My heart skipped in delight when I heard that there was CD release of the Clevedonaires/Cleves music. At long last I thought.

So I have got it and happily listened to it. Most of you might only know this group from a couple of appearances on Psychedelic compilations such as the electric sound show

I was also interested to read the contemporary reviews by people not even alive at the time of these releases and it would seen that the current view of this group was that they were very competent but simply lacked the originality to spur them into the top tier of artists. However any retrospective collection is well overdue and I am pleased that they are out at a time when re releases are simply not common nowadays here.

The band began in 1964 in Auckland by New Zealanders Gaye Brown (bass initially than organ vocals) and her brothers Ron (guitar, vocals) and Graham (drums) along with guitarist Milton Kaine, who was soon replaced by Rob Aicken. They named themselves the Clevedonaires after the suburb they lived in. The group played a range of soft Psych/Folk/Pop, often backing big name local performers before coming to the attention of promoter Benny Levin, who signed the band to the Impact label. Here they released a number of singles (most uncompiled) and they were quite popular but never had the hit single that would propel them to local stardom. This first part of the career is represented by 5 songs on this CD – by far the smallest portion but still a lot more than you can find anywhere else. It includes the rousing He’s Ready and the nifty cover of the Small Faces songs Up the wooden Hills to Bedfordshire – both which have been compiled before on various compilations. The other songs from this period are early pop of their first single How you lied, a great rocking Lost Woman – the B Side of He’s Ready and almost as good, and the pleasingly dippy cover of Sunny Goodge Street.


The second phase and the largest section of the CD belongs to their Australian incarnation as the Cleves. The CD includes tracks from their later singles, the Michael EP and their album. To my grievous disappointment their rare as hens teeth first single and EP are not mentioned or included. The tracks from their later singles – the vaudevillian Sticks and Stones and gentle You and Me are included - pleasant (or at least the second is) but not outstanding. The track notes praise the single B side Don’t turn your back but does not include it on the CD Their Michael EP is certainly the best thing they did – a multi part suite with passages that would have, if rerecorded, made superior singles than those they released. I do note that the suite on this CD is two minutes shorter than the bonus track version on their Vicious sloth CD Their album offers organ-led progressive with melodic original songs betraying their pop roots with the tight harmonies occasional psychedelic influences. It features nimble bass playing and strong fuzz guitar. You get a nice selection of 5 tracks from the LP. I still enjoy the poppier moments like Time has come with relatively jaunty organ and the hooks. The inclusion of Waterfall Gully is interesting as it is more country and rural than the rest and sticks out like a sore thumb. .

The last chapter was the group BITCH. Graham at that time got married and decided to find a real job and the rest turned their sights on the UK. The local Clevedon/Papakura newspaper was not impressed with their name change “The group have changed their name again…they are now called … wait for it..BITCH. We don’t think they got that from Papakura”

They were signed by Warners and hit the UK club scene getting promising reviews and recording singles and an Album However after some internal changes to Warners/ WEA the album was scrapped- to the great disappointment of the group- and remained unreleased.(until 2015 that is)

This CD contains tracks from the LP and the second and third singles. Their first single Laughing not even mentioned in the liner notes let alone featured on the CD. Not surprisingly really as its not that great, to put it mildly. This final incarnation was strictly rock and pretty standard fare for the time. While I personally find this third of the CD quite dull, in a radio interview recently the band seem to consider this era as their creative high spot. It does have some bright spots The hard rocking side of the band could certainly rock – tracks like Wildcat show this well. I found the soft lightly orchestrated ballad Falling Rain the highlight of this era. It stands out a million miles from the plodding RnB of I’m Gonna Love you or equally dull Won’t be home tonight( I said ignoring the liner notes assertions about powerful backing vocals and such). After this the band split again, with Gaye releasing a solo single than going back to NZ to get married, while the others stayed on in the UK music industry in groups such as Raw Glory.

It’s hard to pack 3 groups worth of recordings in a single CD and this compilation tries that. I personally am disappointed in as much as the Lions share of the CD has already been released- most notably in the Vicious Sloth Cleves CD and now the Archival Bitch and Cleves two pack LP, and much of the interesting earlier stuff still awaits collection. According to our top music site sergent.com the clevedonairs won the golden stylus award for the arrangement/composition of a coke commercial and if it was good enough for that it might have been nice to have snuck that in somewhere. Otherwise the liners are good – but lacking a discography. Annoyingly the words are typed over artistic backgrounds that make it difficult to read. Why do they do this I ask. Style over content?

Anyhow that's another CD for someones christmas.

It was a different 'Bitch' who recorded Laughing for B&C and I quite like the B side of it.