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Post by heanorman on Dec 7, 2006 13:28:57 GMT
I've just bought 'Sticks & Stones'/ 'Mickey's Monkey' by the Wes Minster Five on a Carnival single - quite a snip on eBay at £5.19 plus postage for a VG+ copy. Though I recall hearing the disc, and maybe other tracks by the group, on pirate radio when I was a boy, I know little about them. They had two-and-a-half singles issued on Carnival (the other side of one single was by a different band), their lead singer was maybe Bobby someoneorother, and there is a rumour of Zoot Money's involvement with them . They sound pretty darned hot and the record is very well engineered and/ or produced, with a big, beefy sound. Does anyone know more about them, please?
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Post by I on Dec 7, 2006 14:38:31 GMT
Typical third rate British boys doing some approximation of Caribbean muzak. Surely only Mike Atherton is interested in this kind of forgotten, dated shit. But I'm sure he's never heard Frankie Paul in his life.
Reel
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Post by heanorman on Dec 7, 2006 17:07:18 GMT
Peter, I have indeed heard Frankie Paul. The Wes Minster record is not ska - it'a an approximation, sure, but of American r&b. I don't consider records made in 1964 to be necessarily "outdated" - e.g. Skatalites records laid down in that year, or Otis redding ditto. These, to me, sound as fresh and exciting as the day they were born. It's good of its kind, its kind being UK R&B of the type which Zoot Money, Georgie Fame etc. were playing during that period. It's also better than the ska records which I have heard on Carnival, though I have not heard them all. They did put out a good Errol Dixon or two, I seem to remember.
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Post by I on Dec 7, 2006 23:53:00 GMT
I don't know about all this, Mike. I don't know how you can compare British third-raters with the brilliant Skatalites. I also have this record, a mint copy I've played perhaps twice. The A-side you may notice was written by Titus Turner, who had a record called 'Miss Rubberneck Jones' issued on Blue Beat. It is dominated by a loud organ and features a vocal very much as you say in the Jimmy James/Georgie Fame/Zoot Money style. Of course records made in 1964 are not necessarily outdated but this one is! The flip, a version of the Miracles tune, is perhaps the worst version of the song I've heard. Otherwise, the group had 'Rainbow Blues'/Shakin' The Blues' issued on Carnival 7017 and backed Meynell Wilson on 'Hey Hey Johnny'/'Baby' on 7014. The group also backed Meynell Wilson on his 'Motown Feeling'/'Mean Ole World' issued on CBM 001. They were actually called the Westminster Five, Wes Minster being a printing error on the 'Sticks And Stones' tune. What leads you to the conclusion that their lead singer was called Bobby, other than the fact that most singers in the early 1960s were called Bobby, ie Bobby Vee, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Dylan, Bobby Darin etc?
Reel
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Post by heanorman on Dec 8, 2006 8:51:44 GMT
It's because I found an article somewhere on the Internet, from a music paper circa 1964. It said that there were ten blues bands currently operating in London, including the Wes(t)minster Five featuring Bobby [can't remember the surname - maybe Brent?]
I didn't know about the Meynell Wilson connection, When did Meynell Wilson have the sex change? Surely a female artist? I put one side of that CBM single, 'Mean Old World', on the 'Ember Records Story' double Cd which I compiled for Jeffrey Kruger about six years ago, and she was definitely female at that time! I think her photo is on the back cover of the ska compilation which Page One Records put out, belatedly, from the Carnival back catalogue.
I'm certainly not comparing the group with The Skatalites. The Wes Minster Five are a mere footnote in the book of Sixties musical history, but an enjoyable footnote (I love the sound on 'Mickey's Monkey', with that clanking piano, though the singer is no better than VG+, and that's on eBay grading).
I'd still like to know who was in the group and if any of them went on to greater things.
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Post by heanorman on Dec 13, 2006 8:27:03 GMT
I can now confirm the singer's name as Bobby Breen. Zoot Money e-mailed me this morning and confirmed that he "played a few gigs with them in '63/'64" but that he did not record with them.
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Post by webstarsmusic on Mar 16, 2014 15:28:32 GMT
I can tell you definiately who the singer is on 'Mickey's Monkey' n 'Sticks n Stones' and my name is def not Bobby.
I can tell you about the band line up and Zoot's link too....If you would like to know?..............
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Post by webstarsmusic on Mar 16, 2014 16:34:32 GMT
Hey! Bit late with this I Terry Webster was the singer Mickeys Monkey/Sticks n Stones. Cool times...
Wes Minster Five Vocals and Bass guitar Tony Brook alias Terry Webster Jim Ellis drums Clive Burrows baritone sax Wes Minster guitar MICKEY'S MONKEY Wes Minster 5 1964 Blue Beat label Carnival was aimed at the London West Indian/Carribean market. Minster guitar.
The WES MINSTER 5 did sessions for Carnival records and we were the second line up to the original band. We were buddies with the ZOOT MONEY band. My first encounter was sharing the stage with Zoot at an open air gig on Weymouth pier one wet rainy evening. A faithful few were determined to enjoy themselves braving the weather and stomping in puddles to the beat. Zoot was good laugh and great showman. My bedsit in Fulham next to the A4 was a stones throw from the Zoot band digs. Zoot enticed our sax man Clive Burrows to join him. Their guitarist at the time was ANDY SOMERS (POLICE). I was invited to sing my record O0 Poo Pa Do with them on stage at the Flamingo Club. Never been so shit nervous in my life even after drink and drugs and found myself repeating the chorus over and over as I had a mental block.
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Post by webstarsmusic on Mar 31, 2014 21:05:55 GMT
This Bishop guy stinks with his facts. Wes Minster was so called because he was a Wes Montgomery fan. So the spelling error was deliberate.
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