The Iveys were discovered by Bill Collins at The Regal Ballroom in Ammanford, South Wales on 11 March 1966 while his son's group The Mojos were performing there. In July 1966 he brought the group to London where he rented a large house in the Golders Green area for everyone to live. Once settled there, a small demo studio was set-up for the boys to write their own songs and record demos on a Sound-On-Sound 2-track reel-to-reel Revox tape recorder. Collins encouraged them all to write their own songs, however, initially, Pete Ham was creating most of the demo recordings. Ron Grifftiths eventually started writing his own songs, but Dave Jenkins never developed the ability to write an original song. Mike Gibbins was finally inspired to write some of his own songs on guitar by the time Tom Evans replaced Jenkins in the group in August 1967, and of course, Tom himself was incredibly talented musically, so songwriting came naturally to him.

As 1968 came along and The Iveys started gaining more confidence as songwriters and accumulating several demo tapes, Bill Collins invited Mal Evans and Peter Asher from Apple Publishing to attend their gig at the Marquee Club on 25 January 1968 so he could convince them to bring some demo recordings back to their bosses, The Beatles to hear. Collins gave Mal Evans the first compilation reel of demos to bring to Apple Publishing in late January. After a series of continual demos for consideration, finally a 5th reel of demos delivered to Apple by Mal on 21 May 1968 was good enough to convince holdouts Lennon and Harrison to sign The Iveys to Apple Records on 23 July 1968 and eventually to Apple Music Publishing on 31 October 1968 once the first single was being prepared for release, which appeared in the shops on 15 November.

The opening track is not a cover version of the Bobby Vee song, but a Pete Ham original which was pressed onto publishing acetates in 1968 (with one verse edited out) for possible use by other artists, but on this collection, "Take Good Care Of My Baby" appears in its full length version. "Fresh" is a previously unknown Tom Evans original about how some pop stars treat girl groupies like meat or milk in a market. The first Mike Gibbins original on this collection, "Face The Sun" was composed on guitar and demoed with a rudimentary drum part. Here, the sun is thought to have emotions. "Sausage And Egg" by Pete Ham appears here with the earlier version of The Iveys' lineup with Dave Jenkins and features a sped-up guitar part. Each verse is sung solo in turn with Ron starting the first verse, followed by Dave, then Pete for the last verse, with all of them singing together on the choruses about a group dreaming of some day becoming famous. "Hi-Fi Piddly Po" beginning with an energetic count-in from Mike, is about a guy searching for the ultimate girlfriend, but who is in no hurry to make a commitment. Gretna Green is a place in Scotland where British teenagers over the age of 15 could go to get married without their parents' permission. Today" is an Everly Brothers style composition written by Tom, with Ron singing the "Don" part to Tom's "Phil" part. It features a unique solo by Pete Ham on a toy xylophone.

The pop-psych title track, sung by Ron is about a guy who considers money as no object to please his girl. Pete Ham came up with the title and wrote the chorus, while Ron wrote the verses. Another Pete Ham composition that was pressed onto publishing acetates is "For My Sympathy" and the Iveys' version features Pete and Tom singing a duet. Ron's first solo composition on this collection, "Cool Me Down" is about a really hot relationship and features Ron playing guitar & bass and handling all the vocal parts. Mike's next original composed on guitar, "Ain't That Peculiar," is full of his observations on life in general. "I'll Kiss You Goodnight" is a Pete Ham song showcasing the group singing 3-part harmonies. "Just Look Inside The Cover" is The Iveys' version of a Pete Ham song originally issued on "7 Park Avenue" back in 1997. The demo version of "Sali Bloo" appearing here was originally spelt as "Sally Blue" and features Pete singing lead instead of Ron who he asked to sing the lead on the studio recording.

Ron's second solo composition on this collection, "Girl With The Colourful Eyes" started life as his very first attempt at writing a song in 1966 as "Kaleidoscope Eyes" but had to be revised once The Beatles had released "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." Recorded with a lot of echo, Tom's song, "Get High" is a Chuck Berry inspired rocker and its lyrics may have been inspired by Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" from 1967. Mike's final guitar tune on this collection, "Tomorrow Never Comes" is a song about how people relate to time. "I Want You" (aka "Come A Little Closer") by Pete Ham was another one of the highly considered songs that The Iveys had. It features a blistering guitar solo towards the end. The final track is another previously unknown Iveys song from 1968 called "They'll Be Around" written by Tom Evans. It is unclear who "they" are but seems like some one or some thing that is immortal. The highlight of this demo are the really high harmony vocals by Ron Griffiths during the verses. Ron also gets to sing one line completely solo without Tom just like he does in the song "Fresh."

Essay by Tom Brennan

Some background information is from Dan Matovina's Badfinger biography, "Without You - The Tragic Story of Badfinger."

back to The Iveys & Badfinger releases