for Sunday 10th July 1966

Both sides of the Washington DC's single were co-written by Sylvan Whittingham. Sylvan, aka Sylvan Mason, is renowned as 'The Caroline Stowaway', who hid in the loo so that she could spend the weekend aboard the Mi Amigo when visiting the ship in September '65. Sylvan was promoting her Romeo and Juliet-themed (and BBC-banned) single, We Don't Belong, which spent four weeks in the Caroline Sounds of 65 chart.

(Above) The singer/songwriter views a promo for We Don't Belong, during the Offshore 50 reunion, 2017.

(Above) The Washington D.C.'s single was issued in a picture sleeve in Germany

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Very little is known about Odyssey. The sleevenotes for Strike Records' 'Best of Strike' compilation imply that the band's vocalist was Brindley D Spender, aka Ken Smart, but whether the singer's real identity was Brindley, Ken or another name altogether, the CD notes admit that this information has vanished somewhere in the vinyl vaults. Ken Smart did write How Long is Time and its B-side Beware and he also had a solo Strike single, The Company I Keep – its writer named as B D Spender. That song was also released in the UK in 1968 on the Domain label under the name of Brindley D Spender, but in Germany as -you've guessed it - Ken Smart! There is also a rarity from 1968 called The Company I Keep.

A drummer called Dave Preston is also alleged to have enhanced the Odyssey line-up, but nothing else has surfaced about the band. However, one thing that has now been confirmed is that the long-held belief that there is some connection between Odyssey and Sons of Fred is a myth. The rumour has been quashed by the Sons's bassist Pete Sears. (Although it is hard to eradicate and still keeps rearing its head at various places on the internet.)

One of only 2 pictures of Odyssey that we have been able to track down is on an EP sleeve issued in France on the Zag label (below left) where Beware (the UK B-side) is being promoted as the main track. This is assuming that the photo genuinely is Odyssey. Several instances have shown that the wrong photos were sometimes sent out by record companies or were mixed up with those of other groups at the printers. Although the sleeve gives the impression that the EP features four songs by Odyssey, the French website Vinyl Vidi Vici reveals that the only other Odyssey track is How Long is Time and that the other two cuts are Love Me Right and I Can Go Down, both by Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions. At least we can be pretty certain that the band shown on the sleeve isn't Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions, as there are six of them and only four guys in this photo! The photo on the right could well be the same four guys, looking moody (and who can blame them?) in a patch of stinging nettles. The same photo appears on the German picture sleeve.

Many thanks to Claude Picard for allowing us to reproduce the EP photo from his site. Claude is the webmaster of Vinyl Vidi Vici an interesting encyclopaedia of singles and EPs released in France between 1960 and 1975 – both French and overseas pressings.

Although Alan Field did not hear Singing the Blues announced as a climber, it has been added to this week's playlist because a recording exists of TW from 11th July – the day after the Fab Forty countdown – playing the track up to the 11.30 news. Singing the Blues was a Joe Meek-produced reworking of the old Guy Mitchell/Tommy Steele hit. Jason Eddy was the stage name adopted by Billy Fury's brother, Albie Wycherley. Available on the CD Joe Meek: The Alchemist of Pop - Home Made Hits and Rarities 1958-1966, which features several other obscure Fab Forty tracks. Like most rare Meek releases, the original vinyl is highly collectable, with a pristine copy valued at around £125.

Infamous as the worst-behaved member of those Kings of Unruliness, the Pretty Things, drummer Viv Prince quit the band in 1965. As he had played with the somewhat-less-controversial Carter-Lewis and the Southerners prior to joining the Pretties, John Carter agreed to co-produce Light Of The Charge Brigade, Prince's one solo instrumental release. Mint copies can command around £40. (Click on the picture for an Amazon link to more information about the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide.)