Help Yourself


Band members                             Related acts

  line up 1 (1970-71)

- Dave Charles -- drums, percussion, vocals  

- Malcolm Morley -- keyboards, guitar, vocals  

- Richard Treece -- bass, guitar, vocals 

- Ken Whalley -- bass 

 

  line up 2 (1971)

- Dave Charles -- drums, percussion, vocals 

NEW - JoJo Glemser -- lead guitar 

NEW - Ernie Graham -- guitar, vocals (replaced Ken Whaley)

- Malcolm Morley -- keyboards, guitar, vocals  

- Richard Treece -- bass, guitar, vocals 

 

  line up 3 (1971-73)

NEW - Paul Burton -- bass, guitar, vocals (replaced JoJo Glesmer

  and Ernie Graham) 

- Dave Charles -- drums, percussion, vocals 

- Malcolm Morley -- keyboards, guitar, vocals,bass

- Richard Treece -- bass, guitar, vocals

 

  line up 4 (1973)

NEW - Paul Burton -- bass, guitar, vocals

- Dave Charles -- drums, percussion, vocals 

- Malcolm Morley -- keyboards, guitar, vocals 

NEW - Ken Whalley -- bass  (replaced Richard Treece)

 

 

 

 

- Bees Make Honey  (Malcolm Morley)

- Clancy (Ernie Graham)

- Ducks Deluxe (Ken Whalley)

- Erie Apparent (Ernie Graham)

- The Flying Aces (Richard Treece)

- Ernie Graham (solo efforts)

- Green Ray (Richard Treece - Ken Whalley)

- Deke Leonard's Iceberg

- Man (Malcolm Morley and Ken Whalley)

- Neutrons (David Charles)

- Sam Apple Pie (David Charles)

- The Takeaways (Sean Tyla)

- The Tyla Gang (Sean Tyla)

 

 

 


 

Genre: rock

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title:  Strange Affair

Company: United Artists

Catalog: UAS-5591

Year: 1972

Country/State: London, England

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG+

Comments: minor ring and edge wear; original inner sleeve

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 5135

Price: $20.00

 

English pub rock's always been a personal favorite, as has the little known Help Yourself.  Sure, judged by the cover photo they looked like a bunch of on-the-dole hippies, but with 1972's "Strange Affair" they turned in one of the genre's better offerings.

 

Recorded at Dave Edmund's Rockfield Studios with Anton Matthews and the band co-producing, the band's sophomore album came together amidst a string of personnel changes including the departures of original bass player Ken Whalley; his replacement Ernie Graham, and lead guitarist JoJo Glemser (the latter two left during the actual recording sessions).  The fact the album was completed, let alone turned out so well amidst such trying circumstances spoke volumes for the dedication and professionalism of prime songwriter Malcolm Morley and the rest of the line up (bassist Paul Burton, drummer Dave Charles, and guitarist Richard Treece).  Musically the album offered up a fairly conventional set of early-1970s rock, that might well escape one's notice the first couple of times around. That's unfortunate since the performances were uniformly impressive and Morley's material was frequently quite clever (okay I'll admit 'Movie Star' was pedestrian and lame).  Highlights included the rocking title track, the pretty acoustic ballad 'Brown Lady' (with distinctive CS&N-styled harmonies), and the nine minute plus and mildly-psych-ish instrumental 'The All Electric Fur Trapper'.  Certainly not the most original LP you'll ever hear, but still a good one to track down.  

 

- The rollicking 'Strange Affair' was the kind of song that must have been a blast to hear in a small club.  Slinky and rockin' at the same time, it was one of my favorite performances on the collection.  for some reason I start humming it every time I eat at a diner.   rating: *** stars

- A pretty acoustic guitar powered ballad, 'Brown Lady' sounded a bit like an early America song - the same kind of hyper-sensitivity and CSN-styled harmony vocals.   rating: *** stars    

- More America-styled soft-rock, 'Movie Star' at least had some interesting lyrics, served to underscore the band's nice harmony vocals, and ended with some excellent Graham and Glemser's guitar work.    rating: *** stars

- Quite unlike anything else on the album, 'Deanna Call and Scotty' actually sounded like a totally different band.  Very English-pop flavored, it almost had a pop-psych edge to it.     rating: *** stars  

- Opening up with some barrelhouse piano and a bluesy vibe, 'Heaven Road' didn't start out all that promising, but to its credit the song got better as it went along, ultimately finding a nice groove.  'Course, just as it was starting to cook, it faded out.  Easy to see why United Artists tapped his one as the single.   rating: *** stars

- Ernie Graham and JoJo Glemser's atmospheric guitars gave the instrumental 'The All Electric Fur Trapper' a cool, if slightly ominous feel.  Not sure what the brief  'cat-barfing' sound effects were all about, but you quickly forgot about it when the fuzz guitar solos kicked in.  The song hen slowed down, offering a nice platform for the mix of Malcolm Morley's keyboards and Graham and Glemser's guitars.  Imagine Pink Floyd deciding to go for a slightly country-tinged feel and you'd be in the right aural neighborhood on this one.  Even though the song was an instrumental, credited to Sean Tyler, the inner sleeve had an extended ''story" piece under the same title.    rating: *** stars

- Showcasing Morley's keyboards, 'Many Ways of Meeting' was a pretty, but forgettable ballad.  Side two's lone disappointment, this one just never went anywhere.   rating: ** stars

 

United Artists also tapped the album for a single: 

 

 

 

 

- 1972's 'Heaven Row' b/w 'Brown Lady' (United Artists catalog number 35355).

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Strange Affair" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Strange Affair   (Malcolm Morley) - 3:31

2.) Brown Lady   (Malcolm Morley) - 4:42

3.) Movie Star   (Ernie Graham) - 5:45

4.) Deanna Call and Scotty   (Malcolm Morley) - 3:45

 

(side 2)
1.) Heaven Road   (Malcolm Morley) - 4:15

2.) The All Electric Fur Trapper (instrumental)   (Malcolm Morley) - 9:31

3.) Many Ways of Meeting   (Malcolm Morley - 3:53

 

 

 

 

 


Genre: rock

Rating: 4 stars ****

Title:  Beware the Shadow

Company: United Artists

Catalog: UA-LA079-F

Year: 1972

Country/State: London, England

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: cut top right corner

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 258

Price: $25.00

 

Best time to play:  after a couple of cold beers

 

My favorite Help Yourself album ...    With former roadie/bassist Paul Burton an official member of the band (he'd filled in for JoJo Glesmer and Ernie Graham after they left during the "Strange Reasons" sessions), 1972's self-produced "Beware the Shadow" has always been something of a mystery to me.  Literally recorded and released on the heels of the  "Strange Affair" LP, musically it wasn't all that different from the band's first two albums. Largely written by singer/multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Morley, tracks like 'Alabama Lady' and 'She's My Girl' had a pleasant, laidback American country-rock feel which should have sounded familiar to anyone who'd heard the first two albums.  In fact, powered by Morley's sweet voice, if you hadn't known they were British, it would have been easy to mistake them for a West Coast band.  In spite of the similarities with their earlier releases,  I've always found this collection much more consistent and enjoyable than the other two albums.  Maybe it has something to do with the band sounding at ease and comfortable throughout.  Nobody seemed to be trying to impress anyone else ...  The fact the album had at least four superb songs including the killer jam 'Reaffirmation' and one of their best rockers 'American Mother', certainly didn't hurt.

 

- Written by multi-instrumentalist Morley, 'Alabama Lady' was a slinky country-rocker that, thanks to guitarist Richard Treece, placed the emphasis on the rock component.  Great tune powered by some fantastic wah-wah guitar and the band's excellent Paul Burton and Dave Charles rhythm section.   rating: **** stars

- Clocking in at over twelve minutes (it goes by in a flash), 'Reaffirmation' was easily the album's stand out performance.  Quite a departure from their country-rock leanings, the song started out with a dark and haunting melody and what you could mistake for a progressive vibe.  Slipping a sliding through a series of musical interludes, about seven minutes in the track morphed into a cool wah-wah guitar powered segment and then jumped into a twin lead guitar rocker that seriously stomped.   For progressive fans, around 10:50 Malcolm Morley added a touch of mellotron to the mix.  About all I can say is that everyone should hear this track on a qualify stereo system.   rating: **** stars

- It literally wasn't much more than a song fragment, but the Burton-penned 'Calapso' had a funky Caribbean flavor that left you wishing they'd flushed the song out.   rating: *** stars

- Opening up with some gorgeous acoustic guitar and mandolin fills, 'She's My Girl' started out as a sweet ballad with a high "hum" factor.  The track took on a more rock oriented feel as it went along, complete with some nice Treece slide guitar.  Probably the album's most commercial offering, it could have done well on the charts with some promotion.   rating: **** stars

- With an over-the-top country sound; lame campfire sound effects, and some of the dumbest lyrics you've ever heard, 'Molly Bake Bean' has always struck me as a bad Monty Python skit.  Horrible ...  What the world were they thinking when they decided to put this on the album ?   rating: * star

- A fantastic, atmospheric, mid-tempo rocker, I'm not sure what inspired Morley and Sean Tyla to come up with the lyrics, but the album might be worth the admission price just to hear the opening section of the classic 'American Mother'.   Seriously Treece's guitar work was that good.  (For anyone interested, a couple of years later The Tyla Gang recorded a version of the song.)    rating: **** stars

- 'Passing Through' ended the album on a subdued note - a pretty, but forgettable ballad.   rating: *** stars

 

Well worth looking for... and the Annie Hutchings cover art is a hoot.

 

"Beware the Shadow" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Alabama Lady  (Malcolm Morley) - 4:48

2.) Reaffirmation   (Paul Burton - Richard Treece - Malcolm Morley) - 12:34

3.) Calapso   (Paul Burton) - 1:10

 

(side 2)
1.) She's My Girl  (Malcolm Morley) - 2:31

2.) Molly Bake Bean  (Malcolm Morley) - 2:18

3.) American Mother  (Malcolm Morley - Sean Tyla) - 7:41

4.) Passing Through   (Malcolm Morley) - 4:31

 

 

 

 

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