The Equals - BBC Sessions (1965-1970)

The Equals were a British pop band in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are best known for their hit single "Baby Come Back," plus the fact that Eddie Grant of "Electric Avenue" was a member. (Note though that Grant was the band's lead guitarist and chief songwriter, but wasn't the lead vocalist.) 

But in my opinion, there's a lot more to this band than their one-hit wonder status, starting with the fact that they had several other hits that seem to be mostly forgotten. One such hit, "Police on My Back," is still somewhat known because the Clash did a great cover of it. I particularly recommend "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys," which unfortunately isn't included here, since I couldn't find any live versions of it. And while the band did write many simple pop songs, they also had a political edge. "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys," is a good example, because it tackled both racism and war while also being a catchy dance hit. Heck, the mere existence of the band was a political statement of sorts, since three members of the band were black and two were white. In Britain at the time, that was very unusual and bold. That interracial fact further makes the band's name - "The Equals" - a statement too.

Anyway, it seem the band is largely forgotten these days, so I had to dig deep to find enough material for a BBC session. I found enough for an album, with most of the songs actually coming from BBC sessions. But everything here is officially unreleased, and I found evidence of other sessions that seem to have been lost. We're lucky though, because the sound quality of these versions are very good.

The first song, "Sonny Boy," is an oddity. This was recorded for a BBC children's TV show, of all things. I guess they were on the show because the band had just formed when it was recorded in 1965, and the band members were teenagers. It's an instrumental, and it fades out halfway through, but I figured it was interesting enough to include anyway. I'm guessing it's the first recording the band did, even before they got a record contract.

Two of the songs, "Hip Hug-Her," and "Baby Come Back," all come from a short live appearance the band did on French TV in 1968. It's worth checking out the YouTube video of this, if only for their version of "Hip Hug-Her." Eddie Grant (wearing a blonde wig) did his best Jimi Hendrix impression on lead guitar, not only playing the guitar with his teeth, but also with his butt! Seriously. That's the second version of "Baby Come Back," but I figured it was worth including both a BBC session one and a live audience one.

The rest of the songs all come from proper BBC sessions. There's not much to say about those except that almost all of them had the problem of BBC DJs talking over the music. But I fixed those in the usual way, using X-Minus audio editing software.

Most of the songs are originals, but at least "Hip Hug-Her," "Let's Work Together," and of course "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" are covers.

This album is 58 minutes long.

UPDATE 1: On May 17, 2022, I updated the mp3 download file. I came across some more unreleased BBC sessions. I added the songs "Michael and His Slipper Tree," "Can't Find a Girl to Love Me," "Do Your Thing," "Happy Birthday Girl," and "Black Skin Blue Eye Boys," and also upgraded the sound on a few others. I'm especially glad to have been able to add ""Black Skin Blue Eye Boys," since it's one of their best songs, maybe the best.

UPDATE 2: On June 16, 2022, I updated again. This time, I came across one more song, a funky version of the blues classic "I Just Want to Make Love to You."

01 Sonny Boy [Instrumental] (Equals)
02 Hey Baby, It's Time You Got Going (Equals)
03 Hold Me Closer [Edit] (Equals)
04 Baby Come Back [Edit] (Equals)
05 Give Love a Try [Edit] (Equals)
06 I’m So Excited [Edit] (Equals)
07 My Life Ain't Easy [Edit] (Equals)
08 I Won't Be There [Edit] (Equals)
09 Softly Softly (Equals)
10 Hip Hug-Her [Instrumental] (Equals)
11 Baby Come Back (Equals)
12 Michael and His Slipper Tree [Edit] (Equals)
13 Can't Find a Girl to Love Me [Edit] (Equals)
14 Viva Bobby Joe [Edit] (Equals)
15 [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction [Edit] (Equals)
16 Do Your Thing [Edit] (Equals)
17 Let's Work Together [Edit] (Equals)
18 Happy Birthday Girl (Equals)
19 Black Skin Blue Eye Boys [Edit] (Equals)
20 Ain't Got Nothing to Give You [Edit] (Equals)
21 I Don't Want Nobody (Equals)
22 I Just Want to Make Love to You (Equals)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15289700/TEquls_1965-1970_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken in Germany in 1968. The background was mostly dark grey with patches of white, but I found that distracting, so I lightened the dark grey up a lot. In case you're curious, I believe Eddie Grant is the one up higher than all the others.