This is nearly everything ever recorded by cult psychedelic band Skip Bifferty. Most of CD1 is their single eponymous album recorded in the autumn of 1967, but only released nearly a year later. However, the interest for Yes fans comes later. The band officially dissolved in 1968 following (violent) disagreements with manager Don Arden. However, the line up actually continued, adopting the name Heavy Jelly (the name of a fictitious band in a spoof review in Time Out) and recording the single included here (36-7). One historical website has it that Heavy Jelly subsequently changed drummer to Dave Potts (who also auditioned for Bill Bruford's spot in Yes when he first left the band) and then to Alan White before splitting up.
White had been working with Kirtley and Craddock as Alan Price's backing band and under the name Happy Magazine. Joined by Gibson, they formed Griffin. Graham Bell soon followed and the three tracks here (38-40) were recorded. The first two are from a Sep 1969 single and the third from an Oct 1969 BBC session for Top Gear. White's presence is not especially notable and the Griffin tracks are not as strong as Skip Bifferty or, indeed, Ramshackled. Why the comparison with Alan White's Ramshackled? Well, Kirtley, Craddock, Gibson and White would later get back together as the band on White's solo album, which is effectively a Griffin reformation. All three Griffin tracks, particularly the BBC session "Shine", are also of rather poor audio quality.
Gibson and Kirtley later appeared on Johnny Harris' All to Bring You Morning, while Gibson is on Steve Howe's Beginnings. White also played for Bell & Arc, consisting of Turnbull and Gallgher (Arc) and Bell. Turnbull and Gallgher ended up in The Blockheads, eventually playing along side Steve Howe's son, Dylan, on drums. (HP, 12 May 03)
Disc 1
The Album
1. Money Man [Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher/Gibson/Jackson]
2. Jeremy Carabine [Bell/Turnbull/Gibson]
3. When She Comes to Stay [Turnbull/Bell]
4. Guru [Bell/Gallagher]
5. Come Around [Bell/Gallagher/Turnbull]
6. Time Track [Bell/Turnbull]
7. Gas Board Under Dog (Part 1) [Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
8. Inside the Secret [Bell]
9. Orange Lace [Bell/Turnbull]
10. Planting Bad Seeds [Smith/Gallagher/Turnbull/Bell]
11. Yours for at Least 24 [Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
12. Follow the Path of the Stars [Smith/Bell/Gallagher]
13. Prince of Germany the First [Gibson/Turnbull]
14. Clearway 51 [Bell/Gibson/Gallagher]
Bonus tracks
15. Man in Black [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher; arr. Steve Marriott]
16. On Love [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
17. Cover Girl [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
18. Happy Land [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
19. Reason to Live [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
20. Round and Round [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
Alan Hull/Skip Bifferty
21. This We Shall Explore [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
22. Schizoid Revolution [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
Disc 2
BBC Sessions
23. The Hobbit [Turnbull]
24. Man in Black [Gibson/Turnbull/Gallagher/Bell]
25. Once [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
26. Aged Aged Man [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
27. Higher Than the Clouds [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
28. The Lion & the Unicorn [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
29. Disappointing Day [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
30. Money Man [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
31. I Don't Understand It [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
32. Don't Let Me Be Understood [Benjamin/C/M]
33. In the Morning [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
34. Follow the Path of the Stars [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
35. When She Comes to Stay [Gibson/Bell/Turnbull/Gallagher]
Heavy Jelly Single
36. I Keep Singing the Same Old Song [Gibson]
37. Blue [Bell]
Griffin
38. I am the Noise in Your Head [Kirtley/Gibson/Craddock]
39. Don't You Know [Kirtley]
40. Shine (BBC Session) [Bell/Gibson/Craddock]
Notes: (***) Tracks (20)-(22) and (40) are previously unreleased.
The Story of Skip Bifferty
2003 castle CD
Biography by Bruce Eder
Skip Bifferty are something of a lesson in musical survival, and doubly so, since most of its members had viable and even highly successful careers in music stretching
more than a decade after the group's break-up. The group was an offshoot of the latter-day Chosen Few, a Newcastle band that had been working together since 1962.
They'd lost their bassist and lead guitarist in 1965, and organist Mick Gallagher kept the group going, recruiting John Turnbull on guitar and Colin Gibson on bass.
With the departure of Chosen Few lead singer Rod Hood, Graham Bell joined as lead vocalist, but the time had come to close down the Chosen Few. Gallagher, Turnbull,
Gibson, Bell, and drummer Tommy Jackman reorganized the band as Skip Bifferty.
Skip Bifferty was a psychedelic pop band that immediately found a enthusiastic audience at the Marquee Club, got Don Arden as manager (which led to a contract with RCA-UK),
and were regular guests on John Peel's Top Gear. A series of singles followed, among them the hard-rocking "On Love" (their debut), but they redefined themselves more
in the direction of flower-power with their next few records, starting with "Happy Land." Although none of their singles charted, RCA allowed them to cut a full LP,
which contained some notable psychedelic and experimental tracks. Their final single, "Man In Black," was taken off the album and was produced by Ronnie Lane and arranged
by Steve Marriott.
A dispute with Arden caused the band to walk out en masse, and they next appeared together under the pseudonym Heavy Jelly, cutting an eight-minute single
("I Keep Singing That Same Old Song") that charted in a few European countries and ended up on the multi-artist sampler LP Nice Enough To Eat—they abandoned the name,
however, when they learned of a Jackie Lomax-fronted outfit organized by John Moorhead that was already using it. Bell, Gallagher, and Turnbull worked together in Bell & Arc,
and Gibson passed through Snafu, while Gallagher was a member of Frampton's Camel and subsequently played with Turnbull in Loving Awareness, which evolved into Ian Dury's
Blockheads in the late 1970's. Skip Bifferty's album was reissued on compact disc in the mid-1990's.
Review by Kathleen C. Fennessy
The Story of Skip Bifferty represents both the advantages and the limitations of the two-CD set — especially when the group in question has such a slim discography.
On the one hand, the first disc, consisting primarily of material from the band's self-titled 1968 debut, bonus tracks, and previously unissued material, is a pure,
unalloyed delight. Fans of the Creation, the Pretty Things, Village Green-era Kinks — even XTC's ingenious incarnation as the Dukes of Stratosphear — are sure to enjoy
Skip's similarly catchy, power pop approach to psychedelia. On the other hand, the second disc, consisting primarily of BBC sessions, is a bit of a disappointment in
comparison. The early live tracks are fine, but the harder-rocking material from singer Graham Bell's sojourns with Heavy Jelly and Griffin is a little lackluster.
Further, the sound quality of some of the live songs, like an otherwise appealing cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," could be better and the DJ identifications
for the radio tracks are all faded out. Why not just eliminate them altogether if they couldn't be edited with greater care? Then again, the first disc sounds great
and the retrospective is nicely packaged, featuring original album and single cover art, publicity stills, comprehensive liner notes, and a eye-catching cardboard slipcase.
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