Musick that Needed Work - Q: Quiver

 

This tangled tale is just for lovers of incestuous Rock history... 

 

First a brief intro:
Quiver were a British rock band formed in 1970 by Tim Renwick & Cal Batchelor. After the release of their second album in December 1972, they teamed up with the Sutherland Brothers. They from that point on became known as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver,

Quiver was originally formed by guitarist Tim Renwick & bassist John 'Honk' Lodge (both formerly with Junior's Eyes & David Bowie). They were soon joined by guitarist singer Cal Batchelor, bassist Bruce Thomas, & drummer Willie Wilson. Most of the members of Quiver also appeared on Al Stewart's albums Orange (1972) as well as Past, Present, & Future (1973).

The Pink thing:
Quiver's incestuous connections to Pink Floyd are numerous, going back to 1963 to a 17-year-old David Gilmour's Cambridge band Joker's Wild. The five-piece's distinction was that all of them sang, doing mainly Four Seasons / Beach Boys covers in an era when most bands had three musicians & a vocalist.

Within two years, the band's sound was becoming more soul/R&B. The members began to change, including Rick Wills on bass & Willie Wilson after the band's original drummer suffered a wrist injury. Soon Joker's Wild was a three-piece. They changed their name to Flowers, then Bullit. They played some shows in France & the U.K. until they had their gear stolen. They broke up in June 1967. Gilmour went to London to find new gear just as his old school friends (Syd Barrett & Roger Waters) in Pink Floyd were recording their second single "See Emily Play". He actually watched the session. The rest of that story is well known.

Within six months Floyd drummer Nick Mason approached Gilmour to ask him to join the band for gigs, due to Barrett's growing unreliability. By March of 1968, Gilmour had fully replaced Barrett. That left Wills & Wilson with no band. Both joined country-rock outfit Cochise, which occasionally featured Cambridge schoolmate Tim Renwick. Renwick wasn't a member of Cochise, but provided some guitar parts.

Wills then teamed up with Peter Framton (Camel) & finally Foreigner. But before Wills joined Foreigner in 1979, he & Wilson served as Gilmour's band for David's self-titled solo debut in 1978.

Wilson connected with Renwick during their time in Cochise. Wilson agreed to join the band Renwick was starting with Canadian keyboard player/guitarist Cal Batchelor called Quiver. The other two members of Quiver were bassist Bruce Thomas, who would go on to distinction as a member of Elvis Costello's Attractions (doing the famous "Pump it Up" bassline, the incredible bass tracks in "Lipstick Vogue" & "Living in Paradise").

Thomas' distinctly busy & melodic style is quite evident on Quiver's debut album, which came out six years before the first Attractions album My Aim Is True in 1977. The final member of Quiver, the lone Canadian in this story, is Cal Batchelor (R.I.P.). Batchelor had been in the band/duo called Curtiss Maldoon, who were actually on Deep Purple's record label. Curtiss Maldoon's self-titled album came out in 1971, the same year as the debut Quiver album. Roger Quested engineered Maldoon & produced Quiver. He also worked with Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Paul Simon, John Denver, & of course, Pink Floyd. He was working at Morgan Studios & helped engineer Meddle, also in 1971.

Quiver made two albums, their self-titled 1971 debut & Gone in the Morning in 1972. Through their connection to Gilmour both album covers have artwork done by Hipgnosis (Meddle, Electric Warrior, & the Electric Light Orchestra debut aka No Answer amongst many). The band thank Gilmour on the sleeve, using a pally fake name "Ta, Fred Gilmour."

The other Pink Floyd person on the record is saxophonist Dick Parry, two years before his famous solo in "Money". He actually had yet to play a note on a Floyd song by 1971, but was an old Cambridge friend of Gilmour. Parry & Joker's Wild bass player Wills were in Soul Committee together years earlier.

Still there’ll be more...
Guitarist/vocalist Renwick performed with Pink Floyd on the 1987 & 1994 tours, the Live 8 show & with Waters on his Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking tour. He also plays on Rick Wright's 1996 solo album Broken China.

Drummer Wilson plays bass on two tracks on Barrett's first solo album The Madcap Laughs ("No Man's Land" & "Here I Go"). He plays percussion on the 1971 followup Barrett. Wilson was the drummer in the "surrogate band" for Pink Floyd's The Wall concerts in 1980-81. Most recently, he performed on Gilmour's 2006 single "Smile'.

Finally, the above mentioned Dick Parry. He played sax on the Pink Floyd songs "Money", "Us & Them", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "Wearing the Inside Out". He toured with the band as showcased on the live album Pulse. Parry also performs on three Gilmour live DVDs. 

 

Quiver - Quiver, Warner Bros. Records WS1939, 1971.
decryption codes in comments

Side 1 -
Glad I Came Around
Down Your Way
Killer Man
Take a Train

Side 2 -
Cool Evening
Barnes County
Back on the Road
Just Loving You
Reason for Staying

 

 

 

 

Quiver - Gone in the Morning, Warner Bros. Records BS2630, 1972.

Side 1 -
Dorset
I Know You So Well
Green Tree
Love/No Boundaries
I Might Stumble

Side 2 -
Gone in the Morning
Fung-kee Laundry
She's a Lady
Don't Let Go

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ