Marmalade - Can You Help Me (1969)

My last Marmalade post received a couple of comments agreeing with me that this band was very under-rated, and during their career they produced some great music which is often over-looked. The previous album was mostly centred around their singles and demos from 1972, and so this one goes back a bit further to 1969/70, and includes two of their best singles (after the beautiful 'Reflections Of My Life') in 'Rainbow' and their take on the Bee Gees' 'Butterfly'. The highlight of the set, though, has to be the stunning 8-minute title track, which would be hailed as a classic if it had come from a progressive rock band of the period, but from a group generally known for their bugglegum pop it was just astonishing. 

Track listing

01 Butterfly (single 1969)
02 Rollin' My Thing (b-side of 'Reflections Of My Life' 1969)
03 Rainbow (single 1970)
04 The Ballad Of Cherry Flavar (b-side of 'Rainbow')
05 My Little One (single 1971)
06 Is Your Life Your Own (b-side of 'My Little One')
07 Stay With Me Baby (Previously unreleased)
08 Can You Help Me (Previously unreleased)
09 Some Fine Day (Demo 1969)
10 Evening Shadows (Demo 1970)

Marmalade - Radancer (1971)

Marmalade will probably forever be remembered as the band that took The Beatles' 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La Da' to number one in 1969, but that song was in no way typical of the music that they were producing both before and after that hit. Their previous releases were the up-tempo 60's pop of 'Lovin' Things' and 'Wait For Me Mary-Anne', while they followed it with the classic 'Reflections Of My Life', and from then on they never looked back. As they moved into the 70's they took on a very slight hint of the glam rock of the time, and produced two of my favourite singles of the era in 'Cousin Norman' in 1971 and 'Radancer' the following year. As 1972 wore on the band recorded some demos which hinted that they might be moving in a more progressive direction, as they included the lengthy three part 'Middle Of A Night', and the extended guitar rock of the seven-minute 'Out On A Dark Night'. This album therefore gives us an idea of what their next release could have sounded like if they'd stuck to this new direction, rather than go down the heavy rock route that they did with their 1973 singles 'Our House Is Rocking' and 'The Wishing Well'.

Track listing

01 Cousin Norman (single 1971)
02 Lonely Man (b-side of 'Cousin Norman')
03 Love Is Hard To Rearrange (b-side of 'Back On The Road' 1971)
04 Radancer (single 1972)
05 Just One Woman (b-side of 'Radancer')
06 Jody (1972 demo)
07 Middle Of A Night - Parts I, II & III (1972 demo)
08 Mr Heartbreaker (1972 demo)
09 Out On A Dark Night (1972 demo)
10 Sunset Regret (1972 demo)