User:Peterhbartholomew/sandbox



The Overlanders ‘Michelle’

Personnel. Original Trio in 1962, Laurie Mason 	        Lead Vocal, Peter Bartholomew Tenor vocal harmony and Guitar, Paul Arnold Friswell Bass vocal harmony and lead guitar, From 1965 Added		Terry Widlake	       Bass and vocal harmony, Dave Walsh 	       Drums,

1966		Ian Grifiths 	        Lead Guitar, replaced Paul Friswell,

History Originally a vocal trio recording for PYE records A&R man Tony Hatch from the spring of 1963, but added Bass and Drums before recording ‘Michelle’ in December 1965.

Quoting from the sleeve notes on the back of ‘The Overlanders Michelle’ LP, No. NLP 18138 4th paragraph. “ The group is basically a trio consisting of: Laurie Mason, vocals, percussion, Harmonica etc., Peter Bartholomew, Vocals and rhythm guitar and Paul Arnold, Vocals and lead guitar; but are augmented with Terry Widlake, bass guitar and Dave Walsh, drums, for personal appearances.” Please note that no other individuals are named on the LP sleeve other than Tony Hatch, and Harry Hammond.

Origins Laurie Mason was the lead singer in a rock group and Peter Bartholomew was the guitarist. Laurie was talent-scouted by Jimmy Savill’s brother Johnny, who introduced him to Mr Harry Hammond the well known New Musical Express photographer. A while later Laurie and Peter made a demo-tape with Laurie singing and playing Piano, Peter singing harmony and playing guitar and with a tambourine bouncing with the beat across the top of the piano and then rolling off across the floor in time to the music! The Record companies liked it but wanted something more, like a bass voice, so Paul Arnold Friswell, a friend of Harry Hammond’s daughter Carole, joined them.

The first recording was a demo for Southern Music ‘Looking Around’ written by Peter Bartholomew, with a B side of ‘She’s no longer your Girl’, (Bartholomew, Saxon); though the other two did contribute to this song. Co-writer Al Saxon played piano on the recordings, he was a well known multi-instrumentalist doing cabaret, radio etc. The Overlanders. Just after doing the demo recording of ‘Looking Around’ for Southern Music, they were signed to PYE records by Tony Hatch as The Overlanders, a vocal trio with a Folk music background. The trio wrote their first ‘Mason Bartholomew Friswell’ song, ‘Summer Skies and Golden Sands’ released July 1963; recorded with the help of session musicians, as were most records. This was a hit in America but not for The Overlanders! It was covered by a Country/Cajun singer Jimmy C Newman, it got into the top 20 of the Billboard top 100 country hits. As the song’s writers The Overlanders were happy. They were now told that ‘Looking Around’ on Colombia Records was a hit in Italy and they had been called ‘The Triffids’. As they were a PYE recording group they could not promote this record.

The Overlanders continued as a successful trio touring, and doing a great deal of TV and Radio especially the BBC’s Easybeat and the Jimmy Young Show plus Thank your Lucky Stars, Top of the Pops, Five O’Clock Club and Blue Peter. But in clubs and on tour they were restricted in how and where they could perform as they had to beg or borrow backing usually Base and Drums. They toured with Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Rolling Stones, the Who in Scandinavia, and also played Glasgow and Dundee as a supporting act for the Beatles.

As song writers they originally worked together, later however Paul Friswell wanted more recognition for his work. Laurie Mason was disadvantaged with no musical instrument or tape recorder, so they sometimes worked in pairs. Laurie and Paul wrote one song to which Peter refused to put his name, ‘Girl from Indiana’, the tune and words are almost identical to ‘Boy from New York City’ written by John Taylor and George Davis, a hit for ‘Manhattan Transfer’.

In late 1965 they were joined by two friends from Birmingham, Terry Widlake on Bass and Dave Walsh on Drums. In December 1965 they went to the PYE recording studios to record the Beatles song Michelle, unusually with no session musicians except for Tony Hatch himself on Piano. The new five piece Overlanders left for Frankfurt the next day, soon to be called back, as, early in 1966, Michelle was moving up the charts. Peter said that in Frankfurt they had the worst Christmas dinner they had ever had, bread rolls and jam! Michelle became a No. 1 hit. But what goes up, comes down and Michelle was walked all over (ie. succeeded) by Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Boots are made for walking’! Then Paul Friswell decided to walk or leave in August 1966, causing Laurie and Peter some concern, he remained a director of ‘The Overlanders Ltd’. He was replaced by Ian Griffiths, a good guitarist but not a good match for Paul’s bass voice and harmony singing. In December Peter Bartholomew gave three months notice (as required by his contract) that he intended to leave (the group and his directorship of the limited company), partly because his request that a Mason Bartholomew Friswell song had not been put on the B side of Michelle. He left in March 1967, after doing a final gig in Birmingham.

Paul Arnold did try to make a comeback as ‘The New Overlanders’ with a Joe South song ‘These Are Not My People’ but it was not a hit. See Below the CD*. In Peter Bartholomew’s opinion to sing lead you need to put some colour in your voice with tremolo or alternatively well controlled vibrato. He and Paul sang tuneless song harmonies hitting every note accurately, and Laurie added the colour that made The Overlanders three part harmony sound so good. For a while Paul joined ‘The Settlers’ another popular folk styled group before they too disbanded. Peter Bartholomew and Laurie Mason the lead singer, made no more records and sadly Laurie died of a heart attack some years ago in Florida.

The major success was Terry Widlake who left The Overlanders to be the bass player on a Roy Orbison tour. He remained as Roy Orbison’s Base player for about ten years, touring the world and living in Nashville.

Exhibitions of Harry Hammond’s Photos of the Fifties and the birth of the Rock ‘n’ Roll era should not be missed if you ever get the opportunity to see them. One photo has him in it, reflected in a mirror!

Below are listed the song title, writer, publisher, and record company reference number.

1 The Triffids On Colombia Records Lookin’ Around, P Bartholomew,  Colombia Records,   Joper Music NCB. and B side,  She’s no Longer Your Girl,  Al Saxon P Bartholomew, Ivy Music Ltd. DB7084.

The Overlanders, on PYE Records. All Mason Bartholomew Friswell songs were published by Welbeck Music Ltd. or Joper Music 2 Summer Skies and Golden Sands, And,  Call of the Wild, Mason Bartholomew Friswell,  7N.15544.

3 Movin’ and,   Rainbow,  Mason Bartholomew Friswell,  7N.15568.

4 Gone the Rainbow, Trad. Arr. Mason Bartholomew Friswell. And,  Yesterday’s Gone,   Stuart Kidd,   Rogers Music. 7N.15619.

5 Sing a Song of Sadness, Mason Bartholomew Friswell, And, Don’t it Make you feel Good,  Marvin Welch ( The Shadows ) 7N.15678.

6 I Wonder Why,  Mason Bartholomew Friswell, And, If I Gave You,   Martin Gray,   Essex Music.7N.15712

7 The Leaves Are Falling, Mason Bartholomew Friswell, And,  Delia Gone,   Blake,   Essex Music. 7N.15719

8 Walking The Soles Off My Shoes,  Mason Bartholomew Friswell, And,   Along came Jones,   Lieber Stoller,   Progressive Music. 7N.15804.

9 Take The Bucket To The Well, Stough Rainwater,  Acuff Rose. and Freight Train, accredited to P James F Williams, (actually by Elizabeth Cotton?). 7N.15883.

10 Room Enough For You And Me,  Friswell, And,   January,    B & F Bryant,    Acuff Rose. 7N.15967.

11 MICHELLE,  Lennon McCartney,   Northern Songs, And,   Cradle Of Love,   Good Music. 7N.17034.

12 Girl From Indiana,  Mason Friswell, And,   My Life,   Tony Hatch,  Welbeck Music. 7N.17068

13 Don’t Let It Happen Again,  Mason Bartholomew Friswell, And,   Go Where You Wanna Go,   John Phillips,    Dick James Music. 7N.17159.

14 LP. The Overlanders Michelle. NLP.18138.

15 LP. Go! With The Overlanders & the Settlers. NLP.18163.

16 *CD. ‘The Overlanders Michelle,The PYE Anthology.’ 2001 Copyright Sanctury Records Group. This CD has a wealth of information on the flysheet which comes with it, especially about personnel names and the attempts in 1967 to relaunch the group. Most hits stand out because of the SINGING the SONG and the SOUND. Michelle had the familiar Overlander’s harmonies, The song, and the different subtle sound of Paul’s lead guitar mixed with Tony Hatch’s piano cleverly playing in unison.

For anyone interested in superfluous facts Cindy Kent of the Settlers’ arm and Peter Bartholomew’s arm and 12 string guitar appear in the Photo on the LP sleeve of ‘The Showband Scene’, Marbe Arch records MAL 674.

The Overlanders ‘Michelle’ LP Quoting from the sleeve notes on the back of ‘The Overlanders Michelle’ LP, No. NLP 18138 4th paragraph. “ The group is basically a trio consisting of: Laurie Mason, vocals, percussion, Harmonica etc., Peter Bartholomew, Vocals and rhythm guitar and Paul Arnold, Vocals and lead guitar; but are augmented with Terry Widlake, bass guitar and Dave Walsh, drums, for personal appearances.” Please note that no other individuals are named on the LP sleeve other than Tony Hatch, and Harry Hammond. catagory:The Overlanders(band)