After posting the shot of the ‘Johnnie Burnette’ Tear It Up cover, I went looking for more of Sylvia Pitcher’s images. Lots of her great pix of the Animals and, most impressively photos of The Action I’d not previously seen, can be found in the Getty Images archive here
I like the mirrored images of the fags, left hand right hand.
But as arresting as those images of the boys from Kentish Town are, they’re nothing compared to this pic of hers of a band hitherto unknown to me, Neat Change
The listing dates this circa 1967, my first thought was the skinhead look and pose is more likely 1969, but the shoes are all wrong. What they actually look like is late period The Birds, so I’d say 1966.
45cat lists only one Neat Change 45 , which has a Peter Frampton connection. It’s okay, soft psyche with strings which fits well with their new primped hair. One of the band later helped form Yes (Peter Brockbanks aka Banks). The singer, Jimmy Edwards went on to work with Bruce Foxton after the death of The Jam. Stewart Home gives the lowdown on his career here. I dunno if there are any recordings by the band in their late Mod, proto-skinhead phase ,but I hope they sound like they looked.
Neat Change after a vist to the hairdressers, 1968 (uploaded by freakbeatjames on 45Cat)
