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"The Young Bucks"

 Newcastle band the Young Bucks were formed in 1975 by Pat Rafferty and Tony Wadsworth (now big in management at EMI). An original Young Buck was Glyn John who left the band to join X-Ray Spex in the summer of 1976. This was only the first of many line-up changes over the years. His replacement was highly original singer-songwriter and talented sax player, Archie Brown. Probably, THE musician most associated with Dexys who was never actually in the band. The Young Bucks were the first in a string of bands in which Archie would feature without experiencing the sweet taste of commercial success.

 

Get Your Feet Back On The Ground/Cold Cold Morning

Label - Blueport Catalogue no. - Blu 1 Released - 1976

The Young Bucks first single was to set the trend. A Single Of The Week in UK music magazine Sounds it failed to chart or achieve the Young Bucks their dream of a major label deal. The Young Bucks first single is still available in collectors shops or over the internet if you look hard enough but you may have to be prepared to pay big bucks. The a-side, on which Archie takes lead vocals is proto new wave 2 years before new wave was invented and the b-side, a Pat Rafferty lead vocal is Television-like a year before anybody had heard of Television. The Young Bucks never released another record although one of their tracks, Pennies, appeared on a pub-rock compilation LP called All Together Bedrock in 1977. Also in 1977 future Dexys drummer, Seb Shelton joined. With Shelton on board the band headed toward London for the traditional crack at the big time. Despite hard gigging the Young Bucks failed to set the world alight and dissolved. Shelton and new saxophonist Dave Winthrop split for Secret Affair and Archie formed The Upset. The Young Bucks last live gig was supporting Slade in July 1979.

 

 

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"Archie Brown & The Young Bucks"

During a conversation with Archie Brown in 1985 while he toured with Flag he told me that due to contractual obligations following the end of The Bureau he would be unable to record any Bureau songs for 5 years and that he would love to have another go at Let Him Have It. After Flag had fizzled out Archie returned to his native Newcastle undecided what to do next. In the summer of 1985 he had met with his old pals, Pat Rafferty (now working as a lawyer in Newcastle) and Tony Wadsworth (now Managing Director at Parlophone) at a mutual friend's wedding. The next day they got together and recorded on a portastudio. This meeting was the beginnings of Archie's next project. Archie decided to reform the Young Bucks and by the Spring of 1986 Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia was completed by the trio with the help of a few friends. This album was released independently in the spring of 1987 on Robbins Records (ROB 1) and included a version of Let Him Have It now retitled Bentley. The Young Bucks gigged around the pubs and clubs of the North East. There was no press for this album and Archie quietly disappeared from wider view.

Listen to short extract from "Just A Little Weakness".

It may have been that this was the end of the Archie Brown story but for a bizarre hand of fate. Archie was busking on the London underground and spotted by German artist, Leni Hoffman. She loved his music so much that it led to an invite to tour Germany. Tony Wadsworth was unable to make the tour and the Young Bucks recruited ex-Bureau guitarist Pat Cunningham as Tony's replacement. With Tony Cook on drums and Geoff Lincoln on bass the Young Bucks toured Germany and built quite a following. Within weeks of getting there they had been offered three record deals and signed to Dortmund based label Westpark Music. With money and studio time available The Young Bucks re-recorded Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia. The German release has different tracks and completely different artwork but yet another (marvelous) version of Bentley is included. In 1989 I was visiting my family in Germany and made my usual trip into Aachen to hit the great record shops there. I was casually browsing the racks (pre-internet, I always used to go from a-z so that I could take in all the recent releases) and came across a CD of the album. I couldn't believe it. I mean, what the fuck is this? After a gap of 4 years, Archie fucking Brown! I immediately thought of my brother, also a big Bureau/Archie fan but could only find one CD copy. In desperation I looked through the vinyl and found an LP so we both had copies. Phew!


The following German release, Rafferty Rafferty Fish (which includes a fantastic version of Flag's A Little Emotion) in 1990 passed me by and the next I heard of Archie was in, the Geordie based, Viz magazine. Archie wrote the music to The Fat Slags cartoon and via this link Viz released Young Bucks In Fancy Shirts on their House Of Viz label in 1992. There are probably many interesting details to the Archie Brown story of the 1990s but he again disappeared from wider view until, via Archie's website, the power of the internet revealed that he carried on working away and gigging with the Young Bucks in and around his North East homebase. Further releases, Extractions (cassette only), Dirt And Romance (1995), Prisoner Of Fender (1997) and, the highly recommended Turks Head Soup (2001) are all worth the effort of seeking out. Archie is currently working on songs for a new Young Bucks release.

[To be continued...]

1. Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia

Label - Robbins Records catalogue no. - ROB 1 Released 1987

Tracks - 1. Prisoners 2. Love Has Got A Nerve 3. Who Can Say That 4. African Sun 5. A Little Emotion 6. Bentley 7. Just A Little Weakness 8. Sweet Lies 9. Lonely Teardrops 10. Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia

Notes - tracks 4 & 5 are collaborations with Dave Cairns, 3 is co-written by Pat Cunningham (ex-Bureau) and 6 was previously known as Let Him Have It. Archie claims the cover photo is not of him!

 

2. Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia

Label - Westpark Music Catalogue no. - LC 7537 Released - 1988

Tracks - 1. Standing In Line 2. Prisoners 3. Just A Little Weakness 4. Bentley 5. All Quiet On The Western Front 6. Who Can Say That 7. Low Life 8. South London Boy 9. African Sun 10. Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia 11. Poverty And Plenty 12. Big Bad World

Notes - All the tracks duplicated from the UK release are here in different versions. 11 is another collaboration with Dave Cairns.

 

3. Rafferty Rafferty Fish

Label - Westpark Music Catalogue no. - LC 7535 Released - 1990

Tracks - 1. Mad 2. Take A Risk 3. Too Late To Cry 4. Little Emotion 5. Men At Work 6. The Love Line 7. I Believe 8. When It Hurts 9. Irish Song 10. Close Your Eyes 11. Dixon Street

Notes - 4 is a new version of the song first featured on the Flag album.

 

4. Young Bucks In Fancy Shirts

Label - House Of Viz Catalogue - HOVCD001 Released - 1992

Tracks - 1. 100 ECU 2. I Believe In You 3. Forever Inside Your Arms 4. Unforgiveable 5. Die For You 6. The Cat 7. Red Wind 8. Bit Of Paper 9. English Rose 10. Heart That Beats For Me 11. All Quiet On The Western Front 12. Time For Bed

 

5. Extractions

Label - Robbins Records Catalogue no. - ROB 4 Released - ?

1. Back To Square One 2. Wall To Wall 3. Touching You 4. Head Turn Around 5. Dance Of Manhattan 6. Poverty And Plenty 7. Open Water 8. No Kisses For Daddy 9. Can't Wait That Long 10. Sophie's Cottage

Notes - This was a cassette only release containing tracks left off the previous albums. 6 is a different version from the track on Jerry Garcia.

 

6. Dirt And Romance

(if anybody has a scan of this please send it to the site)

Label - Anchor Records Catalogue no. - ARCN 2 Released 1995

Tracks - 1. This Town 2. Temporary Arrangement 3. Hurt 4. The Bird 5. Gotta Getta Hold 6. Divided By Two 7. Lonely Nights 8. Touching You 9. Do You Eyes Deceive Me 10. Nothing Personal

Notes - 3. is a new version of the Upset single.

 

7. Prisoner Of Fender

Label - Anchor Records Catalogue no. - ARCN005 Released - 1997

Tracks - 1. The Killer 2. There's A Hole In It 3. Can't Afford To Lose You 4. Sugar 5. Robert's Song 6. Never Gonna Be Another One 7. Don't Ask Me If I Love You 8. Why Won't 9. Victim Of Your Own 10. Murray's Song

 


8. Turks Head Soup

Label - Gorgeous Business Records Catalogue no. - ab2001

Released - 2001

Tracks - 1. Can't Get Used To It 2. All Is Forgiven 3. Sweet Carolina 4. Turks Head Soup 5. One Cup Of Coffee 6. Lost All I Had 7. Big Guns 8. You Make This Love A Teardrop 9. Save Me 10. Loving Arms 11. Got To Be The One 12. When It's Over


Notes - 2 is a new version of the track on the Flag album.

 

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Singles

1. Prisoners/Big Bad World

Label - Westpark Music Catalogue no. - Nr. 87013 Released - 1988

 


2. Mad/Prisoners (remix)

Label - Westpark Catalogue no. - WP 87020 Released - 1990

The Archie Brown & Young Bucks page was written by Eddie Metal