Over
the years of their existence, The End enjoyed the active help of Rolling
Stone, Bill Wyman. They had been previously introduced to Wyman by
producer Glyn Johns who had spotted them backing Elkie Brooks and were
amongst the support acts for the Stones September '65 tour following the
release of 'Out of Our Heads' along with the Spencer Davis Group; Unit
Four Plus Two and The Moody Blues. A debut single 'I Can't Get Any Joy'
had duly flopped and any plans Wyman had regarding the band were then
thwarted by lack of action on the part of the Stones manager Alan
Klein's office. So it wasn't until nearly three years later on signing
to Decca (ironically the Stones label) before any further releases
kicked off again. In 1968 'Shades of Orange' / 'Loving, Sacred Loving'
appeared, both songs were built up during the sessions for the Stones
album 'The Satanic Majesties Request' and have appeared over the years
on various Stones bootlegs which seems a little odd as apart from Wyman
the only other connection is Charlie Watts who plays tabla. 'Shades' was
a wonderful song with dreamy atmospheres whilst 'Loving' featured Nicky
Hopkins on harpsichord. In the same year, the album 'Introspection' also
appeared and is one of the highlights of the English psychedelic scene,
no collection should be without it. 1969 gave the band the chance of an
appearance in the Spanish underground movie, 'Al Escondite Ingle's' ('To
The English Hiding Place') making a playback of 'Cardboard Watch' whilst
walking in the street (see below for stills from this film).
Shortly
after this, The End's original line-up fragmented as the band mutated
into Tucky Buzzard (still under Wyman's management). Colin Griffin left
to pursue a solo career and Hugh Atwooll returned to the End's adopted
home, Spain, to work with the likes of Miguel Rios. Remaining members -
Nicky Graham; Dave Brown and Terry Taylor recruited Paul Francis on
drums along with Terry Taylor's former colleague from The Mode, Jim
Henderson as lead vocalist. Incidentally two points of interest, firstly
Jim had also contributed backing vocals on Introspection and The Mode is
not the same band who recorded Eastern Music on Rubble Two : Pop Sike,
Pipe Dreams. Tucky Buzzard went on to record five Lps before splitting
up in the mid-Seventies.
Tenth
Planet has served the band well, issuing three albums worth of
unreleased recordings. The first volume 'In The Beginning' (TP 025)
highlights the earlier recordings; the second 'Retrospection' (TP 033)
includes album outtakes and a version of 'Black Is Black' which was
inspired by the group's friendship with Los Bravos. The final offering
'The Last Word' (TP 047) looks more at the final line-up with the band
going through the transitional period around the end of The End and the
beginning of Tucky Buzzard.
'Shades
of Orange' can be found Rubble 6 : The Clouds Have Groovy Faces; The
Psychedelic Scene and The Great British Psychedelic Scene. Broken Dreams
featured two songs, 'Jacob's Bladder' & 'Introspection pt.2' whilst
Visions from the Past volume 3 featured 'Why'
Over
the years of their existence, The End enjoyed the active help of Rolling
Stone, Bill Wyman. They had been previously introduced to Wyman by
producer Glyn Johns who had spotted them backing Elkie Brooks and were
amongst the support acts for the Stones September '65 tour following the
release of 'Out of Our Heads' along with the Spencer Davis Group; Unit
Four Plus Two and The Moody Blues. A debut single 'I Can't Get Any Joy'
had duly flopped and any plans Wyman had regarding the band were then
thwarted by lack of action on the part of the Stones manager Alan
Klein's office. So it wasn't until nearly three years later on signing
to Decca (ironically the Stones label) before any further releases
kicked off again. In 1968 'Shades of Orange' / 'Loving, Sacred Loving'
appeared, both songs were built up during the sessions for the Stones
album 'The Satanic Majesties Request' and have appeared over the years
on various Stones bootlegs which seems a little odd as apart from Wyman
the only other connection is Charlie Watts who plays tabla. 'Shades' was
a wonderful song with dreamy atmospheres whilst 'Loving' featured Nicky
Hopkins on harpsichord. In the same year, the album 'Introspection' also
appeared and is one of the highlights of the English psychedelic scene,
no collection should be without it. 1969 gave the band the chance of an
appearance in the Spanish underground movie, 'Al Escondite Ingle's' ('To
The English Hiding Place') making a playback of 'Cardboard Watch' whilst
walking in the street (see below for stills from this film). 