Rivers & the Castaways and the sunshine poppers Harmony Grass — then parlayed his skills into a long-running job with Cliff Richard . . . . No matter the project, Rivers’ bright vocals and knack for how to put voices together in a pleasing fashion always came through . . . . Rivers, born Douglas Anthony Thompson . . . , began singing professionally in 1961. . . . [I]n London . . . he took the stage occasionally at his local pub with the house band. His singing caught the attention of local group the Cutaways, who were looking for a lead vocalist. It was at this point that he started using Tony Rivers and Tony Rivers and the Cutaways as stage names. They began playing gigs around town in mid-1962 with a style indebted to early rock & roll icons like Ricky Nelson and Buddy Holly. The group soon changed their name to Tony Rivers & The Castaways and with the help of their manager, were able to score auditions at both EMI and Decca. The former decided to sign them, and the group . . . record[ed] their first single[], the excitable rockers “Shake, Shake Shake” and “Row, Row, Row.” . . . [It] was issued in October of 1963, starting a trend of artistically impressive records that failed to hit the top of the charts. By the middle of 1964, the group had begun to move away from the R&B-heavy sounds of the Beat scene in favor of the vocal harmony-heavy yet lighter approach of American bands like the Beach Boys. When that band visited the U.K. in late 1964, the two groups struck up a lasting friendship. The Castaways were dealt a cruel blow soon after, however, when a van crash took the life of drummer Brian Talbot and injured everyone else. Rivers regrouped the next year to release the “She”/”Til We Get Home” single; the B-side of which was a spot-on pastiche of the kind of surfy California pop the Beach Boys had perfected. Their new sound piqued the attention of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, who signed the band to his NEMS Enterprises agency, as well as Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham, who inked them to his new label Immediate. He set them to work right away covering Beach Boys songs and their versions of “The Girl from New York City” and “Girl Don’t Tell Me’ — to which Rivers added a harmony vocal arrangement where one hadn’t previously existed — gave their idols a run for their money. Even with the powerful backing of two industry bigwigs, the band couldn’t buy a hit. . . . Rivers and the band grew tired of their slumping career and were unhappy to find themselves confined to the cabaret circuit. Part of the group split off to be a part of Grapefruit [see #894, 1,462], Rivers carried on with a new lineup and management, who rechristened the new group Rivers assembled Harmony Grass in late 1969. Their first song, the horn-and-strings filled “Move a Little Closer” was the hit Rivers had been hoping for, climbing steadily up various U.K. charts until an obscure rule change stalled it in its tracks. Further singles didn’t do as well, and by the time the group released their one and only album . . . in 1970, there wasn’t much of an audience for their sound . . . . After this disappointment, Rivers left the band in July of 1970. . . . mov[ing] into a production role at CBS Records, then began releasing singles under different names in the first half of the decade. . . . He also stayed busy working as a backing singer . . . and working as Cliff Richard’s musical director and chief backing vocalist from 1976 to 1985.
Rivers recalled:
Things could have turned out quite differently had Brian Epstein, our new manager, not stopped us releasing our version of “Nowhere Man” . . . , which was scheduled for release, before being withdrawn. It’s not that Brian didn’t like it, he just thought that it wasn’t good for our career to cover a Beatles song! (Would the Overlanders ever have had a “hit” without “Michele”? Having just been signed by him, we were in no position to argue. How could you argue with the man who managed the Beatles, the biggest group of all time? . . . We’d toured all through the 60’s playing dance halls, clubs, including many gigs headlining at the Marquee in Wardour St, and even appeared at the Cavern in Liverpool in 1966. We were also playing the University circuit (and for two consecutive years, we were voted the most popular group), which is quite an accolade, when you realise that every major band in the U.K. played the University circuit, from Fleetwood Mac to any band you could name at that time!
Alan Esdaile: https://ninebattles.com/tag/tony-rivers/
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