Mott the Hoople
Ella Crew
“Evesham
Boy, born in ’46,
Evesham Boy, he learned all the licks.
He left home to search for fame,
Turned out to be the biggest game”.
These are the opening lines to the song ‘Evesham
Boy’, the opening song on Luther Grosvenor’s solo album released in
August 1996. Sadly, not much has been heard from this talented musician
since. He retired from the music industry, disillusioned with the
business side of it all for the second time in his career.
Luther Grosvenor was born in Evesham, Worcester, just
before Christmas in 1946. By the time he was eleven years old he got his
first acoustic guitar, and at fifteen he formed his own group, the
Wavelength.
By the mid-sixties Luther Grosvenor felt he had
outgrown his own band and wanted to turn into a fulltime professional
musician. So when Dave Mason left Worcester’s premier rock group, the
Hellions, Luther applied for the job and with a change of name Deep
Feelings were created, making a name for themselves on the college dance
scene. While Luther was honing his skills as lead guitarist with Deep
Feelings, other members were Jim Capaldi, later to reach fame and
fortune with a solo career and as one of the major driving forces in
Traffic, and Poli Palmer, who was rattling the keyboards and later went
on to record five albums with Family. Deep Feelings was the band Luther
made his studio recording debut. The two singles were the wonderful
‘Pretty Colours’, and ‘Poltergeist of Alice’.
When Steve Winwood put out the call for Jim Capaldi
to leave Deep Feelings and rejoin Dave Mason in the fledgling Traffic,
Deep Feelings fell apart. Shame. Great band. Steve Winwood saw the raw
talent of the young guitarist and let him gig as lead guitarist with the
local band the V.I.P.’s, who had just had a minor hit with ‘I Wanna
Be Free’ (1966). The V.I.P.’s briefly had Keith Emerson on keyboards
while Luther was in the band along with Greg Ridley on bass, Mike Kellie
on drums, and Mike Harrison on vocals and keyboards.
With Emerson gone and Guy Stevens as producer and
mentor, the V.I.P.’s were signed to the Island Record label. They
released one more single ‘Straight Down To The Bottom’, which was a
bit of a shame really as that was exactly where they went in the singles
charts. Undaunted the band plugged on, but a change of name was deemed
necessary. Consequently Guy Stevens renamed them Art and hustled them
back into the studio to record a new single along with a whole new
album.
The single, which was a minor hit, was a reworking of
the Buffalo Springfield song ‘For What It’s Worth’, re-titled
‘What’s That Sound’, the prominent chorus line from the song.
The album came out in a blaze of publicity in the
year of the summer of love - 1967. The album was wrapped in a stunning
full-blown psychedelic sleeve designed by Haphash and the multi colored
coat. The album made little impression on the charts, though, and
another re-think was in order.
Chris Blackwell, head of Island Records, had just
brought across the young American singer/songwriter/keyboard player Gary
Wright to kick start his career on the east side of the Atlantic. It was
he who suggested that Wright joining the four piece Art. At first the
boys were not keen on the idea as they already had a
singer/songwriter/keyboard player in the band in Mike Harrison, but
agreed to a meeting. In one afternoon of rehearsals minds molded and the
band became a five piece and were renamed for the second time by Guy
Stevens to the magical Spooky Tooth.
The debut album recorded in 1968 was called ‘It’s
All About’ (Jimmy Miller held down production duties as Guy Stevens
was proving a little too erratic; there is a fine line between genius
and insanity), with its blistering version of John D. Louder’s
‘Tobacco Road’. This cemented Spooky Tooth’s obvious heavy
keyboard laden sound and showed off the dual lead vocals of Harrison and
Wright. However, more importantly to our story, gave also full reign to
the talents of young Mr. Luther Grosvenor’s lead axe work. ‘Tobacco
Road’ was always a fan favorite in Spooky Tooth’s live shows
throughout their career. The single lifted off the album became also a
hit, ‘Sunshine Help Me’, perhaps the first self written Spooky Tooth
classic.
After a year of heavy road work, including two
promising trips to the United States, the band returned to the studio
again with Jimmy Miller at the helm to record their classic album, and
one of the highlights of Luther Grosvenor’s career, ‘Spooky Two’.
But more of this in part two...
Spooky Tooth
Luther Grosvenor - Lead Guitar
Gary Wright - Keyboards, and Vocals
Mike Harrison - Keyboards, and Vocals
Greg Ridley - Bass
Mike Kellie - Drums
Albums so far
featuring Luther Grosvenor
Super Natural Fairy Tales - Art (1967)
It’s All About - Spooky Tooth (1968)
Spooky Two - Spooky Tooth (1969)
This
week I was presented with yet another book about life in Thailand, and a
side of life that most of us would publicly shun (but in private, which
one of us could cast the first stone?). Written by Derek Sharron, My Name
Lon - You Like Me? (ISBN 974-92721-5-3, publisher Bangkok Book House),
claims to be a true story following the life and (mis)fortunes of Lon, a
girl from Esarn.
Mott’s CD review: From Luther Grosvenor to Ariel Bender and Beyond
