''Introducing Eddy and the Falcons'' is the second album by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCartne ...

. It peaked at No. 19 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

– ten places higher than its predecessor, '' Wizzard Brew''. As with the previous Wizzard album, all songs were composed by

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a n ...

History

The album had a concept similar to

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', in that the intro 'featured' the appearance on stage of fictional band Eddy & The Falcons. All tracks were written and recorded as tributes to 1950s and early 1960s

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

musicians, "Eddy’s Rock" being a guitar and saxophone

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

played in the style of

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American rock and roll guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel- ...

, while "Everyday I Wonder" was similar in sound and approach to

Del Shannon Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one '' Billboard'' hit " Runaway". In 1999, he was ind ...

's " Runaway", and "Come Back Karen" did the same for

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

's "

Oh! Carol "Oh! Carol" is an international hit written by Neil Sedaka in 1958. Co-written with Howard Greenfield, the song is noted for Sedaka's spoken recitation of the verse, the second time around. The song spent 18 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, ...

". A particularly clear tribute was to

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

in "I Dun Lotsa Cryin' Over You". One single was released from the album, "This Is the Story of My Love (Baby)". Its chart performance in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

(No. 34) was a disappointment, as all Wizzard's previous singles had reached the top 10. The album was initially meant to be half of a double album by the group, with the other half in a more progressive or experimental jazz-rock style. However, the

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

heard the work in progress, and asked for the rock and roll part to be recorded and released as a single album. The sleeve featured a credit 'Custard pies - D.L.T.' This referred to one of their appearances on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', when presenter

Dave Lee Travis David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter. Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...

had been the apparently unwitting recipient of a

custard pie A custard pie is any type of uncooked custard mixture added to an uncooked or partially cooked crust and baked together. In North America, custard pie commonly refers to a plain mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and sometim ...

wielded by one of the group. The jazz-rock material was recorded later but not released until 2000, on the album '' Main Street'' – some 25 years after Wizzard had disbanded. The original release of ''Introducing Eddy and the Falcons'' on the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

label, in a gate-fold sleeve, included a fold-out poster of Roy Wood on stage. It was reissued by Edsel on CD in 1999, featuring bonus tracks (1974 singles, A-side and B-sides, which had not been recorded as part of the original concept), but was soon deleted.

Track listing

All songs written by

except where noted. Side one #"Intro" – 0:45 #"Eddy's Rock" – 3:56 #"Brand New 88" – 3:21 #"You Got Me Runnin' " – 3:15 #"I Dun Lotsa Cryin' Over You" – 3:22 #"This Is the Story of My Love (Baby)" – 4:45 Side two #"Everyday I Wonder" – 4:56 #"Crazy Jeans" – 2:48 #"Come Back Karen" – 3:05 #"We're Gonna Rock 'n' Roll Tonight" – 5:06

Personnel

– vocals, guitars, drums, oboe, cello, bass, keyboards, bassoon, string bass, tenor and baritone saxes, percussion * Rick Price – bass guitar, guitar, vocals, percussion *Nick Pentelow – tenor saxophone * Mike Burney – tenor and baritone saxes *Keith Smart – drums *Charlie Grima – percussion *Bill Hunt – piano *Bob Brady – piano and vocals (on final track) and 'incidental boogies'.

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1974 albums Wizzard albums Albums produced by Roy Wood Warner Records albums United Artists Records albums