Friday, November 11, 2011

The Prisoners - The Last Fourfathers


The Prisoners were a mod revival/1960s garage band formed in 1982 in Chatham, Kent, England. They were a regular live fixture on the London "psychedelic revival" mini-scene of the early 1980s, and often toured with sparring partners The Milkshakes who included Billy Childish on guitar. The Prisoners' sound combined catchy, retro flavoured melodies, punky guitar riffs, a Steve Marriott-esque vocal style and a lead instrument of the then-unfashionable Hammond organ. The Prisoners never met with much commercial success during their original lifespan but have latterly been likened to Paul Weller and The Charlatans. Indeed Tim Burgess of the Charlatans has cited the Prisoners as a major influence.
The band's lineup was: Graham Day (vocals and guitar), Jamie/James Taylor (hammond organ), Allan Crockford (bass) and Johnny Symons (drums).


Posted by at 1:05 PM

2 comments:

  1. Retro ManNovember 11, 2011 at 8:47 PM

    Yes, great band indeed...as usual the pioneers get scalped while others nick their ideas and get the credit/commercial success...! The Prisoners need a serious "thank you" from a lot of bands, they should be re-evaluated and credited. Graham Day, genius song-writer, later with the Solarflares and Gaolers too. Good post Rick!

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  2. Ice Cream ManNovember 12, 2011 at 2:58 PM

    If there were no Prisoners, there would be so many great bands that would never exist as we know them today and that would be a crying shame, but twice this week I have turned folks onto them that had never heard of them, hopefully this post will go a little way to make more people aware of what a great and influential band they were and how the world of music is richer for their existence.

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