Last year, Cherry Red's RPM imprint chronicled the early career of British pop singer Guy Darrell on I've Been Hurt: The Complete 1960s Recordings.  Now, Cherry Red's Grapefruit Records has picked up the next, fascinating chapter of the Guy Darrell story with Deep Feeling, an anthology of Darrell's next step - as leader of a progressive rock band. The original, cult classic 1971 Deep Feeling album has been supplemented with a generous helping of thirteen bonus tracks.

Darrell recorded his only hit, "I've Been Hurt," in 1966, but it didn't scale the charts until 1973.  The earlier release includes the artist's other significant record, one of the earliest covers of an Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Skyline Pigeon."  By the end of the 1960s, however, Guy Darrell sensed that the sound of music was changing.  His Guy Darrell Syndicate (lead guitarist Martin Jenner, keyboardist Derek Elson, saxophonist Ronnie Cockfield, bassist Dave Green and drummer Dave Clare) adopted the name of Deep Feeling, and Darrell himself reverted to his birth name of John Swail.  Though the group paid the bills by participating in numerous pseudonymous studio sessions, they agreed to release their more personal material as Deep Feeling.

The band's career began auspiciously at Page One Records with a top 40 hit cover of The Contours' Motown chestnut "Do You Love Me," slowed down, gilded with harmonies, and swathed in strings.  The band next revisited "Skyline Pigeon" in a new arrangement, but it didn't attract the same attention as "Do You Love Me."  After Dave Clare departed and was replaced by Graham Jarvis, the band returned to the hit formula and slowed down Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance" for a November 1970 single on Page One successor DJM.  Though appealingly attractive, it failed to match the success of "Do You Love Me."  (Two years later, Bette Midler would take a similar approach to the Freeman oldie, but go even further in adding an irresistibly sultry mood.  She reached the U.S. top 20 Pop/top 10 AC with her rendition.)

Their next A-side, "Sweat Dust and Red Wine," was a self-penned slice of harmony pop with a tinge of modern-day Crosby, Stills & Nash in the vocal blend.  But in their live performances, the band began incorporating songs by prog-rockers like Yes and King Crimson.  This influence would come to the fore on their self-titled DJM long-player released in November 1971.  The CSN(Y)  inspiration was still in evidence on a couple of tracks, including the lovely and sensitive "Old People's Home" and "Country Heir," but "Welcome to a Soldier" and "Guillotine" were epic workouts in heavier, progressive fashion.  Produced by Roger Easterby and Des Champ, and primarily written by Martin Jenner and Dave Green, Deep Feeling also featured a Vanilla Fudge-esque hard-rock reinvention of Chuck Berry's "Lucille" and an 8+-minute prog jazz jam on Mason Williams' instrumental hit "Classical Gas."

With DJM's attention focused squarely on its rising superstar Elton John, Deep Feeling got lost in the shuffle.  The band moved to the Philips label for another single (the country-flavored "Sunday Morning Leaving" b/w "Why Lady Why") and lent their talents to more studio LPs under other names.  But the resurgence of Guy Darrell with the reissue of "I've Been Hurt" - a No. 12 hit popular on the northern soul circuit - derailed Deep Feeling's hopes of further success.  The final Deep Feeling single arrived on the Santa Ponsa label in March 1974.  It was a risky gambit: covering The Rolling Stones' swaggering "Let's Spend the Night Together" in doo wop-influenced, easy listening ballad style.  (The B-side, "Avalon," harkened back to the band's more progressive sound.)  The single fell on deaf ears, and by the middle of the decade, Deep Feeling finally split.  Guy Darrell/John Swail continued to record for a time, but then left music altogether to operate his own pub.  He died in 2013 at the age of 68.  Jenner and Green kept working together under the names of Shelby, The Real McCoy, and Bob and Honey Bee before retreating to session work.  Green even returned to the top 30 in 1978 as part of Mankind with a cover of the Dr. Who theme.

Today, only Derek Elson is still alive, but the eclectic music of Deep Feeling is clearly worth another listen.  This anthology from Cherry Red's Grapefruit Records includes a 16-page booklet with David Wells' copious liner notes.  There is no remastering credit in the booklet.  Deep Feeling is available now at the links below!

Deep Feeling, Deep Feeling (Grapefruit CRSEG044, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Welcome for a Soldier
2. Old People's Home
3. Classical Gas
4. Guillotine
5. Country Heir
6. Lucille
7. Do You Love Me?
8. Move On
9. Skyline Pigeon
10. We've Thrown It All Away
11. Do You Wanna Dance
12. The Day My Lady Cried
13. Sweat Dust and Red Wine
14. Turn Around
15. Country Heir (Original Single Version)
16. Sunday Morning Leaving
17. Why, Lady Why?
18. Let's Spend the Night Together
19. Avalon

Tracks 1-6 from Deep Feeling, DJM DJLPS 419, 1971
Tracks 7-8 from Page One single POF 165, 1970
Tracks 9-10 from Page One single POFS 177, 1970
Tracks 11-12 from DJM single DJS 231, 1970
Tracks 13-14 from DJM single 237, 1971
Track 15 from DJM single DJS 257, 1971
Tracks 16-17 from Philips single 6006 246, 1972
Tracks 18-19 from Santa Ponsa single PNS 12, 1974