6-10-13 Skin Alley
On 6/10/67 the Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich 45 “Okay” charts at No. 13 in England. On 6/7/80 the Siouxsie & The Banshees “Christine” 45 charts at No. 22 in England. 6/9/79 Tubeway Army “Replicas” LP is No. 1 in England. On 6/10/67, the LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles was No. 1 in England.
I got the Skin Alley LP’s when they came out – or, rather – when they were imported to the US. I don’t remember which one I got first, but the one I was impressed with was “To Pagham and Beyond” (CBS UK LP) – a quick discography:
LP SKIN ALLEY (1969) CBS UK 63847 1969 9 TRKS 1st, produced by Dick Taylor (The Pretty Things guy?)
LP SKINTIGHT TRANSATLANTIC UK TRA 273 1973 10 TRKS 4th
CD TO PAGHAM AND BEYOND… ECLECTIC UK ECLCD 1042 1970 6 TRKS (’06 issue)
LP TO PAGHAM AND BEYOND… CBS UK 64140 1970 6 TRKS 2nd, produced by Fritz Fryer
LP TWO QUID DEAL STAX US STS-3013 1973 9 TRKS 3rd, produced by Fritz Fryer (a Transatlantic UK ‘in house’ producer)
Alas, there are 4 x British 45’s, but I have never seen one!
The first 3 albums are more or less straightforward British progressive rock, of the era – yes, a mellotron is involved. Managed by Clearwater Productions, the same people that did the debut Hawkwind LP!
As far as I know, only their 3rd album was released in the US. I’ve kept my eyes open fro a UK Transatlantic copy, but one never crossed my path in 40 or so years. That being said, I played the US LP on 6/6/13 – and – with a perfect copy – it sounded great! I guess someone at Stax Records was thinking about British rock music, in 1973!
Skin Alley has a Polish member of the group, Krzysztof–Henryk Juszkiewicz – let’s face it, not many Eastern European members in British bands of that – or any other era! He’s a pretty snappy keyboard player, I must say!
The 4th and final album has a more commercial sound – it’s definitely not prog rock – oh well, I have a nice UK copy of it!
Unless I am mistaken, Skin Alley had a song on the massive “Glastonbury Fayre” Revelations UK triple LP! I just went and got my copy of it, yep, it’s there on Side 2 – that must’ve been the first thing I heard by Skin Alley! (“Sun Music”, re-recorded for inclusion on their 3rd album, “Two Quid Deal”).
The Glastonbury Fayre triple LP should have it’s own blog day – with mention of all the illustrious “contributors”! Watch this space!
