The Birds - Say Those Magic Words (1966)

A few weeks ago I posted an album by The Artwoods, which they could have released in 1967 if they'd gathered together all their singles, b-sides and out-takes, and issued them as an actual album during their career. The Birds have a very similar career trajectory, recording a number singles during a short period during the 60's, and never releasing an album under their own name in their lifetime. But there's another link between these two bands, and that's the fact that The Artwoods was led by Art Wood, and the Birds' guitarist was his brother Ronnie. So it's only fair that I do the same for the Birds as I did for The Artwoods, and make up a credible album which could have been released by them in 1966. 
Several members of The Birds grew up in the same neighbourhood, and began playing together in 1964 while still in their teens. At first calling themselves The Thunderbirds, they started out playing clubs and a local community centre, but when they were hired to play on the same bill as Chris Farlowe, whose backing band was also called The Thunderbirds, they shortened their name to The Birds. Their hard R&B sound was good enough to earn them a place on a battle-of-the-bands contest held by the TV show 'Ready Steady Go!', and it was their performance on there which caught the eye of Decca record company executives. The ensuing recording contract resulted in their first two singles, 'You Don't Love Me' and 'Leaving Here', and the band seemed destined for stardom, receiving equal billing with The Who at some concerts.
However, in the spring of 1965 the Los Angeles-based band The Byrds was dominating the UK Singles Chart with their folk-rock version of Bob Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man', and when The Byrds arrived in England for their first British tour that summer, The Birds' manager took legal action to prevent them from using the name. The action failed, and shortly afterwards, amid a flurry of national press and television coverage, the group parted ways with their manager. After releasing their third Decca single in late 1965, the band moved to Reaction Records, and director Robert Stigwood suggested they change their name to The Birds Birds to distinguish themselves from the American band, which they did for the 'Say Those Magic Words' single. In 1966 the band had a cameo appearance in the horror film 'The Deadly Bees', performing an otherwise unreleased song 'That's All I Need', but by 1967 they'd disbanded, with Kim Gardner and Ronnie Wood first joining The Creation, before each moving on to other bands. This album contains all the songs that they recorded during their short career, plus the 2011 remake of 'That's All I Need You For' from Ali MacKenzie, and I've included the version from 'The Deadly Bees' film as a bonus track, with the volume of the dialogue reduced as much as possible so that's it's less obtrusive. It's not a bad collection of originals and covers, and would have made a perfectly acceptable album if it had come out in 1966 or 1967. 

Track listing

01 You're On My Mind
02 You Don't Love Me (You Don't Care)
03 No Good Without You Baby
04 Leaving Here
05 Good Times
06 How Can It Be
07 Daddy Daddy
08 Say Those Magic Words
09 Next In Line
10 Run Run Run
11 La Poupee Qui Fait Non
12 That's All I Need You For
13 Granny Rides Again

Thanks to the two commenters who told me that Ali MacKenzie recorded a version of 'That's All I Need You For' for a single in 2011, backed by members of the Small Faces tribute act that he's a member of. It's surprisingly close to the original 1966 take by The Birds, so I've added it to the album and it doesn't sound the slightest bit out of place. I've left the Birds' version as a bonus track so that you can compare them if you want to.   

Bonus track
14 That's All I Need (from 'The Deadly Bees')