''Sweet Thursday'' is the self-titled debut, and only, album by the late 1960s British rock band Sweet Thursday. Its chance of success was cut short by the almost-immediate failure of the record label.

History

The album was recorded at

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...

in London. It is notable for featuring keyboardist

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

(who worked with

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

among many others) and

Bluesbreakers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. While never producing a hit of their own, the band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues ...

alum

Jon Mark Jon Mark (born John Michael Burchell; 8 May 1943 – 10 February 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his recordings with Marianne Faithfull, Sweet Thursday, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Mark, who received a ...

(who would go on to form the group

Mark-Almond Mark–Almond was a jazz-influenced English pop group of the 1970s and early 1980s, sometimes also called The Mark-Almond Band. The core members were Jon Mark, who sang lead and played guitar, percussion, and harmonica and Johnny Almond who p ...

). It was produced by Hugh Murphy, who later became known for his work with

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was " Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...

. Recording and engineering was done by Barry Sheffield. The album was originally released in the US in August 1969 on

Tetragrammaton Records Tetragrammaton Records was an American record label founded in 1968 by music industry executives Roy Silver, Bruce Post Campbell, Marvin Deane, and comedian Bill Cosby. Silver, at the time, was also Cosby's manager. The term "Tetragrammaton" ref ...

(catalogue T-112). (The band had signed with that label in November 1968, and the copyright on the label was from 1968.) Radio commercials were used to promote the album and Tetragrammaton's other releases. However, by late 1969 Tetragrammaton was already headed for financial failure and bankruptcy (by legend, the same day the album was released). ''Sweet Thursday''s release history outside the US is less clear. It may have been originally released on

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a subs ...

in the UK. An initial European release in 1970 on

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

(catalogue 2310051) appears to have been made, that featured an alternate album cover depicted a torn-off calendar page resting on a bed of leaves. The album's style mixed typical mid- and late-1960s British rock elements such as R&B, blues, and psychedelia. The piano and organ based arrangements and slightly abstract lyric narratives also showed a pronounced debt to

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's ''

Blonde on Blonde ''Blonde on Blonde'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as a double album on June 20, 1966, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians, ...

''. All but one of the album's songs were written by group members.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Bruce Eder views "Rescue Me" as one of the better tracks, showing the influence that the group members had had, like many others in the British R&B scene, from playing in

Zoot Money's Big Roll Band Zoot Money's Big Roll Band is a British rhythm and blues and soul group, also influenced by jazz, formed in England by Zoot Money, in the early autumn of 1961. The band has had a number of personnel changes over the years and was still performing ...

and the Cyril Davies All-Stars. Eder says that the band's songwriting is largely unmemorable, while ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine wrote in 1973 that the album "offers a strong mix of rock, ballads, and folky material, with strong vocals and instrumentals running throughout." In 1970, the ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' saw the group as "smooth" and the record worthy of inclusion in its "Unusual Albums" section. Gilbert Street 1977 spc

The moody, evocative ten-minute track "Gilbert Street" was the album's centerpiece and generally acclaimed as its best track. Written by group friend Pat Gunning and named after a short side street in London's

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

area, the mid-tempo number, built around acoustic guitar and organ, describes a complex quest for a mysterious lady in blue. The fuzz guitar-laced refrain directs one to the Central line and the

Bond Street tube station Bond Street is a London Underground and Elizabeth line station in Mayfair, in the West End of London. Entrances are on Oxford Street, near its junction with New Bond Street, and on Hanover Square. The station is on the Central line, between ...

in order to reach this point. The song became a turntable hit when it was played on American progressive rock radio, such as by

Scott Muni Scott Muni (May 10, 1930 – September 28, 2004) was an American disc jockey, who worked at the heyday of the AM Top 40 format and then was a pioneer of FM progressive rock radio. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine termed him "legendary". Early life B ...

WNEW-FM WNEW-FM (102.7 FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary formatted radio station, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manha ...

in New York. Sweet Thursday never released another record. The album was reissued on Great Western Gramophone – a joint venture label formed between

Jerry Heller Gerald Elliot Heller (October 6, 1940 – September 2, 2016) was an American music manager and businessman. He was best known for his management of West Coast rap and gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A and Eazy-E. He rose to prominence in the 1960s a ...

, a manager, and

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

, an executive of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

– in the US in 1973 (catalogue KZ 32039). By now the album had attracted enough underground interest that the label took out a full page ad in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine to announce the re-release. During the second quarter of 1973, college radio stations such as WHUS-FM and

WVOF WVOF (88.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. The station is owned by Fairfield University. As of August 2008, the station has been a partner with Connecticut Public Radio and carries Connecticut Publi ...

in Connecticut, WVBU-FM in Pennsylvania, and WTUL-FM in New Orleans all reported adding the album to their playlists. Great Western also released "Jenny", backed with "Dealer", as a single from the album. Also in 1973, it was re-released for Line Records, a label in Germany (catalogue LLP 5044, 6.24350 AP). Over the years the album, and others from Tetragrammaton, was subjected to vinyl bootlegging and CD releases of questionable legality. An April 1998 CD release from M.I.L. Multimedia became the first clearly legitimate one. The original Tetragrammaton LP has not been a big item on the collector's market, fetching only $20 by the mid-2000s. Some CD issues contain two bonus tracks, those being from the group's December 1968 Tetragrammaton single "Getting It Together" backed with "Mary on the Runaround", both composed by Jon Mark.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Jon Mark; except where noted ;Side One # "Dealer" – 5:43 # "Jenny" – 3:46 # "Laughed at Him" – 5:10 # "Cobwebs" (Brian Odgers) – 3:23 # "Rescue Me" – 3:41 ;Side Two # "Molly" (Brian Odgers) – 3:04 # "Sweet Francesca" – 3:57 # "Side of the Road" (Alun Davies) – 4:50 # "Gilbert Street" (Pat Gunning) – 10:22

Personnel

;Sweet Thursday * Alun Davies - acoustic and electric guitars, vocals *

- acoustic and electric guitars, vocals *

- keyboards, organ, piano *Brian Odgers - bass, woodwinds, flute *Harvey Burns - drums, percussion ;Technical *Barry Sheffield - engineer *Jeremy Banks - design *Richard Imrie - design, photography

References

{{Authority control 1969 debut albums Tetragrammaton Records albums Sweet Thursday (band) albums Albums recorded at Trident Studios