This fabulous little find comes courtesy of regular blog
(and radio show) follower/contributor Stephen ‘Beany’ Green, who discovered
this, on cassette, on one of his regular charity shop forays and was kind
enough to send me a copy.
I can’t tell you much about Vincent Sings By Request,
as I’m told that no information about Vince or his fellow musicians accompanied
the tape. I’m on the fence as to whether Vince has employed a local pub band or
he’s singing to backing tracks, but maybe it’s a mixture of both. The band seems
pretty accomplished, although most of the material is of karaoke quality, complete
with obligatory washy synths. Some of the arrangements, although simple, are
markedly different to those you would hear on a karaoke CD, although the horn
section employed on a couple of the cuts sound like they have come straight off
an ‘instrumental hits’ collection. If cornered, I would guess that most of the
album was recorded in a single session with a keyboard and drum duo, with at least
two of the tracks, You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me and Too Young using
pre-recorded backing tracks or sampled brass.
I would also assume, from the choice of tracks, that there
is a Blackpool or Bolton connection: one of the songs, The Blackpool Belle,
was composed in 1975 by Bolton songwriters Howard Broadbent and Jimmy Smith and
recorded shortly after by local folk group the Houghton Weavers. Howard
Broadbent recorded his own version of the song in 1986, issuing it as a single
backed with another of his compositions, The Tram. Both songs appear on
Vincent’s cassette, which to me suggests that our Vince recorded his magnum
opus sometime after.
I have nothing else: I’ve spent literally minutes scouring local
online newspaper archives but cannot find a single mention of Vincent or his
album. Can anyone out there help? UPDATE, June 2021: I can now tell you, after being contacted by his grandson, that Vince's full name was Vincent Lorraine, and that he made other recordings. More information to follow!
Here are a couple of tracks to whet your whistle while we
wait for more information: I Just Called to Say I Love You and You
Don’t Have to Say You Love Me
Once again, thanks Beany! I love it!
Enjoy!
Download Called HERE
Download Love HERE
The inspiration for Count Arthur Strong? :-)
ReplyDeleteHi , I just found a copy in my collection vol 1 cassette , it looks rare carnt find a copy anywhere.my email is regmorton90@gmail.com if you want to see pictures , ill be putting cassette on ebay, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI miss my grandad dearly 🥲 was so lovely to hear his voice one more time x
ReplyDeleteI miss my grandad dearly, just to hear his voice again was so comforting 😢
ReplyDeleteFrom: Nikita Bartlett