Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock
Titolo: [Tales Of Justine] inafferrabile band UK tardo-sixties

Tales of Justine
Personnel:
     DAVID DALTREY vcls, gtrs, bs, piano, mellotron,
sitar, celeste A B
     BRUCE HURFORD drms A
     PAUL MYERSON organs, bs, celeste A B
     PAUL LOCKE drms B
ALBUM:
  1.(A) PETALS FROM A SUNFLOWER (Tenth Planet TP 034)
1997
NB: (1) documents the band's story and comes with label
owner David Wells' usual extensive liner notes.
45:
  1.Albert/Monday Morning (some PS) (HMV POP 1614) 1967
The roots of this band lay in an outfit called The
Court Jesters, who were formed in the wake of the
British beat boom by a group of friends at Mount Grace
School in Potter's Bar, Hertfordshire. By the end of
1966, they were galvanised by the new drug inspired
sounds from the States and, after various personnel
changes, changed their name to Tales Of Justine. Now
one of the first wave of authentic English psychedelic
groups they became a regular attraction at Happening 44
and The Electric Garden, which later became
The Middle Earth Club. One of their managers, Martin
Wilcox drew them to EMI employee Tim Rice's attention
(at that point he was an A&R man, trainee record
producer
and Norrie Paramor's assistant) and he arranged for
them to record at EMI's Abbey Road studios. Prior to
this, they made an impromptu appearance on stage at the
International
Love-in at Alexandria Palace (which was pretty much a
repeat of the Fourteen Hour Technicolour Dream, which
had taken place at the same venue three months
earlier), when Pink Floyd's set ended prematurely as
Syd Barrett was barely functioning. Three days later
they entered EMI's studios for a recording test. They
put down five cuts: the inconsequential lightweight pop
Albert (A Pet Sunflower), three more idiosyncratic
numbers Sunday School, Music To Watch Us By and
Obselete Incident with suitably surreal lyrical
observations, but it's the organ-driven Evil Woman
which really catches the ears. They returned again,
about a fortnight after the original session to
re-record a faster, slightly less languid version of
Albert backed by the far superior Monday Morning, which
came with a David Daltrey sitar solo and a superb
arrangement. Bizarrely, it became the penultimate pop
release on EMI's decidedly unhip HMV label.
In the weeks following the recording Bruce Hurford
committed suicide and was replaced by Paul Locke. They
recorded an acetate of Sitting On A Blunstone, a
delightful slice of psychedelic pop with a guitar solo
from David Daltrey as a publishing demo at the offices
of Southern Music. John Peel played it on his Top Gear
show but incredibly EMI refused to give what was the
band's magnum opus an official release. By now, Tim
Rice and
Andrew Lloyd Webber were hard at work on "Joseph And
The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" and persuaded David
Daltrey to take lead part on the disc and show. This
increasing attention on Daltrey distanced him from the
rest of the group, although they returned to Abbey Road
on 12th December 1968 to record four more appealing
flower-pop songs - Aurora, Morpheus, Pathway and
Something Special - which EMI unfortunately decided
were too idiosyncratic for mass public consumption, the
omens
were not good. Further sessions were held, but EMI's
unwillingness to release any further material
eventually led to the group's demise.
Daltrey went on to record some singer-songwriter demos
and later formed a band called Carillion, who played a
Byrds-influenced brand of rock and supported David
Bowie on his Ziggy Stardust tour. Daltrey departed when
no record contract was forthcoming and Carillion later
evolved into Starry Eyed and Laughing.
All of Tales Of Justine's studio recordings can now be
heard on Petals From A Sunflower which is recommended
listening if you like flower-pop.
Sitting On A Bluestone has also resurfaced on
Psychedelia Vol. 4.

Tales of Justine
Ti č arrivato? Com'č?
LF

 Ti è arrivato? Com'è?
Ah, saperlo. Per mandarmi il pacco devono attendere che
gli arrivi un Bridget St.John. Due settimane in più,
direi che fra un mese e mezzo (max) te lo dico :-/
ciao stanz
...e la curiosità è TANTA!!

direi che fra un mese e mezzo (max) te lo dico :-/
Aspetterň... :-)
LF