Rehearsals and Recordings
Keyboards with 'Manicou' at Les Arches, Archirondel, Jersey, Channel Islands, 1980 and 1981

Recordings ‐ Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976

I do not own the rights to the music used in this content.  All rights belong to the respective copyright owners.  No copyright infringement is intended.

Manicou Recordings   (Thank you Mr Charlie Chalk for the YouTubes)

After 45 years I can just about remember how I got together with Manicou in the late 1970s ‐ I'd played the keyboards in a band called Crosswinds ‐ in which we had many personel changes even with the good manager Mr Witold Szlamp (Witek), a Pole from Chiswick, who financed our studio sessions.  Our Crosswinds drummer Roy Noel from Grenada was an exceptional musician in my opinion and it was through Roy that I got the intro into Manicou, via Wire, a cousin of Roy and Cippi.  We did make some good recordings in Crosswinds but the singer George (from Carriacou), although a great rhythm guitar player, like with the rest of us, was not a great singer.  Our backbone; Roy, had found other openings so Crosswinds split up.

Manicou rehearsed in the basement of a West Indies travel agent in Askew Road, Hammersmith.  I learned recently from Wire that Roy Noel has since passed away, God rest his soul.  Although we rehearsed some of the covers of the day we did try and mostly put in our own efforts at composition.  Cippy and Ben in particular were enthusiastic, and the rest of us put in our 10 cents worth and much more.  It was Cippy and Ben who were in contact with our manager Kenny Lynch, and we all eventually got to meet him up in his KLO office in Half Moon Street in Mayfair to sign up.  We were all great admirers of Kenny whose musical skill and experience, with his ability as producer, were invaluable to us.  He's in the band on the cover of the Wings Album 'Band On The Run'. 

Kenny Lynch (1938‐2019) was a pioneering black British pop singer in the 1960s who achieved two Top 10 hits with "Up on the Roof" and "You Can Never Stop Me Loving You".  Music:  He toured with The Beatles on their first British tour and was the first artist to cover a Lennon and McCartney song ("Misery").  He also co‐wrote the Small Faces' hit "Sha‐La‐La‐La‐Lee".  Television & Film:  A familiar face on British television, he appeared in variety shows, sitcoms like Curry and Chips and Till Death Us Do Part, and films including the Carry On series and The Plank.  Honours: For his services to entertainment, he was appointed an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 New Year Honours list.   He was remembered by colleagues for his great kindness, humor, and talent across many facets of the entertainment industry.

Motor Bike Ride  Label: Laser ‐ LAS 18  ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Stereo  ‐ Released: Nov 1979  ‐ Kirk St James (Kenny Lynch)
When You Come Running  B side of 'Motor Bike Ride', issued in the UK on the Laser label (LAS 18B) in November 1979.

For one reason or another, and Wire reminded me about this as I'd totally forgotten, Roy Noel, our drummer in Crosswinds, played session drums on 'When You Come Running', and not our bandmate Cippy Gibbs.  Apart from 'Motorbike' Cippy's name is on every disc so as author, so the royalties were his.  I remember seeing a receipt from PRS and he did kindly share the royalties with us once or twice as I remember, later mostly between Cippi and Ben I think, not that it was much!

Boogie Boogie Dance Dance  Issued in the UK on the X‐Pose label (X‐P 01) in 1980
Don't Knock It  B side of 'Boogie Boogie Dance Dance', Issued in the UK on the X‐Pose label (X‐P 01) in 1980

The second X‐Pose disc images ‐ 'No Sad Song' and 'You And I Must Try' ‐ are from Discogs and a revelation to me, as I had no participation in the London recordings of them!  There's no record on line of X‐Pose releases XP02 to XP05.  Perhaps Cippi took the masters to Barbados where the discs were made.  However, having now listened to a version of Sad Song on Kenny Lynch's Reggae album, parts of the song sound familiar, and I seem to remember working on the piano with Cippi on them at his home in Fulham, London.  After 45 years, I could easily be mistaken and it may well be that I remember them from rehearsals at some point.  Stop press: I discovered 2 cassettes recorded from our rehearsals in Les Arches and one of the numbers is 'You And I Must Try' so I've slotted it in above even though it's not the studio version.

No Sad Song on YouTube  Made in Barbados on the X‐Pose label (X‐P 06) in 1981.  One of four tracks on Kenny Lynch's Kenny Does Reggae Album, produced much later and including our singer Ben Frampton on vocals, the others being Manicou's 'Don't Knock It' and an initial version of the later Bare Essential's 'Mother Nature', written by Ben and Cippi.  There's also 'You Taught My Heart How To Sing' likely from the same session from the IPS Recording Studio, a number that was covered later on by the Bare Essentials band with Maria Myrie on vocals.  (The Studios were in Shepherd's Bush).

        
(these images from Jersey Album 5)

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Manicou Rehearsals at Les Arches :

It's a unique and peculiar feeling when you hear music you've played and not heard for 45 plus years.  I feel a mixture of deep nostalgia and a revelation about not only how I once was myself but also how wonderful my bandmates were as musicians and dear friends ‐ the 1980s all comes flooding back to my senses in a deeply personal and emotionally thrilling way.

I found two cassettes in an old collection of Chromium Cassette recordings and pirated copies of hits of the day.  I thought I'd copy the tracks 'as is'.  As tempting as AI treatments etc are these days, the raw sound of the recordings brings across the best of Manicou playing live with no overdubs to give an idea of not only the acoustics at Les Arches but also the quality of the arrangments, by each of us lead mainly by drummer Cippi Gibbs and singer Ben Frampton.  Could I be correct in assuming that the recordings were also for the benefit of Kenny Lynch our Manager.  Wire might know.  Also I'm not certain about where we recorded the numbers ‐ it might have been in our initial meeting place in the basement of a West Indies travel Agent in Askew Road, Hammersmith, but I believe it's more likely from some of our morning rehearsal sessions at the Les Arches Hotel in Archirondel, Jersey, Channel Islands (built mid‐seventies and razed to the ground since entertainment and tourism are now banned in Jersey).

As to the authorship of the numbers, as far as I know it would be Ben Frampton and Cippy Gibbs for the most part but we all put in our 10 cents worth.  I certainly composed one of the tracks ‐ 'Rock to Save Your Soul' with the lyric by our lead, Ben Frampton.  No wonder there are four versions on these tapes!  Here are 15 tracks from the cassettes, there was more on the second tape but the tracks are copies of the singles we issued which can be heard elsewhere in this page.

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Senators Recordings :

I have a vague recollection of hearing mention that Ben Frampton, our Manicou singer had been stationed in, or had worked in Germany, perhaps for National Service in his earlier youth.*  Before Manicou, Ben's recording history included a band called The Senators, so he may have been working in Germany with them.  There's no year on the labels of the two Senators singles I own, but they must have been recorded at the latest 1978 as we got together around early 1979.  I enjoyed the Senators 'MARY' number at Ben's house in Acton ‐ he himself (or it might have been Wire or Cippy) gave me the single and the other Christmas one ‐ we were all there for some reason, perhaps to listen to it and other Soca numbers I think partly for my benefit as we'd only recently got started and I needed the education!  I was really impressed, not only with Ben's unique voice but also with the musical arrangement and I picked up on some of the keyboard parts in the backing.  Ben told me it was all about Marijuana!

*Wire will elucidate I hope ‐ there are a couple of photos below that were taken in Germany in 1964 from Facebook, with Ben from buddies.

Mary  The Senators ‐ Label: Skip's ‐ S002 A Side ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1977 or 78? ‐ Genre: Reggae ‐ Style: Reggae, Dub ‐ Arranged By: The Senators ‐ Producer: R.Rhoden
Mary's Version  B side of 'Mary', issued in the UK on the Skip's label (S002 B Side) 1977 or 1978.

Ray Rhoden was the great Keyboards and Organ player from the 60's and 70's who worked extensively with Ben, co‐authoring many of the tracks.  Aside from The Senators, he worked with: Blue Rivers & The Maroons and Demon Fuzz. In Discogs there are variations on his name: Ray Rhoden, R. Rhoden, R.Rhoden, Rhoden, Roy Rhoden.

Chrismas Message Part 1  The Senators ‐ Label: Skip's ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1978 ‐ Genre: Reggae ‐ Style: Reggae, Calypso ‐ Published By: Skip's Music ‐ Arranged By: The Senators ‐ Producer: R.Rhoden
Chrismas Message Part 2  The Senators ‐ Label: Skip's ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1978 ‐ B Side

Come And Dance  The Senators ‐ Label: Skip's ‐ S 003 A Side ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1978? ‐ Genre: Reggae, Funk ⁄ Soul ‐ Style: Reggae, Funk, Calypso ‐ Authors: B Frampton ⁄ D Cummings ‐ Arranged By: The Senators ‐ Producer: R.Rhoden
Colyp‐so Music  B side of 'Come and Dance', issued in the UK on the Skip's label (S003 B Side) 1978.

1977 and 1978 were the years of the four Skip's releases; S001 through S004.  I'm repeating my playing of the wonderful "Come And Dance" as the last time I heard it was in 1979.  In my opinion, as good as if not better than any top ten pop number of the time along with Ben's "Mary".  Pat Rhoden, author of "Kite Moir" was a star of the mid 1960s through the 1970s from Jamaica to London.'

Bottle and Stones  The Senators ‐ Label: Skip's ‐ S 001 A Side ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1977 ‐ Genre: Reggae, Folk, World, & Country ‐ Style: Calypso, African ‐ Published By: Full Moon ‐ Arranged by: The Senators ‐ Producer, Written By: Pat Rhoden, B. Frampton, R Rhoden
Kite Moir  B side of 'Bottle and Stones' ‐ S 001 B Side ‐ Genre: Reggae, Folk, World, & Country ‐ Arranged by: The Senators ‐ Producer, Written By: Pat Rhoden, B. Frampton, R Rhoden.  Kite Moir was part of our repertoire at Les Arches in Jersey, but I don't remember it ‐ Since Ben was from Dominica, could it be that his patois lyric is either Jamaican or Dominican Creole French.

North Sea Express  The Senators ‐ Label: Tackle ‐ TAK 010A ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", Single ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1975? ‐ Genre: Reggae, Funk ⁄ Soul, Folk, World, & Country ‐ Style: African, Funk ‐ Published By: Clint Music ‐ Producer: Sonny Roberts ‐ Written By: Ben Frampton, Roy Rhoden
She's A Lady  B Side of North Sea Express ‐ Label: Tackle ‐ TAK 010B ‐ Genre: Reggae, Funk ⁄ Soul, Folk, World, & Country ‐ Published By: Clint Music ‐ Producer: Sonny Roberts ‐ Written By: Ben Frampton, Roy Rhoden.

Get Ourselves Together  Sung by: B. Fromton (Ben Frampton) ‐ Label: Tackle ‐ TAK 011 A Side ‐ Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM ‐ Country: UK ‐ Released: 1976 ‐ Genre: Reggae, Latin ‐ Style: Calypso, Funk ‐ Authors: R Rhoden & B Frampton‐ Arranged By: The Senators ‐ Producer: Sonny Roberts
Winding Woman  B side of 'Get Ourselves Together', The Senators ‐ Issued in the UK on the Tackle label (TAK 011 B) 1976
Sung by: B. Fromton (Ben Frampton) ‐ Label: Tackle ‐ Authors: R Villaruel ‐ Arranged By: The Senators ‐ Producer: Sonny Roberts

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Bare Essentials Recordings :

In my opinion, our dear Manicou singer Ben, on return to the Caribbean, found his artistic forté with the Bare Essentials group.  His voice and his soul was made for Soca and he would come to life singing and moving with joy in the genre.

Mr Errol Lee's "Bare Essentials" is the name of the band that Ben Frampton was one of the vocalists and musician for, primarily active in the late 1980s.  Ben (Bernard Frampton) was involved in the arranging and music creation for the band, which produced reggae and afro‐related music.  The personel in the brass section were born joined‐at‐the‐hip, they are so tight.

Role: Ben Frampton was a lead vocalist, backing vocalist, arranger, and musician (specifically noted for music and words).
Releases:  The band released several records, including the albums No Loafin' (1988), Carnival, Back Ah Yard, and Talk Dirty.
Collaborators:  Ben worked alongside other vocalists and musicians such as founder Errol Lee and Maria Myrie.

The Bare Essentials Band
on Soundcloud
Umbayaya
What Kinda Man

Bare Essentials ‐ Back Ah Yard

"Back Ah Yard" is a popular Caribbean phrase, especially Jamaican Patois, meaning "back in the yard," referring to being at home, in the countryside, or a familiar, comfortable place, often used for Jamaican food, music, or cultural references.‐ It's used for restaurants serving authentic Jamaican cuisine, song titles by artists like Michael Rose, and record labels, emphasizing roots and local culture.

I see on the cover of Back Ah Yard that Ben is wearing the same cardigan from 1981 when I snapped him, Back in Ah Yard in St Helier, Jersey (see photo above).  As well as his full collaboration, Ben took the lead in two of the numbers on the Album.  On the first track on the A‐Side Ben takes the vocals on a great reprise of his co‐written 1978 number Colyp‐so Music.  Also on the A side is "Umbayayao" with a great vocal from Ben.  Discogs includes a YouTube video made in 1984 and kindly shared by Llewellyn "BigDaddyLeo" O'Reggio, THE afficianado of the wonderful music of those times ‐ so please subscribe to his YouTube and Web Pages..

Errol Lee and the Bare Essentials Band ‐ Classic Jamaican afro‐soca video
from:  Llewellyn "BigDaddyLeo" O'Reggio ‐ Video Library

Bare Essentials ‐ No Loafin

Here, on the second Bare Essentials album published in 1988, there are two collaborations that include Ben Frampton.  Mother Nature is a great reggae number.  Loving the keyboards in Mother Nature, which is co‐written by Ben and our Manicou drummer, Cippi Gibbs from Grenada and is a (far superior in my opinion) reprise of an earlier recording with Kenny Lynch.  Ben's vocal is perfect for the lyric as he expresses with dismay, his ganga misfortunes in a sorry tale of a hard‐done‐by Rastaman and his encounters with the law.  There's also a collaboration from Ben with leaders Errol Lee and Maria Myrie in the vocals on Otis Redding's Otis Lives.

Bare Essentials ‐ Carnival

All of the tracks on the 1990 Carnival album are a collaboration between, and written by, Bare Essentials leader Errol Lee and Ben Frampton.  Ben's musical skills developed even more on all tracks in this joyful album with the Bare Essentials brothers.  As requested in the sleeve notes: "For those just coming in, get up, dance and feel the Soca Tension or leave the party!"

Issued as a single to go with the Album is the title track Jamaica Carnival and Ben's Soca With You on the flipside.

Bare Essentials ‐ Talk Dirty

Once again, following the winning formula of Carnival, Ben and the great Errol Lee share the Talk Dirty musical productions ‐ 3 compositions each on another fine album.  I would have thought that by this time surely, Ben, Errol and each of the wonderful Bare Essentials ensemble, on top of popular success, could make a good living not only from the PRS but also from touring.  Keep on dancing as we celebrate their legacy of musical sunshine.. Made in Jamaica..

Sleeve Notes:

Soca Music is dance music at its best.  Pulsating rhythm that compels even the most reluctant listener to move to the beat.  On this release, Bare Essentials continue to create original sounds with the soca beat.  The tracks are diverse, ranging from the calypso ‐ the story of Judge Thmoas vs Anns Hel, to the jumpy dance-till-you-drop party tune Jam it.  In between are two Ben Frampton's classics I Wanna Touch You and Bowing.  The latter takes the Shabba Ranks' dance hall anthem 'Dem Bow' and translates it in true calypso style to a parody of the courteous 'bow', the obvious conclusion being that everybody bows.  I wanna touch you is crossover at its the best with Blues, Balad, Reggae and Rock riding on top of the soca beat.  The purist might frown but Bare Essentials have struck a chord with this LP whether you choose to to Talk Dirty, Bow, Touch the music or Jam It, you are sure to come up a winner with these original tracks.

Bare Essentials and Ben ‐ Gallery

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Crosswinds Recordings :

Crosswinds was the first band I was in.  For a while we rehearsed in a studio that had been converted from either a school or church or some such victorian building.  It was in the hinterland of Brook Green, London.  As the studio was behind the rehearsal hall we had to be quiet when passing through the hall on the way out.  For a few weeks, the late Mel Smith was in there, first on his own, where he wrote and rehearsed what seemed to be stand‐up or maybe direction, and later with others.  I had no idea what he was working on but I did get the impression that he seemed to be putting everything into it.  Unfortunately the band Crosswinds never had any of the success, talent and brilliance that Mel Smith had in abundance.  My favourite script and 1985 movie of his ‐ 'Morons from Outer Space'

In the late 70s I was already far too old for Punk so I chose Funk!  There are three studio tracks, me on keyboards on each number.  My favourite is the second track which in my opinion is a not unpleasant unnamed number which Crosswinds recorded.  The page of the Melody Maker in the movie has plenty of reviews of Punk bands including the Buzzcocks as well as a little of the forthcoming new wave musical fashion.  This was the first time I was a member of a combo; the short-lived five-piece Crosswinds.  Initially we rehearsed in the cellar of 'The Swan' pub in Hammersmith where the likes of Landscape (Einstein a go go) and Spyrogyra (morning dance) played live music over our heads in every way.  For many months in the dark cellar, a mountain of empty Fosters cans expanded into a scale model of the Rockies.


If you're reading this, band member, please forgive me but as well as George, the singer, and Rob the bass player, I can only remember their christian names and that of our brilliant drummer ‐ Roy, who do I hope went on to a deserved success ‐ listen to his crisp drumming on this recording.  To start with, I used a Farfisa compact duo organ and a small analogue keyboard but lusted after a Wurlitzer or Fender Rhodes the latter of which I did manage to afford later on, buying the last of the good ones from the States.  For this recording I hired a Yamaha CS80 (new instrument technology at the time) from Eelpie Sound, a company run by the Townshend brothers.  We had to hire a van to pick up the keyboards from Eelpie sound, based in Pinewood Studios, our arrangements made with the bass player of 'Big Audio Dynamite' who worked there.

We had many gigs around the pub circuit in London, including a series in the hall upstairs in The Swan ‐ once the supporting act for a striptease.  In London we played many West Indian venues and one or two other interesting places such as Chiswick House, a later gig where a stage was constructed just behind the lake in the landscaped ampitheatre and we played al fresco and as support to the progressive jazzers; Bill Bruford's 'UK'.  Another noteable gig was in the Metropole Cinema, Victoria when it was a theatre; later 'the Venue' and we took part in a 'rock against racism' band competition, judged in part by the late Dave Dee, if memory serves.  Some great bands were around at that time.  The winners of that competition were 'splogenessabounds' who won the day of the second heat with their pastiche rendition of the theme of 'Simon Templar ‐ the Saint'.  At that time the punk movement had already passed full swing and was on the wane.  Our Bass player Rob lived close to a pub that members of the sex pistols would frequent.  They once locked a groom in the lavatory on the morning of his wedding! Our manager was Witold Zlamp, a Pole who did his best for us.  Unhappy with the vocal quality and after many personnel changes, particularly in the brass section, we disbanded ‐ but on good terms! There are no photographs of the band and hardly any memorabila and I had to hunt hard to find what's in the clip below.  To go with "My favourite" track I used excerpts from 'Up in the World'.

My Favourite (Instrumental)

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Jersey Album Scans ‐ More on the following pages