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.
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.
