crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
Posted on Jul 07 2018 01:26 PM
Here’s a short review from the New Musical Express 2nd August 1963.
AHAB & WAILERS
If you want to know just who Ahab and the Wailers are, I'm afraid I can't help you. They're keeping their identity a secret, but you can hear what they sound like playing "Cleopatra's Needle". A strong beat instrumental with some unusual sounds. Flip of this Pye release is "Neb's Tune," another rocker in similar style.
Side 1 Cleopatra's Needle (Larry Michael)
Side 2 Neb's Tune (Geller Steele)
Pye 7N 15553
Produced by Essem Sound Ltd (7 Hanover Street - off Regents Street Central London).
Why the name? I’ll go along with a YouTube commenter who said: “It´s a pun. Ahab´s the name of the whaler/captain in Moby Dick”.
Cleopatra's Needle? is the popular name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City.
Neb's Tune? It’s an Egyptian word for “master” or an old English word meaning “beak” sometimes a nickname for someone who has a large nose.
Who were the musicians? I’d hazard a guess Ted Taylor was on Clavioline as he had an unmistakable style. Ted was a BBC employee musician/presenter for BBC Children’s Television Studio “E” London from the mid 1950s. As well as some crazy wild Clavioline with his own band the Ted Taylor Four he also sessioned for the John Barry 7 and Burt Weedon.
The writers? Another comment from the net simply states “The Harold Geller Group” (and Singers). Harold Geller was an Australian-born American conductor and composer who also worked for BBC London at the same time as Ted Taylor. Famed his long running “Music While You Work” broadcasts with the Harold Geller Orchestra. He made quite a few records and I noticed one of them was also produced by Essem Sound Ltd.
While searching the web I came across this eBay auction for an old handbill from 1966: Ebay Link
The description.
Band Battle of The Year 1966 paper Handbill. Original First Printing mimeograph, not a reproduction. Featuring San Francisco Bay Area Bands : The Renovations - featured at Funtown U.S.A. Oakland, and The KEWB Band Battle; Ahab & The Wailers - featured with Johnny "G" of KEWB Radio; and a Mystery Group. Date: Saturday January 29,1966. Venue: Pedro Valley School, Pacifica, California. Sponsored by the Pacifica Little League. Handbill with some borders in fragile condition, saved from fire at the Band Managers home.
crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
Posted on Jul 09 2018 07:08 AM
I always strike an imaginary gong at the break!
I think Neb's Tune is probably what the Brit's would refer to as Fair Ground Music. I first heard it on "An Outbreak Of Twangin' - Phantom Guitars Vol. 2". It's a British instrumental comp with firm focus on lesser known bands and tunes. There is a good couple of handfuls of gems throughout the two CD's. A rough quality copy of vol.1 can be found on YouTube.
Of course I'd love to know who played guitar on Neb's Tune.
IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
Posted on Jul 21 2018 04:43 PM
Neb's Tune is indeed one of the great UK instrumentals, despite its great obscurity! But I was told some years ago by Alex Faide that it was the very first song learned and played by Los Twang! Marvels! I think that says a LOT about how great it is! I had another experience with it just a month ago at the Surfer Joe festival - I took a ride with my wife on the ferris wheel on the piazza, and as we were going around, the DJ below played Neb's Tune in between bands on stage. It really made the whole experience even better.
There are so many increible UK instros from the first half of the '60s - most sounding nothing like the Shadows - it's really a goldmine! I've got some 15 comps of UK instros, and they're loaded with gems. (I've also got some 10 CDs of various UK instro bands, Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, the Hunters, the Outlaws, the Dakotas, the Tornados, the Eagles, Sounds, Inc., the Phantoms, etc., all just fantastic.)
Below is the A-side of Neb's Tune, Cleopatra's Needle (which is not quite as good as its B-side, IMO). (My guess is that Neb in the title is Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, but that's all it is, a guess.)
Good guess about Ahab & the Wailers being the Ted Taylor Four, crumble! I think that's quite possible, if not even highly likely. And what a great band THEY were! Extremely underrated and unknown, but I'm also attaching a few of their tracks below, including Cat's Eyes and Haunted Pad (both covered by the Coffin Daggers in recent years).
crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
Posted on Jul 22 2018 07:28 AM
Hi Ivan, listening to Neb's tune at surfer-joe caught my ear as well, although in my case listening via the live stream. As you can see I tried to make sense of the song title and I also read a little about the Arab King Neb. According to Google Neb is not a name, well not in the western world. However my Father of northern English world wars stock had a friend called Neb. Poor old Neb, when nature was handing out components he definitely received several booby prizes including the most magnificent nose. I must add Neb had a great sense of humour and everyone loved him.
Another track which catches my ears from Phantom Guitars vol.1 is Bobby Taylor - Temptation. Bobby Taylor played along side Albert Lee in the Thunderbirds who backed Chris Farlowe. A 17 year old enthusiast called Jimmy Page recorded the band's first demo. Page was a huge Bobby Taylor fan and the demo has just been released. Bobby Taylor became Robert Tayman the actor. He has an acting school in LA. Oleg (Messer Chups) might know his work in "Vampire Circus"!
bigtikidude
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 25704
Anaheim(So.Cal.)U.S.A.
Posted on Jul 23 2018 09:45 AM
Thanks for all this info guys. It's threads like this that make SG101 great, I really miss these type of posts. FB has nothing like this.
Long live SG101.
IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
Posted on Jul 23 2018 11:28 AM
crumble wrote:
I forgot to mention the Alex Twang! Marvels factor Ivan spoke of, I'm blown away to hear that! Ha! amazing! Surfer Joe Festival 2009 Forever!
Los Twang! Marvels' set at the '09 Surfer Joe was one of my favorite surf music performances by anybody EVER!! I'm so glad there are a bunch of videos of that on YouTube, taken by Unsteady Freddie.
Here's a Ted Taylor Four video you might have missed - Juke Box Jury.
Wow! So, that's what Ted Taylor looked like? I had no idea. It's a shame, but I guess it's no surprise he didn't have more success. Definitely didn't look even remotely like a rock'n'roller! VERY talented guy, though, I hope he was able to have a good career as a musician.
crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
Posted on Jul 23 2018 12:06 PM
Ted started out as the Ted Taylor Trio in the mid 50s. His Clavioline collaborations extended to at least 5 John Barry 7 tracks and a Bert weedon track that I know of. I think he became more involved in BBC Television music. He appears in a late 1980s Benny Hill comedy sketch which was of interest to me because my father worked as a part time musician for the BBC at the same time and I remember him talking about the show. My Father died in 1990 and I believe both Hill and Taylor died in consecutive years after.
A couple of the Ted Taylor Four band had something to with Supersound Guitars.
crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
Posted on Jul 24 2018 02:21 PM
bigtikidude wrote:
Thanks for all this info guys. It's threads like this that make SG101 great, I really miss these type of posts. FB has nothing like this.
Long live SG101.
Absolutely and thanks for the kind comment.
I also created a thread about the Executives (No Room For Squares) which Matt enthused about. I enjoyed researching it, it reminds me that each and every tune has some kind of story behind it and that's quite something considering instrumental has little content compared to vocal songs. With "Executives - No Room For Squares" I made my own video because it wasn't available on YouTube and so far it has 39 views, the SG101 thread has 139 views. How I wish I could write like Tuck! he could really flow of the chart! I'll carry on if it's of interest or maybe not if not really surf worthy.
Brian
Joined: Feb 25, 2006
Posts: 19351
Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Posted on Jul 25 2018 08:49 AM
bigtikidude wrote:
Thanks for all this info guys. It's threads like this that make SG101 great, I really miss these type of posts. FB has nothing like this.
Long live SG101.
Yes, thank you Crumble for starting this thread. Whenever I think about throwing in the towel here a thread like this will pop up. Then I'll look at FB and see the truly awful and misinformed crap that goes on in the "surf music" groups there and change my mind.
May Birthdays 
Los Twang! Marvels' set at the '09 Surfer Joe was one of my favorite surf music performances by anybody EVER!! I'm so glad there are a bunch of videos of that on YouTube, taken by Unsteady Freddie. 
