John Pantry

John Pantry is a musician, singer, songwriter, audio engineer (at IBC Studios, for the Small Faces and on the first three Bee Gees L.P.s) and record producer from Harrow, Middlesex, England. He's been active since the late 1960s.^[1] Following his studio work in London he became a Christian through the influence of the many Christian artists for whom he produced albums, and toured internationally as a Christian singer and speaker. In 1990, he trained as an Anglican minister and he was ordained in 1993.

He hosts a programme on Premier Christian Radio called Inspirational Breakfast.^[2] He has recorded twelve albums of his songs, and a new album with the Adoramus Choir called God of the Empty Space was released on 19 June 2009, along with a songbook published by the Royal School of Church Music.

According to his website, God of the Empty Space is a collection of seventeen new songs and choral pieces.

John was educated at Belfairs High School, Leigh on Sea, Essex. Whilst living in this area, he played keyboard for the local band, Sounds Around. Amongst the many gigs they performed was one on the rooftop of The Peterboat Inn, Leigh. The band also performed on the same bill as The Cops 'n' Robbers, who are known for their legendary three-week stint on the 60's rock programme, Ready, Steady Go.

John Pantry is one of those artists that deserves to be heard by more people, especially those who value melodic British pop. He released one decent solo disc in the early 70s (which has not been reissued as of this date) before delving into the world of Christian music. Prior to that, he had been a talented studio engineer for IBC Studios (working with Eddie Tre-Vett), producing for the likes of Donovan, The Small Faces, The Bee Gees, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream. He was also a member of Peter & The Wolves, an accomplished mid 60s pop group from Leigh-on-Sea/Southend and had a major hand with many other IBC studio projects of the time: the Factory, Sounds Around, Wolfe, The Bunch and Norman Conquest.

In 2009, Wooden Hill released a double disc set of Pantry's late 60s/early 70s work. It includes singles/tracks from all the above groups plus numerous outtakes and demos. If anything, this set (53 tracks!) illustrates the depth of Pantry's talents. Besides being a savvy studio technician, Pantry was a gifted songwriter and vocalist and an accomplished musician (he played the keyboards). The earlier tracks stem from one of Pantry's first groups, Sounds Around. These guys played straight pop with slight soul and psych influences - they released two singles in 1966-1967. Peter & The Wolves came shortly after Sounds Around's demise (they were essentially the same group). This is the group with which Pantry is most associated, along with The Factory. Peter & The Wolves released several singles and lasted into the early 70s. This group's most productive period was probably the years of 1967-1969, where they released a string of pop gems: a good, upbeat blue-eyed soul number titled "Still", the superb Emitt Rhodes like "Woman On My Mind" and several tuneful psych pop creations, "Lantern Light," "Birthday," and "Little Girl Lost And Found" being the best in this style.

It was around this time that John Pantry was asked to write two tracks for The Factory, a legendary psychedelic group who had previously released the classic "Path Through The Forest" 45. Pantry wrote and sang lead on the two Factory standouts, "Try A Little Sunshine" and the more folk-like "Red Chalk Hill." "Try A Little Sunshine" is the heaviest song on this comp, a classic that mixes Who power with Moody Blues spaciness.

During this period Pantry took advantage of free studio time and recorded a slew of demos. While the sound quality is slightly below par, the power of popsike gems like "Battle Of Trafalgar," "Pitsea Pub," "Wash Myself Away," and "Mississippi Paddleboat" cannot be denied. Most of the material spanning these two discs strongly recalls Paul McCartney, Emitt Rhodes/The Merry-Go-Round and a more cheerful, punchy Bee Gees. Wooden Hill exercised quality control (no duff tracks to be found) and should be commended for reissuing this great anthology.

Discography

• To Strangers and Friends (1980)

References

Review by Jason Nardelli @ risingstorm.net

External links

• Official website
• Premier Radio profile
• Cross Rhythms profile
• History of IBC Studios
• John Pantry discography at Discogs