Blue Mink
Blue Mink was a
British five-piece pop group from
1969 to
1973.
Roger Coulam (organ) formed the band in autumn
1969, with
Madeline Bell (vocals),
Roger Cook (vocals),
Herbie Flowers (bass) and
Barry Morgan (drums). Most of the songs were written by Cook and
Roger Greenaway.
Flowers, Morgan and the guitarist
Alan Parker all worked with Coulam at
London's
Morgan Studios. The four of them recorded several backing tracks, with which Coulam approached soul singer Bell and Greenaway (who had been half of
David and Jonathan) as vocalists. Greenaway declined and put forward Cook (the other half of David and Jonathan).
The band's debut single,
Melting Pot (by Cook and Greenaway) was recorded with this lineup and released in November 1969; it charted at #3 in the UK. An album of that title was released early in
1970, at the same time as the second single
Good Morning Freedom. This track was not on the first release of the album LP; it was added to subsequent pressings.
The members continued with their session work despite the success of the band. In March 1970, Cook and Bell appeared on
Elton John's
Elton John album; Elton John covered
Good Morning Freedom anonymously on the
Deacon Records budget compilation album
Pick Of The Pops. In April, Cook and Greenaway played briefly in
Currant Kraze, and together they continued to write songs like
You've Got Your Troubles,
I've Got You On My Mind and
I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing. Other side projects included Alan Parker's band
The Congregation, Herbie Flowers' contributions to
Lou Reed's
Transformer album, and the involvement of Flowers, Morgan and Parker in sessions with
Pete Atkin in March 1971 that later appeared on his
Driving Through Mythical America album.
The band's second album and their third single released on
Philips Records in September 1970 were entitled
Our World (the album was released as
Real Mink in the US). The band's next release was
The Banner Man on
Regal Zonophone in spring 1971. It reached #3 in the UK charts. The members' other projects now took priority until January
1972 when Blue Mink played two weeks at the
Talk Of The Town club in London. Recordings from this engagement were released that March as the album
Live at the Talk Of The Town simultaneously with the studio album
A Time Of Change (renamed from
Harvest to avoid confusion with Neil Young's new LP).
Ray Cooper (drums) and Ann Odell (keyboards) joined the band that summer and played on the single
Stay With Me which charted at #3 in November 1972. By the time of Blue Mink's fourth album,
Only When I Laugh,
glam rock was supplanting the light pop sound of the last few years. The associated single,
By The Devil (I Was Tempted), written by
Guy Fletcher and
Doug Flett, only reached #26 and the Top 10 single
Randy in June 1973 was their last success.
The last album,
Fruity (January 1974) and the singles
Quackers (January 1974) and
Get Up (July 1974) failed and the band split up that autumn after a farewell tour of the United States. Elton John was among the celebrities present to say goodbye, introducing the band onstage at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.
The Rimshots covered
Get Up as the disco single
7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle) in 1976 and had a huge hit.
The various members of the band continued to have success individually when they left Blue Mink.
Blue Mink (1969)
A Time of Change (1972)
Live at the Talk of the Town (1972)
Only When I Laugh (1973)
Fruity (1974)
Attention (1975)
*Compilation:
Collection: Blue Mink (1978)
The Guinness Who's Who of Seventies Music, (London: Guinness) ISBN 0851127274
