Plastic Penny - BBC Sessions (1968-1969)

Here's another BBC sessions album by a late 1960s British band that you've probably never heard of, Plastic Penny.

This band has a strange story, because they started out a fake band but quickly turned into a real one that was very different from the fake origins. The story began when record producer Larry Page heard a B-side by the US band the Box Tops called "Everything I Am." He thought it should have been the A-side and a big hit, so he set about making that happen. He knew of a little-known singer named Brian Keith who he thought had the ideal voice for that type of song. Using Keith and some session musicians, the song was recorded and release in late 1967, and reached number six on the British charts.

That was such a success that an actual band was needed to capitalize on it. Keith had been singing with a band called "The Universals," and they became the core of this new band. But since the hit single had been released by the "Plastic Penny," they had to change their name to fit.

However, it turned out the rest of the band was much more than just backing musicians to support Keith. When the band released an album in early 1968 called "Two Sides of a Penny," Keith sang about half of the songs, but other band members sang the rest, and they wrote most of the material. Then, shortly after that album was released, Keith left the group to go solo. It turned out he was more of a cabaret singer and the rest of the band wanted to rock and roll.

Even though the original reason the band existed and was successful was Keith's voice, the band was actually better off without him. They did a second album in 1969 called "Currency." This is generally regarded as the stronger album today, with strong original material and more of a unified sound than the first album, which was split between Keith's musical vision and that of the rest of the band.

Unfortunately, the band didn't have much commercial success after their initial hit, so they broke up in 1969 not long after their second came out, due to dwindling future prospects. 

The band's recorded legacy is pretty small, just the two albums... plus some BBC recordings they did. Luckily, most of their BBC sessions were saved for posterity, and were included on an archival compilation called "Everything I Am: The Complete Plastic Penny." All the songs here are from that source. I looked for other TV show, radio, or concert recordings, but couldn't find anything.

If you're into late 1960s British classic rock and haven't heard of this band, this is worth checking out. I believe the first seven songs are with Keith, and the remaining six are without him. Most of the songs are originals, or at least originally done by this band, but "Killing Floor" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" are two well-known covers.

It's too bad there isn't more from the 1969 era of the band, because they were getting better and better when they broke up. If you like this, I also recommend their album "Currency," which is solid.

This album is rather short, just 34 minutes long.

01 Turning Night into Day (Plastic Penny)
02 Everything I Am (Plastic Penny)
03 Take Me Back (Plastic Penny)
04 No Pleasure Without Pain My Love (Plastic Penny)
05 It's a Good Thing (Plastic Penny)
06 Nobody Knows It (Plastic Penny)
07 So Much Older Now (Plastic Penny)
08 Your Way to Tell Me Go (Plastic Penny)
09 The Shelter of Your Arms (Plastic Penny)
10 Give Me Money (Plastic Penny)
11 Killing Floor (Plastic Penny)
12 Strawberry Fields Forever (Plastic Penny)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267496/PlasticP_1968-1969_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

This band is so obscure that it's hard to find any color photos of them. I did find one, so I've used it for the cover.  I made a couple adjustments in Photoshop, lowering a couple of the band members relative to the others, so there would be room for the band name at the top.