Action – Brain

My favorite era in rock/pop music is probably the mid-sixties British singles that were released. Between The Who, Stones, Beatles, and Kinks you had some of the best rock/pop singles ever. Along with the other bands, it was a very creative time.

The Action was formed in North West London in 1963. After some member changes, they were signed to Parlophone to work with no other than George Martin. Despite that, they never had a hit. They did release four singles…a cover of A Land Of a 1000 Dances with the B side of “In My Lonely Room” in 1965.

They started off as a Mod band similar to The Who and Small Faces. The band released a second single  “I’ll Keep on Holding On” b/w “Hey Sah-Lo-Ney.” That was released in 1966. There is not a lot of info on the band so I emailed my UK friend Colin who is involved in two blogs Once Upon A Time In The Seventies and LOUD HORIZON. So a quick thank you to Colin… Also thanks to CB who sent me a link to the song that neither one of us had heard before.

I’ve added Colin’s research at the bottom for their original discography. This band sounded great but couldn’t get a foothold in the UK charts. That would be their last single. The song Brain was recorded in 1967-1968.

George Martin finally had to let them go because they could not get charting songs. They turned to more psychedelic in 1967 and they continued to record demos and shop the tapes. No other record company ever signed them so they went their separate ways.

In the 1980s a collection of their songs were released with the liner notes written by Paul Weller who was a huge fan. There was also a collection released in 2002 called Rolled Gold… take a listen. In 2018 everything they ever recorded was released in a set called Shadows and Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968.

The Action reunited in 1998 because of renewed interest… they played to a gathering of mods on the Isle of Wight. It went so well that they continued to play shows for the next few years, their last one being 2004’s Madstock.

Land of 1,000 Dances / In My Lonely Room .. Parlophone R5354 …. 1965 (Rare / Very Rare)

I’ll Keep on Holding On / Hey Sah-Lo-Ney ….Parlophone R 5410 ….1966 (Very Rare)

Baby You’ve Got It / Since I Lost My Baby……Parlophone R 5474……1966 (Very Rare)

**Never Ever / Twenty Fourth Hour Shadows & Reflection / Something Has Hit Me ….Parlophone R 5610 … 1967 (Very Rare) 

**  Also released as a Promo in the US ( Capitol P 5949)

They were then subsequently released again in 1981 / 82

(Thanks Colin!)

I’m going to include another song by them called Strange Roads. I like the intro and the lead guitar to this one. 

Brain

Take Your Brain, Its Time To Go
And You Dont Have Long To Go

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Hang Your Brain, Up In The Sky
Hang It Up, Hang It High

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Take Your Brain, Its Time To Go
And You Dont Have Long To Go

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Take Your Brain, Its Time To Go
And You Dont Have Long You Know

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

45 thoughts on “Action – Brain”

  1. A definite blast from the past. I vaguely remember this group from my radio days. I’ll have to read more about them, but wasn’t one of their guitarists Alan “Bam” King who played for Ace in the 1970s? I remember Ace from when they toured with Yes.

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    1. Steve…you have shocked me that you know them! Yes he was a guitar player for them…they had members to go through them but yea…this one I didn’t think anyone would know…. much less an American.

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      1. When I used to deejay, I would spend my off time scouring the radio stations’ archives. Record companies sent Not For Sale records that ended up in trash bins if they weren’t selected for air play. I found a lot of cool music in those bins, stuff that never made it to the airwaves. Some bins went back to the 1940s because no one wanted to haul it all to the local dump. That’s how I found UK stuff like Action and Mighty Baby, Warm Dust, and Bees Make Honey, whose members were connected with the early London music scene. Of course, I had to leave the US and go to Europe to learn more about the music I’d discovered in those bins. Now we have the Internet for that.

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      2. Did you end up keeping any of those instead of trashing them?
        Thanks for those names…I’ll check those out. I love listening to bands like that….just because they weren’t played at that time doesn’t mean they weren’t any good. If any other band comes to mind always drop by and let me know.
        Like I told Dave….Big Star wasn’t played either a lot but they are one of my favorite bands. I listened to The Action and liked a lot of their stuff…they recorded a lot of songs.

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      3. I kept some of my favorites, but I gave a lot away to help “turn on the masses” lol. It’s a shame that there were/are so many bands that got overlooked unless little girls were screaming over them. Greedy music promoters kept them underground if they weren’t pretty, and the bands who made airplay had to put up with bad press reviews if someone’s palm wasn’t properly greased with cash. But these bands still live and were influential on what was happening on the pub scene. The list is long and interconnects with the famous bands who were there and heard … and copied in some cases.
        I’ll certainly let you know of others who come to mind. I only mentioned the ones that connected to Action and Ace.

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      4. I’m glad you kept some…that would have been a waste throwing them away.
        You are right…it’s no telling what bands were overlooked in the very things you were talking about.
        No way does Janis Joplin get heard now…she didn’t have the look…and we would have missed one of the greats. So many bands like you said…didn’t have the breaks, looks, or a sound that a certain person was looking for.
        Thanks Steve…I appreciate it.

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      6. You didn’t hijack it…Colin…the more the merrier…always…. don’t ever think that…besides…take a look at Daves site today…I did much more than you did lol.
        Thanks so much for the link…I will check them out. I’ve covered mostly unknown bands from the 80s (because I didn’t like the top 40 of that time) so I love this stuff.

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    2. They also featured Martin Stone, who was in Savoy Brown who did better in USA than back home here in UK. (The band then eventually morphed into Mighty Baby – another underground UK band who are revered more now than in their day. (see link in Max’s next comment below.) 🙂

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      1. Mighty Baby led me to The Gods, which led me to Mick Taylor and back to John Mayall and the Stones, and on to Ken Hensley and Uriah Heep and Greg Lake and King Crimson and ELP and somehow to Jethro Tull. That was the beauty of music when I was a teenager and sharing all this with my friends and learning all I could from the music magazines. What a great era it was.

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  2. had never heard of them. Although the playing wasn’t bad, the two songs don’t really grab me that much – there was so much happening in Britain at that time, I guess you had to really be super to get noticed and be able to be paid attention to over here. Ultimately, sad that they failed but maybe its better that George Martin didn’t spend too much more time on them so he could be in the studio more with that other band he produced, that Liverpool one.

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    1. One of my favorite bands…Big Star didn’t get played at all…but they influenced…like this band influenced Paul Weller.
      These are more of their psychedelic songs so no they were never going to be #1.
      Oh George always made room for them lol…In their catalog there are some commerical songs….I just like psychedelic music.

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      2. Yes we do…I love discovery new old bands who didn’t get that chance…or things didn’t break right. I’m looking for the mid sixties British bands…at the same time as Ruby Tuesday and Day Tripper… around 65-66. The influence then was huge.

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      3. I like some…’Incense & Peppermints’ came on in the car last week & my sweetie was like ‘omg- what is this racket?’ and I was ‘one of my favorite songs of 60s’…but changed the station for her anyway.
        Weller’s a helluva talented guy to o add to Dee’s Grumpy Old Men band, so if he liked them there could be something there. Hearing 2 songs, one time each, hardly gives me a solid knowledge of them

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      4. Dude I have to say…I am astonished of the last three days… my Come and Get My Love…which I love got less attention…
        The Shocking Blue and The Action got more…that is encouraging anyway… but yea…I agree Weller deserves to be in Dekes grump band lol

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    1. Some of these were demos that were cleaned up afterwards. I was happy and surprised to see Paul Weller of the Jam really like them. So they had an impact if not on the charts. I like psychedelic music…not overly commercial…but I just like it.
      I’m going to have to learn how to spell psychedelic…lol…I have to google it everytime! I stories like this…although I’m sure the band members don’t.

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      1. Speaking of spelling but I have noticed spell check has gone haywire. The word option’s that pop up often don’t really relate to the word I’ve misspelled. Is it just me or has something changed?

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      2. No I have noticed that also…that is why I have looked things up…I use Grammarly now on my posts but it rarely works with comments…but it used to and the built in one did…but not now.

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    1. It got me also… very interesting band and they had a cross sections of sounds… in their early stuff you can hear the Small Faces.

      I do hear some Husker Du/Sugar in this now that you have said it.

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      1. Little Thunderclap Newman also. Listening to them right now. Sound mature for the time. ”Look At The View’ very Jam like. Man I missed these guys. Thing is it sounds fresh and not dated maybe because it’s good.

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  6. Yet another one that broke left and they should have broke right. So many who wound up driving a forklift at some shite factory when they could and should have been driven around in chauffeured limousines. Just cain’t catch the breaks. I like both songs, the talent is there… Heaps of info from Steve, that’s what these sites are all about.

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    1. Steve and Colin pretty much finished it for me…they gave most of the info. While I’m working I’m check out the bands Steve mentioned. The talent is there like you said. If you have Martin’s attention at that time…you had talent.

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  8. I like these two songs! Two members of The Action (vocalist Reg King and keyboarder Ian Whiteman) subsequently were in a psychedelic group called Mighty Baby who thanks to my German buddy I featured in my latest Sunday feature.

    He has sent me a bunch of out-of-left-field suggestions. In fact, he sent me some more stuff earlier today, which I haven’t had a chance to review yet! 🙂

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    1. Thanks Christian…I have been amazed this week on the feedback the Action got and Shocking Blue got Monday…two songs that no one had heard of…
      I like thses guys a lot…I LOVE finding these old bands…to me…this is my new music…I love that era.

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      2. I just can’t believe you mentioned this unknown band on Sunday!!!! CB was the same…we just talked about them how neither one of us had ever heard of or heard them….I know why!

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      4. If you look in these comments…one guy named Steve was a DJ in the early seventies…he knew The Action…he suggested 3 others. Bees Make Honey, Warm Dust, and Mighty Baby also!
        He knew about that guy in MIghty Baby….well two of them.

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      1. Max, you’ve inspired me to write about a local band from a few years back, tomorrow. I need to find out their current status, but I’ve been listening to the one album I have of theirs and it is kickazz!

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      2. That would be great Lisa…like obbverse said…this is what these blogs are all about…not only blogging about the well known. That is why the posts I like the most are Big Star and bands that didn’t get their chance.

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