The Factory: Path Through The Forest 1968

 

The short lived Factory never really produced an album so this is a bonus for 60's Psych-heads. All their recordings have been put together( par one missing Byrds track"So you wanna be a Rock and Roll Star"). Excellent guitar work and musicianship. Pity noone took notice as this band could have gone far?

Put this togeteher with ART Supernatural Fairytales and Tomorrow aswell as early Pink Floyd. They were discovered by Brian Carroll, an engineer in one of London's leading studios, IBC. With his colleague Damon Lyon Shaw, he was looking to enter production, so they cut their teeth on the youthful Factory, whose three members included a 16-year-old drummer and 17-year-old guitarist. Their first single, "Path Through the Forest," a respectable piece of hard psychedelia with commendably creative guitar and vocal distortion, came out on MGM in the U.K. in late 1968. 
                            

Trying to piece together a history on The Factory is a little tricky as their seems to be some conflicting and/or unconfirmed information. Essentially, The Factory were a 3 piece from London – Jack Brand on vocals and bass, Ian Oates on guitar and Bill Macleod on drums. They were picked up by a group of engineers, producers and publishers that worked through IBC studios in London where they had recorded, Hendrix, Cream, The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The Small Faces, Donovan, The Bee Gees and many others and were looking for a band to record for their new production company. Brian Carroll and Damon Lyon-Shaw produced the band and their first single and B-side in 1968. (Brian Carroll worked cutting masters at IBC and cut the first Hendrix releases as well as The Who Live At Leeds). 
                              

The A-side, Path Through The Forest is considered a Freakbeat classic and was allegedly written under a pseudonym (Rollings) by Clifford T. Ward. He went on to have solo success with ‘Gaye’, a UK No. 8 in 1973 and made many solo albums (in the archive). Sadly he died in 2001 aged 57 of multiple sclerosis.

The B-side is a complex web of fascinating characters. Gone was originally recorded by Paul Revere and The Raiders on their 1967 album Revolution but as Gone – Movin’ On. It’s a little confusing as they recorded another song called Gone but that was a different track entirely. To add to the confusion The Factory version has aspects of the original song but has some quite different parts, it’s basically a re-write although still credited to its writers. 

                          

To add to the confusion The Factory version has aspects of the original song but has some quite different parts, it’s basically a re-write although still credited to its writers. The writers too were interesting characters, one was Bruce Johnston, he joined The Beach Boys in 1965 and wrote the schmaltz hit, I Write The Songs, a much recorded song and No.1 hit  for Barry Manilow in 1976. The other writer was Terry Melcher. Melcher produced Mr Tambourine Man and Turn Turn Turn for The Byrds and was heavily involved in the West Coast scene as a producer, singer and songwriter. Melcher was the only child of wait for it – Doris Day! He was also involved in the Manson murders story in as much as he turned down Manson for a recording contract and the house where he used to live was the scene of the grisly and sick Manson murders and allegedly Manson sent his followers there if not to murder Melcher then to instil fear in him in revenge for not signing him up. 
                                 

Ultimately despite connections to talented engineers and producers, successful songwriters and fitting in perfectly with the late sixties scene, The Factory and their explosive debut single Path Through The Forest were not a hit, its legendary status as a psych classic immortalizes The Factory as a cult band that have received higher regard since the Nuggets and Pebbles compilations brought more attention to the

incredible bands of this ilk. Some time later another engineer from IBC, John Pantry was brought in and wrote the A and B-sides for their second single in 1969. Try A Little Sunshine and Red Chalk Hill were also sung by Pantry. I’m not sure why Jack Brand was relegated to bass player but Pantry was a singer himself and had played in bands, Sounds Around and Peter And The Wolves releasing some Pop gems themselves in the sixties. As the writer and plus the fact that he was part of the IBC team, I imagine that they had complete control and called the shots. Who knows who actually played on these records? The fact is that Try A Little Sunshine is also a classic psych single from the era.
                                      

LINE - UP

Bill MacLeod - Drums
Ian Oates - Lead Guitar
Jack Brand  - Vocals, Bass Guitar
                                      

The Factory – Path Through The Forest
Label: Guerssen – GUESSCD021
Format: CD, Compilation, Reissue 2008
Country: Spain
Released: 1968    
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                                           

01. Path Through The Forest (Original Version)   3:58
Written-By – Rollings
02. Gone   3:05
Written-By – M. Lindsay, T. Melcher
03. Mr. Lacey   2:46
Written-By – A. Hutchings
04. Try A Little Sunshine   3:38
Written-By – J. Pantry
05. Red Chalk Hill   3:24
Written-By – J. Pantry
06. Second Generation Woman   3:04
Written-By – R. Grech
07. Path Through The Forest (Previously Unreleased Version)   4:14
Written-By – Rollings

NOTES

Complete surviving recordings by UK freakbeat-psyche legends The Factory! Features their both incredibly rare 45s with classics such as "Path Through The Forest" and "Try A Little Sunshine". Recorded at IBC Studios, London.

Flac Size: 271 MB