94: THE HERD
From The Underworld/ Sweet William (Fontana, 1967)

THE past sure is a different country. Consider this: The Herd, with their pretty-boy looks and Carnabetian clobber, were groomed for stardom and aimed directly, some would say cynically, at the upper segment of the charts – much like yer average garden variety X-Factor contestant is today.

To this end, management and songwriting duo Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley endeavoured to hoist them into the top 10 with a song boasting undeniable commercial potential... so they wrote From The Underworld, based on the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, and didn’t even bother supplying a chorus. Can you imagine Simon Cowell coming up with a similar plan of action today for one of his proteges? Good on you if so, because I surely can’t.

Peculiar as all of this may seem 41 years down the line, the best bit about it is that Howard and Blaikley actually succeeded: From The Underworld reached number 6 in the charts in November 1967. The duo undeniably had a Midas touch of sorts at the time, supplying Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich with a string of enormous hit singles which, with hindsight, are among the oddest records ever to have captured the public imagination (Zabadak, anyone?).

As for The Herd, those toothy grins and double-breasted brocade jackets should not blind us to their merits. They were a great singles band for a kick-off (I Can Fly, Paradise Lost, Our Fairy Tale, I Don’t Want Our Loving To Die) and featured in their number not only Peter Frampton but also under-rated keyboardist Andy Bown, whose 1970 single Tarot (the theme from the TV series Ace Of Wands) can be found elsewhere in this top 100 list.

Bown’s day job for the past umpteen years has been with Status Quo, while the so-called ‘Face of ’68’ Peter Frampton followed up a spell at the sharp end of Humble Pie (alongside Steve Marriott) with a brief episode of global domination, when Frampton Comes Alive went supernova and the single Show Me The Way revealed what a guitar sounded like when fed through an oesophagus.

From The Underworld is a big, belting show-stopper from the days when arrangers thought nothing of lobbing kettle drums and equine trumpets into the mix. Will we ever hear its like again? I’d love to think so, but I’m not holding my breath.