TV Cream

Singles

‘That Same Old Feeling’ by Pickettywitch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfSlzmwkjGw

ITV LUNCHTIME-ALIKE pop-soul-psych hybrid expertly bridging the gap between Glam Rock and whatever the big pop thing before Glam Rock was. All turn-of-the-decade eyes were on slinkily-large-belted and glittery-eyeshadowed lead singer Polly Browne – even despite the distracting ridiculousness of The Bloke One’s hairstyle – and despite sinking without trace not soon afterwards with only a handful of minor follow-up hits to their modishly Wiccan-tinted name, the enduring appeal of this ode to vandalising trees in the name of love and ‘doing things’ in cottages ensures they remain one of the best remembered pop acts of the entire decade; not least by Dave Lee Travis and Adrian Juste, who were forever cueing up this platter as an official start to a tear-wiping Bank Holiday personal odyssey into the popular beat depths of ‘the seventies’. And no, despite what you may have been assured by that bloke who’s always by the photocopier at work, Polly Browne did not later develop an allergy to ‘modern’ and have to live in a Travolta-esque plastic bubble.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Five-Centres

    September 17, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    I’m a huge fan. There’s something exeptionally early 70s, despite it actually being made in the early 70s, about cottages in songs.

    I like Polly’s Up In A Puff Of Smoke too. Nice voice, shame she vanished.

  2. Adrian

    September 17, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    “..whatever the big pop thing before Glam Rock was.”

    A sort of poppy folk music I guess, attempting to bridge the hiatus between the Beatles breaking up and the advent of Glam Rock in 71/72..

  3. TV Cream

    September 17, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    ‘Danacore’?

  4. Kevin

    September 20, 2012 at 10:39 am

    Pure gold – and Polly Brown(e)is still recording 40 years later – http://www.pollybrowne.com

  5. Glenn A

    November 19, 2012 at 10:44 pm

    I am sure there was a rumour going around in the nineties that the male singer out of Pickettywitch and a successor to Polly Brown were living in poverty in my home town in Whitehaven. It must have been around 11 years ago when a decrepit looking man and woman in their sixties were pointed out to me in the pub as being former Pickettywitch members. As this was a group whose career ended around 1972 and who would be unrecognisable to most people, it’s more believable than a member of Slade living locally.

  6. Glenn A

    December 5, 2016 at 6:40 pm

    The rumour still persists about Pickettywitch living in Whitehaven. I haven’t seen the couple since 2005 so wonder if they’ve moved. They never seemed to say much and sat in the corner of the pub.

  7. Richardpd

    March 26, 2021 at 10:56 pm

    Polly Brown(e) later formed one half of the duo Sweet Dreams with Tony Jackson & recorded a version of the early Abba song Honey Honey.

  8. Glenn Aylett

    March 27, 2021 at 7:41 pm

    Anyone recall Middle of the Road, a group who did really well just before glam took over and had a singer who looked very of her time in hotpants and boots?

    • Richardpd

      March 27, 2021 at 10:04 pm

      Before my time, but Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep is quite nice.

      • Glenn Aylett

        March 28, 2021 at 12:32 pm

        @ Richardpd, they also had a big hit with a nice ballad called Soley Soley before their career fizzled out. Always thought Middle Of The Road could have been a rival to The New Seekers, but their career stalled after four hits.

  9. Richardpd

    January 12, 2023 at 10:25 pm

    Lindisfarne was another band to do well during the early 1970s folk rock scene, scoring a few bit hits on both the single & album charts.

    The main songwriter Alan Hull was praised for his skills, being compared to Bob Dylan & The Beatles at the height of their popularity.

    When things started to cool down most of the band left to form the group Jack The Lad, but rejoined for a reunion a few years later.

  10. Glenn Aylett

    January 13, 2023 at 11:43 am

    Lindisfarne were massive in the early seventies and continued as a big draw on the live scene until Alan Hull died in 1995. Hull was a familiar sight in my birthplace, North Shields, and an activist in the local Labour Party, holding court in a pub popular with local musicians and real ale drinkers, The Magnesia Bank. Hull has been cited as a major influence on the town’s biggest star, Sam Fender, who presented a really good documentary about Hull last year.

  11. Adrian

    January 13, 2023 at 1:40 pm

    The Strawbs seemed to be a Glam Rock precursor..

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