Tongue Tied - The Story Of Tony Kingston

Anthony Mossop is known by three different names: Tony Kingston, Tony Mossop, and Tony Tribe. Each of these aliases represents a different facet of his identity, as well as a different notch on his musical toolbelt. Despite the variations in names, they all point to the same individual. Anthony Mossop was a renowned singer and performer who saw success under each of these aliases in multiple countries and genres of music. This is the story of his promising career and how it was cut short. 

                                                 *FOR REFERRENTIAL EASE, ANTHONY WILL BE REFERRED TO AS TONY/TONY KINGSTON* 

Tony Kingston [Anthony Mossop] was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on October 9th, 1943. Tony began singing around the age of eight and had his first public performance at Kingston's Ward Theatre when he was nine.

 

During 1956, while Tony was thirteen, the Mossop family moved to the United Kingdom. Tony continued to sing regularly in church and at home while pursuing a higher education. He also eventually found work at the High Commission of Jamaica in London, England.

 

In mid-1965, Tony joined a gospel outfit known as The Soul Seekers from Calvary Apostolic Church in Camberwell, London. Tony's charisma and good looks saw a stark rise in the female viewership of the group. During 1965 and early 1966, the group recorded a pair of soul/gospel singles with Tony singing lead vocals. During August of 1966, a rift formed in The Soul Seekers, which caused Tony to leave the group and go solo.

 

The remainder of 1966 saw Tony performing in churches and clubs across London under his new stage name, "Tony Kingston." He had a new manager in Don Broughton, and he eventually attracted the attention of Decca Records, who signed him to a two-side deal. He recorded his debut solo release (featuring an original song by him) during the early weeks of 1967. "Mama Come On Home/Agony And Ecstasy" was released on April 21st of that year and unfortunately flopped, but eventually became popular on the Northern Soul circuit. 

 

During August/September of 1967, Tony signed a second two-side deal, this time with PYE Records. "Master Hand/Look Into My Eyes" was distributed on October 6th as a PROMO only thing to radio stations. This frustrated Tony, his management, and of course his fans. Tony's manager Don Broughton was quoted as saying, "How can a record sell when it is not offered to the public? Tony's fans live in the rural areas and among the immigrant community, but the record has not been sent to these districts (I also tried to buy the disc at six major West End record shops, but not one had received a copy from the distributing company). The fans are clamoring for the record, but they cannot obtain it if the recording company does not send it to their dealers."

 

1968 saw Tony head in a different direction. After a minor operation, Tony had plans to record another single and an album. He was also paired with an experienced English backing group for live bookings. This new group was known as "Kingston Bypass," named after a major highway running into South London. In the past year he made numerous television and radio appearances, and this would continue. 

 

In late-April 1969, using the stage name Tony Tribe, Kingston released a reggae version of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine," a song that had previously been a hit for Jimmy James and the Vagabonds. Tony's version was produced by Dandy Livingstone and backed by the Rudies' (whose track "Blues" appears on the B-side). Tony's version charted at #46 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the then-fledgling Trojan Records' first UK chart hit, in spite of them managing to misspell his stage name as "Tony Tripe." A little known fact is that Tony Kingston's version of "Red, Red Wine" was a direct influence on the 1983 smash hit version by UB40.

 

After the success of "Red, Red Wine," Tony was invited to perform his hit record on the UK's Top Of The Pops music television show. It's rumored that he dressed as a skinhead wearing braces and cherry red Docs for the taped performance, but no photos or video have turned up since.

 

Before releasing his sophomore single under the name Tony Tribe, he was invited to perform at the Caribbean Music Festival. This was the first major Reggae event to be held in Britain and would open the door to a decades' long love affair with the genre. Tony shared the stage at Wembley Arena with Johnny Nash, Desmond Dekker, Max Romeo, the Rudies, Derrick Morgan, Jackie Edwards, Jimmy Cliff, Jimmy James, the Skatalites, the Mohawks, Root and Jenny Jackson, and Black Velvet. He was later filmed as part of Horace Ové's legendary 1971 documentary Reggae, but it's unknown if Tony made it into the film. Tony Kingston's final single under the Tony Tribe name came in August of 1969. His cover of "Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got". The single failed to chart, and Tony left the UK for Canada. 

Tony Kingston settled in Toronto, Canada, during 1970. After a short period of acclimation, Tony began writing songs and performing on the local bar/club circuit at venues like The Friars Tavern and Broom & Stone. By the end of the year he managed to put together a steady band, which allowed him to play more "upscale" gigs such as lounges, hotels, and restaurants. This caught the attention of the CBC. The CBC knew of his previous career abroad as Tony Mossop/Tony Tribe/Tony Kingston and wanted to capitalize on him moving to Toronto. They offered him radio and television spots on various CBC programs, but first they sent him into Toronto's CBC Studio 4 with the Dave Woods Orchestra to record some of his new original songs during April of 1971. 

The result of these sessions with the CBC was a four-song EP of light, orchestrated Soul/R&B tunes featuring three originals by Tony ("Now You're Gone," "Tongue Tied," and "People Started Talking") and one Bonnie Dobson cover ("You're My Woman"). Unfortunately, Tony's CBC sessions were not commercially released and were only ever available through the CBC's "Light Music [LM] Series" and its subscribing radio stations. This makes the few remaining copies still in circulation very rare today. materialized. 

The CBC opportunities Tony received early on in his Canadian stay allowed him to ingratiate himself with some of Toronto's top talent. This included singers such as Juliette, Jodie Drake, Karen Oxley, and Mike McConnell, among others. This also included band leaders such as Dave Woods, Russ Little, Guido Basso, Rick Wilkins, Jimmy Dale, and more. This opened the door to touring opportunities for Tony across Canada. 

By 1971, Tony had a new musical direction and a new band, comprised of visiting Latin American musicians and local backing singers. The musicians consisted of Manuel Oliveira (bass), Tony Raposo (guitar), Fernando Tarares (piano/organ), and Fansto DaCosta (drums/percussion), while the identities of The Flying Chains singers are currently unknown. While performing in Toronto, the new group caught the attention of talent scouts from Canadian budget label Paragon/Marathon Records. In the interim, Tony was contacted by Paragon/Marathon Records founder Jack Boswell. An album deal was inked, and the group was whisked away to Art Snider's Sound Canada Studios. Though it seems simple enough, Jack Boswell was notorious for approaching artists directly with questionable contracts, recording and releasing albums/singles with questionable equipment, and doing little to no pre- or post-release promotion. See my Birchmount Records Story for another example of Canadian budget label shenanigans. 

Upon its release in mid-1971, "Tongue Tied" received no promotion and unfortunately sank like a stone outside of pockets of Tony Kingston fans locally and nationally. Musically, the album features a great spread of blues/psych, funk, soul/R&B, and gospel. The album features covers of then-current hits ("Proud Mary," "Summertime," "The Letter," "One Night With You," and "Teeny Weeny Bit") as well as three Tony Kingston originals ("Tongue Tied," "Lookin' Down The Aisle," and "Now You're Gone") and a pair of tracks from Tony Kingston band members ("Sleepin' In The Shadow Of My Dream" and "Lonely Blues"). 

The failure of Tony Kingston's debut album might have felt like a serious blow at the time, but Tony's luck was about to change. During late-summer-1971 Yorkville Records president Bill Gilliland caught one of Tony's weekend gigs at Friar's Tavern. Bill loved Tony's gospel-meets-R&B style, and Tony was signed to a multi-single deal with Yorkville, which included eventual US distribution through Kama Sutra Records.

A series of recordings took place with producer Roger Cooke during the summer/fall of 1971. The sessions produced six songs: "I Am A Preacher," "What We Need (Is A Great Big Melting Pot)," "Faith, Hope And Charity," "Come Softly To Me," "Shedding Tears," and "Satan's Choice." The location of the recordings (studio) is currently unknown, and the identity of the producer is currently disputed. It is possible that Tony Kingston returned to London to record with Roger Cook of the legendary writing team "Cook-Greenaway," but this has not been confirmed. This would make sense due to the inclusion of multiple Cook-Greenaway compositions among the recorded tracks (as well as a few other Yorkville recording artists' then-recent releases). 

Tony Kingston's debut Canadian single, "I Am A Preacher/What We Need (Is A Great Big Melting Pot)," was released during December 1971. Both sides were written by the aforementioned Cook-Greenaway writing duo. The single started off modestly, entering the national RPM singles chart at #98 before topping out at #65 by February 1972. "I Am A Preacher" had a significantly better outing on Toronto's CHUM charts, reaching #15 the same month. The song fared even better in Vancouver, where it climbed to #2. The song also made the Top 30 in Hamilton (Ontario). The U.S. release of "I Am A Preacher" in March 1972 managed to reach the Top 30 in Rochester (New York), among other places, but faltered overall. 

Interestingly, the U.S. version of "I Am A Preacher" had two versions: a dual-sided promo and a version with "Satan's Choice" as the B-side. This is an original song written by Toronto writers (and Yorkville affiliates) Mickey Erbe and Richard [Gael] Gilliland for the Tony Kingston sessions. It is currently unknown if the Canadian Yorkville release has any versions with "Satan's Choice" as the B-side. 

With the success of "I Am A Preacher," radio and magazine ads began popping up promoting Tony's sophomore release, "Faith, Hope & Charity." This was another Cook-Greenaway production. Released in June 1972, there were two versions of the single: a dual-sided promo and a version with "What We Need (Is A Great Big Melting Pot)" on the B-side. Expectations were high for Tony's sophomore single release, but unfortunately, it stalled out on the charts, with only minor success in small pockets. 

One final single of Tony's came out on Yorkville Records during 1972. This was "Come Softly To Me/Shedding Tears," in October. Currently there is no available chart history on this single, so check back soon for an update if I find any more info. 

                                                                                            

                                                                     

Come Together - The Story Of Goody Two Shoes

 

    Goody Two Shoes is an album with an unforgettable face—a pair of raggedy conjoined shoes atop a sterile white background. Though the album cover is striking for all the wrong reasons, the music inside is the opposite. It's a stellar mix of rock, funk, psych, and country—a 50/50 blend of original Canadian compositions by the band and (mostly) international covers. Like many of Canada's country music-focused labels, Paragon Records (who released the album) had a semi-frequent tendency to sign local acts of other genres, record and release their material with little to no promotion, and call it a day. With the advent of the internet and DJs/tastemakers working tirelessly over the intervening decades, small pockets of music fans have discovered these albums, and many are very good. This is essentially the fate of The Goody Two Shoes album, and below is the untold story of its history. But first, we must briefly touch on the history of the band that preceded Goody Two Shoes: A Passing Fancy. They were one of Toronto's earliest garage band success stories. Along with "Nothin" by The Ugly Ducklings, A Passing Fancy's "I'm Losin' Tonight" is considered one of Toronto's finest garage slabs. 

    A Passing Fancy began in Toronto as The Dimensions. They performed early on in the Yorkville neighborhood, at various clubs during July of 1965. The original line-up consisted of Ian Telfer (bass), Brian Price (organ/vocals), Jay Telfer (rhythm guitar/lad vocals), Phil Seon (lead guitar), and Greg Hershoff (drums). Bernie Finkelstein, a young and ambitious music promoter who recognized some of the members from Downsview High School, caught their set at El Patio, where he was working as a coffee maker. He offered to be their manager, which in turn got them a regular spot performing at El Patio through the end of the year.

    1966 saw Bernie Finkelstein move on to managing The Paupers, as well as some line-up changes for A Passing Fancy. The beginning of 1966 saw the group officially change their name from The Dimensions to A Passing Fancy. They began playing regularly at high schools across Ontario, started a fan club, and managed to get noticed by friends of their fan club manager, Barb Young. The Wal-Den Management Company was formed and within no time helped A Passing Fancy garner the attention of Columbia Records, who signed them to a three-single deal. 

    

    Early 1967 saw A Passing Fancy's popularity skyrocket. They embarked on tours (Eastern Canada, New York, etc.) and played regularly at some of Toronto's most popular clubs (The Night Owl, Gogue Inn, Club 888, etc.). The timing was perfect for the release of their debut single, "I'm Losing Tonight/A Passing Fancy." It managed to reach #22 on the RPM Singles charts in March. The second single "You're Going Out Of Your Mind/Sounds Silly" also charted in June, but at a lower position (#37). The third release was "I Believe In Sunshine/She Phoned," and it managed to get to #28 on RPM, almost directly between the first and second singles' chart positions. Of the three singles released by A Passing Fancy thus far, Jay Telfer wrote five of the six sides ("I Believe In Sunshine" was by Greg Hambleton). He was showing exceptional talent as a songwriter, and talent would only grow in the coming years. 

      A Passing Fancy saw a fourth single release in November 1967, mostly spurred on by Columbia Records. Though the group was popular at the time, "People In Me/Spread Out" only managed to reach #89 on the RPM charts. Columbia Records also expected an album from the band, but at this time, the group was in turmoil due to scheduling issues. Brian Price (Organ/Vocals) quit the band in March 1968 and was replaced by Fergus Hambleton. After shooting an episode of CBC's "Let's Go" (the first one in color) and doing a few scattered performances, Jay Telfer was fired from the band. That was a catalyst for a mass exodus in May of 1968; A Passing Fancy had broken up. 

 

    The Wal-Dan management company asked Fergus Hambleton to put together a new version of A Passing Fancy, and within a short frame he managed to do so. The lineup was: Glenn Brown (vocals), Ron Forster (guitar), Fergus Hambleton (organ/vocals), Dan Troutman (bass), and Wally Cameron (drums). The new group recorded four sides and pitched them to John Irvine's Boo Records. He signed the group to a one-sided, one-album deal and managed to buy their tapes from Columbia Records. The single "Your Trip/Island" was released in June 1968 and barely managed to scrape RPM's singles chart at #92. 

    November 1968 saw the release of A Passing Fancy's self-titled debut album. Though it was packed full of their previous hits, the album didn't sell particularly well. Interestingly, the album version of "I'm Losing Tonight" is missing the lead guitar solo. The story goes that when recording the song, the guitar solo was recorded afterwards on a separate piece of tape and spliced in. Fun fact: Phil Seon was taught the solo by Robbie Robertson. "When John Irvine bought the tapes, he was unaware of the separate solo and released the song as is," says Fergus Hambleton. "So any subsequent releases with the solo included were dubbed from 45." 

 

    The band tried their best to promote it during their residency at Yorkville's famous El Patio club, but it was for not. 1969 mostly spelled the end for the band. With their recent sales blunders and diminishing creative opportunities, they decided to go their separate ways by March or April of that year. 

 

    During their time together in A Passing Fancy, Fergus Hambleton and Jay Telfer became close. So naturally, Fergus had been spending a lot of time hanging out with Jay after he was fired. "Jay and Fergus were very good friends and in fact used to get together almost weekly to have songwriting jam sessions," says Kevan Staples (former roadie for A Passing Fancy—later of Rough Trade). "Goody Two Shoes grew out of that friendship and those jam sessions." 

 

    Post-A Passing Fancy, Jay Telfer became a machine, writing and recording over a dozen songs with Fergus' brother Greg Hambleton at Sound Canada Studios. Jay pitched two of the songs to Ottawa's Sir John A Records, one of Canada's finest psych/garage labels of the era, which fostered a lot of young, mostly Ottawa-based talent. During November 1968, Jay Telfer's debut solo single "Life, Love, And The Pursuit Of Happiness (A Hippy Philosophy)/Watch The Birdie" was released in a limited run of 250 copies (as most of Sir John A's Records were, driving up their value in later years, when even fewer copies remained). The B-side, "Watch the Birdie," is the title track of a self-penned play that Jay Telfer wrote and debuted at Toronto's "Old Angelos' Theatre" a month or two prior to the release of the single. 

    After the release of Jay's debut single, he began work on his debut album, "Perch." Greg Hambleton assisted Jay in recording the demos during the winter of 1969, which Jay presented to Bernie Finkelstein over lunch one day. Bernie enjoyed what he heard and expressed an interest in producing an album. 

 

    The recording of Perch is one of Toronto music's most fascinating mysteries, mostly because the album was never released and the master tapes narrowly escaped the trash compactor. Pair Jay's unique "psyched" out writing style with a roster of Yorkville's finest musicians, many of whom were currently undergoing their own psychedelic music awakening, and you have a match made in heaven. Ten original songs were recorded in the spring of 1969 at Sound Canada Studios, featuring performances by Murray McLauchlan (then twenty years old), Danny McBride (then nineteen years old), Fergus Hambelton (on saxophone and clarinet), Kensington Market (featuring John Mills Cockell on Moog synth), Milkwood (featuring Malcolm Tomlinson), Cathy Young, Donna Warner, and more. As Telfer recalls, the musicians had a ton of fun doing the album, but when it came to selling it, Finkelstein asked the late Felix Pappalardi, who’d produced Kensington Market, but was turned down.

    

    After the demise of A Passing Fancy, Fergus Hambleton went back to school and played music on the side. He became acquainted with fellow schoolmates who had their own band called "The Ginger Group." Fergus was invited to join, which he graciously accepted. The line-up consisted of Eric Canning (lead vocals/lead guitar), Scott Lowell Mollison (rhythm guitar/backing vocals), Jack Merrick (drums/backing vocals), Peter Lye (bass), and Fergus (piano/backing vocals). After some time rehearsing, they recorded a handful of original songs at Sound Canada Studios in the summer of 1969. Two of the songs were pressed onto singles to be released by an early version of Greg Hambleton's Tuesday Records, but they were never put out. It is currently unknown how many copies were pressed. 

 

    During summer 1969, Jay Telfer began apprenticing as an engineer at Art Snider's Sound Canada Studios. Jay and Fergus had been discussing teaming up to record some songs, and with a little persuasion from Art Snider, the pair made the switch. "Art Snider was operating a bunch of different labels out of his Sound Canada studio at the time and looking for product for some of them," says Fergus Hambleton. "He offered me and Jay 50$ each for every album we recorded." The only caveat Art had regarding the proposition was that one side of the record (or a sides-worth of material) needed to be "current" charting songs. 

    The recording of the Goody Two Shoes album (done during October of 1969) was a fairly laid-back process. Jay Telfer spent weekdays in the studio experimenting, while Fergus was in school during the day. "I learned some production and engineering while working at Sound Canada, so I would hang out while Fergus was away, set up the tape, run in to perform the parts, then run back out to rewind and listen to them," says Jay. Through this process, Jay recorded all the drums, rhythm guitar, bass, and organ, plus most of the vocals. Fergus came in on weekends to record piano, clarinet, vocals, and saxophone parts. 

 

    Jay and Fergus both sang on the record, contributing some of their originals. Jay contributed four songs ("High Falootin'," "I'm Losing Tonight," "Sounds Silly," and "Ten Pound Note," and Fergus contributed one ("Without You"). Two of Jay's contributions were previously recorded by A Passing Fancy ("I'm Losing Tonight" and "Sounds Silly"), while Fergus' contribution ("Without You") was previously recorded earlier that summer by him and The Magic Cycle for a "shadow" production that Greg Hambleton was working on [See my Birchmount Records Story for more info on that]. The covers were a mix of The Beatles ("Come Together"), Harry Nilsson ("One"), The Band ("Up On Cripple Creek"), Larry Williams ("Slow Down"), and The Everly Brothers ("Dream").

 

    Interestingly, The Goody Two Shoes album features the first recording of Jay Telfer's "Ten Pound Note," which would become a hit for Toronto's Steel River when they covered it in July 1970 (going Top 10 on Canada's RPM charts). Jay Telfer wrote, recorded, and produced "Ten Pound Note" solo, specifically for and at the Goody Two Shoes sessions, all in one day. Additionally, this album features one of the earliest known publicly released covers of The Beatles "Come Together" (which the album is named after). 

 

    Speaking of "Come Together," the only extra musician used on the Goody Two Shoes album was Kevan Staples (later of Rough Trade). Kevan was close to A Passing Fancy and was their roadie during 1968/1969. "At the time I was sharing an apartment with Jay, and he asked if I wanted to play guitar on a couple of songs," says Kevan. "The challenge was to recreate George Harrison‘s solo for "Come Together," which, although not terribly difficult, I’d only been playing guitar for two years. The other song they had me play on was “I’m Losing Tonight." I must’ve been asked to play the guitar solo that Phil Seon had played on the original song. In fact, I believe it was the same guitar." 

 

    After the album's release in November of 1969, Jay, Fergus, and Kevan remained friends, collaborating multiple times over the years. Kevan Staples got into session work during the 70's, doing a few transcription sessions for the CBC (Dianne Brooks and Jodie Drake) before co-founding Rough Trade in the late 1970's. Jay Telfer was bit by the theater bug again and managed to land the guitar part in the Toronto production of "Hair." In addition to this, he got back to writing songs in his free time, with one crucial change: he began shopping them around for local artists. This decision proved vital to his legacy, as some of his compositions would go on to be hits in the hands of others. Fergus continued working at Sound Canada Studios with his brother Greg in the aftermath of Goody Two Shoes. During 1971, Fergus Hambleton was signed to Capitol Records, where he began his solo career. 

                                                                          

The Birchmount Records Story

    Birchmount Records is a music label that many record collectors in Canada have come across, whether knowingly or not. Though the story of this "budget label" behemoth has never been told, its roots lie at a crucial turning point in Canadian music history, and its output rivals some of the country's largest music labels. A fascinating mix of new and old, national and international, Birchmount Records is an unassuming gem. The label sports an interesting, albeit sparse, connection to some key Canadian songwriters and musicians/bands of the late 60’s. These include Greg and Fergus Hambelton, Jay Telfer, Barry Allen, Mary Saxton, Alan Thicke, Eugene Amaro, The Shays, etc. This article aims to shed some light on the forgotten label as well as highlight the awesome Canadian talent on display. The story of Birchmount Records begins in Toronto during the late 1960's. But first, some context is needed: 

    Birchmount Records was created by a Toronto-based company known as Quality Records. Quality at this time was Canada's largest music distributor. By providing Canadian distribution for international labels during the 1950's and early 1960's, Quality was able to set themselves apart from other Canadian labels by sheer size and "quality" of output. Alongside their international endeavors, Quality Records did a lot to distribute smaller Canadian labels as well as promote their own stable of Canadian talent. In addition to their massive dealings under the "Quality Records" name, the label also created over a DOZEN sublabel: Barry, Broadland, Celebration, REO, Ringside, etc.

 

The main idea for Birchmount Records came about in the summer of 1969. Then-current Quality Records bosses George Keane and George Struth hatched the idea to revive some old Quality and BARRY products from their delete bins (Earl Mitton, The Guess Who, Gerald Bailey, The Beau-Marks, Davey Bold, etc.). A deal was struck with Lyman Potts' Canadian Talent Library to distribute a few of their artists commercially through Birchmount. (Guido Basso, Dick McClish, The Metro-Gnomes, Al Baculis, Graham Teear, Eugene Amaro, etc.). In addition to this, another deal was struck with Don Grashey's Gaiety Records to put out a compilation of their artists (The Plague, Lyn McEachern, Tomorrows Keepsake, Duncan & Fife, Sandi Shore, and The Checkerlads) as well as a pair of albums by Jerry Palmer. 

 

The final piece of the puzzle, however, was releasing newer Canadian products from "current" Toronto artists with the help of a few scene-ingratiated tastemakers. This final decision helped breathe a little youth and ingenuity into the idea. But the truth of the matter is, there were no "current Toronto artists" on the labels radar. They actually planned to record a handful of Psych/Pop-oriented "shadow" records with faceless bands and pass them off as active performing artists, similar to how ARC Records of Toronto had been operating around this period. 

                                                                      

    Greg Hambleton was hired as the producer and project coordinator for some of the new Canadian "shadow" projects on Birchmount. At the time, Greg was developing quite the resume. After a few years performing and writing songs in Toronto’s Yorkville district, he grew interested in production and publishing in 1967. He began work as an independent recording engineer at Sound Canada and RCA Studios in Toronto, recording legendary singles by The Midnight Angels, The Boodly-Hoo, The Fringe, A Passing Fancy, The Humble Sponge, and The Eighth Day, among others. 

 

George Struth explained to Greg Hambleton the importance of these "shadow" albums being ready to ship with Birchmount's initial release line as a means of bolstering the early catalog. The key in his mind was for these albums to exude a psychedelic-pop energy. Greg knew this was the perfect opportunity to have these groups record some of his original songs, as well as those by his brother Fergus Hambleton and friend Jay Telfer. The albums had to contain at least 50% well-known covers but had no contracted artists featured and no stipulations regarding what made up the other 50% of the album's content.

   

    Greg Hambleton quickly hired his own stable of musicians to record backing tracks for the Birchmount "shadow" sessions. He brought in local psych-rockers “The Magic Cycle” (soon to be “The Cycle”) to record the bed tracks for drums (Kevin Barry, brother of Paul Clinch), guitar (Stan Theriault and Paul Clinch), piano/organ (Peter Goodale), and bass (Joey Rome). In addition to the band, Greg's brother Fergus Hambleton was brought in to record any auxiliary instruments. The "shadow" projects for which this band recorded music include Suzanne (BM-501), The Sultan Street Nine (BM-504), Tuesday's Children (BM-508), and Candy Rock Fountain (BM-517). Two of these sessions had vocalists (Suzanne and Sultan Street Nine); the other two (Tuesday's Children and Candy Rock Fountain) were wholly instrumental. Greg reused three instrumentals from Tuesday's Children as backing tracks for Suzanne's ("You Try" and "Traces") and Sultan Street Nine's ("I Believe In Sunshine") vocal versions. 

 

Across the four "shadow" albums, Greg Hambleton contributes TWELVE of his compositions ("Weather", "Shendah", "You Try", "Island", "I Believe In Sunshine", "She Left Me On Tuesday", "I'm Going Back To Montreal", "Kaleidoscope", "Nancy Brown", "Paintbrush", "I Don't Want To Live" and "Flower Generation"), two of his brother Fergus' ("Without You" and "All I See Is You"; the latter co-written by Eric Canning of Ginger Group), and one by friend and Yorkville legend Jay Telfer ("Relations With Rita"). 

   

    During September 1969, the announcement came down in RPM's weekly magazine and a few other music publications that Quality Records was launching their new label, "Birchmount Records.". All Canadian releases were stamped with the "Canadian Artists Collection" logo on the front and back covers. The announcement pointed out that the "day one" twenty-two-album release lineup was 90% Canadian content. At the time, this was an unheard of amount for a commercial Canadian label, as many of Canada's largest labels had a good portion of their function devoted to repressing and/or promoting already popular artists from abroad. 

 

Quality Records kicked things off by cobbling together an originally “for broadcast only” compilation of more pop-oriented artists on the label, appropriately titled “A Taste of Birchmount Pop,” which they distributed to radio stations and critics. The minor success of some of this material in certain radio demographics warranted a physical release by the end of 1969. 

 

A lot of gaps in information plague the Birchmount label. But as a budget line, this is to be expected; ARC, Paragon, and many other Canadian "budget" labels operated in a similar manner. An unfortunate consequence of this is that a number of the initial albums in the Birchmount “Canadian Artists Collection” have no production/musician credits anywhere. This leaves a lot of unanswered questions regarding artists and their releases on the label. 

   

   In addition to the "shadow" albums and reissued content, the early releases on Birchmount Records showcased a great spread of new Canadian talent. Toronto clarinetist/music teacher Pete Schofield appears with his band of high school/college players, recording two albums; Calgary singer-songwriter Cal Cavendish debuted with his first album; Moosejaw Jazz/Lounge singer Bette Graham debuted with her first solo album, an ode to Canada; Niagra Falls R&B band leader Beau Hannon debuted with his first album, with his "Mint Juleps" band; Edmonton Soul/R&B singer Mary Saxton debuted with her fantastic first album (at just 18 years old); Toronto husband/wife Folk duo  Merrick and Kathy Jarrett debuted with their "Folk Songs For Children" record; Edmonton singers Mary Saxton and Barry Allen front a Winnipeg Garage/Psych "shadow" band called "The Rising Sun, doing fantastic Garage-charged covers; Toronto Rock/Psych singer Wayne Versage (original singer of The Shays - replaced by David Clayton-Thomas) debuted with his fantastic lone studio album (backed by The Shays). 

 

During November of 1969, Birchmount Records launched their second batch of releases. Again, they released twenty-two albums, and again the majority was Canadian content (albeit closer to 75% rather than the previous 90%). Among this batch, the releases from the aforementioned deals with Canadian Talent Library and Gaiety Records are featured. In addition to these "deal" albums and the reissues, the series saw a pair of Guess Who compilations (one also featuring The Beau Marks and 49th Parallel) and solo releases by: Toronto R&B/Psych group Tom Milestone & The Jarvis Street Revue, Edmonton Country/Rock singer Jack Hennig, Scotland-to-Toronto Celtic Folk duo The Bonnie Scots, and Edmonton Country singer-songwriter Hank Smith. 

 

Greg Hambleton left Birchmount Records shortly after his involvement with the first batch of releases (September 1969). Most of the second batch (November 1969) featured a variety of producers (contracted or otherwise). With the Bonnie Scots record in particular, Birchmount began a brief working relationship with legendary producer and owner of Sound Canada Studios, Art Snider.  

    An interesting side note from this release period: Birchmount Records arranged a one-week residency for one of their non-Canadian recording artists, "Doc & Chikita Willams," at Toronto's legendary Horseshoe Tavern club (December 1st-December 6th, 1969 ~ RPM Weekly Magazine, December 20th, 1969). This was a means to promote their two recently released Birchmount albums, "Together" and "25th Anniversary Album.". 

 

The early months of 1970 saw Birchmount Records doing late-release promos for some of their second batch of Canadian artists (Hank Smith, Jack Hennig, and Merrick Jarrett) in RPM Magazine, as well as adding interesting additions to the "Canadian Artists Collection" subseries of Birchmount. Quality Records appropriated it for the Canadian arm of their Ringside label. Which featured albums by band leader Pat Riccio, The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band, Robert Service/J. Frank Willis, Joe Venuti, and legendary Toronto Psych-Rockers Cargo with their rare sophomore album "Simple Things" (through Merv Buchanan's TREND Records). 

    The third batch of Birchmount releases dropped in early spring of 1970. Something of a double-edged sword, this batch had an extra ten albums (reaching thirty-two in one batch) but unfortunately much less Canadian content (roughly 45%, as opposed to the previous 75% in batch two). On the other hand, a few of these sparse releases represent some of the best and most sought after Canadian albums in the entire Birchmount catalogue; Alan Thicke's debut album with a dearth of originals and a "Hip-Hop acknowledged" drum break, Wayne McGhie's debut album with it's tantalizing mix of Funk, Soul and Reggae songs, featuring three "Hip-Hop acknowledged" drum breaks; Friday Afternoon's Country-meets-Garage/Psych rock debut album, oddly titled Johnny Cash Hits (thought it had originals by the band as well as covers by other artists), through Merv Buchanan/TREND Records; The Everlovin' Singers' with their lone album of Sunshine Pop goodness; A CTL session for Six People - Cliff Jones & Good Company, which was a precursor project for many founding members of Dr. Music; Betty Vidal's great mostly original Country-Rock debut. 

 

While the bulk of Birchmount's third batch were American releases and Canadian Country (plus two more Guess Who compilations), the aforementioned six albums are something special. That makes it all the more painful to share with you the story of "The Quality Records Warehouse Fire." Sometime during 1970, a fire broke out in the section of the warehouse that housed the stock for these six releases; it's even rumored that the master tapes for some of them were damaged or destroyed. This means that in addition to being among the more musically intriguing offerings of the bath, they were also the rarest, stock number-wise. Most of these releases now sell secondhand for over $100 (with only Friday Afternoon and Wayne McGhie ever being reissued). It's not known if any other third batch releases were affected in the fires.

From 1972 onward, the Canadian releases got less and less frequent. They were being replaced more often by budget reissues of content from popular US acts like The Isley Brothers, Johnny Cash, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Hank Williams, etc. What started as a label releasing 90% Canadian content in its initial 22-album run dropped slightly to roughly 60 of the first 80 albums released, and ultimately, by the end of production in 1980, had less than 1/4th (around 90) of its roughly 420 total releases be Canadian content.

After the first three batches (1969-1970), Birchmount released yearly batches of releases until 1980. 1972 onwards saw a very steep decline in Canadian content. Artists such as Diane Leigh, Stu Davis, Jack Kingston, Sean Broderick, The Carlton Showband, and more managed to slip through the crack occasionally, but they were few and far between. But in 1978, a twelve-album deal was brokered with the Canadian Talent Library. Amongst the featured artists were: The Climax Jazz Band, Jackie Mittoo, Peter Appleyard, Vic Franklyn, Eugene Amaro, Keath Barrie, Laurie Bower Singers, Jerry Toth, Marilyn Jones, and Rob McConnell's Boss Brass.

The fate that ultimately befell Birchmount Records is one that many other Canadian labels suffered from: having sky-high dreams but not enough money, positive reception from the public, or meaningful promotion to make it happen. Obviously, by its very definition, a budget label really wouldn’t garner any real success, but in the case of Birchmount, it's unfortunate not to have been an exception to that rule. The quality of the Canadian content on the label cannot be understated. It’s truly a treasure trove for fans of Canadian music history or quality music of any kind (more specifically rock music and its variations). The unshakeable interest in this label, which a small few feel is due to the feeling of unearthing a hidden gem. In the case of this label, the musical diversity and quality of releases in that first 80-album run were something to be admired. Lots of great, unique Canadian rock, country, psych-pop, vocal pop, jazz, and even some funk and reggae releases graced the label.