kentish town, 1965

bank holiday bankruptcy. punks in parkas.

Signed to EMI Parlophone by George Martin, North London boys, The Action failed to chart in two years with the label, debuting with the 45 "Land Of 1,000 Dances b/w In My Lonely Room" in 1965. Always popular with the mod hard core split between The Who and Small Faces, this group deserved to fly much, much higher during their short career.

By 1967 they found themselves out of contract and recorded a vast number of demo material under manager, Georgio Gomelsky, before evolving into psychedelic outfit, Mighty Baby, who were also subsequently largely ignored.

Alan "Bam" King (guitar); Reg King (vocals); Mike Evans (bass);
Roger Powell (drums); Martin Stone (guitar); Ian Whiteman (keyboards).

For a more detailed autopsy see Bruce Eder's entry on the group in All Music Guide.

Like all truly great unreleased songs, one listen to this retrospective is enough to convince you that you've surely heard much of it before.

▼ THE ACTION: BRAIN from "Rolled Gold (Demos 1967-1968)" CD (Reaction) 2002 (UK)

▼ THE ACTION: STRANGE ROADS from "Rolled Gold (Demos 1967-1968)" CD (Reaction) 2002 (UK)

PURCHASE ROLLED GOLD: THE ACTION