The Mickey Finn are one of those cult 60s Mod bands shrouded in mystery who have yet to enjoy a retrospective of their own – until now!• They started life as Mickey Finn & The Blue Men on ska label Blue Beat, coinciding with the craze for Jamaican music which exploded in 1964. A shift to Oriole saw them gravitate to an R&B/beat sound, with help on occasion from a guitarist named Jimmy Page.• Further singles in 1965/1966, the Shel Talmy-produced ‘The Sporting Life’ and ‘I Do Love You’, revealed their skill at soulful ballads. In 1967, they unleashed one of the finest nuggets of the British psych era, ‘Garden Of My Mind’, on the Direction label.• This CD marks the first time when all the Mickey Finn’s recordings have been compiled: every A- and B-side plus the retrospective 7”, ‘God Bless The Child’ (rescued from acetate) and three previously unissued demos.• Sleeve-notes by Brian Neavyn (Ugly Things), who has interviewed band members to finally tell the band’s story

1. PILLS
2. I STILL WANT YOU
3. GARDEN OF MY MIND
4. NIGHT COMES DOWN
5. HUSH YOUR MOUTH
6. TIME TO START LOVING YOU
7. AIN’T NECESSARILY SO **
8. IF I HAD YOU BABY
9. THE SPORTING LIFE
10. BECAUSE I LOVE YOU (ALIAS I DO LOVE YOU)
11. REELIN’ & A’ROCKIN’
12. STAGGER LEE *
13. POVERTY *
14. MISS JANE *
15. GOD BLESS THE CHILD **
16. TOM HARK
17. PLEASE LOVE ME
* PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED DEMO
** NOT ORIGINALLY RELEASED

I bought a repro boot of the 'Garden oF My Mind' 45. That and its B side ('Time To Start Loveing You') are great and all I need by (The) Mickey Finn. Everything else I've heard is mundane unless you're into cod ska or generic blues stuff. The French label LSD (I think??) did a comp of the pre-Garden..' Mickey Finn stuff years ago (and I mean about fifteen years ago probably)most of which seems to be replicated on this set. I had a rip of that for while. I suppose first Brit-blues boom fans will find it enjoyable, but to my ears it's pretty lame. Then they burst out with 'Garden of My Mind' / 'Time..' like a everything before had never happened. It would be a useful purchase for the story of the group in the liners, though that was also published in the last issue (I think) of Ugly Things. I guess the lack of a recording contract but loads of live work, enabled them to come up with the goods for one single when the opportunity arose.

It's easy to forget when the physical document of the record or a demo tape / acetate does not exist how hard a band workd on the live circuit and how they honed and improved their writing or playing style. I think that's what comes across in the Ugly Things interviews with the MF. They played a lot developed their style but their only Direction label 45 is all the evidence we have of it - but what a corker!

PM

Thanks for that Paul. I'll save my money.

'Night Comes Down' is a freakbeat classic - pretty wild.