Tomorrow (band)

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Tomorrow
Origin London, England
Genres Psychedelic rock
Years active March 1967–April 1968
Labels Parlophone/EMI, Harvest Heritage/EMI, Sire
Associated acts Yes
Past members Keith West
Steve Howe
John "Junior" Wood
John "Twink" Alder

Tomorrow (previously known as The In Crowd and before that as Four Plus One) were a 1960s psychedelic rock band. Despite critical acclaim and support from DJ John Peel who featured them on his "Perfumed Garden" radio show, the band was not a great success in commercial terms. They were among the first psychedelic bands in England along with Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. Tomorrow recorded the first ever John Peel show session on BBC Radio 1 on 21 September 1967.

History

Film director Michelangelo Antonioni intended to feature the band in his 1966 film Blowup, but instead used The Yardbirds. However Tomorrow did appear in the 1967 film Smashing Time under the name of The Snarks. John "Junior" Wood was ill and was replaced by John Pearce, a clothes dealer. Again their music was not used in the film. The rock group sounds used in the film are by Skip Bifferty[citation needed].

The band released two singles, one of which, "My White Bicycle", was later covered by heavy rock act Nazareth, and as a novelty record by Neil the Hippy (Nigel Planer) of The Young Ones TV series. According to drummer John 'Twink' Alder, the song was inspired by the Dutch Provos, an anarchist group in Amsterdam which instituted a community bicycle program: "they had white bicycles in Amsterdam and they used to leave them around the town. And if you were going somewhere and you needed to use a bike, you'd just take the bike and you'd go somewhere and just leave it. Whoever needed the bikes would take them and leave them when they were done."[1]

Tomorrow's September 1967 single "Revolution" preceded The Beatles song "Revolution" by a year. In Joe Boyd's book White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s he asserts that the band's performance of the song one night at the UFO Club as the apotheosis of the 60s UK underground.[2]

Tomorrow singer Keith West is perhaps better known as a participant in Mark Wirtz's Teenage Opera project that gave him a solo hit single "Excerpt from a Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" and brief commercial success. Guitarist Steve Howe later joined progressive rock band Yes, whilst Twink joined The Pretty Things on their concept album, S.F. Sorrow, before forming The Pink Fairies.

Discography

Albums

Singles

As The In Crowd:[3]

  • "That's How Strong My Love Is" / "Things She Says" (single, Parlophone R5276, April 1965) - UK No. 48[4]
  • "Why Must They Criticise" / "I Don't Mind" (single, Parlophone R5364, November 1965)
  • "Stop, Wait A Minute" / "You're On Your Own" (single, Parlophone R5328, September 1965)

As Tomorrow:

  • "My White Bicycle" / "Claramount Lake" (single, Parlophone R5597, May 1967)
  • "Revolution" (Hopkins/Howe) / "Three Jolly Little Dwarves" (single, Parlophone R5627, September 1967)

References

  1. ↑ Tomorrow
  2. ↑ PUNKCAST#1129 Video of 'White Bicycles' reading in NYC, Mar 28 2007.
  3. ↑ Dan Hedges, Yes London Sidgwick & Jackson, 1981, pp 142
  4. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 268. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 

External links

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