I'M NOT sure if it was forward thinking on Ivan's Meads' part but cleverly they penned their own flip-sides. Keith Lawless is credited with the jazz influenced, A Little Sympathy while the entire band take credit for their second B-side, an instrumental in ‘Memphis Group’ mode entitled Bottle.

The move to writing their own songs would have increased any royalty cheques by a considerable amount - if they were lucky enough to received any. Royalties at the time and especially over the intervening years have become a huge legal wrangle between the record companies and their artist that will no doubt run for years to come.

Both records were completely out of character with the band's image and their nightly outpouring of soul music. In their defence, to be ensconced in the studio where the Beatles had regularly turned out hits since 1962, a feeling of ‘the suits know best’ must have prevailed when it came to the choice of singles to be released. Sadly the suits didn’t know best and the band failed to make a substantial impression on the charts, which marked an end to their recording career but not to their well attended live shows.

One of the most memorable shows Ivan’s Meads played was the opening night of the Twisted Wheel - after the move from Brazennose Street to Whitworth Street in September 1965. The Abadi brothers had the inimitable Roger Eagle spinning disks and Spencer Davis and Ivan’s Meads live on stage doing their own thing.

Keith remembers, "The usual format was the evening show followed by a break then the all-nighter. It was a great night made more interesting by a jam between the two gigs with members of both groups sharing the stage, in which Steve Winwood switched from his usual Harmony guitar to Rod’s Hammond organ. A first I think and he was extremely adept, which came as no surprise."

A minor interruption to the schedule came when Alan Powell, the drummer, was taken ill in the North East and had to spend a few days in hospital. Luckily the group had no further to look than the suburbs of Middleton to find his replacement for the next gig.

The replacement was Drachen Theaker who was playing with Wynder K Frog at the time. The following night's stand-in became a life-long friend of Alan’s, his name was Ian Starr, drummer with the Richard Kent Style. More on Ian later.

A loss that could not be replaced, was Ivan Robinson. Ivan made a decision to leave, for reasons of his own, and was steadfast in his determination not to step on a stage again. The lads looked around for a replacement and once again plumped for a local, Tommy Rigby. The Meads fulfilled their bookings with Tommy fronting the band but the arrangement did not work out for either side. The band drifted rudderless for a time and eventually disbanded.

After the break-up of Ivan’s Meads, Alan Powell went with the popular soul band the Richard Kent Style and Vinegar Joe. He later went on to record the albums, Lucky Boy with Chicken Shack and Warrior on the Edge of Time with Hawkwind.

When Alan was in Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer he started a successful writing partnership with the latter. One of their songs – Life In Detail - was in the movie ‘Pretty Woman’ and Alan’s half of that deal paid for the 40ft sail boat on which he now lives, moored in Sausalito (San Francisco Bay). Is he missing Middleton? I don’t think so.

After David Bowker left Ivan’s Meads he travelled extensively with various bands before settling down in Denver, Colorado. David is a professional musician, writer and broadcaster, he also works with the ‘Blues For Schools’ scheme in the Denver area.

Sixties R&B, like fifties Rock and Roll, eventually began to loose its edge. Motown’s grip on the charts slipped under pressure from Atlantic and the Memphis based Stax records. Artists like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Sam and Dave came at the fans with all the power of a steam train with an emotional slipstream; some of the content may have verged on despair but the energy was electrifying.

Britain’s answer to the passion and energy that soul music exuded came on the 29th January 1965 in the form of The Who and their first television appearance on Ready Steady Go! The older well established bands ignored the young upstarts and stuck to the tried and tested formula while the younger and less experienced musicians craved the revolutionary zeal they’d witnessed on that cold and miserable Friday night. One of those bands was the Perfect Circle.