Samuel Prody
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| Samuel Prody | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genre(s) | psychedelic rock |
| Years active | 1969-1971 |
| Members | |
| Tony Savva Derek Smallcombe John Boswell Stephen Day |
|
Samuel Prody was a UK psychedelic progressive rock band that only recorded one album called Samuel Prody in 1970.
Founded by Tony Savva in 1969 in London, England they were only around for 3 years or so but their album has become more and popular in the last 10 years with fans of psychedelic rock.
Contents |
[edit] Members
- Tony Savva - Lead Vocals, Guitar & Bass, Songwriter of all but two of the tracks on the Samuel Prody album.
- Derek Smallcombe - Lead Guitar & Vocals
- John Boswell - Percussion and Vocals
- Stephen Day - Bass & Lead Guitar
[edit] History
Tony Savva started his career in London in the mid 1960s as a bass player and vocalist in various bands. He was fortunate to meet Reg King at the Lyceum one night. Reg had just formed his production company, as he told Maureen Cleave in an interview on the "Disc Date" page in the Evening Standard. Reg groomed Tony and the other members. He taught them the best things in life and took them to the best of restaurants i.e. Isow's, Waltons and the Ivy to mention but a few. Reg would not take any back chat, that would mean a smack across the chops. The boys would practise at the Kingston Cellar Club which, was owned by Terry King (no relation).
His first group was called Thee at the time it was the latest in names. They recorded a Jagger/Richards song called "Each and Every Day of the Year".
Next came The New Breed. They were managed by Reg King and he wanted them to record one of two songs written by Wes Farrell and Bert Russell. They wanted to record "Hang on Sloopy" but unfortunately The McCoys (who recorded it on Bert Russell's own Bang Records label) got there first so they recorded the other one, "Friends and Lovers Forever". It went to number 15 in the top twenty in October 196?.
They then became A Wild Uncertainty. who performed at the Marquee Club in London. They released a single "A Man With Money" (Planet Records PLF120) (an old Everly Brothers hit) (the B side was "Broken Truth" written by Tony Savva and Reg King. Reg King's son, has all the records the group released on each name). Sadly, Reg died in a tragic accident 17 years ago. I am sure that the boys will always remember him for the start that he gave them. They were managed by the infamous Andrew Loog Oldham who managed the Rolling Stones and founded the Immediate label.
A Wild Uncertainty were ..
- Gordon Barton on drums (he went on to join Andwella's Dream and then John Entwistle's Ox)
- Peter Tidmarsh on guitar (he carried on with Tony and wrote one of the Samuel Prody Tracks)
- Eddie Hardin on keyboards - He went on to join the Spencer Davis Group and is still playing with them along with Miller Anderson and Colin Hodgkinson.
In 1968, Tony Savva worked with Lionel Bart on writing his album called Isn't This Where We Came In? (Deram DML 1028). There were many well known performers on the recording (Madeline Bell, Danny Thompson, John Cameron, Willie Rushton, Rosetta Hightower, Kenny Lynch and the sleeve notes were by Jonathan King)
Tony Savva was auditioned for the Jimi Hendrix Experience but was told that he was great but they wanted to keep it a a three piece. Mitch Mitchell still kept in contact with Tony and provided the percussion on the "Wild Uncertainty" single.
Tony went on to a couple of other bands - Smiffy's Gang and then Giant. Originally, Giant was formed by Pete Sears (who went on to Jefferson Starship, now with the FOB - the Flying Other Brothers). In Giant, the guitarist was David O'List (ex-The Nice) after Pete Sears left. When the band moved down to Brighton, he left after a few months to be replaced again by Pete Tidmarsh. Pete left and he was replaced by Keith Hurley (father of Barney Hurley) from Brighton. It was Giant that eventually moved south to Brighton in the early 70s and became Samuel Prody. Initially, the band wanted to change their name to Samuel Purdey, but as this might have caused a problem with the world famous shotgun maker they were advised to change this to Samuel Prody.
Soon after the still popular Samuel Prody album was released, the band broke up and Tony joined a great band called Rusty Butler. A young Dave Greenfield was the keyboard player who went on to join The Stranglers (and he is of course still there!). Rusty Butler spawned two bands Sticky Wicket and Krakatoa. They both finished playing in the late 1970s.
[edit] The album
Tony Savva worked closely with Lionel Bart in the late 60s. As they were good friends Lionel let him cover one of his songs from Oliver! on the album - "Who Will Buy?". Peter Tidmarsh (sometimes spelt Titmarsch) wrote the track "Scat Shuffle". Tony wrote all the others. Songs: "Who Will Buy?" / "Woman" / "Time is all Mine" / "Scat Shuffle" / "She's Mine" / "Mr. Make Believe" / "Hallucination".
[edit] Sources
Interviews with Tony Savva[original research?] and sleeve notes from the album and various singles.
