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Features Disc of the day
King Size Taylor And The Dominos
Teenbeat 2
(Decca, 1964)
In praise of that perfect '60s artefact, the EP.
Money were tight in them days (is that a Hovis loaf theme I hear?), but the appetite for music were powerful. Albums? Apart from essentials, out of the question. Singles? Listen to the radio, jukeboxes, share, stick to soul and R&B. Ah, but the EP. In shiny picture sleeve, more tracks than a single, less filler than an album. You heard most of what was good in a band, and fewer of the missteps. Two EPs from the golden era of Merseybeat - the headline offering from King Size Taylor, plus another little record I'd like to draw in, The Mojos' self-titled EP from 1964 - illustrate all of that, and highlight the Epstein Curse that fell on Decca in all their dealings with Liverpool in the wake of that label's rejection of The Beatles.
King Size Taylor, a butcher by trade, built like a barn door, had a real affinity with early rock'n'roll and New Orleans R&B but was tempted by the sirens of an extremely lengthy residency at the Star-Club in Hamburg, which mean that he had no exposure in the UK and no chance of making it. But he and his band, recorded here 'live' in said club, blast out convincing versions of Little Richard's Slippin' And Slidin', Fats Domino's Hello Josephine, a roaring take on Phil Upchurch's You Can't Sit Down, and Little Willie John's All Around The World, written by the great Otis Blackwell. By the time he returned from Germany, the music world had moved on and Decca were never able to capitalise on his King Size talent.
The Mojos did have a UK Top 10 hit, Everything's Al'right, covered by David Bowie on 1973's Pin-ups, and Decca seemed to have broken the spell. If this EP, which featured that smasheroonie plus a decent stab at Smokey Robinson's The One Who Really Loves You, a raucous charge through The Isley Brothers' Nobody But Me and, perhaps inevitably, I Got My Mojo Working, encouraged their hopes, subsequent A&R decisions by their masters at Decca quickly quashed them. Pity. Stu James had a promising sparky lead vocal and, like the Dominos, their line-up expanded on the lead-rhythm-bass guitars and drums, Terry O'Toole's piano giving them a rock, R&B and soul edge. But the pop material Decca foisted on them split the first line-up, and though the second, with Aynsley Dunbar on drums and bassist Lew Collins (he would later turn Thesp and star in The Professionals), was as good, the material got worse. Item: Goodbye Dolly Gray, a song that had seen service in the Boer and First World Wars. They were demobbed for good soon after.
NB: On CD, find The Mojos' tracks on Everything's Alright (RPM, 2009); King Size Taylor's on Die Ariola Star-Club Aufnahmen (Bear Family, 4CD box, 1999)
Geoff Brown
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 28/07/2009
Further Listening
The Big Three - At The Cavern EP (Decca, 1963)
The Merseybeats - On Stage EP (Fontana, 1964)
The Searchers - Hungry For Love (Pye, 1963)
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