The Bread And Beer Band - The Bread And Beer Band (1969)

The Bread And Beer Band was a group of England's best studio musicians, formed by Tony King (a record producer and assistant at Apple Records), and the band included Tony King, Bernie Calvert of the Hollies, Roger Pope and Caleb Quaye of Hookfoot (and Elton John's late 70's band), Jamaican percussionists Lennox Jackson and Rolfo, and Reg Dwight (aka Elton John) on piano and harpsichord. King envisioned them as a studio band along the lines of the great Motown musicians of the past, but rather than a touring, full-time outfit, it was to be a recording group and studio back-up unit that could be revised and shifted to fit the needs of each individual project that was undertaken. This instrumental album was recorded during sessions in 1968 and 1969 and included Chris Thomas as a producer, but only two tracks from the sessions were ever released, with 'Dick Barton Theme (The Devil's Gallop)' / 'Breakdown Blues' appearing as a single in 1969, featuring an original group composition on the b-side. The single received quite positive reviews, and so the band were sufficiently motivated to try to get an album released, which would have comprised reworked arrangements of popular songs of the day, with a few standards tossed in. Among the songs tampered with were Sam The Sham's 'Wooly Bully', Donovan's 'Mellow Yellow', Tim Hardin's 'If I Were A Carpenter' featuring Elton on harpsichord, and even a humorous arrangement of the 'Zorba The Greek' movie theme. As so often happened, the album was shelved, with Tony King eventually giving the master tapes to Elton as a 1976 birthday gift.

Track listing

01 Woolly Bully  
02 Mellow Yellow  
03 If I Were A Carpenter  
04 Zorba The Greek  
05 The Letter  
06 Dick Barton Theme (The Devil's Gallop)
07 Quick Joey Small  
08 Needles And Pins  
09 Billy's Bang
10 Breakdown Blues
11 God Knows (A Bit Of Freedom)  
12 Last Night  

The Band:

Tony King - producer
Bernie Calvert - guitar
Roger Pope - drums
Caleb Quaye - guitar, bass
Lennox Jackson - percussion        
Rolfo - percussion
Reg Dwight (aka Elton John) - keyboards