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wear. However, he was quite a good manager and got the band into all the good clubs in London were they were noticed.”


Thompson arranged for The Majority to move to London and the group moved en masse into a Chelsea flat that comprised of a single room with five beds plus a tiny kitchen and a smaller bathroom. Not long after they arrived in London, Thompson secured them a deal with Decca Records. With a record deal in place and plenty of live work, it seemed they were well positioned to take their shot at the big time. To support all of this activity, they convinced John Turner to leave his day job and join the group as their road manager.


Their debut single, ‘Pretty Little Girl’/‘I Don’t Wanna Be Hurt No More’, was issued in July ’65. ‘Pretty Little Girl’ was an ambitious Carter-Stephens song that gave them a chance to show off their four-part harmonies to great effect, yet despite being voted a “certain hit” on Juke Box Jury, the record sold few copies outside of Hull. To add insult to injury, drummer Don Lill had not even been allowed to play on the record, suffering the same indignity as Ringo Starr and Kinks drummer Mick


performance, ‘Little Bit Of Sunlight’ failed to make any significant impression on the charts, though this did not deter The Majority from tackling another Kinks song, ‘Ring The Bells’ as the B-side of their third single, ‘We Kiss In A Shadow’ which was issued in early ’66. While ‘Ring The Bells’was a relatively straightforward cover of The Kinks’ October ’65 album track, the A-side, ‘We Kiss In A Shadow’, found them deep in Walker Brothers territory, transforming a dated Rogers & Hammerstein ballad into moody orchestrated pop that shared the same epic sound – though not the chart success – of recent Walker Brothers hits.


While none of The Majority’s singles did particularly well in England, they did generate some interest in several European markets. “In the early days we did three trips to Sweden, according to my passport, and trips to Switzerland, Italy and Portugal as well as France,” notes guitarist Bob Long. Road manager John Turner remembers the overseas tours as having been particularly challenging for a UK-based band like The Majority: “In early ’66 we went to Sweden on a North Sea ferry, notorious for being a very rough


“We opened The Playboy Club in London’s Park Lane. The Playboy had given us a tab for all our drinks at half price and at the end of the last week Bob’s bill was higher than his wages.”


Avory when Decca brought in a seasoned session drummer (in Lill’s case, Bobby Graham) to play on the recordings. Lead guitar duties were handed off to Jimmy Page, who uncorks a delightfully nervy solo on ‘Pretty Little Girl’.


‘Pretty Little Girl’ was quickly followed with a second single, ‘Little Bit Of Sunlight’/‘Shut ’Em Down In London Town’, which was issued in Oct ’65. ‘Little Bit Of Sunlight’was a catchy Ray Davies song that was never recorded by The Kinks (outside of a publishing demo cut by Ray Davies and anonymous session men). On the flip, The Majority turned in what was one of the better UK surf songs recorded in the ’60s, however, what audience this song was aimed at was anybody’s guess. As part of the promotional efforts for the single, the group appeared on the Saturday, 20th November episode of ABC television’s weekly pop music show, Thank Your Lucky Stars.


In spite of The Kinks connection and the obvious quality of both the song and


“OK, now just concentrate on your, er, parts.” Live at The Playboy Club. 85


crossing,” recalls John Turner. “When we arrived in Sweden, we drove to Gothenburg in an old Ford Thames van which was full with five of us, all the equipment; Fender amps, bass speakers, mikes, guitars, drum kit and our suitcases with duty free cigarettes and booze. The heater in the van unsuccessfully struggled to keep the ice from forming inside the windscreen. We did two gigs in Gothenburg. After that we were on the move around Sweden as we were booked to do sometimes two gigs a night. We were based in Iveka. This meant driving 100 miles for a 7PM performance, repacking the gear and then driving another 50 miles for another gig at 10PM then driving back to Iveka. We were totally ill equipped for the bitterly cold, snowy weather, having no chains for the van and inadequate clothing. Soon after we arrived in the country we did a TV show on the only pop programme there was in Sweden. The effect of this was to raise our profile and meant big crowds at all our venues and made it difficult to get away for the second gig of the night. Despite this problem and the weather we were never late for a single booking but how none of us got frostbite is still a bit of a mystery.”


Upon their return to England, The Majority resumed playing dates in London and other parts of the country and scored a major coup in July ’66 when they secured a residency at London’s just launched Playboy Club. Bob Long admits that it was a very prestigious gig, noting that “An American artist, whose name I cannot remember, painted our portrait which was hung in the foyer.” Road manager John


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