Blog #1: Music for Biscuits
Mike Sammes lost works and why you need to listen to this album
"I'd been on the trail of Mike Sammes, the legendary vocalist, for some while. He'd made some fine LPs and odd recordings throughout his prolific and long career, and being the nosey sort, I'd thought I'd go and find him and have a chat about his musical life that time sadly had quite forgotten...A couple of months later I had a weird call from Gordon. He told me to come to Reigate. Immediately. Mike had died, the Sammes home had been ransacked - house clearances had been in and taken anything of any value and everything left was to be skipped and destroyed by the end of the week"
(Chris M Writes on Trunk Records: http://www.trunkrecords.com/turntable/biscuits.shtml)
I didn't know until recently the story of Mike Sammes and how many of his 'lost' recordings had been recovered by a fan from Mike's ransacked house days before they were to be destroyed forever, and lovingly curated. I found it through a love of similar artists like Herb Alpert and his 60s advertising and television music and KPM (you know KPM and Alan Hawskworth if you were alive in the 80s, this music was everywhere from the TV Theme Tunes like Grange Hill and blockbusters to the light end of the music charts). The album Music for Biscuits is a compendium of songs that Mike Sammes had scored and recorded to be pitched for adverts, some well known, some that never made it, and gorgeous orchestral textured 1960s backing music, and it's the closest thing to actual time travel I've come across in an album. Lyrically bizarre, and relentlessly catchy, you will find yourself singing the tunes weeks later. Dulux super three and Heineken are particular highlights. If you like Jake Thackray, teak sideboards, flock wallpaper and rainy camping holidays this might be for you.
KLS
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