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"March of the Luddites" is a catchy instrumental whilst "Salute the stars" is a highly unusual tribute record to many of the film stars of yesteryear. Both Rob and Nigel are avid film buffs so it was
probably only a matter of time before they came up with this idea. Once again, the talented John K Wells will be promoting both of these titles on YouTube with his enigmatic videos.
In September we had a nice surprise. Don Powell, (formerly Slade's drummer), got in touch with our Nige, (one of his oldest friends), and said he'd be over from Denmark for a brief visit to
record his latest pop video. Although it was only a brief catchup, Nige went over to Kidderminster and spent some time with his old buddy. Here's a shot of them together.
So, as promised, let me continue the story of the different names the boys came up with over the years. After 'Heavy Cochran' they did stick mainly with the two band names , 'Stavely Makepeace',
and 'Lieutenant Pigeon', but there were the odd exceptions when they recorded, usually with other artistes, under pseudonyms. For example, John Astor, backed by the boys, sang the lead vocals on
one of the Comet Records releases, "Hello Mary Lou". This came out under the name 'Oakie'.
Oddly enough, a couple of years after Lt Pigeon had performed for the last time, Nige went back 'on the road' with a small band that took up the name 'Oakie'. This was because they thought it was such a good name.
It wasn't until many years later however that Rob and Nigel started issuing tracks that didn't fit any particular genre, with spoof names. For example they did a track called, "We love the English" featuring the
late Eddie McGarry on vocals along with Rob and Nigel. This they released under the name 'The Strapping Jocks'.
Then there were other tracks released under spoof names, such as 'Norfolk & Goode', 'The Flying Zandels' and 'Webster Levington'. However, after the turn of the century, when Rob discovered what they later referred
to as the 'chop' sound, they recorded several tracks using this new process under the name 'The Binj'd Rinkas'. By far the best of these was "The Ghost Express". This came out in 2005 but sadly got very little exposure.
Should this track ever see the light of day again it would certainly turn heads!
In latter years, although Rob and Nigel have constantly played around with various humorous name changes, the old two favourites have prevailed.
So, all that remains for this year is for me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and to look forward to what 2025 may bring with it.
The very best, Bill Boswell.
However, there is some good news. The boys have been active in the studio again and have come up with a baker's half dozen of new tracks.
(We make that six and a half new songs. The 7th isn't yet complete!) These recordings will be issued gradually over the coming months, most accompanied by excellent YouTube videos produced by John K Wells.
In fact the first of these, "Where is my cash" by Lieutenant Pigeon, is already up and running.
I will continue the story of the different band names over the next couple of Newsletters.
One bit of sad news. We have learned of the death of violinist Owen John. Owen replaced Steve Tayton in the Stavely line up in 1971 and although he didn't stay long, he became a valued member of the group.
R.I.P Owen
More soon, Bill Boswell.
Back in the late 1970s, when Rob and Nigel were setting up their own "Comet" record label, they were introduced to an Irish chap called Des Dolan. Des already had his own record label which he ran with another
Irish chap called Gerry McCabe. This was called Unigram Records.
Des was a great help to the boys as they set up Comet and he gave them valuable advice about the complicated issue of distribution. (Getting the records onto the shelves of retailers).
However, I'm going off on a bit of a tangent as none of this affected or included Heavy Cochran. In fact it was another friend of Des's who ran Psycho Records who wanted an outrageous record to rival the punk which was current flavour of the month.
Des introduced Nigel and Rob to Psycho and the result was a record, (made by the boys), called, "I've got big balls (of resentment)".
It was an outrageous track but in no way did Rob and Nigel want the names of either Stavely Makepeace or Lieutenant Pigeon associated with it. Hence the birth of this imaginary character Heavy Cochran. (A bit of a pun on Eddie Cochran) Oddly enough this single did well in the clubs even without ever actually appearing in the charts. However, the follow up, "I've got a little prick (of conscience)" fared much worse and so 'Heavy Cochran' went into permanent retirement!
Years later both Rob and Nigel confided in me that they hoped none of the Heavy Cochran vinyl survived!!
I will be giving you another story in the' "Other names", series before 2023 is out. Meanwhile keep on rocking!
The very best, Bill Boswell.
One day, probably around 2002/3, the boys were working in the studio when they stumbled across a weird phenomena. They'd been using the "gate" on previous recordings but found out that day that by
swelling a "slap back" echo whilst gating the track it produced the weirdest of effects. Any track could be treated this way. With some it sounded great whereas with others it didn't work at all.
They christened this new sound "The Chop"
Because this new sound was different to anything they'd created before they decided to try it out under the spoof name of "The Binj'd Rinkas". The first release using the chop sound was, "The Ghost Express".
This came out in 2005 and was a great success. In fact it is one of our biggest download tracks to this day!
Next time I will explore another of their adventurous 'off the beaten track' names, Heavy Cochran so don't go away!
Best wishes, Bill Boswell.
First bit of news for 2023 is that renown film producer and archive transport historian John K Wells will shortly be taking control of the Lieutenant Pigeon Facebook page.
This is a welcome development for us all as it has fallen into 'disrepair' of late and badly needs attention. Fingers crossed that Facebook will now provide regular updates
and will give a platform for those of you who send in many questions about the two bands.
Secondly, for those of you who have yet to discover it, there is a TV Channel out there for all of us "older" ones called, Talking Pictures TV".
It is a truly magnificent TV channel and not only does it show many old films but it also has a weekly show called, The Footage Detectives, in which it shows archive home movies and amateur films from the past.
Recently it has shown some of our affiliated company's films of archive transport. (This company is called Ranwell Video and we run it in tandem with the Lt Pigeon website.)
Through this new contact we have managed to get touch with one of the presenters, Mike Read. Mike was a radio One DJ back in the day so the boys had already met him.
He very kindly gave a good plug to the new Lt Pigeon Album, "The Decca Years", (now out on Cherry Red Records), on the February 5th edition of his show. Look out for the repeat which should go out on Monday March 6th at 5pm.
Well, that's about it for now. Let's hope this mild spell of weather continues!
Best, Bill B.
I spoke to both Nigel and Rob about the forthcoming release and both were quick to welcome the issue of this album but weren't so happy with some of the early titles that Cherry Red Records had selected.
Titles like, "The Monkey Song" and "You're getting too old for Toys". They told me these titles should be quietly retired from the public domain!! However, as the old saying goes, "The good the bad and the ugly".
They all are part of history and therefore have a part to play.
As a link with today Cherry Red have included last year's single release, "Home on the Rage".
This is great news as the song has great potential and both Rob and Nigel feel that given the right exposure this track could be massive.
Let's hope they're right!!
Happy New Year, Bill Boswell.
The spin offs from the publicity given to the band by the '50 years of Lt Pigeon' exhibition at the Coventry Music Museum have been many and varied. Many national newspapers have covered the anniversary of 'Mouldy Old Dough'
getting to number one, including both the Guardian and the Times, and, possibly it's a coincidence, but New Zealand TV have been using our biggest hit in a programme called, "Kura Season 3".
Lieutenant Pigeon have always had a bond with Australia and New Zealand and some records that didn't make it over here were big hits 'down under'. Biggest of these of course was, "I'll take you home again Kathleen".
Lastly some late, and very welcome news from DJ Nick Prince. Nick tells us that "Home on the Rage"has just made it to number 12 in the CBUK Airplay charts! This bodes well for the new year, which we are now all looking forward to.
The very best Bill Boswell.
Bitter sweet for Rob and Nigel who both tell me there are tracks on there they'd rather forget! However, they accept that it's all part of history -- which can never be rewritten --
and it will be a legacy for posterity of those 1970 years. As a bonus Cherry Red have agreed to include the boys' latest single which is called, "Home on the Rage".
This is a tongue in cheek portrayal of the rigours a learner driver faces in today's mad world of driving. John K Wells is also going to produce a madcap video using this track which he will put on YouTube. Watch this space!
As previously mentioned, Will Hodgkinson's magnificent book, "In Perfect Harmony", is to be released with a bang at the Temple of Arts and Music in London on Sept 15th.
He is even launching it with one of the Lieutenant Pigeon tracks, "Perfect Harmony".
The guest list for this reception includes many of the stars of the 'Glam Rock Era', including our Rob and Nige. Sadly he fears that many will cry off if the
rail strike planned for that day isn't cancelled. So it's fingers crossed on that one!
Both the new Stavely Makepeace single, ("The Truth is in there Somewhere"), and, the Lieutenant Pigeon one, ("Home on the Rage"), will be available as download through all the big streaming companies very soon.
As regards CD copies, we may produce them on request but CD sales in general of late have been so low that it may not be viable to do a production run on them.
More soon. The very best Bill Boswell.
PS... We have just been told that the Stavely M single is now available as a download!
Also, Will Hodgkinson, the famous journalist, has this book coming out in September in which we have helped fill in some past details for him. It should be a good read, especially for those of us who remember the 1970s!
Lastly there's another Stavely Makepeace single in the pipeline. The boys have broken away from their usual style somewhat for this track which is a mild protest song
about the brainwashing and propaganda we all suffer from our media and government. The title is "The Truth is in there Somewhere", and we hope it will make people think.
Incidentally, viewing figures for the "Mouldy Old Dough 50 years" video on YouTube have now topped 80,000. Not bad for something so far in the past eh!
The very best Bill Boswell.
Firstly our good friend Pete Chambers, curator of the Coventry Music Museum, has decided to devote the rest of 2022 to a Lieutenant Pigeon exhibition in his museum in honour of the
50th anniversary of the big hit, "Mouldy Old Dough". This has already opened and the press reception took place on February 18th, (exactly 50 years to the day since "Mouldy Old Dough"
was released). The exhibition opened to the public the following day.
Not only this but Pete has managed to get a blue heritage plaque placed on the building where "Mouldy" was recorded! The unveiling ceremony, with Rob and Nigel carrying out the unveiling,
also took place on February 18th. Both the BBC and ITV local news bulletins covered the event. Some of the filming, by kind permission of the current owners, was actually done inside the
old Woodward family home at 25 Kingsway where they had their recording studio all those years ago!
ITV Central News
BBC Midland News
As promised the celebratory Lieutenant Pigeon CD single, "All for one and one for all", is now ready for release and will come up on the Sales Page any time now.
Let's hope the rest of the year is as busy as these first 2 months have been!
The very best Bill Boswell.
Talking of "Mouldy Old Dough", tune into Channel 5 on November 5th and you might have a surprise. You will be transported back in time to those heady Glam Rock days,
when Lieutenant Pigeon ruled the roost, in a series about 1970s hit records. Click on this link
"RadioTimes.com" and you will see listings of the first two episodes of this musical extravaganza.
Talking of which, this Lt Pigeon track singing the praises of the city of Coventry, has been widely accepted as one of the main tunes to promote the City of Culture 2021 year.
If you've yet to hear it it is available as a download via all the major download sites
And, whilst we are on the subject of links, have a peep at this one.
"FaceBook Interview"
Don Powell, drummer with Slade, and an old pal of Rob and Nigel's, is currently recording a series of Zoom chats with many of the stars stars of yesteryear. Recently he reminisced with 'our Nige'.
Not too long to go 'til Christmas!!
Cheers. Bill B
As regular visitors to our site will have noticed we have tweaked a few things and updated the group biogs whilst the site was off line. As for other news,
thanks to Fab Radio UK's plugging of "Back Home in Coventry" by Lieutenant Pigeon, the single has made it into several 'on line' radio station's chart listings.
It's nice to see the song doing so well outside the limits of Coventry!
Talking of which, this Lt Pigeon track singing the praises of the city of Coventry, has been widely accepted as one of the main tunes to promote the City of Culture 2021 year.
If you've yet to hear it it is available as a download via all the major download sites
Lastly the boys have been working on the new single to celebrate next year's 50th anniversary of the 1972 No1 hit "Mouldy Old Dough". This will be called,
"All For One and One For All", and will feature the same raucous sound as the number one hit all those years ago. Look out for further news of this great track!
All for now. Bill B
On a brighter note, at last the Coventry City of Culture 2021 has arrived. Pete Chambers, the Curator of the Coventry Music museum, has submitted the Lieutenant Pigeon CD,
"Back Home in Coventry" to the official committee as a possible contender for the official theme for the year. Fingers crossed they adopt it!
The CD will be released on June 4th and has three other tracks, all based on a very local theme. One of these tracks, "Gosford Street Rag", was recorded by the group nearly 40 years ago!
Let's hope that this culture year will highlight many aspects of the plethora of local talent, both musical and otherwise.
More soon! Bill Boswell
There’s publicity in the pipeline too. Big MG Radio wish to feature an interview very soon and Colin Surey, who runs the Cozooks of Brixham Blog,
has dug deep into the archives whilst researching the “Decca World Of” series of vinyl LPs to discover more about the LP that never was. Namely “The World of Lieutenant Pigeon”.
This blog makes a very interesting read. Link to "LP excerpt"
There’s been no more CD releases in 2021 but we’ve experienced a welcome surge of downloads during this current lock down and there are still plans to issue, “Back Home in Coventry”,
as a CD on May 1st to coincide with the launch of the “Coventry City of Culture” year. So it’s all fingers crossed that this wretched pandemic will be over by then and we don’t slip into an Italian style “3rd wave”!
The very best Bill B.
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