Stop! Get a Ticket

Clefs of Lavender Hill (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 8, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 1966
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B003GNF29M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,390 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2010 archive release from the '60s outfit containing their unreleased album plus bonus tracks. The Clefs Of Lavender Hill was more than just a one hit wonder. Yes, they did have a classic song with 'Stop! Get A Ticket', but ever since that dynamite track was released on Date Records in 1966, rumors have circulated throughout the music world that there was a long lost unreleased album in the vaults. Well, lo and behold, there was! And we found it! Now, for the first time anywhere in the world and after over 40 years, fans can finally hear this great music! Added to the complete unreleased album are four bonus tracks, including both the mono and stereo single versions of 'Stop! Get A Ticket', thus giving fans three different versions of this beloved song. Wounded Bird.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sounds great! Lacks info, June 30, 2010

By 

AnotherMusicExpert (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stop! Get a Ticket (Audio CD)

A long overdue release by this group, off master tapes and sounding wonderful. One star discounted for the fact that the majority are cover songs of the era, as their original songs were quite good. The band only had a few singles, which are all included here, some in stereo for the first time (some in mono). The other star comes off due to the fact that Wounded Bird refuses to apparently afford us any liner notes whatsoever on any of their products. Anything in this case would have been a welcome package enhancement.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long-lost stereo LP from obscure Florida `60s rock/folk-rock band, August 8, 2010

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stop! Get a Ticket (Audio CD)

The Clefs of Lavender Hill are an obscure mid-60s Florida four-piece built around the brother and sister guitar/vocal team of Travis and Coventry Fairchild (born Joseph and Lorraine Ximenes) and the rhythm section of Bill (bass) and Fred (drums) Moss. The B-side of their first single, "Stop! Get a Ticket," has long been a favorite of the garage-folk crowd, having appeared on the box set reissue of Nuggets, as well as Rock Artifacts 3. Little was known about the band, though singles collectors managed to document four singles released on Date records between 1965 and 1967. Rumors persisted about a full album that had been shelved after recording in 1966, and now forty-four years later, Wounded Bird has unearthed the eleven album tracks in terrific full-fidelity stereo, as well as a non-LP single and two additional mixes (one stereo, one mono) of "Stop! Get a Ticket." Whew!

The band's rock `n' roll roots were stoked by the British Invasion, evident not only in covers of the Beatles ("It Won't Be Long"), Rolling Stones ("Play With Fire"), Donovan ("Sunshine Superman"), but also in the Zombies-styled original "One More Time." The group conjured a folk-rock sound on "You Don't Notice" and "First Tell Me Why" that nodded to the harmonies of San Francisco's Autumn Records and Jefferson Airplane. The Fairchild's originals are excellent, and their dramatic take on "Play with Fire," with Coventry Fairchild singing lead, is even more seething than the Stones' original; their cover of "New Orleans" amplifies the party vibe of Gary U.S. Bonds' hit with dynamic bass and drums and a hot guitar substituting for the original's sax.

This is a terrific find that greatly expands on the band's one well-anthologized track and four difficult-to-find 45s. The four-panel booklet includes vintage photos but - incredibly - no liner notes. Given the band's obscurity, Wounded Bird should have stepped up and hired someone to write at least a cursory band biography, if not track down the members for contemporary interviews. The original mono mixes of the band's four singles would have been a nice addition to the stereo album tracks, but it's hard to complain too loudly given the quality of the album masters. What's here is truly great, but what could have been here would have (and should have) been definitive. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]