Ernie Graham: Ireland, chicks & dope

Ernest Harold Graham was born in Belfast on June 14th 1946. Having served his apprenticeship with Tony & The Telstars and The People, he became guitarist with the appallingly-named Irish psychedelic pop-rockers Eire Apparent. Their sole album, Sunrise, was produced by Jimi Hendrix, with whom they'd toured America for most of 1968 (along with The Soft Machine). Sunrise appeared in May 1969, rather late for music of its sort. It's pretty good, though, with some especially inventive guitar playing - but when it flopped, the band folded. Like many reformed acid rockers, Graham decided to eschew all psychedelic trappings (except drugs) and adopt a more personal and straightforward approach. Eire Apparent had been managed by Dave Robinson, who'd since established Down Home Productions, with Brinsley Schwarz and Help Yourself on its roster. 

Help Yourself and Graham played a gig together in January 1971, as this Melody Maker ad shows:

Having befriended Help Yourself's ace singer and songwriter Malcolm Morley, Graham invited the band (and members of Brinsley Schwarz) to back him on his solo album, which was recorded early in 1971 and issued that April.

It's a laid-back, good-natured collection, reminiscent (unsurprisingly) of both Brinsley Schwarz and Help Yourself, and features a few classics, such as the touching 'Sebastian' and 'Sea Fever', and the tough 'Blues For Snowy' and 'Belfast'. As original copies are rare, it has attracted a fair amount of attention from collectors, but remains unknown to many people who would probably enjoy it a lot. So (as an addendum to my Help Yourself post) I thought I'd put up a few odds and ends relating to it.

This is the original press release sent out with promo copies in April 1971:

Here's the half-page advert that appeared in the music press in April 1971, designed by 'Jeff Of 'Ello Mum':

And here's an interview that appeared in Beat Instrumental's June 1971 issue:

The album was moderately well-received but sold poorly, prompting Graham to join Help Yourself for a few months (he can be heard on their second album, Strange Affair, released in May 1972, though he'd left them at the end of 1971). On August 7th Sounds ran a piece investigating what was wrong with the Irish music scene, to which Ernie contributed a few thoughts:

He went on to form pub-rockers Clancy in mid-1973. They released a couple of LPs on Warner Bros. before he went solo again, though he only managed one 45, a cover of Phil Lynott's 'Romeo & The Lonely Girl', for Robinson's Stiff Records, in 1978. I've read that he worked as a railwayman thereafter, and was training as a counsellor when he drank himself to death in April 2001.

Help Yourself: pioneers of the West in the head

It's puzzling that Help Yourself aren’t better-known. In Malcolm Morley they had one of the UK’s better songwriters, and in Richard Treece one of its best and least showy guitarists. At a time when progressive excess and trashy glam ruled the charts, they consistently produced melodic, thoughtful and unpretentious music, yet to this day they are sadly under-appreciated. 

They got together towards the end of 1970, and were gigging by January 1971, when the live ad above appeared in Melody Maker. Between 1971 and 1973 they issued four fine albums (five, if you count Happy Days, the bonus disc that came with their last LP). Their debut was released in the UK only in April 1971, and is more West Coast-inspired than most British recordings of its era. Here's the appealing sleeve, designed by the mysterious 'Jeff of Ello Mum':

Despite a clear Neil Young influence, the album shows no desire to be hip or trendy, which accounts for a large part of why it stands up so well today. Their subsequent records have more prominent rock / jamming elements, but here the emphasis is on good-natured pop and ballads, and I like it very much. Here's the press release Liberty sent out with promo copies:

  
And here's the accompanying biography of the band itself:

A single was extracted from the album, but must have sold very poorly, as the copy I own is the only one I've ever heard of. Both sides, incidentally, are the same as the album versions:

 

A lovely half-page advert was taken out for the album in the music press, designed by the same artist who drew the front cover, credited only as 'Jeff Of 'Ello Mum':

On May 15th Record Mirror reviewed a gig at the Roundhouse, which found them supporting (of all people) Deep Purple:

Barely any reviews seem to have appeared, though Melody Maker did run an interview with the band in their May 29th 1971 issue:

Record Mirror also ran a short piece on May 29th:

ZigZag magazine was a champion of Help Yourself from the start, and as such they ran a lengthy profile of them in their May 1971 issue, which I hope no one will mind if I reproduce here:

Help Yourself also backed Ernie Graham on his fine album, which was released in April 1971 too, and about which I have put some similar material in another post.