The Attack were founded by Richard Shirman and Gerry Henderson, who were originally in a group called the Soul System, whom, for the best part of a year, had a very unstable line-up. In early 1966, the remnants of the crumbling group were joined by Bob Hodges on organ, David John (Davy O'List under alter ego) on guitar, and Alan Whitehead on drums. They soon came to the attention of entrepreneur Don Arden, who then signed them to Decca and changed their name to The Attack. Their debut single was released in January 1967, and was an extremely anglicized cover of 'Try It', an American hit for both the Standells and Ohio Express, whose versions were exemplar of the sneering garage sound. However, The Attack's powerful vocals, pop art guitar, and the underbelly of a warm Hammond created a similar atmosphere to the Small Faces, the Birds, and the Creation. Shortly after the single was released, Davy O'List was handpicked by Andrew Loog Oldham to join the Nice, who were to act as the backing band for newly acquired American soul singer P.P. Arnold, and so he quit the group in late February. Meanwhile, Shirman, a regular visitor to the London clubs, had been keeping a watchful eye on a young guitarist he had seen jamming with Jimmy Page, and so John Du Cann was introduced into the group.
As a follow-up to 'Try It', a version of 'Hi-Ho Silver Lining' was then released, but Jeff Beck got the hit first in Britain in 1967. The third 45, 'Created By Clive'/'Colour Of My Mind', backed a foppish sub-Kinks-style number with a fairly groovy mod-psych tune penned by DuCann. Bassist Kenny Harold and guitarist Geoff Richardson left shortly after the disappointment of the 'Created By Clive' single, leaving Du Cann as the only guitarist, and Jim Avery was drafted in on bass, with Plug still on drums. Their next single was to be be the excellent 'Magic In The Air', but Decca refused to release it on the grounds that it was too heavy, and so Plug and Avery left the ranks to be replaced by Roger Deane on bass and Keith Hodge on drums. The final single, released in early 1968, was 'Neville Thumbcatch', a fruity mod-pop tune with spoken narration, like a lesser counterpart to Cream's 'Pressed Rat And Warthog', and Decca's deal with the Attack expired after that single, with a projected fifth 45, 'Freedom For You'/'Feel Like Flying', remaining unreleased. This led to the break-up of the group, with Du Cann going on to form Andromeda, and later to join Atomic Rooster in the 70's. The Attack have been well-served with compilations of their material, but as so often happens with these anthologies, the label try to cram in every single thing that they could track down by the band, whether good, bad or indifferent, and The Attack are the perfect example of the need for some judicious pruning of their material in order to present them in the best light. Their singles 'Hi-Ho Silver Lining', 'Created By Clive', and 'Neville Thumbcatch' are not representative of the band's powerful mod sound, and so they need to be excised in favour of scorching rockers like 'Any More Than I Do', and so here is the album that they should have released in 1968, which shows what a great band they really were.
Track listing
01 Any More Than I Do
02 Go Your Way
03 Colour Of My Mind
04 Strange House
05 Come On Up
06 Magic In The Air
07 Feel Like Flying
08 Lady Orange Peel
09 Too Old
10 Freedom For You
11 Anything
12 Mr Pinnodmy's Dilemma
13 Try It
14 We Didn't Know
