In 1964 guitarist Geoff Simpson joined Group 66, whose members included Robbie Fair on lead vocals, Brian Bronson on rhythm guitar and vocals, John Barker on bass and vocals, and John Podbury on drums, and who covered current songs from the charts. In 1965, the group named changed to Xit, and when Simpson began writing songs, the group put a demo tape together in early 1967, and sent iy off to various record companies. Tony Macaulay from Pye Records met up with the band in Denmark Street, and they were soon signed to the Pye label. However, Macaulay didn't like the name, and thought that a West Coast sounding name would suit them more, so they were renamed West Coast Consortium. Their first single was 'Some Other Someday', and it received favourable reviews, and charted on Radio London's Top Forty, but the song that the band had recorded as the follow-up was issued by Macaulay as a solo single by Robbie Fair, under the name Robbie. He tried to pass this off by saying that it was a rush release and the credits couldn't be changed, but this could have somewhat soured their relationship, as when they booked sessions to record Macaulay's 'Rainbow' the group began bickering and decided the session wasn't working. Instead, 'Rainbow' was recorded by David Garrick, and West Coast Consortium were handed over to another in-house Pye producer, Jack Dorsey, a former bandleader, who presented them with the song 'Colour Sergeant Lillywhite', which they recorded.
A number of demos, recorded in the bedroom of bassist John Barker's home above his father's undertaker shop in Shoreditch, were cut to acetate, but then the group lost interest, as they felt that an LP wasn't important, and they returned to playing more gigs instead. During a gig at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, their fortunes took a turn for the better as Cyril Stapleton, head of Pye, came to see them play and expressed an interest in recording them. 'All The Love In The World' had been recorded with Jack Dorsey, but the group were not impressed with the result, so Stapleton produced another version, and it was released under a shortened group name Consortium. This 1969 single became a sizable hit after being championed by Radio One, reaching Number 22 in the UK, and spending nine weeks in the charts. Due to the single's success, Pye put pressure on Simpson to go back to the demos that had been recorded for the proposed album for a follow-up release, but he felt that the music scene had changed since that time, and the only song used was 'One Day The Train Never Came', which was slightly amended to 'The Day The Train Never Came' for the b-side of their next single 'When The Day Breaks'. This was a new song, recorded at the same session as 'All The Love In The World', but neither that nor their next two singles had any chart success, and so Consortium moved from Pye to Trend, a short-lived label owned by Barry Class, in 1969. They released 'Melanie Cries Alone' in 1970, and then booked a six month tour of Italy, but as Simpson had recently married and had new-born twins to look after, he left the group, with the rest of The Consortium fulfilling their obligations by touring Italy. Once the tour was finished they recorded a final single for Trend, 'Annabella', before calling it quits. They reformed in 1975 with a much heavier, almost psychedelic, style, and they recorded an album, 'Rebirth', which was then shelved until it sneaked out in 2006 on the Angel Air Label. None of the songs recorded in 1968 and 1969 were included on 'Rebirth', so there is an album waiting to be heard from the original incarnation of The Consortium, and this is it.
Track listing
01 The Day The Train Never Came
02 Take A Round Trip
03 All The Love In The World
04 Fairground Playboy
05 I Don't Want Her Anymore
06 Cynthia Serenity
07 The House Upon The Hill
08 Beggar Man
09 Whatever Became Of Emily Jane?
10 Windmill Hill
11 When The Day Breaks
12 Money Matters
13 Come On Into The Warm
14 Spending My Life Saying Goodbye
