The Four Pennies started out as the Lionel Morton Four, taking their name from their singer, who had served as a choir boy in a cathedral in his hometown of Blackburn, Lancashire, during his youth. In 1963 they changed their name to the more commercial alternative of The Four Pennies, named after Penny Street, where their favourite music shop was located. The band now consisted of Lionel Morton on vocals and rhythm guitar, Fritz Fryer on lead guitar, Mike Wilshaw on bass, keyboards, and backing vocals, and Alan Buck on drums, and they got a record deal with Philips almost immediately, and their first single 'Do You Want Me To' came out in 1963, scoring a number 47 placing in the UK singles chart. Their second single, 'Tell Me Girl', was released in 1964, but the b-side proved the more popular song, and 'Juliet' is now the song with which they are most associated, after it hit the number one slot on the UK Singles Chart. It was a self-penned number, written by Fryer, Wilshaw and Morton, but ended up being the only UK Number one of 1964 not to chart in America. Following the UK chart-topping success of 'Juliet', the band racked up subsequent 1964 UK hits with their original 'I Found Out The Hard Way' and a cover of Leadbelly's 'Black Girl', followed by the release of their debut album 'Two Sides Of Four Pennies', which, as was customary for British acts of the time, mostly ignored their hit singles. After their first single of 1965 failed to reach the UK chart, Fryer left The Four Pennies to found a folk trio called Fritz, Mike and Mo, and he was replaced on guitar by David Graham. The revamped quartet then hit the UK chart again with 'Until It's Time For You to Go', written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, but their 1966 cover of Bobby Vinton's 'Trouble Is My Middle Name' would be their final chart placing, after which Fryer returned to the fold, replacing his own replacement Graham. They finished 1966 by releasing their second album, 'Mixed Bag', but neither it, nor the singles 'Keep The Freeway Open' and Tom Springfield's 'No More Sad Songs For Me', charted, and so by the end of the year the group had dissolved. As it happened, they could have released a much better second album than 'Mixed Bag' in 1966, by just including some of their better singles and their b-sides, but as they didn't do that then here is what it would have sounded like.
Track listing
01 Square Peg
02 Till Another Day
03 Don't Tell Me You Love Me
04 Juliet
05 Trouble Is My Middle Name
06 No Sad Songs For Me
07 Black Girl
08 Keep The Freeway Open
09 Miss Bad Daddy
10 Cats
11 The Way Of Love
12 A Place Where No One Goes
13 Way Out Love
14 I Found Out The Hard Way
15 Tell Me Girl (What Are You Gonna Do)
