The Thursday Time Traveler: "Sad Simon Lives Again"
London, December 1967, Abbey Road Studios...
THE THURSDAY TIME TRAVELER—“Sad Simon Lives Again”
…Today the Time Machine lands on December 1967 for the first Parlophone single by Tim Andrews a.k.a. Chris Andrews after he cut loose from the “freakbeat” band Fleur de Lys.
He was signed by renowned producer, promoter, and music executive Tony Hall, who’d plugged The Beatles, Carmen McRae, and later inked Black Sabbath’s first record deal.
“Sad Simon” was tailored for Tim’s voice by songwriter Mike Noble (who went on to work with Joan Armatrading, Fleur de Lys, John Kongos, and Ralph McTell; the song was also covered by Australian and South African pop singers).
It’s a bittersweet song about waiting for love, but Simon is going to rebound. The Tim Andrews recording eventually reached fans of the “baroque pop” subgenre —when classical music forms and instrumentation get blended with psychedelic rock, a style championed by The Beach Boys, Beatles, Bee Gees, Left Banke, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, etc.—though the jazzy bridge comes out of the Zombies playbook.
If this is your introduction to Tim a.k.a. Chris Andrews, he’s a British actor and singer-songwriter whose songs have been covered by Roger Daltrey, David Essex, Davy Jones (Monkees), and others. In the 80s he released synthpop recordings under the name Kris Ryder, and since the 90s he returned to being “Chris Andrews” and continues to release new music.
#timandrews #chrisandrews #fleurdelys #sadsimon #tonyhall #beatles #carmenmcrae #blacksabbath #mikenoble #parlophone #baroquepop #psychedelic #Britpop #beachboys #beegees #leftbanke #moodyblues #procolharum #songwriter #zombies