Customer Reviews

Good Morning: Complete

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A vastly underrated band, Blue Mink never seemed to receive as many plaudits as their excellent musical credentials deserved.The rhythm section of Alan Parker, Barry Morgan, Herbie Flowers and Roger Coulam made sure that all the songs would be arranged and performed to a high standard that few groups could match. In addition, the vocal pairing of Madeline Bell & Roger Cook had a chemistry that other groups could only hope to aspire to. Everyone will be familiar with the bigger hits such as Melting Pot, Randy, Banner Man etc however do yourself a favour and make this your next purchase as you will hear their great version of Bill Withers' Harlem (Parker's guitar & Flowers's bass are excellent on this track) plus other lesser known compositions such as Sweet & Sour, Mind Your Business and many more.
Go on. Add this double cd to your collection and you will then probably want to buy their 5 studio albums which are also available. You won't be disappointed

Session singers and musicians who wanted to do their own thing, while continuing their other work, formed Blue mink to give them an outlet. It was not intended to be a hit-making or touring group, as nobody was hungry. Given all this, it is remarkable that the original line-up stayed together for five years. After a couple of line-up changes, the group disbanded a year later. This anthology contains the best of their music from those six years. The lead singers were Roger Cook and Madeline Bell. The other four members were Roger Coulam (organ), Herbie Flowers (bass), Barry Morgan (drums) and Alan Parker (guitar).

Roger Cook is best known as a songwriter. He started writing pop songs in the sixties and eventually ended up writing country songs in Nashville. Among the pop songs he wrote, often with Roger Greenaway, are You've got your troubles (Fortunes), Something's gotten hold of my heart (Gene Pitney), I'd like to teach the world to sing (New seekers), Conversations (Cilla Black) and Gasoline alley bred (Hollies). Roger also wrote most of the hits for Blue mink. In the sixties, he had originally been with the Kestrels and later was one half of David and Jonathan (famous for Lovers of the world unite). Both of those acts also featured Roger Greenaway.

Madeline made some records as a solo singer but never established herself in that role. However, she did plenty of backup singing for others, including Dusty Springfield, Elton John and Rod Stewart among many others.

Blue mink's own UK hits included Melting pot (a song encouraging different ethnic groups to mix), Banner man, Good morning freedom, Randy and By the devil I was tempted. I do not know if any of these songs charted in America. However, these hits were not typical of the group's music as a whole. While Roger Cook was particularly good at writing hits, other members of the group wrote their own material, so their original albums were filled with a variety of music, including instrumentals.

Soul and rock music are among their influences, neither of which are apparent in their pop hits. The covers of Whole lotta love (Led Zeppelin), Instant karma (John Lennon), Harlem (Bill Withers) and Spirit in the sky (Norman Greenbaum) give you a clue that there is more to Blue mink than you might otherwise expect.

This is a fascinating anthology - not what I expected, but much more interesting. You probably need eclectic musical tastes to appreciate this fully. If you only want the hits, you will find a single CD compilation will suit you better.

Session singers and musicians who wanted to do their own thing, while continuing their other work, formed Blue mink to give them an outlet. It was not intended to be a hit-making or touring group, as nobody was hungry. Given all this, it is remarkable that the original line-up stayed together for five years. After a couple of line-up changes, the group disbanded a year later. This anthology contains the best of their music from those six years. The lead singers were Roger Cook and Madeline Bell. The other four members were Roger Coulam (organ), Herbie Flowers (bass), Barry Morgan (drums) and Alan Parker (guitar).

Roger Cook is best known as a songwriter. He started writing pop songs in the sixties and eventually ended up writing country songs in Nashville. Among the pop songs he wrote, often with Roger Greenaway, are You've got your troubles (Fortunes), Something's gotten hold of my heart (Gene Pitney), I'd like to teach the world to sing (New seekers), Conversations (Cilla Black) and Gasoline alley bred (Hollies). Roger also wrote most of the hits for Blue mink. In the sixties, he had originally been with the Kestrels and later was one half of David and Jonathan (famous for Lovers of the world unite). Both of those acts also featured Roger Greenaway.

Madeline made some records as a solo singer but never established herself in that role. However, she did plenty of backup singing for others, including Dusty Springfield, Elton John and Rod Stewart among many others.

Blue mink's own UK hits included Melting pot (a song encouraging different ethnic groups to mix), Banner man, Good morning freedom, Randy and By the devil I was tempted. I do not know if any of these songs charted in America. However, these hits were not typical of the group's music as a whole. While Roger Cook was particularly good at writing hits, other members of the group wrote their own material, so their original albums were filled with a variety of music, including instrumentals.

Soul and rock music are among their influences, neither of which are apparent in their pop hits. The covers of Whole lotta love (Led Zeppelin), Instant karma (John Lennon), Harlem (Bill Withers) and Spirit in the sky (Norman Greenbaum) give you a clue that there is more to Blue mink than you might otherwise expect.

This is a fascinating anthology - not what I expected, but much more interesting. You probably need eclectic musical tastes to appreciate this fully. If you only want the hits, you will find a single CD compilation will suit you better.