DMS
Tatterdemalion
Posts: 39
Likes: 82
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Post by DMS on Oct 5, 2023 15:22:34 GMT
Hi Folks Back in 2006 I (omega) posted a query on Queenzone about the history of April Lady, I have managed to find the post from Queenconcerts, and was curious if we have any further details about how who wrote it and how Smile got to record it. rhyeking posted some useful info on that original post which is here: Queenconcerts I have now found another recording by a band called Colonel Bagshot who were a 60s band, the release date says 2013, but it sure doesn’t sound from 2013! So, does anyone else have any information on the history of this mysterious song? cheers DMS |
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Makka
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Posts: 132 
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Post by Makka on Oct 5, 2023 16:02:19 GMT
Colonel Bagshot's only LP came out in '71 and it wasn't on it. They also had several singles between '69 - '73 but it wasn't on them either. Maybe it was unreleased until this compilation that was made in 2013? Can't say whether it was released before or after Smile's version.
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Post by pennyroyalty on Oct 5, 2023 16:19:02 GMT
There's also this version by Southern Comfort, from their 1971 album "Frog City": According to Phil Chapman's book "Dead Straight Guide to Queen" (page 32), the song was credited in the album's original liner notes to Southern Comfort's Carl Barnwell, and it is only the remastered CD that gives credit to Stanley Lucas. EDIT: Oh, sorry. I've just realized that Southern Comfort's version was mentioned in the Queenzone thread. EDIT2: That Queenzone thread links to another YT video featuring the same song by Southern Comfort. There are two very interesting posts underneath that, which I quote verbatim: - @lanilarock7468: NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carl Barnwell wrote it! I WAS THERE--Summer for 1969--He moved to England right after--Lived in Oakland Calif.. 98th ave--Jim Farone
- @fallingacorns5075: Barnwell did not get a copyright for 'April Lady' until June of 1971 (see The Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series; Volume 25, Part 5, Number 1, Section 1 of MUSIC, page 31). This was the original copyright (not a renewal) as the song does not appear in the 1969 or 1970 Catalogs (all this can be seen at onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/ ). In London, Mercury Records commissioned Smile to record 'April Lady' at Trident Studios in September of 1969. Barnwell had no copyright and the song was credited to 'Stanley Lucas'. It may seem possible that Barnwell went to London (after writing the song in the Summer of 1969) and offered the song under the alias of Stanley Lucas. BUT THE PLOT THICKENS...A completely different song called 'April Lady' (a funk piece) is copyrighted to "Lucas' in 1981 (on the upenn site click Database 1978 - present, and search for Stanley Lucas) and is recorded in the U.S. by James Perry at Carnival Records - credited to 'S. Lucas' - (see www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-saBq7-Kmw&list=RDi-saBq7-Kmw&start_radio=1&t=2) and also on a Wax album called "Do You Believe in Magic' - credited to 'Stan Lucas' - (see www.discogs.com/composition/a1cc7f99-d2e0-457d-8bbf-33d2e756838d-April-Lady). According to Discogs, 'Stanley Lucas' is not to be confused with 'Stan Lucas' (see www.discogs.com/artist/564345-Stanley-Lucas). What a crazy mess!!!!!!
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Oct 5, 2023 17:30:02 GMT
April Lady by Smile wasn't released until 1982, so maybe the error was the Japanese label putting it out?
I also wonder who the Captain Bagshot recording is copyrighted to, I can't see on Discogs, and the record company seems MIA.
Potentially...
Fella writes song. Moves to UK. Makes the rounds of publishers, trying to get it recorded.
2 bands record it. Neither release it.
MSC release it, crediting him.
Years later, Smile version released. Record company look up title, find funk song, mis-attribute. Error reproduced with every subsequent reissue
Years later, Bagshot version released. Better research done, right fella credited.
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