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Blossom Toes

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Blossom Toes were a British psychedelic pop band active between 1966 and 1970. Initially known as The Ingoes, they were renamed and signed to the Marmalade record label of manager Giorgio Gomelsky. The original line-up comprised Brian Godding (19 August 1945 - 26 November 2023, Monmouth, South Wales) (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Jim Cregan (born James Cregan, 9 March 1946, Yeovil, Somerset) (guitar, vocals), Brian Belshaw (born 25 February 1944, Wigan, Lancashire) (bass, vocals), and Kevin Westlake (born Kevin Patrick Westlake, 5 March 1947, Dublin, Co Dublin, Ireland) (drums).

The band's debut album, ‘We Are Ever So Clean’ is a classic example of quintessentially English psychedelia. On release, it was presented in the UK music magazine Melody Maker as "Giorgio Gomelsky's Lonely Hearts Club Band" . Although not a major commercial success, tracks such as "What On Earth" or "Look At Me, I'm You" have helped give the album something of a cult period status as it is unearthed by successive generations of 1960s retro fans. It was included in Record Collector's list of the "100 Greatest Psychedelic Records".[1]

(Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel[]

Blossom Toes were one of the new British bands who were emerging and attracting interest in the music press in late 1967, when John Peel was beginning his career on Radio 1. Although they never made the charts, they were often given positive write-ups, even if the Melody Maker reference to "Giorgio Gomelsky's Lonely Hearts Club Band" mentioned above was not a compliment and the paper's reviewer thought they were trying too hard to sound like the Beatles.

Peel approved of them, though, and they did four sessions for Top Gear. As David Cavanagh points out in his book Good Night And Good Riddance (p.57), Peel chose to end the Top Gear of 27 October 1968 with their session track "Peace Loving Man" as a reaction to the large anti-Vietnam War march in London that day which had forced him to pre-record the show, with the demonstration being expected to end in violence. According to an Observer journalist, quoted in Richard Neville's book Playpower (1970, p.86), the song also went down well with audiences in Czechoslovakia when the band payed there in 1969, after the Prague Spring movement had been crushed by the Soviet invasion.

But the few plays of Blossom Toes tracks in later decades were from their first LP, so the DJ may have agreed with those who saw the album as a period classic. After the band split up in 1970, former members Jim Cregan and John "Poli" Palmer joined Peel favourites Family.

Festive Fifty Entries[]

  • None

Sessions[]

Blossom_Toes_-_Top_Gear_Session_-2_22nd_October_1968

Blossom Toes - Top Gear Session -2 22nd October 1968

Four sessions. 'Mister Watchmaker', 'What On Earth' and 'The Remarkable Saga Of The Frozen Dog' (session #1) and 'I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight' and 'Love Is" (session #2) released on We Are Ever So Clean (Esoteric Recordings ECLEC32785).

1. Recorded 1967-10-23. First broadcast 29 October 1967. Repeated 03 December 1967.

  • Listen To The Silence / The Remarkable Saga Of The Frozen Dog / What On Earth / Watchmaker

2. Recorded 1968-03-25. First broadcast 31 March 1968. Repeated 05 May 1968

  • I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight / Looking Up I’m Looking Back / Love Is / The Saga Of The Frozen Dog / Collects Little Girls* Repeat only

3. Recorded 1968-10-22. First broadcast 27 October 1968 (JP urges his listeners to pay attention to the non-violent message of the Blossom Toes' "Peaceloving Man", which ends the show). Repeated 08 December 1968.

  • Wait A Minute / Ever Since A Memory / Peaceloving Man

4. Recorded 1969-08-18. First broadcast 07 September 1969. Repeated 29 November 1969.

  • Love Bomb / Kiss Of Confusion / Peace Loving Man / Indian Summer

Other Shows Played[]

1960s
later

See Also[]

External Links[]

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