A poet, a comic, and a musician walk into a room...

The Scaffold was hardly an ordinary band.  In fact, it wasn't a band at all.  Yet Roger McGough, John Gorman, and Mike McGear (a.k.a. McCartney, a.k.a. Paul's younger brother) of Liverpool released singles on Parlophone produced by Sir George Martin, had a chart-topping hit, and sold out such esteemed venues as the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank.  Their thirteen-year time together outlasted The Beatles.  Now, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has released one of the year's zaniest and most delightful collections, the comprehensive 5CD/1DVD set appropriately entitled Box of Scaffold.

Post Office employee Gorman, English teacher McGough, and apprentice hairdresser McGear benefited from the media frenzy swirling around Liverpool in the wake of The Beatles' rise to fame; the trio were performing as part of a larger collective called the Liverpool One Fat Lady All Electric Show when ABC Weekend TV came calling.  The broadcaster was looking for performers to appear on the Saturday night chat and variety show Gazette.  The trio was chosen to appear each week and improvise a sketch in which they'd riff on the week's news.  They were christened Scaffold - per McGough in the liner notes to the new box, "We took the piss out of politicians and used to dress all in black with gloves, like executioners.  So The Scaffold was that."

Before long, music had joined poetry and sketch comedy in The Scaffold's act, although McGear was initially reticent.  His brother's success was "a hard act to follow," he acknowledged.  Though the group was originally represented by a literary agent, Brian Epstein expressed interest -in Mike as a pop singer.  When he declined to take that route, Epstein offered to manage The Scaffold.  The relationship didn't last long; the trio felt the Noel Gay theatrical agency was a better fit.  But Epstein launched their career with the Parlophone single "2 Day's Monday" b/w "3 Blind Jellyfish" in 1966, produced by George Martin.  Quirky, strange, and strangely catchy, it was certainly not chasing the pop chart.  Nor was its Charles Blackwell-helmed follow-up "Goodbat Nightman" with its superhero-themed wordplay.   The group wouldn't break through on the charts until McGear's "Thank U Very Much." The jaunty novelty began life as a ditty to thank the audience at the end of an evening and ended up making the U.K. top ten and the U.S. Hot 100.  A second hit would arrive in the form of "Lily the Pink," a jolly update of an old drinking song about the titular character's strange medicinal cure-all. Produced by Norrie Paramor and arranged by Mike Vickers, the track welcomed frequent Scaffold pal Andy Roberts on guitar, Clem Cattini on drums, and Cream's Jack Bruce on bass as well as Graham Nash, the then-Reg Dwight, and future Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita lyricist Tim Rice in the chorus!

Box of Scaffold presents the fascinating, funny, and offbeat output of the group between 1966 and 1977 including the complete albums Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (their first LP, 1968), L the P (1969), Fresh Liver (1973), and Sold Out (1975) plus all of the group's singles, a host of radio appearances, and even a rare 1969 BBC-TV special which ignited controversy over a Gorman monologue perceived as offensive to Catholics as well as McGough's poem musing on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - hardly typical fare for a cabaret show taped at Leicester Square's Talk of the Town.  (Although the McGough and McGear duo LP is not included, the album's "Do You Remember" - with Paul McCartney on piano - was released as a Scaffold single, and so it is featured here.)

Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall preserves a Scaffold show before music was a big part; the subsequent studio album L the P has one side of songs primarily by lyricist McGough and composer McGear (including some truly lovely and lightly psychedelic moments including "Jelly Coloured Cloud" with future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones playing) and one of often-surreal, sometime-serious comedy and poetry.  The latter side was recorded live at Abbey Road.  The Tim Rice-produced Island LP Fresh Liver would similarly have a Songs Side and a Words and Music Side; such familiar names as Neil Innes, Gerry Conway, Ray Warleigh, and Zoot Money all played on the album.

The musical merriment continues with a top 40 adaptation of a gibberish tune ("Gin Gan Goolie"), a Britcom theme ("Liver Birds"), groovy pop ("All the Way Up"), a funky dance craze parody ("Do the Albert [Hall]"), a goofy music hall spoof ("Knees Down Mother Brown"), and a wry novelty with folk harmonies and Tijuana Brass horns ("Promiscuity"), as well as a clutch of previously unreleased tracks ("You Can't Hide Away from Me," "Thanks a Million, Maximillian," "Hilary Clarissa Sniffleton," and others) in the humorous pop vein.

Though Scaffold disbanded in 1977, the threesome has occasionally reunited.  In 2020, they re-recorded "Thank U Very Much" to pay tribute to the U.K.'s National Health Service during the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2023, they took the stage in Bristol and Liverpool.

This set is housed in a clamshell case with each disc in an individual custom sleeve.  A 64-page page squarebound booklet has Mike Barnes' extensive liner notes and numerous photos and memorabilia images including album covers.  Box of Scaffold may be one of the year's most unexpected releases, but it's also one of the most overdue - this Liverpudlian music and comedy collective's works are still certain to bring a smile or a guffaw.   They're much more than a footnote in the Beatles' history.  It's available now at the links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

A Box of Scaffold (Esoteric ECLEC62893 (U.K.), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Early material

1. 2 Day's Monday
2. 3 Blind Jellyfish
3. Goodbat Nightman
4. Long Strong Black Pudding
5. Thank U Very Much
6. Ide B the First
7. Do You Remember?
8. Carry On Krow
9. Ten Whisky Bottles (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
10. Virginity (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
11. Son of Lent (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
12. Love Story (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
13. Old Folks (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
14. 2 Day's Monday (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
15. Father John (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
16. This Must Be Love (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
17. Poetry (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
18. Dear Diary (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
19. Thank U Very Much (Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall)
20. 2 Day's Monday (Saturday Club Session - 12/12/1967) *
21. Thank U Very Much (Saturday Club Session - 12/12/1967) *
22. Yellow Book (Top Gear Session - 3/10/1968) *
23. Carry On Krow (Top Gear Session - 3/101968) *
24. Do You Remember? (Top Gear Session - 3/10/1968) *

Tracks 1-2 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5443, 1966
Tracks 3-4 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5548, 1966
Tracks 5-6 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5643, 1967
Tracks 7-8 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5679, 1968
Tracks 9-19 released as Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall - Parlophone PCS 7051 (U.K.), 1968

CD 2: L the P and bonus tracks

1. 1-2-3
2. Oh, To Be a Child
3. Stop Blowing Those Charity Bubbles
4. I Can't Make You Mine
5. Today
6. Jelly Covered Cloud
7. Lily the Pink
8. Fancy Goods
9. The Little Plastic Mac
10. Bucks
11. 10.15 Thursday Morning
12. Father John
13. Tim
14. Birds
15. Poems: a. The Russian Bear/b.  Discretion/c. My Busseductress/d.  Naughty Girl
16. Boxes
17. Lily the Pink (Top Gear Session - 1968) *
18. Jelly Covered Cloud (BBC Session - 1969) *
19. Gagster (BBC Session - 1969) *
20. Stop Blowing Those Charity Bubbles (BBC Session - 1969) *
21. The Buttons of Your Mind
22. Goose
23. Charity Bubbles

Tracks 1-16 released as Parlophone PCS 7077 (U.K.), 1969
Track 21 released on "Lily the Pink" U.K. single - Parlophone R 5734, 1969
Tracks 22-23 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5784, 1969

CD 3: Singles and Rarities

1. Gin Gan Goolie
2. Liver Birds
3. All the Way Up
4. Please Sorry
5. Bus Dreams
6. If I Could Start All Over Again
7. Do the Albert
8. Commercial Break
9. Knees Down Mother Brown
10. You Can't Hide Away from Me *
11. Thanks a Million Maximillian *
12. Hilary Clarissa Sniffleton *
13. Promiscuity
14. In My Liverpool Home
15. Bored As Butterscotch
16. Happy Song *
17. Little Song and Dance Man *
18. One Man Went to Mow *
19. Uptown Downtown
20. Kyria
21. (Take Off Your Little) Wooley Vest
22. Take It While You Can
23. Burke and Hare

Tracks 1-2 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5812, 1969
Tracks 3-4 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5847, 1970
Tracks 5-6 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5866, 1970
Tracks 7-8 released as Parlophone U.K. single R 5922, 1971
Track 9 released on Thank U Very Much - Bell 6018 (U.S.), 1968
Tracks 13-14 and 19-23 released on The Scaffold At Abbey Road - EMI 72434 96435 2 9 (U.K.), 1998
Track 15 released on Woman - Island ILPS 9191 (U.K.), 1972

CD 4: Fresh Liver (released as Island ILPS 9234 (U.K.), 1973)

1. Knickers
2. Devon's Dead
3. Plenty of Time
4. Fagorf
5. Fax n' Figgers
6. Nuclear Band
7. W.P.C. Hodges
8. Knickers
9. Aren't We All?
10. Twist
11. Psychiatrist
12. Deep North
13. Fish
14. Fish Friars
15. S.S
16. I Remember
17. B Side Yourself with Plod (A Message for Plod Specials) (B-side to Island U.K. single WIP 6151, 1973)

CD 5: Sold Out and bonus tracks

1. Liverpool Lou
2. Potato Clock
3. Mingulay Boating Song
4. Ramsbottom
5. Beilins Boneyard
6. Liverpool Girls
7. The Cokey Cokey
8. Pack of Cards
9. Mummy Won't Be Home This Christmas
10. Leaving of Liverpool
11. Julery Shop Leslie
12. Lord of the Dance
13. Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam
14. The Wind is Blowing
15. Wouldn't It Be Funny If You Didn't Have a Nose
16. Mr. Noselighter
17. How D'You Do
18. Paper Underpants
19. 3 Shirts on a Line

Tracks 1-12 released as Warner Bros. K 56097 (U.K.), 1975
Track 13 released on "Liverpool Lou" U.K. single - Warner Bros. K 16400, 1974
Track 14 released on "Mummy Won't Be Home This Christmas" U.K. single - Warner Bros. K 16488, 1974
Tracks 15-16 released as Bronze single BRO 33 (U.K.), 1976
Tracks 17-18 released as Bronze single BRO 39 (U.K.), 1977
Track 19 released on Liverpool: The Number Ones Album - EMI 50999 519522 2 8 (U.K.), 2008

DVD: The Scaffold Live At The Talk of the Town, BBC TV - 1/24/1969

1. Introduction
2. Thank U Very Much
3. Birds
4. Yellow Book
5. Poems
6. Discretion
7. Early Morning Poems
8. 10.15 Thursday Morning
9. Do You Remember?
10. Chocolate Eclairs
11. Tim
12. Pack of Cards
13. Dear Diary
14. Lily the Pink
15. Thank U Very Much (promo video) (bonus)
16. Lily the Pink (Live on Music, Music, Music, BBC TV - March 1969) (bonus)