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Focal Point - First Bite of The Apple (1968)

Track listing:
  1. Miss Sinclar 2:29
  2. Sucamore Sid 2:38
  3. Hassle Castle 3:39
  4. Never Never 3:26
  5. Lonely Woman 3:31
  6. Far Away From Forever 3:42
  7. Love You Forever 2:55
  8. Tales From The GPO Files 2:19
  9. McKinley Morgan The Deep Sea Diver 3:10
  10. Falling Out of Friends 3:28
  11. Girl On The Corner 2:21
  12. Goodbye Forever 2:29
  13. This Time She's Leaving 3:22
  14. 'Cept Me 2:28
  15. Miss Sinclar (Demo) 2:38
  16. Miss Sinclar (Alternate Version) 2:57
  17. Hassle Castle (Demo) 3:02
  18. Never Never (Alternate Version) 3:04
  19. Reflections (Demo) 2:54
  20. Reflections 2:59

Notes

The complete 'lost' recordings 1967-68. The group received the patronage of the Beatles & Brian Epstein then sadly disappeared from the thriving London pop scene of 1968.

After having met Paul McCartney who was walking his dog, this Liverpool group really thought they were going to make it, and everything seemed to go in that direction. Terry Doran from Apple loved it, resulting in 4 tracks recorded tracks for a 1968 EP. Their manager managed support gigs for Alan Price, Stevie Winwood, Chris Farlowe and The New Yardbirds (who would change their name in Led Zeppelin soonafter). They recorded more songs for Decca for their next contract but that never happened, and nothing else really happened. Even when the group continued to play until mid 1969, Deram still made no efforts of publishing anything else, so the group disbanded at the end of that year.

Most studio-recorded songs are in a well fitted together sweet pop-psyche style which could have gone well together to make an album, even when they only had a small studio available to make their recordings work. Only two of the recordings are slightly different in style, which is the upbeat slightly American “Goodbye Forever” and the eastern folk psychedelic “‘cept me”..

Extensive liner notes on history with a few old news paper remarks and notes with the individual songs makes this publication extra attractive. There are 4 extra songs in demo versions added as bonus tracks which make the collection very complete.

This release shows how Focal Point surely would have made an enjoyable pop-psyche album if they would have had the chance. Never the less this collection makes it up although somewhat belatedly.