Souvenir Badge Factory

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

When I met my wife in '68, it was our mutual love of FC that got us together. There was a dark distant story -just brought to mind -by a close friend that that we've since got in contact with. My wife was friends with a girl who was romantically linked with the drummer in the above band. Apparently, he replaced Martin Lamble, when he left for FC. I've searched google and found that they dropped the' Souvenir Badge' part of the name, to become The Factory, and released an album.  Interestingly, they do a version of Mr Lacey on this album. Just wondered if anyone has heard the album, or knows anything of them.

[jude]

I will ask Kingsley Abbott...

[davidmjs]

The only thing I could find online was this on Copey's site

http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1680/

[jude]

Kingsley had no memory of the band and he would probably know as he was at school with Martin and they were very good friends, but I have just forwarded David's link to him to see if that rings any bells..

[davidmjs]

Hmmmm.  It's pleasant enough but doesn't do much for me, I'm afraid.  Trying just too hard to sound 'lysergic' in my humble...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xMGH1Ue8UA

There is an extended mix, but I wasn't brave enough.

 

[Addie]

From Vernon Joynson's Tapestry of Delights

Originally known as The Souvenir Badge Factory, this band's two 45s are classic slices of British Psychedelia. Path Through A Forest is unusual for it's distorted vocals, whilst the vocals on Try A Little Sunshine are more poppy but it features some great guitar work. These 45s are now very sought after by collectors of psychedelia and expect to pay in excess of £100 for either. Gone the flip side to their first 45, was a cover of a track from a Paul Revere and The Raiders album. Both sides of their second 45 were written by studio engineer John Pantry.

And I have to say, I quite liked it. Reminds me of early 90's stoner rock.

[jude]

From Vernon Joynson's Tapestry of Delights

Originally known as The Souvenir Badge Factory, this band's two 45s are classic slices of British Psychedelia. Path Through A Forest is unusual for it's distorted vocals, whilst the vocals on Try A Little Sunshine are more poppy but it features some great guitar work. These 45s are now very sought after by collectors of psychedelia and expect to pay in excess of £100 for either. Gone the flip side to their first 45, was a cover of a track from a Paul Revere and The Raiders album. Both sides of their second 45 were written by studio engineer John Pantry.

And I have to say, I quite liked it.

have just been told it now goes for around £900  

[Addie]

 

That was written in 1995, not a bad investment is it. Wish I had a couple of copies.  

[jude]

 

That was written in 1995, not a bad investment is it. Wish I had a couple of copies.  

Ummm that was in 2007,

2 copies of 'Try a little sunshine' were sold in 2009, one for £1660 and one for £2250

Gulp! might be worth checking the loft......

[Bob Barrows]

Hmmmm.  It's pleasant enough but doesn't do much for me, I'm afraid.  Trying just too hard to sound 'lysergic' in my humble...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xMGH1Ue8UA

There is an extended mix, but I wasn't brave enough.

 

Thank you so much for that link. Not for the Factory clip of which I was well aware from the British Nuggets box set, but for the Fever Tree stuff I had never heard, beyond Return of the Native (San Francisco Girls) - fab song. I had despaired of hearing any of their other stuff ...

Oh! and did you listen to the Kaleidoscope stuff? Not the US Kaleidoscope (David Lindley's first group - they did the massive Beacon From Mars)

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

Thanks for all that input.  My wife was working, with the said girlfriend, in Kingston, Surrey, and she seems to remember the band being based in Wimbledon (Sandy territory). Which ties in, because Wimbledon is only about 5 miles from Kingston. I'd love to hear their version of Mr Lacey.

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

Hmmmm.  It's pleasant enough but doesn't do much for me, I'm afraid.  Trying just too hard to sound 'lysergic' in my humble...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xMGH1Ue8UA

There is an extended mix, but I wasn't brave enough.

 

Thank you so much for that link. Not for the Factory clip of which I was well aware from the British Nuggets box set, but for the Fever Tree stuff I had never heard, beyond Return of the Native (San Francisco Girls) - fab song. I had despaired of hearing any of their other stuff ...

Bob, I had 2 Fever Tree albums on vinyl from the late 60s, and you can imagine my delight when I found that they'd both been released on a 2 on 1 cd..  It's on See for Miles catalogue no. SEECD364. If you want a copy, send me a message.  I've seen your posts, and know that you like 60s psychedelia. Have you heard SRC and Savage Resurrection?  Both of these I can recommend.

[arie]

There's a copy of "PATH THROUGH THE FOREST" on Ebay
No bidding required, just "buy it now" for 1299 euro

[Dave Brzeski]

Having now heard their version of Mr Lacey, I have to say it sounds astonishingly like you'd expect an early '70s Status Quo version to sound.

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

There's a copy of "PATH THROUGH THE FOREST" on Ebay
No bidding required, just "buy it now" for 1299 euro

Is that all?  Must order one right away!!!!!!!!  

[ThomA]

Path Through The Forest is an incredible song.  I'm gonna be listening to my Nuggets II box set all afternoon now.  Thanks for the prompt!

[Col D]

The original singles may be out of most people's reach financially but have been issued on CD a couple of times. It should still be possible to track down the 1994 CD on Bri-Tone that collected the A and B sides of both together with the demos of Mr Lacey and Family's Secong Generation Woman, both taken from acetates. The more recent issue on Guerssen adds an alternative version of 'Path Through the Forest' with additional effects.

'Try a Little Sunshine' is an absolute classic slice of Brit psych, one of my all-time favourite singles, while 'Path Through the Forest' was an early Clifford T Ward song.

[Dave Brzeski]

Indeed, there's a 2 disc compilation of early Clifford T Ward, which I'd love to hear, not only because it includes his own version of that song. There's also a CD called The Factory - The Complete Story!, which I believe is a bootleg. It contains all the tracks on the other collection, plus various tracks by vaguely related bands... Peter & The Wolves, Norman Conquest & The Bunch*. The trouble is the inserts give zero information about which is which. I downloaded a copy & had to spend some time researching to work it out.

The Paths Through The Forest CD is available at amazon.co.uk for £13.99, which is a wee bit steep for just 6 very short tracks, but I suppose that is all there was, so we can't really complain. It's never likely to be a big enough press run for copies to be sold much cheaper.

* Obviously not the Bunch we all know about, but another interesting bit of synchronicity.

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

Indeed, there's a 2 disc compilation of early Clifford T Ward, which I'd love to hear, not only because it includes his own version of that song. There's also a CD called The Factory - The Complete Story!, which I believe is a bootleg. It contains all the tracks on the other collection, plus various tracks by vaguely related bands... Peter & The Wolves, Norman Conquest & The Bunch*. The trouble is the inserts give zero information about which is which. I downloaded a copy & had to spend some time researching to work it out.

The Paths Through The Forest CD is available at amazon.co.uk for £13.99, which is a wee bit steep for just 6 very short tracks, but I suppose that is all there was, so we can't really complain. It's never likely to be a big enough press run for copies to be sold much cheaper.

* Obviously not the Bunch we all know about, but another interesting bit of synchronicity.

I'd better start saving Dave!