The Kursaal Flyers - founded in Southend-on-Sea, some 40 miles or 64 kilometers east of central London and so named for the town's famous building which once housed part of a famous amusement park - made their biggest splash with the 1976 single "Little Does She Know," produced by Mike Batt in thunderous Phil Spector style.  Cherry Red's RPM Records has recently chronicled the full Kursaal Flyers story as one of the imprint's final projects.  Little Does She Know: The Complete Recordings has five albums plus copious bonus tracks on four CDs, including the entirety of the group's original 1975-1977 repertoire as well as their 1988 reunion project.

Reggae, country, bluegrass, and pop all played a part in the pub-rock sound of the Kursaals as heard on their first album, 1975's Chocs Away (included on CD 1 of the set).  Vocalist Paul Shuttleworth, guitarist (including pedal steel) Vic Collins, keyboardist-guitarist Graeme Douglas, bassist and banjoist Richie Bull, and drummer Will Birch had connected with area favorite Dr. Feelgood as well as with future Attractions drummer Pete Thomas, both of whom helped the band on the road to success.  In his liner notes, co-producer/compiler Birch (now a well-established rock journalist with credits including the recent Nick Lowe biography Cruel to Be Kind: The Life and Music of Nick Lowe), Birch emphasizes the group's influences in country from its influences (Hank Williams) to its most recent country-rock exponents (The Monkees, Eagles, Grateful Dead).  Supporting the post-Gram Parsons lineup of The Flying Burrito Brothers on tour gave the Kursaals a chance to further burnish their credentials in that arena.  Chocs Away A-sides "Speedway" and "Hit Records" (the latter accompanied by female backing vocalists at the suggestion of UK Records honcho Jonathan King) were straightforward pop-rock, though the former more prominently showcased Collins' pedal steel and country flavor.

Despite the lack of commercial success for Chocs Away and its singles, the band pressed on with sophomore LP The Great Artiste, also included on the first disc of this set.  The album was very much in the same spirit as its predecessor but branched out, too, as with the jazz-tinged "Drinking Alone."  The album's single selection was the catchy "Cruisin' for Love," but not in the version heard on the album.  Mike Batt (The Wombles, "Bright Eyes") was brought in to produce a new, ostensibly more commercial track.  This slicker rendition didn't take off, and King dropped the Kursaals from his label.  But Batt became a valued collaborator of the band, and when their manager secured them a new deal with major label CBS, the producer stayed on board.

The second disc of the box set kicks off with Golden Mile, the Kursaals' third, most beloved - and, alas, final - studio album.  The album opened with "Little Does She Know," the Birch/Douglas/Shuttleworth tune awash in a Wall of Sound.  Complete with tongue-in-cheek spoken recitations, the song boasted lush strings, brash horns, crashing cymbals, forceful Hal Blaine-esque drums, and so on.  Will Birch explains in his notes that the song was first conceived as a country waltz, but "Paul [Shuttleworth] reimagined it as a Phil Spector-type production.  His instruction to our producer was simply a sketch of a kitchen sink."  Mike Batt obliged, and the result was a top 20 U.K. hit.  Graeme Douglas clashed with Batt over the slicker, fuller sound, but Golden Mile did have more than its share of rock-and-roll moments - whether the barroom rocker "Drinking Socially," the funky "Modern Lovers," and the taut rock-and-reggae hybrid "When the Band's on the Stand."  As always on a Kursaal Flyers record, Douglas' electric guitar found room to impress.

Mike Batt seemingly intended for diversity to be the order of the day on Golden Mile.  "Two Left Feet" boasts an arrangement straight of out of The Drifters' classic playbook, with swirling strings, castanets, and a Latin beat; the urgent "Street of the Music" fuses rock with R&B via brass and female background vocalists.  "Radio Romance" is pure, swooning, and melodic AM pop.  "Detroit Tin" has an updated big-band-meets-western swing feel, and the Kursaals' country sound was evoked on "Ready to Go."

Graeme Douglas left the band early in 1977, joining Eddie and the Hot Rods shortly thereafter.  He was replaced by another local musician, Barry Martin, just in time for the live dates that led to the concert album Five Live Kursaals.  The 13-track LP is included on Disc Three of the box, and effectively captures the energy of one of the band's live performances as well as the spontaneity; three covers were included (Arthur Alexander's "Anna (Go to Him)," The Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind," and Mike Berry's "On My Mind") as well as new material and Kursaal favorites such as "Cruisin' for Love" and the inevitable "Little Does She Know" in a much leaner style than on the album.h

A fourth album was mooted, and sessions took place with producers Muff Winwood and Rhett Davies as well as new guitarist John Wicks who had replaced Vic Collins.  But the provisionally-titled Mods and Rockers was never completed.  The surviving tracks, including the single release of "The Sky's Falling in on Our Love," have been appended on CD 2 and 3 here.  Among the other bonus tracks are a pair of Mike Batt-produced B-sides ("Girl Talk," with its "Hustle"-esque arrangement) and "Revolver") and the originally unreleased "The Questionnaire."

With the emergence of punk, The Kursaal Flyers saw the writing on the wall ("...our cheerful mix of countrified pop-rock and Ealing comedy had become terminally quaint," Birch reflects) and disbanded.  But a reunion tour of pubs in and around London in 1985 led the reformed group to record another album.  1988's cheekily-titled A Former Tour de Force Is Forced to Tour featured the original Kursaal Flyers line-up save Richie Bull; in his place was Dave Hatfield.  Little Does She Know comes to a close with that album plus another clutch of bonuses including singles, outtakes, and radio sessions.  Birch and Douglas co-wrote the lion's share of the material on A Former Tour de Force, successfully channeling the band's original, infectious pub rock sound without succumbing to either nostalgia or the decade's excesses.

RPM's set is simply housed within a slipcase, with each album in its own mini-sleeve replicating the original LP's front and back cover.  (Disc One is a gatefold to accommodate two LPs' artwork.) The 24-page booklet has Will Birch's entertaining history plus photos, memorabilia, and credits.  Simon Murphy has remastered all four discs.

The Kursaal Flyers' discography might be small, but it packs a punch for fans of pub-rock, power pop, and country-rock.  Released with the imprimatur of the band, Little Does She Know is the first full-scale exploration of their catalogue and likely the last word, too.  It's available now at the links below.

Kursaal Flyers, Little Does She Know: The Complete Recordings (Cherry Red/RPM RPMBX551, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

Chocs Away! (U.K. Records UK 2330 101, 1975)

1. Pocket Money
2. Hit Records
3. Kung Fu
4. Tennessee
5. Chocs Away
6. Speedway
7. Brakeman
8. Now I'm Back
9. Yellow Sax
10. Silver Wings
11. Cross Country

The Great Artiste (U.K. Records UK 2330 106, 1975)

12. Ugly Guys
13. The Great Artiste
14. Fall Like the Rain
15. Cruisin' for Love
16. Back to the Book
17. Palais de Danse
18. Pain and Misery
19. Hypochondriac
20. Television
21. Drinking Alone

CD 2: Golden Mile (CBS 81622, 1976) plus bonus tracks

1. Little Does She Know
2. One Arm Bandit
3. Drinking Socially
4. Two Left Feet
5. Modern Lovers
6. Street of the Music
7. Radio Romance
8. When the Band's on the Stand
9. Detroit Tin
10. Third Finger Left Hand
11. Ready to Go
12. Little Does She Know (Edit) (CBS single 4689-A, 1976)
13. Girl Talk (CBS single 4973-B, 1977)
14. The Questionnaire (Unreleased 1977) (first issued on In for a Spin: The Best of the Kursaals, Edsel ED 142, 1985)
15. The Sky's Falling in on Our Love (CBS single 5498-A, 1977)
16. Revolver (CBS single 5498-B, 1977)

CD 3: Five Live Kursaals (CBS 82553, 1977) plus bonus tracks

1. Original Model
2. Yellow Sox
3. Pocket Money
4. Cruisin' for Love
5. The Sky's Falling in on Our Love
6. Little Does She Know
7. Street of the Music
8. TV Dinners
9. Speedway
10. Revolver
11. On My Mind
12. Anna (Go to Him)
13. Friday on My Mind
14. Television Generation (CBS single 5771-A, 1977)
15. Girlfriend Kinda Guy (Unreleased 1977) (first issued on In for a Spin: The Best of the Kursaals, Edsel ED 142, 1985)
16. Everything But a Heartbeat (Unreleased 1977) (first issued on In for a Spin: The Best of the Kursaals, Edsel ED 142, 1985)
17. Girls That Don't Exist (Unreleased 1977) (first issued on In for a Spin: The Best of the Kursaals, Edsel ED 142, 1985)

CD 4: A Former Tour de Force Is Forced to Tour (Waterfront WF 044, 1988) plus bonus tracks

1. IF You Would Only Talk to Me (Like You Talk to the Dog)
2. Pre-Madonna
3. Tonight Before Tonight
4. Man in Mohair
5. A Former Tour de Force Is Forced to Tour
6. Luxury Lane
7. My Sugar Turns to Alcohol
8. Paranoid Weekend
9. Old Men Need Some Lovin' Too
10. Monster-in-Law
11. Cruisin' for Love (Remake) (U.K. single UK 129-A, 1976)
12. Slimmin' (For the Women) (U.K. single UK 129-B, 1976)
13. Walkin' to School (Unreleased 1976) (first issued on In for a Spin: The Best of the Kursaals, Edsel ED 142, 1985)
14. Route 66 (from Southend Rock, Sonet LP STNF 806, 1979)
15. Tennessee (Radio Session 1975)
16. Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Radio Session 1975)
17. Yellow Sox (Radio Session 1975)
18. Route 66 (Radio Session 1975)