Soul Serenades: RPM Expands Mod Music of "The Mike Cotton Sound"

The name of The Mike Cotton Sound might be most familiar from the group’s role backing Mary Hopkin on her debut album Post Card, or for supporting The Kinks on Muswell Hillbillies. But the band, led by trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Cotton, actually traveled a diverse musical road throughout the 1960s, a trajectory chronicled on RPM Records’ expanded edition of the band’s 1964 long-player, The Mike Cotton Sound.

Leader Cotton had scored his first hit in 1963 with “Swing That Hammer,” with his group The Mike Cotton Jazzmen. The Jazzmen had flourished during Britain’s traditional jazz (or Trad Jazz) boom of the late 1950s/early 1960s, playing roughly 300 dates a year and recording numerous singles and EPs. But as The Beatles were on the rise, the sound of music was changing, and Cotton was happy to change as well. His Jazzmen morphed into The Mike Cotton Band, and Dixieland-inspired jazz gave way to American R&B, soul and jazz in their repertoire. One single was released under this name (“Midnite Flyer” b/w “One Mint Julep”), and by 1964, the Band had become The Sound. Following the release of “I Don’t Wanna Know” b/w “This Little Pig,” English Columbia green-lit a full album.

This expanded Mike Cotton Sound features that album as well as the A and B-sides of the eight singles originally released on Columbia, Pye and MGM between 1963 and 1968 for a complete survey of The Mike Cotton Band/Sound’s 1960s output. One previously unreleased live track rounds out the package. The album featured both sides of that first Mike Cotton Sound single as well as choice covers reflecting the band’s embrace of R&B in its various styles. Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” epitomized the group’s mod jazz approach, while Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s oldie “Love Potion No. 9” was R&B with a pop bent. The group tackled two songs associated with Bo Diddley (his own “Pills” and Willie Dixon’s “Pretty Thing”) and interpreted Elmer Bernstein’s jazz-inflected movie theme “Walk on the Wild Side” as well as Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’,” popularized by jazz drummer Art Blakey.

Two singles were released on Columbia following the album, including the sublimely pop A-side “Make Up Your Mind” penned by Dave Rowberry and Jim Rodford. All the while, the band – including organist Rowberry and bassist Rodford, who had replaced Stu Morrison - was playing live alongside artists including Gene Pitney, The High Numbers (later The Who), The Beatles, Elkie Brooks, Tommy Roe, Tom Jones, Lee Dorsey, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and The Four Tops! In 1965, Cotton decided to take on a proper vocalist for the largely-instrumental band, and American Bruce MacPherson Lucas (a.k.a. the single-named Lucas) was brought on board on the advice of singer Geno Washington. (Cotton recalls in John Reed’s liner notes that “Joe Cocker also came for an audition but we already had Lucas by then!”) With the group’s tenure at Columbia having ended, Lucas fronted the group on singles released by Polydor, Pye and MGM – and even earned billing as Lucas and The Mike Cotton Sound. The group, affected by a revolving door of personnel, continued to explore musically, influenced by Motown, Stax-style southern soul, even psychedelia and progressive soul sounds. All of these styles are presented on RPM’s deluxe edition.

When the 1970s arrived, Cotton transformed his outfit into Satisfaction. Inspired by Chicago and Tower of Power, Satisfaction offered muscular horn rock for its lone album at Decca. (A second, previously unreleased Satisfaction LP was uncovered in 2014.) Coming full circle, Cotton joined with clarinetist Mr. Acker Bilk in 1973, remaining with the English jazzman until 1991.

The expanded edition of The Mike Cotton Sound features liner notes by producer John Reed and a full discography of its tracks. Simon Murphy has remastered these mod-jazz gems at Another Planet Music, and the title is available now!

The Mike Cotton Sound, The Mike Cotton Sound: Expanded Edition (Columbia (U.K.) 33SX 1647, 1964 –reissued RPM Retro 961, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Watermelon Man
Chinese Checkers
Love Potion No. 9
So What
How Long Can This Go On
Moanin’
Night Train
Pills
This Little Pig
Pretty Thing
Walk on the Wild Side
I Don’t Wanna Know
Midnite Flyer
One Mint Julep
Round and Round
Beau Dudley
Make Up Your Mind
I’ve Got My Eye on You
Harlem Shuffle
Like That
Step Out of the Line
Ain’t Love Good, Ain’t Love Proud
We Got a Thing Going, Baby
Soul Serenade
Jack and the Beanstalk
Mother-in-Law
Harlem Shuffle (Live)

Tracks 1-12 from The Mike Cotton Sound, Columbia (U.K.) 33SX 1647, 1964
Tracks 13-14 from Columbia DB 7134, 1963
Tracks 15-16 from Columbia DB 7382, 1964
Tracks 17-18 from Columbia DB 7623, 1965
Tracks 19-20 from Polydor 56096, 1966
Tracks 21-22 from Pye 7N 17313, 1967
Tracks 23-24 from MGM 1398, 1968
Tracks 25-26 from MGM 1427, 1968
Track 27 previously unreleased live performance

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.