Earth And Fire

Having talked of music that I dislike but also mentioning that I am still discovering new artists, I am still finding music from years ago that I did not know existed. It could be that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time or for all the promotion that goes on in the music business somewhere along the way the promotion was bad or the time was not right and the record company did not stick with the artist or group.

Rightly or wrongly sometimes the fact that an artist sang in their native tongue it was a barrier to them getting airplay in a country where English is the main spoken language but many like Abba were clever and astute enough to sing in their native tongue and various other languages for a European market but also realised that to get anywhere, it was important to learn to craft their lyrics and speak English to the highest standard possible and over their career you could see the confidence grow and the quality of the writing.

To some extent some British artists in the 60's especially would attempt to sing their hits for continental Europe in mainly French or Spanish. Some struggled and learned everything phonetically others really bothered and a perfect case of someone who learned her craft and embraced the French was Petula Clark who lived there, married a Frenchman and performed most of her concerts there and recorded her songs in the French language.

So I was reminiscing and came across a couple of old singles...of a Dutch group. Perhaps not living in a big city, lack of airplay on the radio, I don't know but whereas the Swedish group Abba and others made it here...and even the Dutch rock band Focus had some success, one group seems to have missed out. Its even worse when I realise that I am talking of band that existed some 36 years ago. It will have long since disbanded and all the members will be in their 50's/60's now. I know of only two songs that I heard through poor reception via the English service of Radio North Sea International...one of the last pirate ships off the coast of the Netherlands during the middle 70's. Usually on "Daffy" Don Allen's show(ex Radio Caroline DJ in the 60's, Canadian I think)Lived on the Isle Of Man for many years. Later became involved with some of the pirate stations or stations that found a loophole that allowed them to broadcast on land that started up in Southern Ireland in the early 80's.

Sadly, no longer with us...a great broadcaster and a lovely guy.

The group was known as Earth And Fire, their sound was unusual, they had a female vocalist, their sound suggested two but that might've been due to studio mixing, the rest of the band played guitar, drums and early synthesisers. Perhaps their albums were heavier than the singles released but the two that I remember being Love Of Life and Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight. And where did I find them and it was like someone giving me £100(I'm easily pleased)when I used to go on holiday to Bournemouth I could always be found in the local record stores looking for what I could bring home that probably was unavailable here. And I found both those records in a department store's record section in the bargain basket.

Maybe I should have done more searching for more from this group but you know what its like you get distracted over the years by something else, money was a little tight if you were only getting pocket money...Suddenly something jogs the memory and you start to get nostalgic.

Earth And Fire I am sorry that your success was not what it might've been. Of course they may very well have had a very successful career in The Netherlands and mainland Europe. I did try to google them a few years ago(perhaps I should again)but all I kept finding were sites that wanted to tell me about Earth, Wind and Fire.

Another little story about a record is again connected to Bournemouth. Boscombe was back in its history probably a seperate town in its own right but over the years it is difficult to know where Boscombe ends and Bournemouth begins. We tended to stay in Boscombe and also because everywhere was so accessable on foot, plenty of short cuts and lots of busses too. Can you believe when I first went on holiday there, the busses were connected to overhead cables around the town and district and sometimes the connecting arm would become disconnected and have to be hooked back on. I did hear of plans to go back to something similar recently.

I digress, I often do...hence the title of my blog.

One place that you could always find me was the record department of WH Smiths in Boscombe.
That shows how times have changed.

In the early days of my holidaying there Boscombe pier had an amusement arcade. Nothing flash, just the kind that you put old pennies into, I'm not sure that many, if any gave any winnings, they probably did something amusing when you parted with your cash but also on certain nights there was roller skating and they played music from records and one night we happened to hear a piece of music we were so taken with we asked what it was. We never managed to find a copy anywhere. It was on an old 78rpm(the B Side)the main hit was Zambezi by Lou Busch and his orchestra on the Capitol label. The other side was called Rainbow's End. We never ever heard it again.

There was no information available from record companies and even looking on the net in recent years has been less than fruitful. One day perhaps over fifteen years ago at a jumble sale perhaps(I forget)I found a copy on an old 78rpm record. Well, I am one step nearer to hearing it except I no longer posses a turntable and few seem to offer that speed anymore.

Should I buy one for the sake of hearing that tune one last time? Will it be as I remember it all those years ago?

Time will tell...

A footnote...since writing the above I have found what looks like a new site with lots of information about Earth And Fire, its a Dutch site but the link below is in English.

Earth And Fire

And thanks to the net I found somewhere to hear part of Rainbow's End. Remarkably as it played I could remember it. It also seemed a little strange listening as it was one that my Father liked and probably only heard a couple of times back then(who is no longer here)and so much time has passed by.