Listen: Now We're Thru / The Poets PoetsThru.mp3

Probably by fluke, The Poets first single ‘Now We’re Thru’ perfectly captured what we Americans heard as the black and white sound of drizzle drenched England in a 2:13 sonic snapshot. Black and white? We only ever saw these bands that way. Color photos of brand new groups were thin on the ground. As for the magazines: newspaper style, with color covers at best.

Then there was TV. Who had a color set in ’65? Sure by ’67 TV, like everything else, went to eleven, to technicolor. But those early UK bands the world was insatiable for, all in black and white, and usually photographed on some wet cobblestoned street. Think about shots of Them, The Pretty Things, Manfred Mann, whoever, shivering from the damp.

‘Now We’re Thru’, it’s a minor key classic, a perfect balance of over echoed background vocals, cymbal free distant drums and that ever present Decca tambourine, possibly a non negotiable contractual boiler plate item. Andrew Loog Oldham produced their early releases, probably managed, obviously owned the publishing and gave them a leg up in many situations I’m guessing. A deal with Decca for starters. He even elbowed them on to America’s teen weekly SHINDIG:

“You want The Rolling Stones, take The Poets too”, just an educated guess mind you.

Above: Jukebox Tab signed by George Gallacher

He had a few others signed up at the time: Marianne Faithfull, Adrienne Posta, The Mighty Avengers, Vashti and clearly got a taste for his own label.

What the hell, let’s give The Poets credit for helping create Immediate Records. They certainly were the only act he took along but no one ever seems to mention that bit.

Listen: Call Again / The Poets PoetsCall.mp3

‘Call Again’ was issued as Immediate 006 (theoretically the label’s 6th release). By now that destinctive vocal sound of singer George Gallacher was in place. If only they’d had a chance to work extensively in a studio, OGDEN’S NUT GONE FLAKE style….if only if only if only.