LOST TREASURES
FOCAL POINT
“First Bite of the Apple”
By Peter Marston
[linebreak style=”25.png”]
Focal Point’s star shone brightly, but briefly—very briefly, in fact. Liverpool songwriters Paul Tennant and Dave Rhodes were one of the very first artists signed to the Beatles’ first venture in corporate diversification, Apple Publishing. After a chance meeting with Paul McCartney, Tennant and Rhodes were referred to Terry Doran who was just then putting together the publishing company. Demos were recorded and played for Brian Epstein and John Lennon. With everyone well impressed, Epstein recommended that Tennant and Rhodes put together a band and even suggested the name Focal Point. Doran would manage the group, with Epstein serving as an advisor of sorts. Hopes were running high when Epstein unexpectedly died. The Beatles were thrown into a maelstrom of distractions, but Doran continued to believe in Tennant and Rhodes, placing the two under contract in September, 1967. A recording contract with Deram ensued and a sole single, “Love You Forever” b/w “Sycamore Sid,” was released the following spring. The failure of the single to chart―combined with the escalating chaos at Apple―led to a loss of interest in the band, and less than a year later, the entire episode was over.
The band that Tennant and Rhodes put together as Focal Point included Ted Hesketh on drums, who had played with Tennant and Rhodes in the Maracas, along with Dave Slater on bass and Tim Wells on keyboards. Slater and Wells were at the time playing in a Liverpool band called the Top, but decided they could not turn down an offer connected with Brian Epstein and the Beatles. Tennant and Rhodes played guitar and sang. All five members relocated to London for their entire tenure as Focal Point, living in an apartment paid for by Apple and recording in some of the city’s more prominent studios, including Decca’s famed Studio 2.
While only the aforementioned single saw official release, Focal Point actually recorded about an album’s worth of material, which remained unreleased. In 2005, Kissing Point assembled the putative album, along with a clutch of demos, and issued the lot as First Bite of the Apple: The Complete Recordings 1967-1968.
The music on First Bite of the Apple is, for the most part, light and dreamy late-60’s British psych-pop. Harmonies, organ and melodic basslines are prominent. The opening “Miss Sinclair” is a driving mid-tempo track that sounds a bit like the Creation with the gain knob at about 50%. “Sycamore Sid,” the flip side of the single, is a trippy character study that many have assumed is a tribute to Syd Barrett (it is, in fact, about John Mayall). It is perhaps the best known song on First Bite of the Apple, having been featured prominently on a number of ’60s psych-pop comps. “Hastle Castle” is a delicate slice of psychedelia that is a cross of Procol Harum and the Cowsills on Quaaludes. “Never Never” is purportedly Paul McCartney’s favorite Focal Point track and one of the highlight on the album. It is not unlike some of the work of the late ’60’s Bee Gees. “Far Away From Forever” alternates a drone feel similar to “Tomorrow Never Knows” with a more straightforward pop chorus that anticipates Smokie. “Love You Forever,” the A-side of the single, transcends its soppy lyrics with some beautiful chord changes and rich harmonies. “McKinley Morgan the Deep Sea Diver” is a silly, but bouncy track that sounds exactly like what you’d expect from the title. “Falling Out of Friends” is another highlight and sounds like a classic Barry Gibb number. “Goodbye Forever” bears the influence of British Music Hall in both its arrangement and dramatic vocal. It also features a terrific and surprisingly heavy guitar solo. “’Cept Me” has a weird and naïve, but charming (and vaguely Indian) acoustic guitar and vocal arrangement that is unlike anything else on the album. The demos are appealing but not essential—though they may be the recordings that first attracted Epstein’s and Lennon’s interest.
As noted above, the single was by no means a hit. Though a second single was discussed, Decca declined. In 1969, the band retreated back to Liverpool. After a few final gigs in the north of England (including one opening for Jimmy Page’s New Yardbirds, soon to be Led Zeppelin), the members of Focal Point went their separate ways. The band reunited occasionally for recording projects over the years and in 2007 released Liverpool, You’re in My Soul, a collection of some of these later recordings. Paul Tennant, sadly, passed away in 2010.
First Bite of the Apple is no longer in print and used copies are typically very expensive. It is not available in the legit digital domain, but can be found on various file-sharing websites. If you are interested in what might have impressed the Beatles at the height of the their psychedelic period, have a listen!
[linebreak style=”25.png”]
================
Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.” You check it out at this link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang
================
LINKS:
ALL MUSIC GUIDE: http://www.allmusic.com/album/first-bite-of-the-apple-mw0001549491
BLOG POST: http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/06/focal-point-first-bite-of-apple-1967-68.html
BLOG POST: http://therisingstorm.net/focal-point-first-bite-of-the-apple/
VIDEO:
“GOODBYE FOREVER”
“NEVER NEVER”
