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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A melting pot of many talents, 3 Jun 2003
Session singers and musicians who wanted to do their own thing, while continuing their other work, formed Blue mink to give them an outlet. It was not intended to be a hit-making or touring group, as nobody was hungry. Given all this, it is remarkable that the original line-up stayed together for five years. After a couple of line-up changes, the group disbanded a year later. This anthology contains the best of their music from those six years. The lead singers were Roger Cook and Madeline Bell. The other four members were Roger Coulam (organ), Herbie Flowers (bass), Barry Morgan (drums) and Alan Parker (guitar).Roger Cook is best known as a songwriter. He started writing pop songs in the sixties and eventually ended up writing country songs in Nashville. Among the pop songs he wrote, often with Roger Greenaway, are You’ve got your troubles (Fortunes), Something’s gotten hold of my heart (Gene Pitney), I’d like to teach the world to sing (New seekers), Conversations (Cilla Black) and Gasoline alley bred (Hollies). Roger also wrote most of the hits for Blue mink. In the sixties, he had originally been with the Kestrels and later was one half of David and Jonathan (famous for Lovers of the world unite). Both of those acts also featured Roger Greenaway. Madeline made some records as a solo singer but never established herself in that role. However, she did plenty of backup singing for others, including Dusty Springfield, Elton John and Rod Stewart among many others. Blue mink’s own UK hits included Melting pot (a song encouraging different ethnic groups to mix), Banner man, Good morning freedom, Randy and By the devil I was tempted. I do not know if any of these songs charted in America. However, these hits were not typical of the group’s music as a whole. While Roger Cook was particularly good at writing hits, other members of the group wrote their own material, so their original albums were filled with a variety of music, including instrumentals. Soul and rock music are among their influences, neither of which are apparent in their pop hits. The covers of Whole lotta love (Led Zeppelin), Instant karma (John Lennon), Harlem (Bill Withers) and Spirit in the sky (Norman Greenbaum) give you a clue that there is more to Blue mink than you might otherwise expect. This is a fascinating anthology – not what I expected, but much more interesting. You probably need eclectic musical tastes to appreciate this fully. If you only want the hits, you will find a single CD compilation will suit you better.
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~ White Plains
~ Bee Gees
~ Middle of the Road
~ Chicory Tip
~ Blue Mink
See all 30 tracks on this disc
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