they could find a bass player. Alby purchased a bass and JD taught him how to play.
In ’63, Gerry’s girlfriend got pregnant and Jim Marooth was auditioned at The Centre 63 youth club as his replacement. Marooth won out over Albie Wycherley (Billy Fury’s brother) and soon changed his name in the group to “Joe” as not to confuse things with two Jimmys. Further confusion would ensue when Bob Wooler would mistakenly introduce the band as The Kirkbys during a Sunday Night At The Cavern radio broadcast. Thus, The Kirkbys were born.
Brian Epstein’s former personal secretary, Beryl Adams, would manage the band for a brief period and make local headlines declaring that the band would be doing a test single for Fontana – but she never secured the contract. Adams’ role quickly fizzled out and Bob Wooler invited Oriole A&R man John Schroeder to a Kirkbys performance. Schroeder cut their first unreleased tracks: Marlene Dietrich’s ‘Falling in Love Again (Can’t Help It)’ and Elvis’ ‘I Feel So Bad’. These tracks have yet to surface, although acetates were pressed.
The line-up changed again in ’64 when Kenny joined the higher profile and more lucrative Escorts. Mervyn Sharp was recruited on drums and ended up on all The Kirkbys’ released recordings.
An audition was arranged at Joe Meek’s studios in London in August ’64 and Jimmy’s dreamy ‘Keep Me Warm (‘Til The Sun Shines)’ and a cover of The Everly Brothers’ ‘Let It Be Me’ were recorded, but rejected by Meek. Luckily for us, ‘Keep Me Warm (‘Til The Sun Shines)’ was given to The Swinging Blue Jeans who recorded the song in ’66. (The Blue Jeans’ version would eventually see the light of day decades later on Viper Records’ Unearthed Merseybeat collection.)
The Kirkbys found their greatest success touring Finland for a month in ’65. In fact, the band released two singles, ‘'Cos My Baby’s Gone’ b/w ‘She’ll Get No Lovin’ That Way’ and ‘Don’t You Want Me No More’ b/w ‘Bless You’ in Finland and played live on TV there. ‘She’ll Get No Lovin’ That Way’ was covered by The Escorts as the B-side to ‘C’mon Home Baby’, with bassist Mike Gregory tweaking the middle-eight and changing the title to ‘You’ll Get No Lovin’ That Way’. Jimmy was starting to gain a reputation back in Liverpool as a talented songwriter.
The Kirkbys’ next promising big break came when Phil Solomon’s Planet Production fronted the money for the production of their next single; ‘It’s A Crime’ b/w ‘I’ve Never Been So Much In Love’. Although the fuzz- driven ‘It’s A Crime’ was tagged by DJ Jimmy Saville as one of the top twenty misses of ’66, it was of no consolation to RCA, or the boys.
While at RCA, the band also recorded two unreleased versions of James Brown’s ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ and two more
Mother’s boys. Top to bottom: The Kirkbys with Jimmy centre; The 23rd Turnoff with Jimmy second left; the ’69 ad campaign.
Campbell originals, the Righteous Brothers style ‘Gonna Be A Big Star’ and the Temptations inspired ‘I’d Be Delighted’. The latter was later recorded by Cliff Richard.
A lengthy stint playing at a US Army base in Fulda, West Germany and a bitter December series of gigs in Northern England began taking a toll on singer Joe Marooth. On December 30th, having enough of long days
away from home with nothing to show, Marooth walked out after a gig and didn’t return for 38 years. Even more interesting times lay ahead for the foursome.
The Kirkbys had one last big shot at stardom with an audition for EMI Records and Beatles’ producer George Martin in early ’67. Martin was unimpressed after recording the gorgeous ‘Dreaming’ and ‘(Not A) Penny In My Pocket’. The two songs sound more like Revolver cast-offs and were most likely considered yesterday’s news by Martin who had just finished recording ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’.
With the departure of singer Joe Marooth and the onset of the full bloom of British psychedelia, The Kirkbys shed their pedantic moniker for the more turned on 23rd Turnoff, the new name being an inside joke reference to the exit off the M6 that that led the band back home to Liverpool. Marooth’s departure also cleared the way for the band to take a more Campbell-driven musical approach.
The Beatles’ Revolver album and the B- side ‘Rain’ had a major impact on Jimmy’s writing around this time. Revolver was his favourite Beatles release. The influence is evident on the
neo-psychedelic tracks ‘Flowers Are Flowering’, ‘I’ll Be Around’, ‘I’ll Be With You’, and ‘You Sing Your Own Song’ that The 23rd Turnoff recorded at Ladbroke Studios in Birmingham during early ’67. These rough sounding demos were included on the 2004 CD The Dreams Of Michelangelo to provide an insight into this fascinating period of Jimmy’s songwriting development. Besides The Beatles and, to a lesser degree, Wimple Winch, one struggles to think of any Liverpool artists who successfully moved from Merseybeat into psychedelia like the 23rd Turnoff.
The band signed to Deram and recorded the hypnotic, dream-like single, ‘Michel Angelo’, produced by ex-Decca A&R man/producer and fellow Liverpudlian, Noel Walker. The track only features Jimmy and JD (the remaining parts being handled by session men) and was released on September 29th ’67. Jimmy had composed the song after reading a biography on the great master painter while on tour in Finland with The Kirkbys. It had been demoed at Ladbroke Studios during ’67 (you can listen to the development of this song in three stages on The Dreams Of Michelangelo). The flip side, ‘Leave Me Here’, was something altogether different. Written on the way to the studio, it is an acoustic number with inside references to a cast of Jimmy’s old Liverpool mates.
As ’67 came to a close, so did The 23rd Turnoff. The lack of sales (around 350 copies) for the critically acclaimed ‘Michel Angelo’ found the group back on the street without a record deal. Alby and JD went back to work, while Kenny joined the reformed Merseybeats.
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