Quote: john tregorran @ 3rd May 2020, 4:26 AM
Unit 4 +2 opened a Stones concert with Concrete and Clay.That was their only hit I think.They must have played something else but I can't remember .Kevin does it better.
Victor Borge was one of the few that all the family laughed at.
Victor Borge was very clever.
I have just researched Unit 4 + 2. Yes, I know that single but didn't know anything else about them. Their debut "The Green Fields" only reached no 48 in the UK charts in 1964 and the second did worse. Tony Windsor, pirate station Wonderful Radio London's music director, initially rejected "Concrete and Clay" in 1965 for the station's playlist, but was persuaded to change his mind by DJ Kenny Everett. Then it became a big hit although I was far too young to recall it in the charts.
But it's quite interesting to me as while Ken's music taste was variable to say the least and not wholly my cup of tea - I think privately he preferred classical music - his positive influence a decade later in the jingles on Capital Radio and especially the bringing in of Chris Rainbow for some of those lives in my mind to this day as an alternative sunshine.
Further, his World's Worst Wireless Programme in the late 1970s was an influence on my interests in the musically unusual and bizarre. I have already posted from that show Hitler's favourite singer, Zarah Leander singing "Wunderbar".
Unit 4 + 2 didn't hit the same giddy heights again although "(You've) Never Been in Love Like This Before" got into the UK Top 20 in 1967 and they did a cover version of Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere". They released ten singles in total.
Later, Russ Ballard who was a session musician with/in Unit 4 + 2, formed Argent and he wrote their big follow hit to "Hold Your Head Up", the rock classic "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" which was also a hit some years later for Kiss.
I do remember Argent very well - you will probably know that its biggest names were Rod Argent and the great Colin Blunstone who I saw live in London in the last year or two alongside someone who turned out to be a good musician mate of Rod's. I also recall Randy Edelman's cover version of "Concrete and Clay" which was a UK hit in the mid 1970s.
