Skin Alley were a British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band founded by Thomas Crimble and Alvin Pope in the autumn of 1968. The original lineup consisted of Crimble on bass guitar and vocals, Pope on drums, Max Taylor on guitar, and Jeremy Sagar on lead vocals. Taylor and Sagar left early in 1969, and were replaced by Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz on Hammond organ and Bob James on saxophone, flute, guitar and vocals.

Career

The band, comprising Thomas Crimble, Alvin Pope, Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz and Bob James, were signed to

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

for their eponymous 1970 debut, and its 1970 follow-up, ''To Pagham and Beyond''. Crimble moved on that year to play bass with

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

and organise the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

, and was replaced by Nick Graham (formerly of

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wro ...

, not to be confused with

Nicky Graham Nicholas Lynedoch Graham is a musician, songwriter and music producer from the UK. He was born in Durban, South Africa, in January 1945, before his family returned to the UK in 1960. His musical career began when joining UK band The End in 1965 ...

from

The End The End may refer to: Films * ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997 * ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...

and

Tucky Buzzard Tucky Buzzard were a British hard rock band formed in 1969 by three former members of The End. The original lineup was Jimmy Henderson (vocals), Terry Taylor (guitar), David Brown (bass), Paul Francis (drums), and Nick Graham (keyboards). Hal ...

) before the album was completed, Graham singing on two of the tracks. Pope was later replaced by Tony Knight. In May 1972, Skin Alley appeared at

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

Festival's '' NME''-sponsored ''Giants of Tomorrow'' marquee. A switch to the

Transatlantic Records Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. The company was established in 1961, primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom ...

label in 1972 heralded the release of the band's third LP, ''Two Quid Deal''. By the time their fourth album, ''Skintight'', was released in 1973, they were playing more commercial, mainstream rock with

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

tion and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

s. The band split shortly afterwards, with Graham having the most successful post-Skin career with his groups Alibi and the Humans in the early 1980s. US-based

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

had no interest in the band and declined to release either CBS album in the US. The third and fourth albums were issued in the US by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

. Although Stax was keen on expanding its repertoire into rock, the label was not successful in promoting its rock acts, and both Skin Alley albums were largely ignored in the US.

Band members

* Thomas Crimble -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, keyboards,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

* Robert 'Bob' James -

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, vocals * Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz - organ, piano, accordion, harpsichord, mellotron, vocals,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Giles 'Alvin' Pope -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, percussion * Nick Graham - vocals, keyboards, bass, flute * Tony Knight - drums, vocals

Albums

* ''Skin Alley'' (CBS 63847) March 1970 * ''To Pagham and Beyond'' (CBS 64140) December 1970 * ''Two Quid Deal?'' (Transatlantic Big T TRA 260) October 1972 * ''Skintight'' (Transatlantic Big T TRA 273) November 1973

Singles

* "Tell Me" / "Better Be Blind" (CBS 5045) 1970 * "You Got Me Danglin'" / "Skin Valley Serenade" (Big T BIG 506) 1972 * "In The Midnight Hour" / "Broken Eggs" (Big T BIG 511) 1972

References

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1969 British progressive rock groups