McGuinness Flint was a rock band formed in 1970 by Tom McGuinness, a bassist and guitarist with Manfred Mann, and Hughie Flint, former drummer with John Mayall; plus vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Coulson, and multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle.
Their first single "When I'm Dead and Gone" reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart at the end of 1970, No. 47 on the Billboard pop chart and No. 35 on the Cashbox pop chart in the U.S., No. 5 in Ireland, and No. 31 in Canada. The debut album McGuinness Flint also made the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart. In 1999, it received another outing, in the soundtrack of the film, East is East.
A follow-up single, "Malt and Barley Blues", was a UK No. 5 hit in 1971 and peaked at No.15 in Ireland, but the group floundered under the pressures of instant success, being required to record a second album and reproduce their recorded sound adequately on stage, which resulted in disappointing concerts, then a series of illnesses among the band members cancelled most of the concerts on their first tour. The second album Happy Birthday Ruthy Baby failed to chart, as did the title track when released as a single, but contained some Gallagher and Lyle songs, notably "Sparrow", which attracted cover versions.
Gallagher and Lyle left towards the end of 1971 to record as a duo, and would enjoy major success in 1976 with their hit-laden fifth album Breakaway.
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Links to Peel[]
Peel invited the group in 1972 to do a session for his programme, when they were struggling to follow up their early commercial success. By then, they were called Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint, to reflect personnel changes, with Dixie Dean joining the band after their main songwriters Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle had left
The DJ may possibly have invited them because he liked their album Lo & Behold, which was made up of covers of lesser-known Bob Dylan songs. A later year later, founding band members Gallagher and Lyle did a session for Peel's show, After the 1970's, Peel doesn't appear to have revisited the group's songs, or those of Gallagher and Lyle, who were more successful after leaving the band. McGuinness Flint finally broke up in 1975.
Sessions[]
- Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint
1. Recorded: 1972-08-01. First Broadcast: 22 August 1972
- Let Me Die In My Footsteps / Lo And Behold / Get Your Rocks Off
- Gallagher And Lyle
1. Recorded: 1973-11-19. First Broadcast: 29 November 1973
- Shine A Light / Randolph And Me / Country Morning / Misspent Youth
Other Shows Played[]
- 25 July 1972: Eternal Circle (LP – Lo And Behold) Sire
See Also[]
- Singles Reviews (reviews of Gallagher & Lyle's singles on 22/12/73 and 9/3/74)
- Gigography 1973
- Sire Records