Ojai Sam
Staff member
The Prisoners - A Taste Of Pink! (1982)
I decided to follow my predecessors and find all y'all something new. The previous picks in this new adventure have set a high standard, indeed. And Zeeb's wise decision to allow pretty much any album, old, new, borrowed, or blue, makes the choice even more challenging.
Adding to my dilemma, 1982 was not a prime year for me to discover new music. Foreigner and Men At Work just didn't move me. I did enjoy local LA faves like X, The Go Go's and The Motels, but their material is overly familiar. Ditto for Paisley Undergrounders like Dream Syndicate and The Rain Parade.
So I decided to cast my net across the sea to the UK and bring you The Prisoners. Ace Records sez:
At the moment the classic garage band sound is very much back in vogue, coming from US bands such as the White Stripes from Detroit and their ilk. These bands and their members have been playing for years with little publicity and would have carried on doing so regardless of success. This is a similar situation to the scene that formed around the Medway towns just outside London, in the early 80s which produced many bands-.-notably the Milkshakes with leader Billy Childish, but also the Prisoners, whose rough-hewn take on 60s psych and garage made them one of the great "lost" bands of the 1980s. This unique re-issue of their debut album A TASTE OF PINK with additional tracks shows the band development from their earliest home demo through to their move outside their local area onto a wider audience.
The Prisoners formed in 1980 when Allan Crockford, Graham Day and Johnny Symons formed a band at school in Rochester. It was pretty basic stuff, Graham on guitar, Allan on bass and Johnny on drums, mixing punk and 60s influences, rehearsals at parents' homes and maybe the odd gig in between exams. 1981 saw the band take things more seriously, and the band expanded to a four piece with the addition of Bruce Brand from the Milkshakes as a second guitarist, which brought with it a stronger R&B flavour. This arrangement didn't last long and the far more important discovery for the year was Graham's voice as a songwriter.
The Prisoners became a four piece in early 1982 with the addition of Jamie Taylor on organ. James, like the others, was in the same year at Rochester Mathematical School - and was Johnny Symons' best mate. Originally he played a modern Casio keyboard, which was given a distinct sound by playing its organ sound - loud - through a valve amplifier. The organ and Graham's songs gave the Prisoners a distinctive sound, allowing them their own niche within the local scene. Throughout the first half of 1982 they played all the local venues, most notably the Medway Indian Club (MIC), where they would later record a live album with the Milkshakes.
The Milkshakes were a discernable influence on the Prisoners' attitudes and it was their "get up and get on with it yourself" ethos that convinced the band that they could just go and record an album. So with money saved from their gigs - looked after by Allan's then girlfriend - and the spur of Jamie's impending exodus to university in Newcastle, the band recorded A Taste Of Pink. The album was recorded in two days at a studio in Herne Bay. The first day - a Sunday - saw the putting down of backing tracks and guide vocals recorded live to tape. The following Sunday the lead vocals and any lead instrumental parts were overdubbed. Due to the imminent birth of the engineer's daughter the whole thing was mixed down in an hour.
flisten and love at first sight for this project. I hear echoes of The Troggs, ? and The Mysterians, The McCoys and a host of other garage bands. Hope you enjoy it.
I decided to follow my predecessors and find all y'all something new. The previous picks in this new adventure have set a high standard, indeed. And Zeeb's wise decision to allow pretty much any album, old, new, borrowed, or blue, makes the choice even more challenging.
Adding to my dilemma, 1982 was not a prime year for me to discover new music. Foreigner and Men At Work just didn't move me. I did enjoy local LA faves like X, The Go Go's and The Motels, but their material is overly familiar. Ditto for Paisley Undergrounders like Dream Syndicate and The Rain Parade.
So I decided to cast my net across the sea to the UK and bring you The Prisoners. Ace Records sez:
At the moment the classic garage band sound is very much back in vogue, coming from US bands such as the White Stripes from Detroit and their ilk. These bands and their members have been playing for years with little publicity and would have carried on doing so regardless of success. This is a similar situation to the scene that formed around the Medway towns just outside London, in the early 80s which produced many bands-.-notably the Milkshakes with leader Billy Childish, but also the Prisoners, whose rough-hewn take on 60s psych and garage made them one of the great "lost" bands of the 1980s. This unique re-issue of their debut album A TASTE OF PINK with additional tracks shows the band development from their earliest home demo through to their move outside their local area onto a wider audience.
The Prisoners formed in 1980 when Allan Crockford, Graham Day and Johnny Symons formed a band at school in Rochester. It was pretty basic stuff, Graham on guitar, Allan on bass and Johnny on drums, mixing punk and 60s influences, rehearsals at parents' homes and maybe the odd gig in between exams. 1981 saw the band take things more seriously, and the band expanded to a four piece with the addition of Bruce Brand from the Milkshakes as a second guitarist, which brought with it a stronger R&B flavour. This arrangement didn't last long and the far more important discovery for the year was Graham's voice as a songwriter.
The Prisoners became a four piece in early 1982 with the addition of Jamie Taylor on organ. James, like the others, was in the same year at Rochester Mathematical School - and was Johnny Symons' best mate. Originally he played a modern Casio keyboard, which was given a distinct sound by playing its organ sound - loud - through a valve amplifier. The organ and Graham's songs gave the Prisoners a distinctive sound, allowing them their own niche within the local scene. Throughout the first half of 1982 they played all the local venues, most notably the Medway Indian Club (MIC), where they would later record a live album with the Milkshakes.
The Milkshakes were a discernable influence on the Prisoners' attitudes and it was their "get up and get on with it yourself" ethos that convinced the band that they could just go and record an album. So with money saved from their gigs - looked after by Allan's then girlfriend - and the spur of Jamie's impending exodus to university in Newcastle, the band recorded A Taste Of Pink. The album was recorded in two days at a studio in Herne Bay. The first day - a Sunday - saw the putting down of backing tracks and guide vocals recorded live to tape. The following Sunday the lead vocals and any lead instrumental parts were overdubbed. Due to the imminent birth of the engineer's daughter the whole thing was mixed down in an hour.
flisten and love at first sight for this project. I hear echoes of The Troggs, ? and The Mysterians, The McCoys and a host of other garage bands. Hope you enjoy it.
before the course.
