I've been long excited about The Action's "In The Lap Of The Mods" book like it was the second coming.  The Action, along with The Small Faces, The Kinks and David Bowie are my favourite 60's artists.  From their first single as The Boys all the way down to the material cut before they became Mighty Baby (released in the 80's on a mini LP "Speak Louder Than") and even lead singer Reg King's 1971 solo LP I'm all on board as a one man American cheering section. I'm still, 18 years later, slowly wrapping my head around Mighty Baby.

Pete Best (24th November 1941 Madras, India) is a name that has always been associated with The Beatles, and how his life drastically changed forever on 16th August 1962, when their manager, Brian Epstein, reluctantly fired Best as The Beatles’ drummer. 

The Small Faces were one of the coolest bands to come out in the sixties.  Four impeccably dressed lads originally from East London, Steve Marriott (Guitar and Vocals), Ronnie Lane (Bass and Vocals), Kenney Jones (Drums) and Jimmy Winston (Vocals and Keyboards), who was replaced by Ian McLagan in November 1965.

He could be the king of British Northern Soul, a lost Mod icon, but Graham Dee's air of detached modesty says more about him than either soubriquet. He's just happy to finally see some of his work see the light of day when Acid Jazz released  The Graham Dee Connection: The 60s Collection , rounding up just some of the hundreds of tracks he wrote, recorded and produced in that swinging decade when London was the capital of Cool and Graham rubbed shoulders with its most stellar in-crowd.

When most people think of Bournemouth on the south coast of England, it is probably as a popular holiday resort: a peaceful place of pleasure gardens, guest houses and golden sands. The town is a wonderful destination for those seeking a bit of summertime rest and refreshment, but during the 1960s,

This week, I received an email from Joe Cardamone of the Icarus Line regarding a new project he has been working on with Annie Hardy from Giant Drag. He included a demo of their song Lake of Fire, stating that "Fleetwood Mac is the new black". The track is fantastic. Joe and Annie have perfectly captured the vibe of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in their pre-Fleetwood Mac days, when they were a folk-rock duo.

Dusty Springfield was born in 1939 and christened Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. She came from Scottish Irish decent and her brother Tom, and Tim Filed made up a folk trio called The Springfields. The singing group enjoyed tremendous international success with hits including 'Island of dreams' and "Silver threads and golden needles" At their height of success the trio took the unprecedented step of dissolving the group and in 1963, Dusty started her solo career with,

ZANI  spoke to Steve just ahead of his preparations for his Isle of Wight appearance with Chris Farlowe over the August Bank Holiday Weekend - we covered a lot of ground and got his thoughts on all things Modernist, Then and Now, Personal Inspirations, Style and Shades and his forthcoming album “10 Commitments”…

Like any other young mod in the early 80’s, I became mesmerised by The Action the moment I’d heard their version of The Marvellettes’ I’ll Keep Holding On at the first gigs and clubs I attended, and listened to older mods speaking in hushed tones about this seemingly mythical group from Kentish Town.  Getting the album The Ultimate Action seemed a necessity and from the moment it hit my turntable it very rarely left.  Having a recommendation from Paul Weller on the back no doubt helped shift a few copies but the music within those grooves would have left no-one in doubt as to how good they were.  I wanted to hear more and searched desperately for any snippet, picture or record by them.

© Words Matteo Sedazzari
Loosely based on the works of writer Edgar Wallace (1st April 1875 – 10th February 1932) who covered many genres from crime to historical fiction, and began his career writing songs and poems at the close of the 19th  century before establishing himself as a fiction writer.  He even worked on the screen play for King Kong in 1932 before his unexpected death.  If he had lived it looked like he would have broken into the US.