Linda Laine And The Sinners - Low Grades And High Fever (1966)

The Sinners were an English beat group consisting of Del Hidden on lead guitar, Len Crawley on drums, Pete Bellotte on rhythm guitar and Russ Maxwell on bass, who signed to Columbia Records in the early 60's, and released a couple of singles in 1963 and 1964. They were joined on these records by Veronica Lind, under the name of Linda Laine, and by their third release, 'Low Grades And High Fevers', they'd become Linda Laine And The Sinners. The newly-named band made a few records without overly troubling the charts, but would regularly travel to Germany for month-long residencies, and in Hamburg they encountered another English band, Bluesology, and Bellotte became friends with their keyboard player, Reg Dwight, later to be known as Elton John. Linda Laine and the Sinners released several singles in the UK on the International Polydor label, all recorded at Abbey Road Studios in the early and mid-1960's, including 'I Can't Stand It', and its b-side, 'If You Leave Me Now', which was written by Bellotte. While in Germany, Bellotte had become fluent in German, and wanted to become involved in record production, so he moved to Munich and became an assistant to Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, who was also performing in Germany as a pop singer. In 1971, Bellotte wrote the lyrics for Moroder's song, 'Son Of My Father', which became a number 1 hit in the UK for Chicory Tip, and Moroder and Bellotte later began to work with American singer Donna Summer, writing and producing several hits for her, including her 1975 international breakthrough song, 'Love To Love You Baby'. This post includes all of the singles released by Linda Laine And The Sinners, plus those two early discs under the name of The Sinners, and to end is a rare acetate of an unreleased track titled 'Yesterday'. The acetate is only 54 seconds long, so I've edited it to a more satisfactory 1'38", and it was well worth doing, as it's a really great song which could have been the hit they were trying for. 

Track listing

01 I Can't Stand It (single by The Sinners with Linda Laine 1963)
02 If You Leave Me Now (b-side of 'I Can't Stand It')
03 It's So Exciting (single by The Sinners with Linda Laine 1964)
04 Leave Him (b-side of 'I'm So Excited')
05 Low Grades And High Fever (single 1964)
06 After Today (b-side of 'Low Grades And High Fever')
07 Doncha Know, Doncha Know, Doncha Know (single 1964)
08 Ain't That Fun (b-side of 'Doncha Know, Doncha Know, Doncha Know')
09 Don't Do It Baby (single 1965)
10 All I Want To Do Is Run (b-side of 'Don't Say It Baby')
11 Get A Job (single 1965)
12 Reasons (b-side of 'Get A Job')
13 There He Goes (single 1966)
14 VW (b-side of 'There He Goes')
15 Jinx On You (single 1966)
16 Gone (b-side of 'Jinx On You')
17 Baby Don't Hurt Me (single 1966)
18 Running Around (b-side of 'Baby Don't Hurt Me')
19 Yesterday (unreleased acetate 1966)