Tales of Justine - Petals From a Sunflower (1967-68 uk)

The roots of this band lay in an outfit called The Court Jesters, who were formed in the wake of the British beat boom by a group of friends at Mount Grace School in Potter's Bar, Hertfordshire. By the end of 1966, they were galvanised by the new drug inspired sounds from the States and, after various personnel changes, changed their name to Tales Of Justine. Now one of the first wave of authentic English psychedelic groups they became a regular attraction at Happening 44 and The Electric Garden, which later became The Middle Earth Club. One of their managers, Martin Wilcox drew them to EMI employee Tim Rice's attention (at that point he was an A&R man, trainee record producer and Norrie Paramor's assistant) and he arranged for them to record at EMI's Abbey Road studios. Prior to this, they made an impromptu appearance on stage at the International Love-in at Alexandria Palace (which was pretty much a repeat of the Fourteen Hour Technicolour Dream, which had taken place at the same venue three months earlier), when Pink Floyd's set ended prematurely as Syd Barrett was barely functioning. Three days later they entered EMI's studios for a recording test. They put down five cuts: the inconsequential lightweight pop Albert (A Pet Sunflower), three more idiosyncratic numbers Sunday School, Music To Watch Us By and Obselete Incident with suitably surreal lyrical observations, but it's the organ-driven Evil Woman which really catches the ears. They returned again, about a fortnight after the original session to re-record a faster, slightly less languid version of Albert backed by the far superior Monday Morning, which came with a David Daltrey sitar solo and a superb arrangement. Bizarrely, it became the penultimate pop release on EMI's decidedly unhip HMV label.

In the weeks following the recording Bruce Hurford had to leave the band and was later tragically killed in a road accident. He was replaced by Paul Locke. They recorded an acetate of Sitting On A Blunstone, a delightful slice of psychedelic pop with a guitar solo from David Daltrey as a publishing demo at the offices of Southern Music. John Peel played it on his Top Gear show but incredibly EMI refused to give what was the band's magnum opus an official release. By now, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber were hard at work on "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" and persuaded David Daltrey to take lead part on the disc and show. This increasing attention on Daltrey distanced him from the rest of the group, although they returned to Abbey Road on 12th December 1968 to record four more appealing flower-pop songs - Aurora, Morpheus, Pathway and Something Special - which EMI unfortunately decided were too idiosyncratic for mass public consumption, the omens were not good. Further sessions were held, but EMI's unwillingness to release any further material eventually led to the group's demise.
Daltrey went on to record some singer-songwriter demos and later formed a band called Carillion, who played a Byrds-influenced brand of rock and supported David Bowie on his Ziggy Stardust tour. Daltrey departed when no record contract was forthcoming and Carillion later evolved into Starry Eyed and Laughing.
All of Tales Of Justine's studio recordings can now be heard on Petals From A Sunflower which is recommended listening if you like flower-pop.
Compilation appearances have included: Sitting On A Bluestone on Psychedelia, Vol. 4 (LP) and Hen's Teeth, Vol. 3 (CD); Monday Morning on Psychedelia At Abbey Road (CD).
(Vernon Joynson/David Wells/Hazel Latif)

**~Tracklist ~***

Tales Of Justine - 01 - Albert (1967 HMV POP 1614 uk)

Tales Of Justine - 02 - Monday Morning (1967 HMV POP 1614)

Tales Of Justine - 03 - Sunday School

Tales Of Justine - 04 - Evil Woman

Tales Of Justine - 05 - Osolete Incident

Tales Of Justine - 06 - Music to Watch Us By

Tales Of Justine - 07 - Sitting on a Bluntston

Tales Of Justine - 08 - So Happy

Tales Of Justine - 09 - Morpheus

Tales Of Justine - 10 - Aurora

Tales Of Justine - 11 - Jupiter

Tales Of Justine - 12 - Pathway

Tales Of Justine - 13 - Saturn

Tales Of Justine - 14 - So Much Love to Give You

Tales Of Justine - 15 - Something Specia

TalesofJustine-PetalsFromaSunflower1967-68uk.rar