RITCHIE FRANCIS gtr A B
GARY PICKFORD HOPKINS vcls A B
PHIL RYAN keyb'ds A B
WYNDHAM REES drms A
RAY WILLIAMS bs A
R BENNETT bs B
JOHN WEATHERS drms B
ALBUMS:
1(A) THE CROSSROADS OF TIME (Mercury SMCL 20134) 1968 R1
2(B) IN FIELDS OF ARDATH (Mercury SMCL 20164) 1969 R1
NB: (1) and (2) have been reissued on CD.
45s:
1 Heart Trouble/Up And Down (Deram DM 106) 1966
2 Supermarket Full Of Cans/Don't Ask Me To Mend Your Broken Heart (Deram DM 114) 1967
3 Largo/Yesterday (Mercury MF 1049) 1968
Starting out as a soul-based band from Neath, the Eyes Of Blue gradually turned to the American West Coast sound. All of their recordings are quite collectable.
In collaboration with Quincy Jones they contributed to the 'Toy Grabbers' film score and they later appeared in the film 'Connecting Rooms'. Their albums are diverse with pop, R&B, jazz, classical, psychedelic and Eastern influences. The best tracks on the first one are two R&B Graham Bond songs (he also wrote the sleevenotes) Love Is The Law and Crossroads Of Time. It also included good versions of Love's 7 And 7 Is and The Beatles' Yesterday. Also noteworthy are their own Inspiration For A New Day and Prodigal Son, which feature some Eastern-sounding psychedelic guitar work.
Their second album is more progressive. The best tracks are Merry Go Round (from the 'Toy Grabbers' Soundtrack), which is a keyboard-dominated progressive piece with some good guitar breaks and much classical influence; Graham Bond's Spanish Blues, with some jazzy organ; Door, with its spooky vocals, which along with the dreamy title cut indicated the band's interest in the supernatural and the occult (especially reincarnation).
They also recorded an album in October 1968 as the backing band to American singer-songwriter Buzz Linhart, Buzzy. Highlights included a very good R&B version of Tim Hardin's Yellow Cab and Linhart's Willie Jean and End Song. There's a long track on side two which they don't play on which is also very good. On this Linhart is backed by Big Jim Sullivan (gtr) and Keshav Sathe (tabla).
Phil Ryan later played in Man, whilst Weathers went onto play with Pete Brown and Piblokto! and Gentle Giant. Ritchie Francis later made a solo album in 1971. The band later recorded as Big Sleep and aided Ancient Grease on their sole album.
Deram Dayze (LP) and The Mod Scene (CD) both include Supermarket Full Of Cans, a pop-soul number with just a hint of psychedelia; their debut 45, Heart Trouble, has resurfaced on Broken Dreams, Vol. 5 (LP) and you'll also find QIII, a rare 'B' side from an American 45, on Rubble Vol. 16: Glass Orchid Aftermath (LP) and Rubble Vol. 9 (CD). It's an organ-driven instrumental. Finally, there's Prodigal Son on Rubble Vol. 8: All The Colours Of Darkness (LP) and Rubble Vol. 4 (CD).
(Vernon Joynson / Costas Arvanitis)
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