Velvett Fogg
Encyclopedia
Velvett Fogg are a cult British psychedelic rock
band. Tony Iommi
was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath
. Their lone eponymous album
was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records
in 2002.
" scene, that were formed at the end of 1960s that would attempt to take pop music
to a higher level of creativity. Birmingham
also had its own flourishing underground music
scene during that time with a variety of innovative groups emerging. The line up of Velvett Fogg all came from within this alternative music scene in the city.
Velvett Fogg were formed in 1968 from members of a Birmingham band Gravy Train. Up front was soul
singer Ernie Handy, Bob Hewitt was lead guitarist, with Graham Mullett on drums, and Mick Pollard on bass guitar
. Londoner Frank Wilson who played Hammond organ
, was also on vocals, eventually becoming band leader and lead vocalist
. The newly formed band spent most of the year touring Germany playing at army bases and clubs. Their stage act included a light show and a go-go dancer.
. It was also a time when it seemed that the more unusual or controversial a band was, then the greater chance there would be for success in the record business. The record label was looking to sign unusual "underground music
" acts
and Velvett Fogg were told to, in Jack Dorsey's words, "develop an image that would make people think you would piss on the pope!" (Keith Law).
The initial line-up of Velvett Fogg featured guitarist Tony Iommi
(later to make the big time with Black Sabbath
). Iommi was in the line-up for only one gig before he left to be replaced temporarily by Ian Leighton. Leighton was "a great blues guitarist", said his friend Frank Wilson. It was during this time that Pye Records arranged a photo-shoot of the band for the cover of their proposed first album.
Before recording could begin in late 1968, Ian Leighton left the band and was replaced by guitarist/vocalist Paul Eastment (a cousin of Iommi). Paul Eastment contributed original compositions for the album, as did Frank Wilson, Graham Mullet and Mick Pollard.
Velvett Fogg recorded the tracks for their debut album on Pye Records
under the direction of Jack Dorsey. Apparently, Dorsey aimed to get the band onto the then-popular "progressive
" band wagon. "I was a classically trained pianist but we all had to play way below our capabilities" says Frank Wilson. The band were also allowed to record covers of a few songs they liked and these included psychedelic
-sounding versions of New York Mining Disaster 1941
by The Bee Gees and Tim Rose
's Come Away Melinda.
music science, Law played with such groups as The Williamsons, Love and Understanding, Paint, and Jardine. In his initial writing sessions with the band Law came up with "Yellow Cave Woman", "Once Among The Trees" and "Within' The Night".
package was accompanied by a typically obscure sleevenote by the influential U.K. disc jockey
John Peel
who commented that "there is a lot of good music on this record. Remember Velvett Fogg - you will hear the name again."
by the group. It was a cover of The Tornados
classic instrumental "Telstar
" which was recorded at the request of Jack Dorsey who hoped to cash in on the publicity surrounding the American moon landings
taking place at that time.
's footsteps to join Warhorse
in 1970.
Paul Eastment started a Brum
band called Holy Ghost—later to become Ghost, with whom he recorded a couple of albums. He later fronted another group called Resurrection, as well as recording with local folk singer Shirley Kent.
During the years since Velvett Fogg's demise, demand amongst collectors for copies of their (now very rare) album has increased considerably. Original albums have changed hands for high prices with bootleg
copies also known to be in circulation. In 2002 the Sanctuary Records Group re-issued the album officially for the first time on CD (CMRCD619).
Keith Law stayed in the music business, is still writing songs, and is now an entertainer in South West England
. Frank Wilson, now performs with his band Run VT, and performs at venues in South East England
. Keith Law and Frank Wilson are back together writing as Velvett Fogg Reloaded, and recording for a proposed new Velvett Fogg album.
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
band. Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
. Their lone eponymous album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
in 2002.
Development
Vevett Fogg were one of many new bands within the "undergroundUnderground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
" scene, that were formed at the end of 1960s that would attempt to take pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
to a higher level of creativity. Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
also had its own flourishing underground music
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
scene during that time with a variety of innovative groups emerging. The line up of Velvett Fogg all came from within this alternative music scene in the city.
Velvett Fogg were formed in 1968 from members of a Birmingham band Gravy Train. Up front was soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
singer Ernie Handy, Bob Hewitt was lead guitarist, with Graham Mullett on drums, and Mick Pollard on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. Londoner Frank Wilson who played Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, was also on vocals, eventually becoming band leader and lead vocalist
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
. The newly formed band spent most of the year touring Germany playing at army bases and clubs. Their stage act included a light show and a go-go dancer.
Velvett Fogg, the album
On their return to Birmingham, the band, now managed by an agency called Inter City Artists, were given a record deal by Jack Dorsey of Pye RecordsPye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
. It was also a time when it seemed that the more unusual or controversial a band was, then the greater chance there would be for success in the record business. The record label was looking to sign unusual "underground music
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
" acts
and Velvett Fogg were told to, in Jack Dorsey's words, "develop an image that would make people think you would piss on the pope!" (Keith Law).
The initial line-up of Velvett Fogg featured guitarist Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
(later to make the big time with Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
). Iommi was in the line-up for only one gig before he left to be replaced temporarily by Ian Leighton. Leighton was "a great blues guitarist", said his friend Frank Wilson. It was during this time that Pye Records arranged a photo-shoot of the band for the cover of their proposed first album.
Before recording could begin in late 1968, Ian Leighton left the band and was replaced by guitarist/vocalist Paul Eastment (a cousin of Iommi). Paul Eastment contributed original compositions for the album, as did Frank Wilson, Graham Mullet and Mick Pollard.
Velvett Fogg recorded the tracks for their debut album on Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
under the direction of Jack Dorsey. Apparently, Dorsey aimed to get the band onto the then-popular "progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
" band wagon. "I was a classically trained pianist but we all had to play way below our capabilities" says Frank Wilson. The band were also allowed to record covers of a few songs they liked and these included psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
-sounding versions of New York Mining Disaster 1941
New York Mining Disaster 1941
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" was the first song to be released by the Bee Gees in the United States , and their first song to hit the charts in the US or UK...
by The Bee Gees and Tim Rose
Tim Rose
Timothy Alan Patrick Rose , best known professionally as Tim Rose, was an American singer-songwriter, who spent much of his life in London, England and had more success in Europe than in his native country...
's Come Away Melinda.
Keith Law
Original songs for the Velvett Fogg album were supplied by Keith Law, a local who became a friend of the band. A veteran of the West MidlandsWest Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
music science, Law played with such groups as The Williamsons, Love and Understanding, Paint, and Jardine. In his initial writing sessions with the band Law came up with "Yellow Cave Woman", "Once Among The Trees" and "Within' The Night".
Album cover controversy
Velvett Fogg's self-titled album was released on the Pye label in January 1969. By far the most controversial feature of the album was its record cover which displayed the pre-Paul Eastment line-up of the band wearing garish make-up/body-paint and costume, but also included two well-endowed young women wearing nothing but strategically applied body paint. This politically incorrectPolitical correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
package was accompanied by a typically obscure sleevenote by the influential U.K. disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
who commented that "there is a lot of good music on this record. Remember Velvett Fogg - you will hear the name again."
"Telstar" single
Along with the Velvett Fogg album, Pye Records also released a singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
by the group. It was a cover of The Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
classic instrumental "Telstar
Telstar (song)
"Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in...
" which was recorded at the request of Jack Dorsey who hoped to cash in on the publicity surrounding the American moon landings
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
taking place at that time.
Band disbanded
While receiving some radio play, the record did not sell enough copies to chart and a big advertising campaign planned by the record company to promote the album never materialised. The band did some touring after the single came out. Perhaps discouraged by poor sales of the album, Pye seemed to lose interest in the band so withdrew their backing. In the autumn of 1969 the group disbanded with the members going their separate ways. Frank Wilson says "I personally thought the first line-up in Germany was the best and most satisfying."After the album
Frank Wilson returned to London and joined Riot Squad and then The Rumble Band before following in Rick WakemanRick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
's footsteps to join Warhorse
Warhorse (70s band)
Warhorse were a British band formed by the former Deep Purple bassist, Nick Simper.-Career:Simper left Deep Purple in 1969, and joined Marsha Hunt's backing band. Not long after, Simper replaced her backing band with Ged Peck on guitar and Mac Poole on drums. When Hunt became pregnant, the band...
in 1970.
Paul Eastment started a Brum
Brum
Brum may refer to:* Birmingham, England** Brummagem, a colloquial name for Birmingham, England or the Birmingham dialect** Brummie, inhabitants of Birmingham or the Birmingham dialect** University of Birmingham...
band called Holy Ghost—later to become Ghost, with whom he recorded a couple of albums. He later fronted another group called Resurrection, as well as recording with local folk singer Shirley Kent.
During the years since Velvett Fogg's demise, demand amongst collectors for copies of their (now very rare) album has increased considerably. Original albums have changed hands for high prices with bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
copies also known to be in circulation. In 2002 the Sanctuary Records Group re-issued the album officially for the first time on CD (CMRCD619).
Keith Law stayed in the music business, is still writing songs, and is now an entertainer in South West England
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
. Frank Wilson, now performs with his band Run VT, and performs at venues in South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
. Keith Law and Frank Wilson are back together writing as Velvett Fogg Reloaded, and recording for a proposed new Velvett Fogg album.
Albums
- Velvett Fogg, Velvett Fogg. LP. Pye Records. (1969)
- Velvett Fogg, Velvett Fogg. CD. See For Miles. (1989)
- Velvett Fogg, Velvett Fogg. CD. Castle Records. Sanctuary Records Group Ltd. (2003)
- Velvett Fogg, Velvett Fogg. LP. Akarma Records (Italy). (2007)
Compilations on which the band featured
- Pictures In The Sky, Various Artists. Includes Within' The Night (Velvett Fogg),Bam-Caruso Records.KIRI 083. (1988)
- Professor Jordan's Magic Sound Show,Various Artists- Features Lady Caroline Bam-Caruso Records-KIRI 098. (1988)
- Out Of This World - Instrumental Diamonds Vol 3, Various Artists- Features Telstar '69 . Sequel Records. NEX CD 244. (1993)
- 2001: a Space Rock Odyssey: Classic Stoner Psychedelia from the Early 70's,Various Artists- Features Telstar '69, Castle Records-Castle Music Ltd. (UK)-CMDDD094 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd. (2001)
- The Rubble Collection, Vol. 1-10 [Box Set] Various Artists-Volume 7.Includes, Within' The Night (Velvett Fogg), Past & Present Records. (2003)
- Pictures In The Sky . Various Artists. Includes Within' The Night (Velvett Fogg) . Past and Present Records. (2003)
- Rare Trax Vol. 33 - Nine Miles High. British Psychedelia From the 60s and 70s.,Various Artists.Features Come Away Melinda .Rolling Stone [DEU]Records (2004)
- Instro Hipsters Volume Five, Various Artists.Features Owed To The Dip Past & Present Records- PAPRCD2057. (2004) ]
- Maybe Someone Is Digging Underground -The Songs Of The Bee Gees, Various Artists- features New York Mining Disaster 1941 Castle Music- CMQCD 963(2005)
- Brumbeat: the Story of the 60s Midlands Sound, Various Artists- Disc 2 features Wizard Of Gobsolod, Castle Records-Castle Music Ltd. (UK)-CMEDD1146 (2006)
- Real Life Permanent Dreams:a Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970,Various Artists . Includes Lady Caroline. Castle Music Ltd. (UK) CMEDD1148. (2007) . Sanctuary Records Group Ltd.
- This Is Psychedelia, Various Artists- Includes Yellow Cave Woman (Velvett Fogg),Metro Records. (2007)
- Cave Of Clear Light - The Pye & Dawn Records Underground Trip 1967 to 1975 (3CD set), Various Artists- Includes Yellow Cave Woman (Velvett Fogg), Pye/Esoteric (UK). (2010)