(from left) Danny Mansolino, Dave Palmer, Rick Philp, Charlie Larkey, Myke Rosa
| (Updated March 7, 2007)
A band with three rarely heard 45s and little chart action, but there's a lot more to the story of the Myddle Class than the releases suggest. They started in suburban New Jersey, originally calling themselves the King Bees, but changed to the Myddle Class after a New York band called the King Bees had a release on RCA. Five eighteen-year-olds: Dave Palmer lead singer, Rick Philp guitar, Danny Mansolino organ, Charles Larkey bass and Myke Rosa on drums. Their first 45 is a nice pop number, "Free as the Wind", with a moody garage version of Dylan's "Gates of Eden" on the flip that I think is the best garage cover of Dylan ever done. Their second, "Don't Let Me Sleep Too Long" was a #2 hit on WPTR in Albany during the summer of '66. The ballad flip is a driving slice of cool teenage angst, "I Happen to Love You", and probably their best recording. Supposedly it was written for the Monkees but they passed on the song. Their loss, but a revamped version of Them without Van Morrison did an effective cover of it first on Ruff Records then picked up by Tower. "Don't Let Me Sleep Too Long" was actually taken from the Blues Project's "Wake Me, Shake Me". The Blues Project recorded a demo in January and then a finished version of thern, they stole their closing song! Nobody really even heard The Myddle Class theft in the US outside of New York City. The Blue song in the fall that was used for their album Projections. The Myddle Class beat them to first release by putting their 45 out in the summer! Al Kooper states, "The Blues Project let The Myddle Class open for them as a favor and in retus Project’s version of Wake Me, Shake Me was the big version in the US and influenced a lot of young bands." True, but for many teenagers who heard the record that summer, the Myddle Class recording will always remain THE version of the song. When this Myddle Class 45 was reissued on the Buddah label, "Al Kooper and the Blues Project" were credited for the arrangement. What else makes this band interesting? Well, their singer Dave would get so emotional onstage that he would faint (for real!). They recorded demos of Goffin/King material for the Monkees and their arrangements were adopted note for note by the Monkees' session producers. Charlie Larkey later played with the Fugs. Oh yeah, Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison played their first show as the Velvet Underground and their first with Maureen Tucker on drums opening for the Myddle Class at Summit High School in New Jersey on December 11, 1965. (A review of the Velvet Underground's portion of the show is here.) Supposedly a tape of the show exists, or did at one time. Their manager Al Aronowitz wrote an extremely funny and interesting account of trying to break the band into the charts, read it here. I recommend it as it gives a lot more of the details and personality of the band than I can convey here. Al Aronowitz convinced the team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King to produce the band and write material for them. They had one last 45 on a revamped Tomorrow (on a blue label, distributed by Cameo instead of Atco now): "Don't Look Back" backed with the superb "Wind Chime Laughter", released without promotion when Allan Klein took over Cameo-Parkway and ousted the band's reps at the label. When that sank, the band split. Any future chances were dashed when guitarist Rick Philp was murdered by his roommate in Boston in May of '68. Bach's Lunch was a girl group (no one seems to know who the members were) who released this great Rick Philp and Dave Palmer song "You Go On" with the Myddle Class backing them. Scott at Crud Crud wrote up a fine appreciation of the Bach's Lunch record which I recommend reading. The Myddle Class also recorded some demos for Goffin and King, three of which have been released sporadically. Aronowitz was offering a cassette copy of an unreleased LP by the band called One Time Only through his website, but he passed away on August 1, 2005. I had no idea what was on this tape until recently (many thanks MD for making a copy for me.) The track list is below in the comments. I'm posting some of the songs because I know people are interested, but I'm leaving out a few which are covers, incomplete or less interesting, and also their version of "I Can't Make It Alone", which is excellent but marred by a glitch in the tape. Supposedly a legitimate release of their material is languishing because of legal troubles. It's a shame, as I can't think of another band that deserves a retrospective more than these guys. their three 45s: demos/unissued songs: Thanks to Lyn Nuttall for the Al Kooper quote, check out his fascinating site on the sources of Australian pop records. |
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myddle class
is this the same dave palmer who sang briefly with steely dan?