7 minute read
Misty Interview by Martin Hutchinson.
Michael Plays
For Us Misty
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Interview by Martin Hutchinson.
We tend to feature bands that ‘made it’ or had a decent stab at success, but I thought I’d write about a band that promised much, but lack of promotion and management experience led to their demise. And then there was the small matter of a ground-breaking album that they recorded, but was never released.
Formed in 1968 by classically trained keyboard player Michael Gelardi and bass guitarist Steve Bingham, by the autumn of 1969, the line-up had settled with the addition of singer Tony Wootton; drummer John Timms (now sadly no longer with us) and guitarist Freddie Green. Their music fused classic three-minute songwriting with an organ-based late Psychedelic / early-Progressive Rock sound, firmly in the tradition of bands like Procol Harum and The Nice. Misty, named after Erroll Garner’s iconic 1954 Jazz standard, were introduced to impresario Michael Grade, who signed them to his newly-formed London Management. Late in 1969, the band spent seven days in London’s Regent Sound Studios recording their first (and subsequently, only) album. Eleven songs, nine written by Gelardi and Bingham with two by Wootton were recorded and the album was scheduled for release in early 1970. Also, the band travelled to Carlisle to record a TV showcase for Border Television which was broadcast in July 1970.
Two further tracks were recorded at Olympic Studios in London in the spring of 1970 for release as a single. ‘Hot Cinnamon’ backed with ‘Cascades’ was released on EMI’s Parlophone label in July 1970, but a
lack of promotion resulted in the single being a flop, as the band’s music was difficult to place. Strangely, the single is now a major collectable after being unearthed and championed by Mod club DJs.
Despite Grade issuing the (ultimately incorrect) statement that “Yesterday was The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Cream. Today is Led Zepplin (sic), The Moody Blues, Deep Purple. Tomorrow will be MISTY” and a few gigs, one supporting Roy Orbison, following, the album was never released and the band split.
The acetate of the album was discovered in Gelardi’s home and cleaned up to a standard suitable for release and along with four live tracks from the TV recording, which was unearthed by a fan, Cherry Red have released the album on their Grapefruit Records label.
Recently, I caught up with founder member and songwriter Gelardi, who chatted freely about Misty and the recent release of the album, but first I asked him about his influences. “Well,
I trained as a classical pianist in
South Africa, where I was born”, he tells me. “We came to the UK when I
was eleven in 1961. It was the beginning of the Pop music era, so I was getting into Pop and Rock and Jazz. I was really influenced by the likes of Jimmy Smith and the American Jazz Hammond Organ players and later on, Keith Emerson. Actually, Alan Price was one of my biggest influences. I learnt almost every [keyboard] solo he did. The only one I couldn’t quite figure out was the one on For ‘Miss Caulker’, which was the B-side to 1965’s ‘Bring It On Home to Me’.”
In fact, Gerlardi found that there was a good reason for the trouble he had encountered with that particular solo.
“I met up with Alan and asked him
about it”, he explains. “He told me
that they [The Animals] all had terrible hangovers and he’d had a row with Eric [Burdon, The Animals’ singer]. They just needed to record
the B-side, but Alan told me that he didn’t remember what he’d played!”
Gelardi also brought his classical training in to the Misty mix: “Yes, I
like Bach, Handel, Scarlatti and Corelli, they’re all on the album.”
And, whereas many bands had classical influences, Misty was a bit different. “Yes”, he agrees. “The one difference
between us and the others was that we played Bach note for note!”
Once it was apparent that the album wasn’t to be released, the band wasn’t exactly over the moon. “Yes, we were disappointed”, Gelardi says. “Michael
Grade was our manager. We were his first, and last, Rock band. He loved the music, but while he was extremely well-connected in the variety and TV worlds, he didn’t really have connections within the then current Rock music business. On the live front, we did one show supporting Roy Orbison and one for Banbury College and we went down a storm, but London Management didn’t have the connections for the college circuit either. We then recorded the one single [‘Hot Cinnamon’ / ‘Cascades’] on Parlophone, but, although a huge Pop music label, it was the really not the right label for our kind of music, we would have been better on EMI’s more progressive label, Harvest, and the single was never really pushed. Also, Michael Grade wasn’t keen on our singer and he suggested getting Robert Plant in. A band has a chemistry, so I said no, and that was the final straw. To add to all that, the album was never released, despite Michael Grade paying out for rehearsals and recording.”
One person was pleased about the break-up, Gelardi’s mother: “Yes, mother was a mathematician and, much to her dissatisfaction, I’d become a professional musician. I’d opted out of university after time at Selwyn College, Cambridge and Bristol. She said that now I could go out and get a ‘proper job’ and go to night school. I continued with London Management as a
songwriter, recording musician and arranger. Then I got a job with the band-leader Geraldo. After the war, he had an agency in New Bond Street [due to the amount of bands he placed with liners, the agency became known as “Gerry’s Navy”] and I was his assistant. After a while, I formed my own agency, which I later sold to Trust House Forte and founded the Entertainment Division of Trust House Forte, which became the second largest entertainment agency after Rank.”
He then told me about how the album came to be released, a full fifty-two years after being recorded: “Well, my
girlfriend at the time, a classical violinist, asked me about the album and if she could hear it. I actually didn’t know where it was, but she managed to find the acetate of the album, which was probably the only one in existence. I didn’t think of it being released, but my son told me to take it to Porky’s Mastering and they digitally enhanced it. Then, when I went to pick up the CDs, the engineer said that his boss, George ‘Porky’ Peckham wanted to see me. He said that he’d heard the music before and I said that he couldn’t have as the album had never been released. He was adamant and it turned out that he had been a member of The Fourmost when we appeared on the same bill supporting Roy Orbison and heard it then!”
And the band also has a famous fan. “That’s right!”, says Gelardi. “It
turns out that Mike Read was a big Misty fan. In September, he featured us in his ’Footage Detectives’ slot on Talking Pictures TV.”
After splitting, the other members of the band have pursued other careers:
“Freddie [Green], our guitarist, went on to work for the Post Office for twenty-five years as well as being a semi-pro musician during that time. He is now retired, but still plays with various bands from time to time. Steve Bingham has remained a professional musician ever since and presently plays for and manages Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, as well as Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance band; and Tony Wootton, our singer, went into the electronics and later insulation businesses, but he and I have remained recording music together over many years under the name of The London Baby
Boomers.” Sadly, Misty’s drummer, John Timms passed away in 2012.
Misty’s album, ‘Here Again’, containing the thirteen studio-recorded tracks, plus four tracks from the TV showcase is out now on Grapefruit Records via Cherry Red. It includes a 4,000 word sleeve-note about Misty’s hitherto-undocumented existence together with photos, memorabilia and quotes from band members.
