Apart from producing Focal Point's debutWayne Bickerton got the chance to publish oneof his songs composed with Tony Waddingtonby Apple. Likewise Waddington was a formermember of the Pete Best Combo. Waynerecorded If Your Love Don't Swing with theSouthport group Pete Kelly's Soulution. Theband emerged from The Rhythm & Blues Incwhose drummer originally was future RutleOllie Halsall. At the time of the recording PeteKelly's Solution consisted of singer Pete Kelly,Brent Pickthall (bass), Mike McKay (rhythm

guitar), Bill Lovelady (lead guitar), Ian McGee(drums), John Surguy (sax) and Colin Ashton(trumpet). With a different line­up the bandwould release a cover of Some Other Guy asJasmin­T the following year and play the TopTen Club in Hamburg. In the Seventies theyconcentrated solely on Beatles covers andperformed as The Bootles. Under this monikerthey recorded a LP full of covers for theBulgarian market. Both Pete Kelly's Soulutionand Wayne Bickerton terminated their shortstint with Apple with If Your Love Don't Swing.

Article of unknown origin about Focal Point and a promo

photo for Pete Kelly's Soulution

Midnight Confession

On 22 March 1968 the Apple published If Your Love Don't Swing was released as the B­Side to

Midnight Confession by Pete Kelly's Soulution (Decca F 12755). The single was produced by

Wayne Bickerton who also wrote If Your Love Don't Swing with Tony Waddington. Bickerton

and Waddington would later gain fame as the creative minds behind the Rubettes. Regular

pressings are likely to exist though only A­label demos are verified.

UK: Decca F 12755 A­label demo with company sleeve

After Fire had been signed to Apple Publishingat the beginning of the year, it was time forthem to get a record out. Unlike withGrapefruit and Focal Point, Terry Doran andMike Berry did not have to worry about arecording contract, since Fire had alreadysecured one before they signed with Apple:"We had secured the Decca contract six monthsearlier," recalls Dave Lambert. "Derek Savageand John Turner had been in touch with TonyClarke and asked if Fire could audition forDecca which we did. In the autumn of 1967Tony came to a rehearsal at the George andDevonshire pub in Chiswick, West London. Hestayed with us all afternoon and decided thatwe should record Father’s Name Is Dad andTreacle Toffee World for our audition. The trackswere recorded a couple of weeks later at theDecca studios in West Hampstead, the sessionwent smoothly and most things went downfirst­take, I was very impressed with TonyClarke’s way of working. Decca had a policywhereby once a week the A+R team wouldlisten to the audition tracks recorded theprevious week and decide who they wanted tosign. (This was exactly the same process,involving most of the same people, whichresulted in Decca rejecting the Beatles in1962.) After a nerve­wracking wait I got thecall to say that Decca wanted to sign Fire. But,much to Tony’s and our bemusement, theydidn’t think Father’s Name was right for asingle and they wanted us to record morematerial. The first thing we were told when Isigned my publishing contract was that Appledefinitely wanted Father’s Name to be releasedas a single and they would put pressure onDecca to do just that. Eventually Decca didagree to release the single, with Treacle ToffeeWorld on the B­side.57" Indeed, the auditionrecordings were prepared for release by Decca:"Because the initial audition had been recordedto full production standard we didn’t have todo much more to the recordings. Tony Clarkewent into the studio to master the tracks and

make them ready for pressing.58" Around thesame time, a moment occurred which stillsticks in Dave’s mind: "While the Beatles werein India with the Maharishi, John Lennon senta holiday postcard to all the Apple acts,Grapefruit in particular, it was signed ‘lovefrom John and Cyn’ and it was a great feelingwhen Terry gave it to me to read, I felt as if Iwas accepted as a part of the set­up.59"Father's Name Is Dad was released on 15March. Paul McCartney returned from India on26 March and must have heard the singlebeing played on the radio around the sametime, as Dave Lambert says: "A few days afterthe release of the single Father’s Name I had acall from the Apple offices to say that PaulMcCartney had listened to the single and thathe liked it. He suggested that the vocals andguitar riffs needed strengthening and that weshould, as soon as possible, go back in to thestudio and make the changes. The next day wewent to West Hampstead and I recorded a newlead vocal and doubled the guitar riff an octavehigher, extra backing vocals were added andthe track remixed. Tony Clarke worked hisusual magic but he was not happy with thechanges, he didn’t think them necessary. I can’tremember what I felt about it all at the timebut, in retrospect, although I think it improvedthe guitar parts I personally prefer the originalvocal. The new version was in the shops withina couple of days which was an incredible featand something that has only happened acouple of times in history. I don’t think the re­recording was a factor on the success or failureof the single and I certainly have no hardfeelings towards anybody involved.60" After hisreturn from India, Paul could be found in theoffices in Wigmore Street every day. Like theother Apple employees, he worked the usualbusiness hours dealing with various projects, asBeatles Book Monthly reported.61 Meanwhile,Ringo and Maureen led Apple's official dartteam that held their tournaments during thelunch breaks.62

57 E­Mail dated 22 July 2012

58 Ibid.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 see Beatles Book Monthly, May 1968, page 4

62 Ibid.

Father's Name Is Dad

Fire’s debut single Father's Name Is Dad b/w Treacle Toffee World was released on 15 March

1968 in England (Decca F 12753). Probably in early April the version of the A­side was

replaced by the reworked version that Paul McCartney had commissioned. The single was not

a success and is now extremely rare. A copy of the single made it to Sweden, where it

promptly was covered by the band The Kings (Montana M­45 1017). Both sides of the Fire

single, but especially Father's Name are now considered classic British freakbeat and have

been included on many compilations and in 1968 were referred to as "strangely effective.63"

In 1997, the complete Fire recordings were issued on the CD Underground And Overhead: The

Alternate Fire (Tenth Planet TP029), which is almost as rare today as the Decca single, and in

2007 on the Spanish LP En El Nom De Pare (Guerssen GUESS 038). Apple today has still the

rights to the Fire single: "Apple retained the rights for Father’s Name Is Dad and Treacle Toffee

World but they allowed me to keep all the others," says Dave Lambert. "I still receive royalties

for both tracks but it’s usually only after I’ve sent a letter reminding them.64"

Note: A counterfeit of this

single exists. This pressing

can easily be distinguished

from the original record by its

solid centre.

63 Record Mirror, 23 March 1968, page 9

64 E­Mail dated 22 July 2012

UK: (1) Decca F 12753 A­

label demo (2) Decca F

12753 with company

sleeve

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