Biography
In 1967 Sweet Feeling issued their lone single, coupling “All So Long Ago” with “Charles Brown.” The top side offered a serviceable Kinks-styled number that echoed the everyday-British-life vignettes Ray Davies was then composing, yet the flip proved far more arresting. “Charles Brown” delivered unsettling British psychedelia through its tale of an ordinary family man, an unsettling melody, and some of the most disorienting backwards tape effects found on any rock 45 of that year.
Beyond that lone release lies the convoluted path by which Sweet Feeling transformed into the modestly better-known mod-psych outfit Rupert’s People. Their manager, Howard Conder—a onetime drummer with the Barron Knights and the Moontrekkers who had also cut sessions for producer Joe Meek—commissioned Sweet Feeling’s songwriter and guitarist Rod Lynton to recast “Charles Brown” with fresh lyrics and a new melody. Retitled “Reflections of Charles Brown,” the revision drew its central theme from Bach’s Air on a G String and adopted a noticeably softer, more optimistic mood. Conder next enlisted Les Fleur de Lys, a band that had already issued several creditable mod-rock singles without scoring a hit, to lay the track down in an arrangement recalling early Procol Harum. The group also taped a B-side, “Hold On,” but afterward refused further involvement with Conder. The single nevertheless appeared and has since been prized by collectors as one of the stronger obscure British psychedelic 45s.
Conder’s initial scheme called for Sweet Feeling themselves to adopt the name Rupert’s People so a ready-made act could promote the record. When the musicians declined, he assembled a different lineup centered on singer Chris Andrews—distinct from the mid-’60s U.K. hitmaker of the same name—who had already performed on the “Reflections of Charles Brown” session. Ex-Merseybeats drummer Johnny Banks and Tony Dangerfield, who had recorded under his own name and played with Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages, completed the short-lived unit, which produced nothing that saw release. Conder then approached Sweet Feeling once more with the name-change proposal; this time they agreed. The revamped group issued two further singles during 1967–1968. Both tracks from Sweet Feeling’s original 45 later appeared on the Rupert’s People anthology The Magic World of Rupert’s People.
Beyond that lone release lies the convoluted path by which Sweet Feeling transformed into the modestly better-known mod-psych outfit Rupert’s People. Their manager, Howard Conder—a onetime drummer with the Barron Knights and the Moontrekkers who had also cut sessions for producer Joe Meek—commissioned Sweet Feeling’s songwriter and guitarist Rod Lynton to recast “Charles Brown” with fresh lyrics and a new melody. Retitled “Reflections of Charles Brown,” the revision drew its central theme from Bach’s Air on a G String and adopted a noticeably softer, more optimistic mood. Conder next enlisted Les Fleur de Lys, a band that had already issued several creditable mod-rock singles without scoring a hit, to lay the track down in an arrangement recalling early Procol Harum. The group also taped a B-side, “Hold On,” but afterward refused further involvement with Conder. The single nevertheless appeared and has since been prized by collectors as one of the stronger obscure British psychedelic 45s.
Conder’s initial scheme called for Sweet Feeling themselves to adopt the name Rupert’s People so a ready-made act could promote the record. When the musicians declined, he assembled a different lineup centered on singer Chris Andrews—distinct from the mid-’60s U.K. hitmaker of the same name—who had already performed on the “Reflections of Charles Brown” session. Ex-Merseybeats drummer Johnny Banks and Tony Dangerfield, who had recorded under his own name and played with Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages, completed the short-lived unit, which produced nothing that saw release. Conder then approached Sweet Feeling once more with the name-change proposal; this time they agreed. The revamped group issued two further singles during 1967–1968. Both tracks from Sweet Feeling’s original 45 later appeared on the Rupert’s People anthology The Magic World of Rupert’s People.