An Apple A Day
The Iveys' tracks recorded 1967-1968
at 7 Park Avenue, London
produced by The Iveys


A new 22-track CD from the vaults of Apple Publishing featuring 4 previously unreleased recordings by The Iveys was released on April 10, 2006 on the RPM (Cherry Red) label (RPM312) and on April 27, 2006 in the U.S.A.

Complete track listing:

track #	song title	artist	details	recorded (unless noted)
01	An Apple A Day	The U (Don't) No Who	sourced from acetate; demo recorded at Hollick & Taylor Studio (Birmingham)	early 1968
02	A Great Idea	Jigsaw	originally released as the B-side of "Mr. Job" on Music Factory CUB4	released in 1968
03	Ivy Unrehearsed	Gallagher & Lyle	demo	1968
04	I Am Nearly There	Denis Couldry	A-side released on Decca Records	1968
05	Black & White Rainbows	The Iveys	2-track Revox demo recorded at 7 Park Avenue, London	1967
06	Girl Next Door In The Miniskirt	The Iveys	2-track Revox demo recorded at 7 Park Avenue, London	1967
07	Soldier	Lace	previously unreleased, recorded at Abbey Road Studios	Summer 1968
08	Technicolour Dream	Gallagher & Lyle	demo	1968
09	In Your Wonderful Way	Gallagher & Lyle	demo	1968
10	People Who Are Different	Mortimer	demo (shorter LP version recorded at Trident Studios)	1969
11	Tomorrow Today	The Iveys	2-track Revox demo recorded at 7 Park Avenue, London	1968
12	James In The Basement	Denis Couldry	B-side of "I Am Nearly There" released on Decca Records	1968
13	Strange People	The U (Don't) No Who	sourced from acetate; demo recorded at Hollick & Taylor Studio (Birmingham)	early 1968
14	Charlotte Rose	Majority One	released as a single A-side	early 1969
15	Somebody's Turning On The People	Goldrush	studio project of Grapefruit producer Terry Melcher; recorded by Grapefruit for the BBC	1968
16	Fairytale	Second Hand	Denis Couldry's backing group; included on Second Hand's debut Polydor LP "Reality"	released September 1968
17	Sister Saxophone	Turquoise	sourced from acetate; previously unreleased	Summer 1968
18	Now And Again Rebecca	The U (Don't) No Who	demo recorded at Hollick & Taylor Studio (Birmingham)	early 1968
19	Mr. Strangeways	The Iveys	2-track Revox demo recorded at 7 Park Avenue, London	1967
20	Good As Gold	The Cups (Gallagher & Lyle)	single release produced by John Hewlett	early 1969
21	Woodstock	Turquoise	alternate version of the A-side of their 2nd & final Decca single released in November 1968	1968
22	Evil Loving Woman	Peter Cooper	demo; signed by John Hewlett; from tape source	1969

Review by Tom Brennan:
The U (Don't) No Who were a recording project assembled by Karel Beer who had ambitions of creating a local record label. The group consisted of guitarist/pianist Colin Swinburne, vocalist Peter Kimberly, drummer Ron Lee, bassist Dave Bradley, and second vocalist Terry Hyland. The group split up after being rejected by Apple Records. The 3 songs included in this collection feature piano and horns. The horns are reminiscent of John Entwistle's 1966 french horn sound on some of the old recordings by The Who. "An Apple A Day" helped them get signed to Apple Publishing. The song is based on the old cliché, "An Apple A Day keeps the doctor away". An alternate version was considered but rejected for this CD at one point. "Strange People" is a slow, lethargic song. Their last song of this collection is the best of the three: "Now And Again Rebecca" is an uptempo, catchy pop song. The 3 demo recordings sound like they are sourced from acetates.

Jigsaw are represented by the song "A Great Idea" which is a bouncy piano-based pop song that features saxophone. It was previously released on the B-side of their debut single "Mr. Job" in 1968. The original record label is reproduced in the CD packaging.

Gallagher & Lyle were Scottish songwriters signed to Apple Publishing. They were the most professional songwriting team signed to Apple, having over 40 songs published, including several by Apple Records artist Mary Hopkin. Three of their original demos are included here. "Ivy Unrehearsed" (no relation to The Iveys) is an upbeat acoustic pop song. The song was never recorded by anyone outside of this demo. "Technicolour Dreams", the most interesting of their demos included here, is a psychedelic acoustic folk song. Their third track in this collection, "In Your Wonderful Way" is a soft piano ballad that sounds like it could have been done by Tommy James and the Shondells.

Denis Couldry was a Decca recording artist signed to Apple Publishing by Terry Doran. Both sides of his first single for Decca are included in this collection. Denis was backed by the band, The Next Collection who later became Second Hand (who have one track on this CD). "I Am Nearly There" feature an Eric Burdon style vocal during the verses and a frenetic chorus. "James In The Basement" is a laid-back mid-tempo number that features piano, trumpet and an electric guitar played with a wah-wah pedal.

The Iveys are back with 4 more Apple Publishing demos recorded at their home studio at 7 Park Avenue in London. "Black & White Rainbows" is a Pete Ham composition that features him on wah-wah lead guitar, Ron Griffiths on bass guitar, Dai Jenkins on rhythm guitar and Mike Gibbins on drums. Ron & Dai sing response backing vocals to Pete Ham's lead. The ending sounds like it was influenced by The Who's "Pictures Of Lily", which was a recent release in the U.K. "Girl Next Door In The Miniskirt" [mis-titled on this CD] is a Pete Ham song that some collectors may have heard on a tape that's been traded among collectors for years or on a bootleg CD called "Someday We'll Be Known". However, this version has a different set of lyrics! Tomorrow Today is a previously unheard song written by Tom Evans that features chiming guitars. Ron Griffiths helps out Tommy on lead vocals. "Mr. Strangeways" by Ron Griffiths is another song that has been previously heard on the "Someday We'll Be Known" bootleg CD. However this different version is more polished than that one and includes drums, an extra guitar part, and a circus-like piano ending tacked on for good measure.

Lace was a group from Portsmouth, England that included members John Bullock, John Ray, Roger Barber & Peter Pinckney. They were signed to EMI in the summer of 1968 and recorded their first session at Abbey Road. The Donovan sounding "Soldier" was considered for their first single but was rejected for being "too gloomy". This was 1 of 3 demos recorded on a simple reel-to-reel at Apple (the other 2 are presumably lost). Their first single release for EMI, recorded at Abbey Road was "People People".

Mortimer were an American trio consisting of Tom Smith, Tony Van Benschaten, and Guy Masson. They were signed to Apple Records after being on Mercury Records in early 1968. They were attracted to Apple when they heard on the radio in London that Mary Hopkin needed new songs. Peter Asher produced their LP for Apple Records which was completed in May 1969 and included the Beatles song "On Our Way Home" a.k.a. "Two Of Us". Mortimer were forgotten once Allen Klein took over and nothing by them was ever issued by Apple Records. More than 30 songs were written and several demo recordings were made, one of which is included here, "People Who Are Different" which sounds like it could have been a Mamas & The Papas song. A shorter version of this demo was recorded at Trident Studios for their Apple LP.

Majority One recorded a single called "Charlotte Rose" in early 1969. Written by George Alexander, it (not surprisingly) sounds like a Grapefruit song. The song features a nice orchestral arrangement and beautiful harmonies.

Goldrush was another outlet for George Alexander compositions. "Somebody's Turning On The People", featured on this collection, was a song also recorded by Grapefruit, but only for the BBC. With its organ sound and harmonies, it sounds like a Beach Boys influenced song.

Second Hand was a band who used to back singer Denis Couldry when they were called The Next Collection. Their song "Fairytale" was featured on their LP, called "Reality". This psychedelic pop song sounds like it could have fit in very well on the Zombies' Odyssey & Oracle LP with its mellotron sound.

Turquoise was a band featuring songwriters Jeff Peters and Ewan Stephens. They were signed to Apple Publishing in July of 1968. Two of the three Turquoise songs assigned to Apple Publishing's Python Music subsidiary are featured here. The first, "Sister Saxophone" is a silly honky tonk piano based song with a reprise ending after the engineer says "come on, get yourself together". This track is sourced from an acetate disc. The second track included here is an alternate version of their second and final single for Decca Records. It's called "Woodstock" but has no relation to the song written by Joni Mitchell about the NY festival, having been released in November of 1968. This "Woodstock" is about a candy store.

The Cups were an alter ego for songwriters Gallagher & Lyle, used in early 1969 to record their song "Good As Gold". Although the song was a commercial sounding upbeat pop song, it failed to raise the professional profile of the songwriting team. While part of Apple, only Mary Hopkin ended up recording several of their compositions, one of which, "Sparrow" resulted in them winning a cake from Paul McCartney! Gallagher & Lyle left Apple in the summer of 1969 when they joined McGuiness Flint.

Peter Cooper composed 28 songs for Apple. He was one of the few signed as a result of his tape being mailed to the Apple offices. His "Evil Loving Woman" is a good guitar-based Rock song. Yardbirds producer Giorgio Gomelsky recorded some songs with Peter but they never got released.

This CD compilation is a must-have for any fan of sixties pop music or any fan of Badfinger. It also includes an excellent essay by "Those Were The Days" author Stefan Granados, as well as rare photos and memorabilia from the days of Apple Publishing in 1967-1969.
Tom Brennan, April 30, 2006 (research information thanks to Stefan Granados and Dan Matovina

An Apple A Day CD tray card [inner | outer]
An Apple A Day liner notes sample

preliminary cover art with the wrong years listed...


and a preliminary track listing from February 2006...
01. An Apple A Day
02. A Great Idea
03. Ivy Unrehearsed
04. Black & White Rainbows
05. Girl Next Door In The Miniskirt
06. Soldier (1968 demo)
07. Technicolour Dream
08. People Who Are Different (demo)
09. Strange People
10. Charlotte Rose
11. Somebody's Turning On The People
12. In Your Wonderful Way (demo)
13. Something To Hold On To
14. Now And Again Rebecca
15. Mr. Strangeways
16. Midnight Sun (demo)
17. Mary's Got A Home (demo)
18. Everyday [listed as "Everday"]
19. An Apple A Day (version 2)
20. Evil Loving Woman
Note: tracks listed in red were not issued