Junior’s Eyes - Battersea Power Station 1969 (UK, Psychedelic Rock) Full Album

“Junior’s Eyes” are remembered by the general public mainly because they accompanied David Bowie for some time in the late 60s. In particular, guitarist and band leader Mick Wayne played the famous solo in Bowie’s song “Space Oddity”, receiving a standard fee of nine and a half pounds for his efforts. However, in collector circles, Junior’s Eyes are known as one of the most ambitious, albeit under-recognized psychedelic bands. Wayne began his career in the group “The Outsiders”, whose biggest achievement was that Jimmy Page played in it; the group released one single and broke up, but Wayne managed to prove himself as a promising guitarist and received an invitation from “Hullaballoos”, which successfully emerged on the crest of the “British Invasion”. Unfortunately, Mick Wayne was not very lucky - he got into this group at a time when they were mired in legal proceedings and were paying less and less attention to music. “Hullaballoos” was followed by “The Bunch Of Fives,” an R&B project featuring former Pretty Things drummer Vivian Prince—Wayne claimed that they recorded the soundtrack to the music lover’s dear scene in the film “Blow.” Up”, where “The Yardbirds” were filmed! One way or another, “The Bunch Of Fives” showed Wayne all the delights of the lifestyle popular in the summer of love, introducing him to the company of lovers of LSD and marijuana. Thanks to the fact that the band’s vocalist Mike Docker was from an aristocratic family, they were often able to receive invitations to perform at high-society parties, but their real chance came at the moment when producer Denny Cordell invited them to sign a contract with “Straight Ahead Productions”, who worked with “ The Move”, “Procol Harum” and “Tyrannosaurus Rex”. Already without Vivian Prince, the group found a more peaceful name “Tickle” and released the only single “Subway (Smokey Pokey World)” - a tough, rich, energetic song in the best traditions of guitar psychedelia. However, Tickle lasted no more than three months and split up, leaving Wayne to form a new group. And at the beginning of 1968, the guitarist selected two musicians with whom he could start working, and came up with the name for the group - “Junior’s Eyes”. True, Wayne very quickly changed the composition of his trio, settling on bassist John Lodge and drummer Steve Chapman. In this version, “Junior’s Eyes”, with the help of producer Tony Visconti, recorded the debut single “Mr. “Golden Trumpet Player” is a typical commercial piece of the time, featuring, as the title suggests, horns and Mick Wayne on vocals. By the way, the guitarist didn’t really like singing, and he was seriously concerned about finding a vocalist. One day, in a record store, he accidentally met Graham Kelly and, discovering that they had similar musical tastes, invited him to sing vocals in his band. Together with him, in 1969, Junior’s Eyes released their only album, Battersea Power Station, a somewhat eclectic selection of songs somewhere between psychedelic and blues rock. Mick Wayne claimed that he “didn’t set out to record all sorts of ethereal fantasy music. I wanted to play blues and soul, but the result was psychedelia, stretching space and time almost to infinity.” After some time, Junior’s Eyes producer Tony Visconti invited the band, which now included guitarist Tim Renwick and Wayne’s fellow Hullaballoos drummer John Cambridge, to take part in David Bowie’s concert program. They even recorded several sessions for the BBC under the name “David Bowie & Junior’s Eyes“. And when Wayne went to America in Joe Cocker’s support team, Cambridge and Visconti moved to Bowie’s band “The Hype”, for which John Cambridge recommended his colleague from “The Rats” Mick Ronson. Tim Renwick became one of the founders of the pop group “Quiver”. After working in America for two years as a session musician, Wayne returned to England and briefly joined the legendary Pink Fairies. After that, he left the stage for a long time, concentrating on painting, but in 1994 he accepted an invitation to record a solo album in the USA. After moving to the States, he stopped to stay with his producer and tragically died in a fire. Tracks: 01. Total Power – 00:00 02. Circus Days – 01:22 03. Imagination – 05:04 04. My Ship – 11:12 Lizzie –13:59 06. So Embarrassed – 16:52 07 Freak In – 20:10 08. Playtime –22:01 09. I’m Drowning – 25:56 10. White Light –27:21 11. By The Tree –33:59 Personnel: (“Junior’s Eyes”) Mick Wayne – lead guitar, vocals John “Honk” Lodge – bass, vocals John “Candy” Carr – drums, bongoes Steve Chapman – drums John Redford – organ Graham Kelly – vocals Tim Renwick – guitar, flute, cello John Cambridge – drums