LOST TREASURES

PHILAMORE LINCOLN

“North Wind Blew South”

By Peter Marston

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Throughout my record collecting career, I have been susceptible to falling under the spell of a captivating name. Many times I’d be a used record store with friends and as we were sharing the titles we purchased (often from the 50-cent bin), I would often be asked “how’d you hear of them?” or “where do you know them from?” I would often only have this for a reply: “I don’t know anything about them—I just dig the name.” And at the top of that list of captivating names is Philamore Lincoln. Saw it, had to have it. And was not disappointed.

As you could probably guess, Philamore Lincoln is not his real name. He was born Robert Cromwell Anson in Sherwood, Nottingham. As a teenager, he took up the drums and played mostly jazz, including a stint at the RAF Music College. While playing with an American R&B act fronted by Heather Logan, Anson adopted the name Phil Kinorra, a name he kept during his subsequent gigs with the Don Rendell Quintet and the Brian Auger Trinity. In 1964, however, there was another change in direction and another name change. Anson/Kinorra decided to step out from behind the drum kit and began to develop a solo nightclub act and, somewhere in the process, he became Julien Covey of JC and the Machine. After considerable success as a live act and the release of a popular club 45 (“A Little Bit Hurt”), the Machine was mothballed and Philamore Lincoln was born. Signed to NEMS in 1967, Lincoln released his first single in 1968, “Running By the River” b/w “Rainy Day” (the latter song would appear later on The North Wind Blew South). Although the single failed to hit, Lincoln was still part of the NEMS roster in 1969 when NEMS folded and the roster assumed by CBS Records. With producer James Wilder and engineer Glyn Johns at the board, Lincoln promptly entered the studio to record his long-player. The North Wind Blew South was released (in the US only) on Epic in 1970.

The music on the album is sort of sleepy British soft-psych, the nearest touchstone being Donovan, but there are also touches of bubblegum and R&B. The opening song is the title track, a lilting waltz drenched in strings, reminding me a little of Doug Ashdown’s classic “Winter in America,” though it is not quite as ambitious or majestic. “You’re the One” features a guitar solo by Jimmy Page and again, lots of strings. It’s a simple, catchy pop song, sort of a cross between Donovan’s folk singsong and blue-eyed soul. “Lazy Good for Nothin’” is faux-R&B with a chorus that would fit right in on almost any American bubblegum album of the time. “Early Sherwood” is pretty and gentle folk number that has some of the tempo changes and dynamics that are characteristic of Duncan Browne’s early work. “Rainy Day” is another cross between simple pop and soft-psych. It’s got some great acoustic bass slides and a punchy horn section in the chorus and the fade. By far the best song on the album is “Temma Harbor,” a beautiful, soaring soft-rock song with a gentle Caribbean feel. The melody has four distinct sections before it repeats and each is terrific. (NB: Temma Harbour is located in Tasmania). “The County Jail Band” is a straight-ahead rock/R&B shouter and features an arrangement similar to Tom Jones’ late ’60s records, though the playing is decidedly rougher. The album closes with “Blew Through,” a straight-ahead and very well realized organ blues instrumental.

“The County Jail Band” b/w “You’re the One” was released as a single in May of 1970, and was a flop. However, CBS A&R rep Chesley Millican took a dub of “Temma Harbour” to Mickie Most and Most was sufficiently impressed to cut the song with Mary Hopkin as an A-side for Apple Records. The single was a big hit, reaching #6 on the British charts. Lincoln went on to produce the debut album by Paladin in 1971, but after that more or less left the music business.

The North Wind Blew South was reissued on CD in 2010 by Grapefruit Records (a lesser-known but first-rate boutique label). There is also a vinyl reissue on Hi Horse Records from 2012. So there’s no excuse not to get your hands on a copy of this most deserving lost treasure!

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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.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   They will have a track on the upcoming “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation shipping in December, 2015.

You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

AllMusicGuide review – http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-north-wind-blew-south-mw0000842098

VIDEO REVIEW:

VIDEOS:

“The North Wind Blew South”

“You’re The One” (w/ Jimmy Page on guitar)