Album : Walrus "In the history of British rock of the early 1970's, the name Walrus is admittedly not the first band one would recall when recounting the story of a remarkable and creatively fertile time in the annals of popular music. With the advent of "underground" rock that emerged from the psychedelic movement, British major record labels were keen to establish identities that would serve as homes for a host of acts who had suddenly changed course from being "beat combos" to "serious" rock musicians.
In the case of Decca records, Derain (an imprint established in October 1966 by label manager Tony Hall) was the home of all things "progressive". Indeed, by 1970 Decca had signed a host of acts to the label, the notable groups being Caravan, Keef Hartley Band, Moody Blues, Savoy Brown and Ten Years After, but aside from these acts who sold healthily there were others such as Egg, Ashkan, Gaillard, Bill Fay, Denny Gerrard etc. who failed to make the desired commercial breakthrough due mainly to a lack of promotional commitment on Decca / Derain, part. Bill Fay (whose work has subsequently been critically acclaimed and admired by many musicians) would comment many years later that "Decca had a policy of throwing lumps of musical mud at a wall to see what would stick and what would fall off. They didn't seem to have much of an idea about how to promote an artist like me. As a result I was one of the lumps of mud that fell off the wall commercially speaking". The fate suffered by Fay was a shared experience for many Derain artists who simply only got a single shot at making an album.
Walrus were one such band. Inspired by the music of American bands such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago (all of whom incorporated horn sections into their ranks), Walrus hailed from the London area and were the musical brainchild of bass guitarist Steve Hawthorn. Like many such outfits at the time, drawn by a fusion of rock and jazz, Walrus came together as an eight piece band with a horn section of Don Richards (trumpet), Roy Voce (tenor sax), Bill Hoad (saxophones, clarinet, flute) alongside Roger Harrison (drums), Barry Parfitt (organ and piano), John Scates (guitar) and Noel Greenaway (vocals). Mainly performing Steve Hawthorn compositions (with brass arrangements by Don Richards and Bill Hoad), Walrus emerged on to the British live music scene in the early months of 1970. Walrus' musical approach was considerably harder edged in nature than many other "brass rock" outfits of the day, such as Heaven. Theirs was certainly a more rock orientated direction and one which soon came to the attention of Decca Records.
Decca had enjoyed commercial success with the signing of the Keel Hartley Band, a group formed by Hartley after he had left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. With the Hartley Band enjoying success in Europe and the LISA, Decca were keen to build upon this by signing other jau rock outfits such as Galliard and Satisfaction. Walrus was another band signed in the hope that they would enjoy similar success to the Keef Hartley Band.
Signing to Decca's Deram imprint in June 1970, Walrus recorded their first session for the label at Decca's West Hampstead recording complex soon after, supervised by Decca's youngest staff producer, David Hitchcock. The tracks "Who Can I Trust" and "Tomorrow Never Comes" were considered impressive enough for release as a single, and thus Walrus made their vinyl debut with both tracks released as Deram DM 308 in August 1970. Despite the fact that it failed to make an impression on the UK charts, Dm. gave Walrus the studio time to complete an album for Deram. Sessions continued into September before drummer Roger Harrison departed the fold to be replaced by Nick Gabb.
In December 1970 the album "Walrus" was released as Deram SML 1072, adorned in a memorable sleeve designed by David Ansley and featuring liner notes penned by DJ Jerry Floyd, a regular purveyor of "underground" music at concerts throughout the capital."
Artwork [Front Cover] – David Anstey
Bass Guitar – Steve Hawthorn
Cowbell, Tambourine, Claves – Roger Harrison
Drums – Nick Gabb
Engineer – John Punter
Engineer [Assistant] – Simaen Skolfield
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – John Scates
Organ, Piano – Barry Parfitt
Photography By [Back Cover] – David Wedgbury
Producer – David Hitchcock
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Flute [Alto] – Bill Hoad
Tenor Saxophone – Roy Voce
Trumpet – Don Richards
Vocals – Noel Greenaway
If you know the lyrics for this song, please share in the comments below.
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