The Rocking Vickers It's Alright Promo Lemmy Motorhead
£
43
$
57
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Description
Scarce 1966 single by the Rocking Vickers, a promo on CBS (see pic)
A side "It's Alright", B side "Stay By Me"
There is no doubt that every reader will know that the name Lemmy and Motorhead are synonymous. Most will know that he spent four years with space-rockers, Hawkwind. But many, except perhaps the most devout of fans, will know that he also made some excellent and very collectable records between 1965 and 1969. Lemmy’s first band of any consequence, recording wise, was The Rocking Vickars between 1965 and 1967. He had seen the band at The Oasis in Manchester and thought they were brilliant, mainly because they brought out the rebel out in him. It was a very strong time for the Mod era, but in complete contrast, The Rocking Vickars were extremely scruffy and had hair down to their armpits. They had released one single, a cover of Neil Sedaka’s I Go Ape, in Decca Records, which sold in moderate quantities at the time, and even ‘A’ label promo copies are known to exist.
The band’s correct working title was always Reverend Black and the Rocking Vickars; and they would wear dog collars of the clergy on stage to clarify the image. However, the record company tended to disagree and took the view that the name and this additional attire could offend the Church and the public alike. As the record label illustrations show in most cases, the band had to suffer the fate of being billed as The Rocking Vickers to appease the bosses.
The band at the time consisted of Lemmy on lead guitar, Harry Feeney on vocals, Ciggy Shaw on drums and Steve Morris on bass. Together, they successfully toured Lapland, and upon returning home they were wheeled into the studios for publicity photos wearing the Finnish National costume which they had acquired during the tour.
The band also had the dubious distinction of being one of the first Western rock bands to play behind the Iron Curtain in Yugoslavia as part of a cultural exchange for the Red Army Youth Orchestra. Which country did best out of the deal is for the reader to figure out!
The band’s next single was only released in Finland and Ireland. Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart was an odd choice for a song, possibly a further attempt by the band to achieve chart success.
Following on from this, the band found a new deal with CBS and went straight into the studio with Who producer, Glyn Johns, (the Vickar’s were very Who sound orientated and were also friends with them, even down to Keith Moon making a guest appearance at the odd gig), who took charge of a session resulting in the It’s All Right single; a Pete Townshend composition.
(Taken from the excellent "THE EARLY YEARS AND RECORDINGS OF MOTORHEAD’S LEMMY" BY ALAN BURRIDGE OF THE MOTORHEADBANGERS FAN CLUB)
. In near Ex condition (a couple of light hairlines)
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