Costafine Town (Splinter) (LP 986 - 988)

Splinter  The Place I Love (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 1974) ****

Splinter  Harder To Live (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 1975) ***  

Splinter  Two Man Band (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 1977) ** 

Genre: pop/ rock; Dark Horse Records 

Places I remember: George Courts' music bar (K Road); Marbeck's Records; Taste Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Costafine Town (The Place I Love)

Gear costume: Somebody's City (The Place I Love); Half Way There (Harder To Live)

Active compensatory factors: Splinter is a duo (Bill Elliott and Bob Purvis) with solid gold Beatle connections. Bill Elliott had already appeared on an Apple Records' single as Bill Elliott and The Plastic Oz Band doing a couple of Lennon songs.

After Apple Records folded George maintained his interest in Splinter - signing them to Dark Horse Records and he was all over the debut album - producing and playing loads of instruments. Somebody's City sounds like an outtake from All Things Must Pass (it's that good).

George drafted in a stellar crew of mates to play on the album - Alvin Lee, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Willie Weeks. So - it sounds great. Bill and Bob contribute some memorable songs and sing well.  Costafine Town was a huge hit and deservedly so.

Second album, Harder To Live, follows the same blue print - snappy arrangements, nice harmony vocals, same George Harrison/Beatles lite sound, but limited participation from George this time (he only appears on one track). 

Although Half Way There is an excellent song, with a country/folk leanings, there was no big hit on this one.

Two Man Band, the third and final Dark Horse album for Splinter, was a good effort without being especially memorable. The presence of strings on a few tracks doesn't help but it's a melodic set of songs without any hit song being apparent. Still, if you want a pleasant soft rock album for those chill moments of an evening you could do a lot worse.

Where do they all belong? I haven't bothered with the albums after Two Man Band as they weren't on Dark Horse Records, nor did they get widespread distribution.

Hurry me back there (Splinter) #351 - 352

Splinter Costafine Town/ Elly-May (Dark Horse, K 5756, 1974)

Splinter Half Way There/ What Is It (If You Never Ever Tried It Yourself) (Dark Horse, K 6413, 1974)

Splinter was a duo - Bill Elliott and Bobby Purvis (both on vocals) who were together from 1973 to 1984.

You'll possibly remember Bill Elliott from The Elastic Oz Band record that John Lennon used to record his God Save Us single http://googoogarjoob.blogspot.co.nz/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50

George Harrison's intentions of signing Splinter to Apple Records fell through but they became the first release on his Dark Horse Records label.

The A sides are Beatle-ish pop songs without the innovative edge that characterised the Fabs. Costafine Town in particular is a fine song though - warm, catchy, atmospheric and expertly played. 

Which is not a surprise given the array of talent who fronted up at Friar Park to take part in the sessions: George as himself, Billy Preston, Gary Wright, Alvin Lee, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann are only the most well known.

Half Way There is a folk style ditty - nice and light with nice harmonies, but without the x factor that would make it a hit. Good album track though.

Hidden gems: The pleasant, tasteful soft pop stuff continues on the B sides without really distinguishing themselves or demanding attention - think Klaatu! All songs are from the parent Dark Horse albums.

Let's fight for people's rights (Bill Elliott etc) #112

Bill Elliott and The Elastic Oz Band God Save Us/ Do The Oz (Apple, APPLE 36, 1971)

A Lennon side project this one. Bill Elliott would later spend time as a Dark Horse recording artist as part of soft rock duo Splinter but here he's the vocal replacement for John. Former Beatle roadie, Mal Evans, had suggested Bill and John's guide vocal was replaced with Bill's.

John and Yoko are co-credited with Mal Evans AND Phil Spector with production!!!! What the hey? This must be one of the most unique production credits ever. In case you're wondering what Mal brought to the party - he recorded/produced Bill's vocal.

The Oz of the song refers to a radical underground newspaper published in London that was targeted by the man at the time. There was an obscenity trial and John wanted to show his support. Hence the single.

I quite like it (I'm a Lennon completist so I would say that) - it's got spunk and spirit and heart and it's nicely played (Ringo on drums, Klaus Voormann on bass, John guitar) and sung. It was never going to be a hit but nevermind. Everyone's hearts were in the right place.

Hidden gem: The B side and A side were swapped around at the last minute and so the more general God Save Us became the A side with the specific Do The Oz support becoming the B side. It's Ono influenced in it's directness and reminds me of Scumbag on the Zappa collaboration.