B.B. Blunder

B.B. Blunder's history remains unusually tangled for a band that lasted only briefly and attracted scant attention. Formed as a splinter project from the Blossom Toes—an acclaimed underground British rock outfit of the 1960s celebrated for its witty psychedelic pop alongside a denser, twin-lead-guitar approach—the group took shape after the parent band dissolved at the close of the decade. Guitarist Brian Godding and bassist Brian Belshaw kept performing together, occasionally collaborating with vocalist Julie Driscoll, who was also Godding's sister-in-law. Drummer Kevin Westlake, already known for his work on the Blossom Toes' debut LP, soon completed the lineup, and the resulting trio cut an album that featured additional vocal contributions from Driscoll.

Although the project might logically have retained the Blossom Toes name, its musical character diverged markedly from the earlier recordings. The compositions tended toward loose, unfocused structures, while the main points of interest lay in the densely overdubbed guitars, which carried a distinctive just-post-Abbey Road atmosphere and included extended electric-acoustic stretches that approached jam territory. Released in 1971 under the title Workers Playtime, the album gained a live associate when Reg King—previously a member of the mid-1960s cult mod group the Action—joined for performances. The venture quickly stalled, however. Westlake departed shortly afterward; additional musicians came aboard, among them Reg King's brother and fellow Action alumnus Bam King; and the band disintegrated by the end of 1971. Further complicating matters, Decal reissued the lone album in 1989 as New Day, crediting the music to "Blossom Toes '70 (formerly B.B. Blunder)." That attribution explains why the recording continues to appear in the Blossom Toes discography.