What do we have here then?

NIGHTWINGS

This must be the final word on this group,after 2 cds from Background,and the sadly missed Nighwings label,who did a terrific job on their 2006 cd of an expanded Five Day Rain cd,and who legally licensed the recordings from Rick Sharpe i hasten to add,who had NEVER earned a penny from the recordings.Plus this release gave for the first time,the story of this rather mysterious group,its members,and the whole up until that time confusing story,plus photos too in a nice booklet.......and even included 4 tracks never issued before,that ARE included on this new Grapefruit double cd set.Which where original backing tracks but with added embellishments in 2005 from original member Rick Sharpe........for those who don't remember Nightwings label,they also issued rather mysterious and little known up to that point releases by Tim Hollier(my favourite)Fuchsia,plus a rarities Fuchsia collection titled"Mahoganny and Other Gems"which in itself is rather hard to find at a reasonable price in 2022,and the then unreleased 4th album by uk proggers Jonesy"Sudden Prayers make God.....",which has saw another release on a recent Jonesy box set,again released by a Cherry Red label,plus the rare as hens teeth"Mayfields Mule"album.So credit must be given where it's due,as sadly people can forget past labels and their releases,and Nightwings was certainly releasing some very interesting and little known stuff........some funnily that got more attention quite a few years later. The Fuchsia album is now pretty known among 60s and 70s collectors.

Anyway,this 2 cd set by Grapefruit is a continuation of that Nightwings cd release,its been expanded to 2 cds in a crackingly gorgeous looking package,with open gatefold sleeves,and the sound quality is very good indeed,the booklet is packed,it's an expanded liner note to the Nightwings cd,including more photos of pre Five Day Rain groups Trak and Iron Prophet and newspaper cuttings.plus the post Five Day Rain release by Studd Pump,and a little info on that,and the inclusion off their single from 71 released on the Penny Farthing label.It looks great and reads well,by Dave Wells who is well experienced in this thing,as having had his own labels Tenth Planet(vinyl)and Wooden Hill(cd),but also did things for Castle/Sanctuary,he's now the man along with John Reed(ex Castle/ sanctuary) behind Cherry Reds Grapefruit label,and the art and package is from Andy Morten for pepperbox,who is also involved with Shindig magazine.

The musical contents,which are the main thing of course,i am delighted they've included everything,the 2 original acetate albums,the different mixes,the nightwings cd quartet of songs,the more well known Five Day Rain album that was issued before has been kept as the main version on this cd,but with the added original version of "Too much of Nothing"put back in its right place to open the album,plus the discovered original vocal versions of otherwise instrumental songs like "Dartboard".

So THIS is the ultimate Five Day Rain package!!

For me the revelation are the first 5 songs on cd 2,recorded in June 1970,that did NOT get released and were bypassed for the "actual"Five Day Rain album,the following are the ORIGNAL versions:
1.Wanna make Love to You
2.So Dont Worry
3.Dartboard
4.Miss Elizabeth
5.Lay Me Down
(tracks 1 and 2 backing tracks were included on the nightwings cd with added embellishments by Rick Sharpe in 2005,but the ORIGNAL tapes were found and those are the ones above,but the Nightwings versions are also included later on the cd)

Those 5 songs are worth the price of admission for me,all 5 are are excellent slabs of heavy psych going into prog,with fuzzed guitar,keyboards including Stones Majesties like Piano,heavy pounding bass,organ and sound drumming,but the riffage from the guitars are something else and the king off the show.Just fabulous stuff indeed!!!

All the above were on the first acetate recorded,but not used,more recordings were done after this,like the marvellous "Rough Cut Marmalade"(both the edited and full versions are included)"Sea Song""Maybe a Woman" and"Fall Out",so on the second 1970 acetate,tracks 1-4 from above were dropped,and the newer songs i've mentioned added.Which became THEE Five Day Rain acetate album,that we sorta know.in doing this,as far as i'm concerned,they left their heavier and more psych orientated material on the shelf,though in truth the final acetate is very good too.

OK now onto the Five Day Rain album we have heard before this double cd,the background cd and the Nightwings cd,all had 1993 remixes of "Leave It At That" and "Marie's A Woman",and this is the version this package keeps as its main album,BUT luckily the ORIGINAL versions that were on the second acetate have been found,and are included as bonus tracks on cd 1,personally i'd have liked to have saw them added into the original running order,and the remixed ones taken out,and have the album as originally was.......but the beauty of a cd,is you can programme the actual album,as it was.....so i'm griping about nothing really.

There also a unreleased cover version of the song "Sunny"recorded in 1970 included,but to my ears its nothing too great.

Theres also the 3 1978 mixes of Reason Why,Fall Out,Lay Me Down,that Damon Lyon Shaw and Brian Carroll released without the band members knowledge,on the 1978 President Records release of " Time Is Right" by a studio concoction called One Way Ticket,8 years after their original recording......absolutely mental and totally underhanded.This album by One Way Ticket is on cd,and is rather good i must say.

Also included are 2 remakes of Reason Why and Fall Out by Rick Sharpe made in 1977.

The 4 backing tracks with 2005 embellishments like guitar,harmonica and vocals included on the 2006 Nightwings cd,are
Antonia
So Dont Worry
The Boy
Wanna Make Love To You

Listen DON'T let the added later embellishments put you off,i usually hate that,but those have been discretly done,and you'd be hard to hear the additions done in 2005.......but REMEMBER at this time the original tapes were missing,so when this cd came out in 2006 i was thankful to hear more from Five Day Rain,so i totally understand why it was done.......but luckily the original versions were eventually found and on this new double cd.

Even if you have either of the other cds of Five Day Rain,you NEED this double set,it's got everything,all the original 1970 recordings....which WILL be the main reason to buy this,i know a vinyl reissue came out a few years ago.,but i've NO IDEA what is included on that.So can't really comment!!
Thank you,
Stuart

Thanks for all that detail Stuart. I was wondering about getting that nw FDR Cherry Red set, will do now! I totally agree with you about not forgetting small labels, often run by fans like Nightwings, so thanks Gian for your output and research for all your releases.

Cheers

PM:slightly_smiling_face:

Cheers Stuart. Love your work.

Many thanks Stuart and Paul for your kind words, for sure the best thing I made in my life, even if a bit shortlived!

The best thing of all was the friendliness with the musicians involved, most of them I've been able to meet them personally, only Michael-Claire missing so far!
Sadly Tim Hollier and John Evan-Jones are gone too soon, but Tony Durant, Chris Mayfield and Rick Sharpe are still going strong

I just hope to see more re-release of Nightwings albums in the future!