Reg Dwight actually had the opportunity to join a couple of other bands before starting off on his solo career. He tried out for and failed to get a spot on the lineup of Robert Fripp's King Crimson, and he apparently asked to stay as a permanent member of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound after filling in for the role of keyboards during their 1967 tour of Scotland. The manager declined the partnership and the soon-to-be Elton John was sent back to writing songs with Bernie Taupin.
Simon Dupree & the Big Sound began in Portsmouth, England in the mid-sixties and was headed by three brothers: Derek, Phil, and Ray Shulman. The three would all take on the vocals with Derek acting as the lead. Phil took the lead guitarist role and occasionally supplied his playing on the violin or trumpet. Ray played the trumpet, as well as the saxophone. The band rounded off with Tony Ransley on percussion, Peter O'Flaherty on bass guitar, and Eric Hine on keyboards and the mellotron. If you haven't yet noticed, Simon Dupree is not a member of the band nor does he exist at all. The flashy name was given to them by a previous manager. When it came to their music, the Shulman brothers saw themselves as blue-eyed soul brothers and aimed the band's artistic output in that soulful direction.
Through connections with their manager John King, the band signed a five year recording contract with Parlophone in 1966. Their first single "I See the Light" just barely made the top forty charts. In 1967, their debut and only album Without Reservations also failed to make much commercial headway, but is still a good sonic reflection of what the band intended to sound like. Due to the lack of success of Simon Dupree's singles thus far, John King and Parlophone pushed the band away from soul towards the surefire success of psychedelia. "Kites" (which sounded more like exotica than psychedelia) scored the band's only top ten hit. But the group was uncomfortable with the imposed sound, and they moved (or were pushed) to a more conventional pop-rock sound. Still, Simon Dupree failed to chart.
The band's music, as a body of work, is eclectic. As mentioned before, they run the sonic gamut from exuberant soul to exotic psychedelia to fun pop-rock. Their singles boast a different kind of the same old sound, however, as the multi-instrumentalist Shulman brothers try to spice up each rock single with unconventional instruments whether it's a mellotron, flute, or violin.
Simon Dupree & the Big Sound would go on recording for two more years before breaking up after several years of little success and a lack of artistic freedom. The Shulman brothers presence on the rock scene did not end here, however, as they would soon found one of the most musically experimental and complex bands of the 1970s.
Here is the complete discography for Simon Dupree & the Big Sound:
I See the Light (1966 single)
Reservations (1967 single)
Day Time, Night Time (1967 single)
Without Reservations
Kites (1967 single)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1968 single)
Part of My Past (1968 single)
Thinking About My Life (1968 single)
We Are the Moles (1968 single as The Moles)
Broken Hearted Pirates (1969 single)
The Eagle Flies Tonight (1969 single)
Kites (1978 compilation EP)
Amen (1982 compilation album)
Kites (1993 compilation album)
Part of Their Past (2004 complete anthology)
Don't forget to throw around any recommendations for where the Musical History Tour should stop next.
Pass the Headphones!!
No comments:
Post a Comment