RockitRon
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 7646
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 Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:28 pm Post subject: Blue Mink and Madeline Bell |
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From a passing mention on the Trivia Zone
| MadeinSurrey wrote: | | (I loved Blue Mink - Madeline Bell's vocals and great songs - when do we ever hear them on R2? ) |
| SantafeFan wrote: | | ( Blue Mink.. not a fan myself. All I remember of them was Melting Pot and Banner man..... both a little naff for my ears.. ) |
They were a favourite of mine at the time, and I actually looked up Madeline Bell on the web only the other day.
They were one of a number of bands formed of session musicians who had hits with very commercial pop songs, but the sound and production quality was a step or three up from the likes of Edison Lighthouse, White Plains, Butterscotch
etc.
Roger Cook and Madeline Bell's distinctive vocals were a cut above as well, Herbie Flowers on bass (yes, I know he was largely responsible for Clive Dunn's "Grandad" but he was also in Sky), Barry Morgan on drums, Roger Coulam on organ (note, no guitarist), later replaced by Ray Cooper and Anne Odell respectively.
A lot of songs from the Cook-Greenaway sausage machine, with less than subtle moral messages - my mother hated with a vengeance Melting Pot with its "let's all get together and make coffee-coloured people" lines. Good Morning Freedom and Our World followed, before they switched record companies and went really silly (Randy, Wacky Wacky Wacky) and corny (Banner Man, Stay With Me).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2hZM6IYYEk&feature=related
Melting Pot has since been done by Culture Club and Boyzone 
Madeline Bell went solo and enjoyed a fair reputation, if no great commercial success, as an R&B/gospel singer. She spends most of her time in Holland/Belgium these days but does the occasional gig over here. She has a website - http://www.madelinebell.com/ The albums listed there can only be downloaded from i-Tunes, unless you go to see her in concert; one of her old albums from the 60s, "Doin' Things", which contains her versions of Step Inside Love and To Sir With Love, can be bought on CD from Amazon or RPM Records.
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Ron |
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