Starry Eyed and Laughing
Encyclopedia
Starry Eyed and Laughing were a British Rock
band of the 1970s. Formed in 1973, they released two albums on CBS, recorded three Peel Sessions and undertook a US tour, before briefly evolving into Starry Eyed, and finally disbanding in 1976.
, The Beatles
and The Byrds
.
They became an electric duo in May 1973, and adopted the name Starry Eyed and Laughing, from a line in Dylan's song "Chimes of Freedom
", which they regularly performed. They recorded some songs at a studio owned by Steve Hall, who joined on bass, and then recruited drummer Nick Brown. They became early performers on the London pub rock circuit, before Hall left and Iain Whitmore, who'd been in Patches with Leo Sayer
, took over on bass. They appeared at ZigZag Magazine's
fifth anniversary concert at The Roundhouse
on 28 April 1974, which was recorded, but not released until 2010. Brown left and was replaced by Michael Wackford just prior to their being signed in May 1974 by CBS Records
, who released a single "Money is no Friend of Mine" followed by their first album Starry Eyed and Laughing, mostly written by Poole and McGeeney and noted for its' Byrds like sound - Poole playing a Rickenbacker
12string, and McGeeney a Fender Telecaster
in a style similar to that of Clarence White
. The album, released in October 1974, also featured B. J. Cole
, Peter Wood, Ray Jackson, Russ Ballard
and Jeff Bannister, who'd been in The Alan Bown Set
. They recorded three Peel Sessions; in July 1974, February 1975 and July 1975
Their second single "Nobody Home", was followed by their second album Thought Talk, in a heavier style and featuring guest appearances from Frank Ricotti
, Pete Zorn
and Jeff Bannister. A single "Good Love" was released from this album and they toured as support to Kevin Coyne
and headlined numerous gigs in London. ZigZag
magazine founder Pete Frame
became their manager, and the band were supposed to undertake a 110 date US tour, organised by Columbia Records
to promote their new acts, but this instead became a 37 date ten week US tour, supporting a diverse range of bands including Weather Report
, J Geils, Toots and the Maytals and Flo and Eddie. Soon after their return to the UK, their management went bust and McGeeney parted company with the band, to be replaced by Roger Kelly for a UK tour, before appearing on German TVs Rockpalast
for which McGeeney rejoined, forming a three-guitar quintet, which continued until their final gig in April 1976.
Poole and McGeeney, together with Wackford, released two singles on CBS Records
as Starry Eyed, produced by Flo & Eddie
, "Song on the Radio" and "Saturday". before finally disbanding in 1976.
Live
Compilations
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band of the 1970s. Formed in 1973, they released two albums on CBS, recorded three Peel Sessions and undertook a US tour, before briefly evolving into Starry Eyed, and finally disbanding in 1976.
History
Tony Poole and Ross McGeeney were friends from the age of six, and formed a band whilst they were still at school in Bedford. "The Chymes", comprised McGeeney and Pete Warren on guitars, Poole on Bass and Mick Roope on drums. On leaving school they separated, but reunited in London, and formed an acoustic duo, playing original numbers between covers of songs by Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
.
They became an electric duo in May 1973, and adopted the name Starry Eyed and Laughing, from a line in Dylan's song "Chimes of Freedom
Chimes of Freedom
"Chimes of Freedom" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan , produced by Tom Wilson. It was written in early 1964 and was influenced by the symbolist poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. The song depicts the feelings and thoughts of the singer...
", which they regularly performed. They recorded some songs at a studio owned by Steve Hall, who joined on bass, and then recruited drummer Nick Brown. They became early performers on the London pub rock circuit, before Hall left and Iain Whitmore, who'd been in Patches with Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
, took over on bass. They appeared at ZigZag Magazine's
ZigZag (magazine)
ZigZag was a British rock music magazine. It was started by Pete Frame and the first edition rolled off the printing presses on 16 April 1969...
fifth anniversary concert at The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
on 28 April 1974, which was recorded, but not released until 2010. Brown left and was replaced by Michael Wackford just prior to their being signed in May 1974 by CBS Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, who released a single "Money is no Friend of Mine" followed by their first album Starry Eyed and Laughing, mostly written by Poole and McGeeney and noted for its' Byrds like sound - Poole playing a Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
12string, and McGeeney a Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
in a style similar to that of Clarence White
Clarence White
Clarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
. The album, released in October 1974, also featured B. J. Cole
B. J. Cole
Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles of music, ranging from mainstream pop and rock, to jazz and eclectic experimental music.He played and is heavily featured with Deke Leonard's Help...
, Peter Wood, Ray Jackson, Russ Ballard
Russ Ballard
Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...
and Jeff Bannister, who'd been in The Alan Bown Set
The Alan Bown Set
The Alan Bown Set later known as The Alan Bown! or just Alan Bown, were a British band of the 1960s and 1970s whose music evolved from jazz and blues through soul and rhythm and blues and ended up as psychedelia and progressive rock...
. They recorded three Peel Sessions; in July 1974, February 1975 and July 1975
Their second single "Nobody Home", was followed by their second album Thought Talk, in a heavier style and featuring guest appearances from Frank Ricotti
Frank Ricotti
Frank Ricotti is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist.Ricotti played in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra while a teenager, then attended Trinity College of Music...
, Pete Zorn
Pete Zorn
Pete Zorn is an American multi-instrumentalist who plays roots music. He is best known as a longstanding member of Richard Thompson's touring band, where he serves as backing vocalist and plays acoustic guitar, mandolin, saxophone, flute, and tin whistle.Although he frequently tours with Thompson,...
and Jeff Bannister. A single "Good Love" was released from this album and they toured as support to Kevin Coyne
Kevin Coyne
Kevin Coyne was a musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. The former "anti-star" was born on 27 January 1944 in Derby, UK, and died in his adopted home of Nuremberg, Germany, on 2 December 2004....
and headlined numerous gigs in London. ZigZag
ZigZag (magazine)
ZigZag was a British rock music magazine. It was started by Pete Frame and the first edition rolled off the printing presses on 16 April 1969...
magazine founder Pete Frame
Pete Frame
Peter 'Pete' Frame is a music journalist, who produced outlines of the history of rock bands for various magazines . He founded the English Alternative rock magazine ZigZag in April 1969 and acted as its editor, from its beginning until February 1973, and again from March 1976 until July 1977...
became their manager, and the band were supposed to undertake a 110 date US tour, organised by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
to promote their new acts, but this instead became a 37 date ten week US tour, supporting a diverse range of bands including Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
, J Geils, Toots and the Maytals and Flo and Eddie. Soon after their return to the UK, their management went bust and McGeeney parted company with the band, to be replaced by Roger Kelly for a UK tour, before appearing on German TVs Rockpalast
Rockpalast
Rockpalast is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk . Rockpalast started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock and jazz bands have performed on Rockpalast...
for which McGeeney rejoined, forming a three-guitar quintet, which continued until their final gig in April 1976.
Poole and McGeeney, together with Wackford, released two singles on CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
as Starry Eyed, produced by Flo & Eddie
Flo & Eddie
Flo & Eddie are a comedic musical duo.The two were the original founding members of the Top 40 rock group the Turtles. After the Turtles dissolved, Volman and Kaylan first joined the Mothers of Invention as "Phlorescent Leech & Eddie"...
, "Song on the Radio" and "Saturday". before finally disbanding in 1976.
Later Careers
- Ross McGeeney played on the Tigers album Savage Music and moved into Ska music.
- Roger Kelly joined Streetband with Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
but left when they evolved into Q-TipsQ-Tips (band)Q-Tips were an English blue-eyed soul and rock band, first formed in 1979 from the remnants of the 1970s rock outfit Streetband. Saddled with the novelty song "Toast", a B-side made successful from incessant airplay by Capital Radio's’s Kenny Everett, and despite two albums, Streetband had failed... - Michael Wackford formed Roses, and later went into AstrologyAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
- Iain Whitmore initially formed Kites and then joined ViolinskiViolinskiViolinski is a rock band formed in 1977 by Electric Light Orchestra member Mik Kaminski on violins, and former member Mike de Albuquerque on guitar and vocals; plus Barry Dunnery , John Hodgson , Paul Mann, John Marcangelo and Iain Whitmore...
(as Ian Whitmore). He also released a solo album War Cries - Tony Poole went into production, including albums by Danny and the Champions of the WorldDanny and the Champions of the WorldDanny & The Champions of the World is a Folk Rock, Rock, Soul band that was formed in London during the summer of 2007 by Danny George Wilson. The band's name is an allusion to Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.-Background :...
, Maddy PriorMaddy PriorMaddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
, Steeleye SpanSteeleye SpanSteeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
, Giles LewinGiles LewinGiles Lewin is a British violinist and bagpiper.He was born in Essex in 1960 or slightly earlier. Aged nine, he sang the female lead in Mozart's "Bastien et Bastienne". At Cambridge University he acquired a love of Irish traditional music. His admiration for William Lawes led him to join a group...
, Pentangle (band)Pentangle (band)Pentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
and The Men They Couldn't HangThe Men They Couldn't HangThe Men They Couldn't Hang are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush , Paul Simmonds , Philip "Swill" Odgers , Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley .- Controversy and success:Their first single, "The Green Fields...
He also produced and backed Katie Humble on True to Your Soul and Peter O'Brien on Junked Cars & Beat Up Guitars - Whitmore and Poole recorded Fallen as The Falcons and Start The Countdown as The Sun with Kinks drummer Nick Trevisick
Discography
Albums- Starry Eyed and Laughing (1974) CBS (CBS 80450)
- Thought Talk (1975) CBS (CBS 80907)
Live
- The Amazing ZigZag ConcertThe Amazing ZigZag ConcertThe Amazing Zig Zag Concert was a rock concert held at The Roundhouse on 28 April 1974 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Zig Zag Magazine. Described as "one of the gigs of the decade", the concert "has taken on legendary proportions over the years" and featured Michael Nesmith with Red Rhodes,...
(2010) Road Goes on Forever (RGF/ZZBOX1974) Disc 1 of 5CD Box set
Also features Chilli Willi and the Red Hot PeppersChilli Willi and the Red Hot PeppersChilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers were one of the main British pub rock groups of the early 1970s. Later managed by Jake Riviera, who first worked for the band as a roadie, they reached their peak as part of the "Naughty Rhythms Tour" of 1975, along with other stalwarts of the same scene, Dr...
, Help YourselfHelp Yourself (band)Help Yourself, known to their fans as "The Helps", were an English rock band of the early 1970s whose style developed from “American-flavoured country-rock… …to acid-drenched psych.”.-History:...
, John Stewart and Michael NesmithMichael NesmithRobert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
Compilations
- 'That Was Now and This Is Then' (2002) Aurora (2CD containing both albums in full and all singles)
- 'All Their Best...' (2009) Broadside (1CD compilation taken from both albums, the singles and a radio show)