"I’m Leaving" is particularly notable for having one of the first extended guitar feedback passages in a rock song.
"I’m Leaving" is particularly notable for having one of the first extended guitar feedback passages in a rock song.
Member Since: 23/03/2008
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The Mark Four...Their origins go back to 1963, as Jimmy Virgo & The Blue Jacks who included Jack Jones in their first line up. The band had just gotten a new lead singer, Kenny Pickett (who'd previously driven the van for Neil Christian & the Crusaders), and with the addition of a new lead guitarist, Eddie Phillips, they changed their name to the Mark Four.
The latter band got signed to Mercury Records' British division in 1964 but the resulting two singles featuring four different cover versions - Rock around the clock b/w Slow down and Try it baby b/w Crazy country hop failed to sell. Even as British audiences were finding their work quite resistible, however, German audiences were greeting their performances at the Big Ben Club in Wilhelmshaven with rousing enthusiasm.
It was during their extended residence in Germany that the band chanced to cross paths with a local band called the Roadrunners, who had attracted amazing local club attendance with their use of guitar feedback in their songs. Eddie Phillips made note of the effect and started working out how he might assimilate it into his playing.
In 1964 they began to form the basis of a Rock'n'Roll / R'n'B hybrid sound.
The Mark Four got a second crack at recording success with Decca Records, which resulted in a single of "Hurt Me (If You Will)" b/w "I'm Leaving." It also failed to sell, but it did establish the beginning of a new sound; on that record, Phillips introduced his own approach to guitar feedback. It was all a little too wild for Decca, which stuck the song on the B-side, but it was a beginning, of sorts. It also coincided with an ending, as the band's rhythm guitarist, Mick Thompson, and their bassist, John Dalton -- soon to join the Kinks, replacing Peter Quaife -- quit.
The Mark Four finished their history with a temporary lineup and one last single in early 1966. During the weeks that followed, Pickett and Phillips, along with drummer Jack Jones, held the group together and began rethinking their precise image and direction -- for a brief time, future superstar bassist Herbie Flowers even sat in with them.
The Mark Four soon located to London and found a manager, Tony Stratton-Smith who suggested the three piece add bassist Bob Garner to complete the line up. A producer was found in the form of Shel Talmy who had worked with the Who and Kinks in the past and was impressed with what he saw and signed them to his own Planet label.
Within a week of signing they were recording a single under a new name, The Creation which Pickett had found in a book of Russian poetry.
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