Simon Dupree & The Big Sound - Without Reservations (1967)

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.

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Elton John - Empty Sky (1969)

The uncanny ability that the young Reg Dwight showed for reproducing any melody on the piano made him a social gathering stopper and eventually won him enrollment into the Royal Academy of Music. (This is where Dwight met future collaborator Paul Buckmaster who also arranged the orchestration on Rupert Hine's debut.) Although Reg Dwight learned and showed an appreciation for classical music, his love of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and Ray Charles started him down a different musical road. He continued cutting his chops by working as a pub pianist and eventually starting Bluesology, an R&B band, with some friends. Bluesology was successful to the effect that it released three non-charting singles and mainly worked as a backing band on tour for minor recording artists.

While moving toward a lesser role in the doomed Bluesology, Reg Dwight teamed up with Bernie Taupin, and the duo earned work as songwriters for music publisher Dick James. At the same time, Dwight adopted the stage name "Elton John" and began cutting demos at the Dick James Studio. This led to the release of his first single "I've Been Loving You" in late 1968. In the dawn of '69, it was his next single "Lady Samantha" that made the industry take a second look and was quickly followed up with his debut album Empty Sky in June of that year.

Releasing his debut at the young age of 22, his demos, singles, and album paint a good picture of the natural talent that Elton John had for melody and the potential waiting to be fulfilled. It also reflects the uncertainty of his voice; unsure of his own sound. Affected by the the triumph of Sgt. Pepper and the emerging dominance of psychedelia, Elton furnished a unique but bland form of psychedelic pop. This and his own unpolished piano pop make up his debut album, a testament of the classic music to come.

Here is the discography surrounding Elton John's debut album:

Come Back Baby (1965 single with Bluesology)
Mr Frantic (1966 single with Bluesology)
Since I Found You Baby (1967 single with Bluesology)
Elton 1968 (1968 demos)
The Unsurpassed Dick James Demos, Vol. 1 (1968 demos)
The Unsurpassed Dick James Demos, Vol. 2 (1968 demos)
The Unsurpassed Dick James Demos, Vol. 3 (1968-70 demos)
I've Been Loving You (1968 single)
Lady Samantha (1969 single)
It's Me That You Need (1969 single)
Empty Sky





If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, feel free to speak up. Just remember that it has to be related to this time in Elton John's career, and the idea is to do an artist's discography in chronological order.

Pass the Headphones!!