The Clefs of Lavender Hill
were a rock band from Miami, FL who cut a single for a local label in 1966,
"First Tell Me Why"
b/w
"Stop! Get a Ticket."
While
was a fine bit of folk-rock, the single didn't do much until a Miami disc jockey played the energetic flip side on the air, and suddenly
"Stop! Get a Ticket"
became a smash hit in the Sunshine State.
Date Records
, a subsidiary of
Columbia Records
, snapped up the rights to the record and gave it a nationwide re-release; it peaked at a somewhat disappointing number 80 on the
Billboard
pop charts. A pair of follow-up singles fared poorly, and while
the Clefs
had gone into the studio with producer
John Simon
to record an album,
Date
opted to drop the band and the album was shelved, with the band calling it quits in 1967. The unreleased album from
the Clefs of Lavender Hill
has finally emerged 44 years after
pulled the plug, though this is more of a triumph for pop archaeology than the discovery of a lost classic.
The Clefs
were a fine band, tight and enthusiastic, particularly the brother-and-sister team of
Travis Fairchild
and
Coventry Fairchild
(real names
Joseph Ximenes
Lorraine Ximenes
), who were both fine guitarists, vocalists, and songwriters. Their original songs are easily the most interesting stuff on this album, and
"One More Time"
"You Don't Notice"
suggest
could have had more hits left in them; unfortunately, of the nine unreleased tunes only four were written by
the Fairchilds
, and the unremarkable covers of hits by the likes of
Donovan
,
Sonny & Cher
, and
Gary "U.S." Bonds
are little more than well-executed filler weighing down this release. And as great a single as
may be, how many people need three different versions of it on one album? Obsessive fans of '60s pop will be glad that
's body of work has finally been collected in one place, but ultimately this disc gives the impression this band never quite got the chance to reach its full potential in the studio, though the best of what's here is great, invigorating folk-rock. ~ Mark Deming