Edward Tudor-Pole always was something of a clever Dick - naming Tenpole Tudor's debut album Eddie, Old Bob, Dick, & Gary after the expression 'any old Tom, Dick, & Harry'. Bob, of course, being guitarist Bob Kingston, Dick Crippen the band's bass player, Gary Long the drummer.
But the story of this album begins with another clever Dick: Malcolm McLaren. When filming his mockumentary The Great Rock & Roll Swindle about the Sex Pistols in early-mid 1978 the band he had nurtured into chaos & notoriety was dead in all but name. With Johnny Rotten gone AWOL McLaren needed a singer pronto. Auditions were planned with Edward Tudor-Pole impressing McLaren most. Even though rehearsals with Tudor-Pole, Paul Cook, Steve Jones, & stand-in bass player Andy Allen took place, the whole thing imploded when Vicious found himself in an American jail, accused of murdering his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Vicious subsequently overdosed on heroin a& died. The End. With the Pistols no more, Tudor-Pole formed Tenpole Tudor with Kingston, Crippen, & Long who knew each other from The Visitors, a band in which Tudor-Pole had briefly guested as vocalist. The name Tenpole Tudor derived from a previous McLaren-brainwave rechristening Tudor-Pole to Ten Pole Tudor.
The album was released in 1980, sold moderately well, then disappeared off the musical radar. Then something interesting happened: Tenpole Tudor's 1981 single "Swords of a Thousand Men" peaked at #6. Keen to cash in, a clever Stiff Dick simply added "Swords of a Thousand Men" as opening track to the original Eddie, Old Bob, Dick, & Gary, remixed a couple of other tracks, put a new cover on it...lo & behold, a hit album peaking in May 1981 at #44 in the UK charts!
decryption code in comments
Side A -
Go Wilder
I Wish
Header Now
There are Boys
Wunderbar
Side B -
3 Bells in a Row
Tell Me More
Judy Annual
I Can't Sleep
Anticipation
What Else Can I Do
Confessions
Weirder & weirder,
NØ
Eddie, Old Bob, Dick, & Gary
ReplyDelete53Ia8rtkkWD0wCTGKf-DZn6VLLiN4v9yDll8XMfzqe4
Adding tracks to the playlist!!
ReplyDeleteChas Jankel - Chasanova 1981, please!!
ReplyDeleteChas Jankel - Chasanova, A&M Records AMLH68533, 1981.
Deletehttps://mega.nz/file/axthDIha#aYlAYSJitn46sO3aljFP_HEo-zZQt4zQthZ2cwWf2D4
Great, Cyclope - Cyclope 1984
DeleteCyclope - Cyclope, Madrigal MAD5002, 1984.
Deletehttps://mega.nz/file/y9VFUILI#v6sxHo58TxfVw0TGWvdOs1qiPGhVTwctlLixY4vH0EM
The Housemartins - The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death 1987, please!!
DeleteThe Housemartins - The People who Grinned Themselves to Death, Got Discs AGOLP9, 1987.
Deletehttps://mega.nz/file/io120SgJ#83NbSrGhH6z-vqIoEn__d-gZahGI5COfrNNRq21qH6s
Ha, lovely, brings back memories of being a young snotty teen, Wunderbar. That became a hit in The Netherlands peaking at #4
ReplyDeleteI have a soft spot for the second album, Let The Four Winds Blow. It came with a Tenpole Tudor patch!
ReplyDeleteFigured less folks had this one than Four Winds. Another offering from Stiff. Thanks jonder.
DeleteSome personal Tudorpole lore:
ReplyDeleteMany years ago when I was playing in a Prog/Psych band, we supported Ed on a solo show. Every show, he would get one of the supporting bands to back him for Swords Of A Thousand Men to end the show. We knew this as I had seen him several times over the years, so my band practiced it for weeks beforehand. After the show finished, he told us that we were the best band he has ever played it with. He also remarked how much he loved our set, praised me specifically for my bass solo where I also ate an entire family selection box of cookies at the same time as "the most magical performance", and then gifted us a bottle of his red wine from the rider with his personal phone number written on it. I kept in contact with him by telephone once a month for about three years until the number went dead.
Genuinely lovely man.
Thanks, xROCINANTEx for the personal tale. Much appreciated.
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