Tintern Abbey formed in late 1966, with three members drawn from an obscure band called The Sect (guitarist Don Smith, bassist Stuart Mackay and drummer John Dalton), and one (their songwriter David MacTavish) who had apparently spent time wandering the Orient. Having got their sound and act together in Cornwall, they signed to Decca and swiftly recorded a 45 with producer Jonathan Webber, probably in October. Here's the press release the label sent out to promote the 45:
Here's an advance acetate of Beeside, named 'Busy Bee', on Larry Page's 'Page Full Of Hits' imprint, which would have been used for publishing purposes only:
And here's the actual disc, which appeared on November 24th 1967:
The band was fortunate to have a wealthy patron in the form of Nigel Samuel, a young publishing heir who was happy to splash his cash around the underground (he also supported International Times and The Deviants). As such, numerous adverts promoting the disc appeared in the music press - far more than most such 45s received. Here they are:
The ads did little good, though the band did creep into Record Mirror's 'Names & Faces' column at the time of Beeside's release:
Press reaction was favourable, though for some reason Melody Maker didn't run a review:
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Samuel also appears to have paid the über-cool design team Hapshash & The Coloured Coat to design a promo poster, which exists in both colour and black & white versions. Here they are:
The band played a few shows to promote the 45, including one at the hip Happening 44 in Gerrard Street a month before its release:
The disc was officially launched at London's Arts Laboratory (at 182 Drury Lane) on November 27th, and a further show followed at the equally hip Speakeasy on December 29th:
Whatever momentum the band had gathered, however, was lost in January (or so) when Smith and Dalton departed, to be replaced by Colin Forster and John 'Willie' Wilson. I have read that a song entitled Snowman was completed and due to be released as a follow-up 45 at this time, but that the membership shuffle prompted its cancellation. If such a track was recorded, it has yet to surface - I suspect it's a myth. Either way, here's a rare signed picture of the new line-up:
And here they are in action:
You might have noticed that MacTavish has a buzzard perched on his shoulder. I asked his friend Tim Du Feu (bassist with fellow London hipsters The Open Mind) if he could shed any light on this, and he told me: "It was Dave's pet. The band lived in a mews cottage in Chelsea that was paid for by Nigel Samuel. It had a minstrel's gallery, and that bloody bird used to swoop down to catch ping-pong balls thrown by Dave. It was terrifying round there." Apparently Samuel used the band's house as a party venue, and expected the band to provide spontaneous live entertainment at all times of day and night (the lucky neighbours). Not many gigs seem to have been played beyond its walls, but Samuel continued to place ads (whose purpose is unclear) in International Times as 1968 wore on. Here's another:
and another:
and another:
In March, Forster was replaced by Paul Brett. Here's the final line up (clockwise from top left: MacTavish, Dalton, Brett and Mackay):
At much the same time their management was taken over by Spencer Davis, who was evidently looking to expand his interests (he also handled July). Here's the announcement:
Other such ads appeared in the first half of 1968 - here are a couple:
The new configuration taped some demos at Tony Pike's studio in Putney, four of which were released on this EP in 2006 (click on the back cover image for more info):
Do What You Must and How Do I Feel Today? are said to have been pencilled in for release as a 45 (IT announced that it was 'in production' in mid-March), but it never materialised. The songs are pretty good, but - in my opinion - not as inspired as the earlier 45. In its 'Pop Supplement' of March 8th-21st 1968 IT described Tintern Abbey as 'an emergent progressive pop group coming onto the club scene', but in the following issue John Peel criticised their inclusion:
Though they'd received relatively prominent promotion and had a well-received single behind them, work seems to have been intermittent, and an LP that was reportedly planned for August was never recorded. That autumn Melody Maker announced that:
By the late summer, however, things had more or less ground to a halt, and by the end of the year Tintern Abbey had petered out.
