Punchin' Judy
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1972-73) - Alan Brooks (RIP 2010) -- drums, percussion, vocals - Keith Evans (aka Keith Grant) --bass, vocals - Barbara O'Meara -- vocals - John Phillips -- guitar, vocals
supporting musician: (1973) - Robin Langridge -- keyboards
line up 2 (1973-74) NEW - Tony Durant -- lead guitar (replaced John Phillips) - Keith Evans (aka Keith Grant) --bass, vocals NEW - Michael Gregory -- drums, percussion (replaced Alan Brooks) - Robin Langridge -- keyboards - Barbara O'Meara -- vocals
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- The Albion Band (Michael Gregory) - Barrier (Alan Brooks) - The British Invasion All-Stars (Keith Grant) - Contempt (Robin Langridge) - Don Craine's New Downliners Sect (Keith Grant) - Downliners Sect (Alan Brooks and Keith Grant) - F.U.2, Magnet (Keith Grant and Robin Langridge) - Fuchsia (Tony Durant and Michael Gregory) - The Green House Band (Michael Gregory) - Home Service (Michael Gregory) - The John Kirkpatrick Band (Michael Gregory) - Louise (Tony Durant) - Magnet (Keith Evans) - Morris On (Michael Gregory) - Mystery Train (Keith Grant) - Barbara O'Meara And Old Nick (Barbara O'Meara) - The Rick Sanders Group (Michael Gregory) - The Skint Imperials (Barbara O'Meara) - Sniff and the Tears (Robin Langridge) - Tarot (Keith Grant) - Thee Headcoats Sect (Keith Grant) - Dave Warner's From The Suburbs (Tony Durant)
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Genre: hard rock Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: Punchin' Judy Company: Transatlantic Catalog: TRA
272 Country/State: London, England Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: -- Price: $
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This is not the short-lived early-'70s metal band out of Bristol, Tennessee. Instead, it's a short-lived mid-'70s English quintet.
The London-based Punchin' Judy came together in 1972. Lead singer Barbara O'Meara has previously released an obscure single credited to Barbara O'Meara and Old Nick:
- 1972's "Everybody" b/w "Oh How You Lie" (Decca catalog number F-13288)
In
addition to O'Meara, Punchin' Judy included drummer Keith Evans. Before
changing his professional name to Keith Grant, Evans had been the bass player for The Downliners Section.
Punchin' Judy was then rounded out with the addition of drummer Alan
Brooks and guitarist John Phillips. 1973 found the quintet signed to
Nat Joseph's Transatlantic label where they were teamed with producer John
Whitehead. Recorded at Mike Vernon's Chipping Norton R
"Punchin'
Judy" track listing: 1.) Settle Down (John Phillips - Keith Evans - Barbara O'Meara) - 3:34 rating: ** stars Powered by John Phillips thick guitar tone and Barbara O'Meara's sharp, Joplin-esque shrieking "Settle Down" sounded nothing like what I expected from these folks. Musically the bar band rocker wasn't bad. There wasn't an original note here, but the combination of O'Meara's voice and the shrill backing singers was one of those "room clearing" experiences. Pass. Amazingly YouTube has a clip of the band lip synching the song for a 1974 appearance on the Dutch Van Oekel's Discohoek comedy television show. The band seem pretty clueless with respect to what appears to be the scripted chaos surrounding them. Far from the album's best performance, this was the track Transatlantic tapped as a single for the Dutch and Spanish markets:
Dutch 45: - 1973's "Settle Down" b/w "So Long" (Transatlantic catalog number 051017) Spanish 45: - 1973's "Settle Down" b/w "Ring that Bell" (Transatlantic catalog number 06-058) 2.) So Long (John Phillips - Keith Evans - Barbara O'Meara) - 5:50 rating: *** stars Opening with the combination of Alan Brooks drums, a catchy George Phillips guitar riff and the group vocals got "So Long" off to a good start. Unfortunately, when O'Meara's vocals came into the mix it was like a hurricane hitting a trailer park - sheer disaster. Hard to believe that O'Meara voice managed to make singers like Maggie Bell, Bonnie Bramblett, Elkie Brooks and even Joplin sound like MOR-crooners. Check out her performance on the last thirty second of the song. The song also appeared as the slip side of their Dutch "Settle Down" 45. 3.) Ring that Bell (B. Short) - 4:20 rating: *** stars The country-tinged rocker "Ring that Bell" slowed things down, but did little to tone down O'Meara's voice. With a touch of Gospel in the melody, the song reminded me a bit of something out of the Delaney and Bonnie catalog. One of the LP's more tuneful efforts, the refrain was catchy and I'll admit the band sounded way better when the group vocals kicked in. Nice Phillips solo too boot. The song also appeared as the "B" side on the Spanish version of their "Settle Down" single. 4.) Pictures In A Broken Mirror (John Phillips - Barbara O'Meara) - 5:53 rating: *** stars Propelled by Robin Langridge's keyboards, the ballad "Pictures In A Broken Mirror" finally displayed O'Meara toning things down. Abandoning her blues-rock bellowing, she actually had a sweet; almost little girlish voice. Her best performance, though the song was a bit anonymous.
(side
2) For the most part the hard rocking "Superwitch" stood as one of album's most impressive rockers. It would have been even more impressive had it not been for the fact O'Meara again briefly broke into her uber-Joplin moves. The comparison between her "natural" voice and her "amped up" performances is obvious on this one. 2.) Taxi Joe (John Phillips - B. Phillips) - 4:10 rating: *** stars Propelled by Phillips acoustic guitar; a nice Phillips electric guitar solo and some rollicking Evan's fuzz bass "Taxi Joe" had a catchy country-rock melody that had commercial potential except for O'Meara's screechy vocals. Imagine Kate Bush possessed by demons and you'll get an idea of how shrill her vocals were. The good news was O'Meara's outburst was brief leaving this as my favorite album track. 3.) Since We First Met (John Phillips - Barbara O'Meara) - 2:52 rating: *** stars With O'Meara and Phillips (?) sharing lead vocals, "Since We First Met" was the album's most pop and commercial sounding effort. This one reminded me a bit of Grace Slick and Marty Balin during their early Jefferson Starship years. This would have been the obvious choice for a single. 4.) The Loser (John Phillips - Barbara O'Meara) - 7:45 rating: *** stars You weren't going to mistake these guys for King Crimson, but "the Loser" introduced a touch of progressive complexity into the mix. Opening up with Brooks providing some martial tempo drumming, the track bounced through a wide array of tempos and musical styles including a Langridge powered bossa nova section and a segment showcasing some heavy Latin-esque percussion. If nothing else it was a nice change of pace from the more their more typical rock oriented numbers.
The album little commercially and shortly after released drummer Brooks and guitarist Phillips headed out the door. They were briefly replaced by ex-Fushsia guitarist Tony Durant and drummer Michael Gregory. The revamped band toured the UK and Holland and started recording demos for a planned follow-up album. Unfortunately after O'Meara tendered her resignation work on the follow-up was shelved and the remaining band members called it quits. Along with keyboardist Langridge, Durant, Grant and Gregory became Transatlantic's in-house studio band, as well as the core of the short-lived pop oriented Greyhound.
Featuring George Deacon and Marion Ross, O'Meara provided backing vocals on the 1973 English folk music album "Sweet William's Ghost" (XTRA catalog number XTRA 1130).
She seems to have dropped out of the music business afterwards.
Scott R. Blackerby January 2026
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ecording
Studios "Punchin' Judy" featured a largely original
collection of material with Evan, O'Meara and Phillips responsible for
collaborating on the compositions in various combinations. As lead
singer the primary focus was on O'Meara. Exhibited on tracks like the
single "Settle Down", "So Long" and
"Superwitch" she owned a powerful voice that bore more than a
passing resemblance to Janis Joplin. It was the kind of voice a band
would want for a repertoire that was heavy on blues, boogie and hard
rock. I'm seemingly in the minority here, but I found many of
O'Meara's performances to be shrill and strident. Like Joplin, she had
a tendency to try to power her way through tracks. That was unfortunate
given O'Meara had a likeable voice when she wasn't trying to belt her way
through the rockers. To clearly hear the difference listen to the rocker
"Superwitch".
O'Meara's "natural" voice was on display on tracks like
"Pictures In A Broken Mirror" and the atypically pop sounding
"Since We First Met". Elsewhere Phillips was a surprisingly
capable guitarist. He wasn't particularly flashy, but his economical
style was well suited to tracks like the Gospel-tinged "Ring
that Bell". While he didn't get a lot of spotlight time, guest
keyboardist Robin
Langridge was also quite good on tracks like the ballad "Pictures In A
Broken Mirror".
