Up two places – Billy Fury

– 34 Hurt Me If You Will Mark Four Decca F 12204 According to the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide, a mint copy of Hurt Me if You Will could set you back a cool £50. (Click on the picture for an Amazon link to more information about the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide)

Fab notes from Alan Field:
The Mark Four formed out of a group called the Blue Jacks around the beginning of 1964. Despite the name there were five members: Kenny Pickett (vocals), Eddie Phillips (lead guitar), John Dalton (bass guitar), Mick Thompson (rhythm guitar) and Jack Jones (drums). Hurt Me If You Will was a Pickett-Phillips composition.

For a while the Mark Four were one of the top local bands around north London and Hertfordshire and the four singles they recorded have all become highly sought-after, especially in view of the famous comings and goings that followed. Dalton joined the Kinks and in 1966 Pickett, Phillips and Jones joined with Bob Garner (formerly of Tony Sheridan's Band and the Merseybeats) and the group evolved into Creation. Under this name they hit the Fab 40 twice in 1966, with Making Time in June and Painter Man in September. When Pickett left for a while, Bob Garner took over on vocals and Kim Gardner, from the (British) Birds, came in on bass. Phillips left Creation at the end of 1967, to be replaced by Ronnie Wood. Musically acclaimed – Eddie Phillips was reputedly the first to play guitar with a violin bow – but always more popular on the continent than in the UK, Creation split in the summer of 1968.

Kim Gardner went on to greater success with Ashton Gardner & Dyke, reaching #3 in 1971 with Resurrection Shuffle. Ronnie Wood found fame with the Faces and the Rolling Stones. Kenny Pickett became a roadie for Led Zeppelin and also co-wrote Clive Dunn's 1970 #1, Grandad! Sadly, Kenny died in 1997 and Kim Gardner died in 2001.

Fab notes from Alan Field:

It's rare to find a climber assigned to two different disc jockeys in successive weeks, but there are two examples in this list. The Cliff Bennett single was Paul Kaye's climber last week, Earl Richmond's climber this week. And Hark by Unit 4 + 2 was TW's climber last week, Pete Brady's climber this week. (I bet they thought nobody would notice! – Mary)

Adam, Mike and Tim were a Liverpudlian folk-pop harmony group. Their line-up was Tim Saunders, Mike Sedgewick and Mike's brother Peter, whom the others apparently didn't know from Adam! In 1966 the trio covered the Dave Dennis fave by the Statler Brothers, Flowers on the Wall then Paul Simon's A Most Peculiar Man, but failed to chart.

In 1968, Mike Sedgewick issued a solo single by the intriguing title of The Good Guys in the White Hats Never Lose.

Fab notes from Alan Field and Mary Payne:

Two versions of Down In The Boondocks were receiving airplay on Big L this week. The US original by Billy Joe Royal (CBS 201802), a #9 Hot Hundred hit written by Joe South, enters the Fab at #36. The single was eagerly pounced upon by Kenny and Cash and spliced up into a jingle.

The British cover by Gregory Phillips never got beyond Climber status. The Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide puts a high value on a mint copy, because the A-side was arranged by Jimmy Page and produced by Andrew Oldham and the B-side is a Page instrumental called That's The One.

Gregory Phillips was born in Hitchin, hertfordshire in 1948 and achieved more notoriety as an actor than as a singer. As a child, he appeared in films with major stars such as Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Peter Finch and Anne Bancroft. Many biographies list Gregory as a member of the Liverpool band the Remo Four, but he was actually the third singer to be backed by the band, following vocalists Tommy Quickly and Johnny Sandon.

Clem Cattini of the Tornados mentions that Gregory Phillips and Mark Feld, who had both been actors on children's television, had shared a flat before Mark changed his name to Marc Bolan.

Sadly, Marc's flatmate never shared his chart stardom, despite some healthy collaborations. Phillips' first single, Angie, was written by Tom Springfield, published by Kenny Lynch Music and backed Closer to Me, a song penned by Joe Brown's Bruvvers. His second release, Everybody Knows was written by Mitch Murray. Musically, Gregory Phillips' main claim to fame was that he was the first artist to cover a George Harrison composition, releasing Don't Bother Me, from With the Beatles as his third Pye single. Phillips is co-credited as the writer of B-side, Make Sure That You're Mine. Jimmy Page's guitar talents feature on the record, making it extremely collectable.

Boondocks was Gregory Phillips' final single, recorded with Andrew Loog Oldham, as the forth release on Oldham's newly-launch Immediate label. Composers of B-side, That's The One, are credited as Oldham and Jimmy Page (who also played on both sides)

John Kearney conducted an excellent interview with Gregory, in which he told of his acting career, the 'groovy people' he knew on the Sixties scene and how he came to sign to the Immediate label. At the time he was running a music therapy clinic for psychiatric patients.

In 2003, John kindly gave permission for an extract of his interview to be reproduced on the RL site. Here, Greg is speaking of his friendship with Steve Marriott of the Small Faces:

(Webmaster's note: According to available information, Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley was born in 1952, which would have made him a couple of years older in 1969 than Greg's estimate of fifteen. Since this page was compiled, the full John Kearney interview has disappeared from the internet. Several people have contacted us since this feature first appeared, attempting to find the current whereabouts of Gregory Phillips, but nobody has been successful.)

Most of us in the UK remained completely mystified as to the nature of a 'boondock', until 2001, when Caroline's Bud Ballou finally enlightened us. Someone who comes from the boondocks, aka 'the boonies', will be labelled even more of an outcast than someone who hails from 'way out in the sticks'! (A real-life 'nowhere man', in fact.)

With thanks to Boom Radio's John Peters for additional information.

Meanwhile ashore.... August 15th 1965 proved a very memorable occasion for Pete Brady. While compering a beat contest, he was dragged off stage, lost some of his clothes and made the news headlines! Full story here.