The Flies - No Flies On Us (1968)

The Rebs formed in the early 1960's, and was made up of Robin Hunt on lead vocals, Ian Baldwin on bass, Brian Gill on lead guitar, John Da Costa on rhythm guitar and  keyboards, and Peter Dunton on drums. In 1966 the band recorded a British Invasion-exploitation album on RCA Records under the name of the In-Sect, titled 'Introducing The In-Sect Direct from London', with all but one of the tracks being cover versions of contemporary pop hits. Later in the year the band changed their name to No Flies on Us and auditioned for Decca Records, by presenting demos of a couple of songs, a cover of Paul Revere and the Raiders' '(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone' and their own 'Just Won't Do'. Decca negotiated a record deal with the band, on the agreement that they would shorten their name to The Flies. In October 1966 the band re-recorded a psychedelic pop-oriented cover of '(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone', along with the new composition 'Talk to Me' for their debut single, and the record became a regional hit, peaking at number 11 on the Wonderful Radio London Fab 40 charts. With a substantial following circulating around them, the group was picked up as the opening live act for popular English bands such as the Move, the Who, and the Moody Blues, and in addition they held a prominent slot alongside The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the popular club, the Roundhouse, in February 1967. The Flies became notorious for their sometimes outrageous stage acts, particularly their April 1967 appearance at the 14-Hour Technicolor Dream psychedelic festival, where the group arranged for hundreds of bags of flour to explode and consequently cover the unsuspecting audience. A follow-up single in mid-1967 included the heavy rocker 'House Of Love' and the pop standard 'It Had To Be You', which was so unlike their other acid-laced garage rockers that it drew comparisons to The New Vaudeville Band. At the same time, Hunt was working on a solo project called Alexander Bell, and issued the single 'Alexander Bell Believes', which featured guest musician Jimmy Page. The Flies recorded one final single in 1968, with 'The Magic Train' appearing on RCA Records, but it went largely unnoticed, and although the group was beginning to experiment with an ethereal organ-driven sound, they had disbanded by the end of the year. By 1968 the band had recorded an album's worth of music, spread over their three singles and various demos, and so by collecting them all together, along with the b-side to the Alexander Bell single and the one self-composed track from the In-Sect album, we can hear an approximation of what a 1968 debut album from the band could have sounded like.    

Track listing

01 The Magic Train
02 House Of Love
03 Talk To Me
04 Turning Back The Page
05 A Hymn With Love
06 (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone
07 Gently As You Feel
08 The Dancer
09 There Ain't No Woman
10 Where
11 Just Won't Do
12 Winter Afternoon
13 Sincerely Yours