Shel Naylor - One Fine Day

 

Shel Naylor

by Pete Clemons

Shel Naylor, (real name Rob Woodward), was a singer, songwriter, and musician from Coventry who released two singles on Decca Records in the UK. Both singles were produced by Shel Talmy: the debut, "How Deep Is The Ocean" in November 1963, and a second single, "One Fine Day", in March 1964.

Rob was discovered at the age of 17 while performing as Rob Woodward at the Orchid Ballroom in Coventry. He won a talent contest that earned him £50 and a recording contract with Decca Records. His now manager, Larry Page, gave him the professional name "Shel Naylor".

On tour Rob was described in programme notes as follows: Seventeen year old Shel Naylor comes from Coventry where he worked in the car industry. He taught himself to play four instruments, piano, clarinet, guitar and ukulele when he was very young and it was the late George Formby who gave him his first ukulele. Besides being a singer he writes many songs.

He is a very keen athlete and has run the 440 yards in record time. Contemporary art holds a great interest for him and he spends much of his time visiting exhibitions.

Key details about Rob's singles:

First Single: Released November 22, 1963 ("How Deep Is The Ocean" / "La Bamba").

Second Single: Released March 6, 1964 ("One Fine Day" / "It's Gonna Happen Soon").

Both singles were produced by the legendary Shel Talmy. The 1964 release "One Fine Day" is historically significant as it was written by Dave Davies of The Kinks and featured session musicians Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass.

Shel Talmey remembers: 'I was reminded of this record recently, as one of the favourites I had produced, so I thought I would bring it to everyone's attention one more time.

Although by February 1964 I had gone fully independent, I was still producing discs on behalf of Decca Records. Some of the last sessions I did at the labels studio in West Hampstead in North London was with a group of artists from the Midlands town of Coventry. This included John Goodison, aka Johnny B Great and the schoolgirl vocal trio The Orchids, both of whom I recorded on several singles in 1963.

Another Coventry artist that I produced for Decca was born Rob Woodward, but used the professional name, Shel Naylor (and no I don't know if he stole my first name or not!)

I did two singles with Shel and for the second one, I decided to feature a song by the new group I had just signed to Pye Records - The Kinks

Even though Ray Davies was the leader of The Kinks and the groups chief songwriter, the track we recorded, 'One Fine Day', was written by his younger brother Dave.

The song was a rocker in The Kinks' early style. For the session I used Bobby Graham on drums and Jimmy Page on guitar, so the track came out with some of the flavour of the records I would soon produce with the group.

The single came out in March 1964 and like the early Kinks releases, didn't go anywhere'.

The singles were reviewed by music paper critics as follows:

How Deep is The Ocean/La Bamba (Decca F11776): New boy with a violent vocal style who veritably attacks the oldie. Sings the verse first with biggish backing then roars into the evergreen lyrics. Irving Berlin never, no not never, heard his song treated in this way. But it's in the correct idiom and could easily take off into a sizeable hit status. Good backing (Charles Blackwell). Flip has had a lot of different treatments, dating back to Ritchie Valens. Shel injects a lot of fire.

Another review mentioned:“How deep is the Ocean” has been dressed up to 1963 style with a Charles Blackwell arrangement, augmenting Shel Naylor’s forceful vocal delivery. Seventeen-year-old, six foot tall Shel hails from Coventry, where he works in that city’s motor

One Fine Day/Its Gonna Happen Soon (Decca F11856): Fast beat on this rock disc which moves along at a brisk danceable pace.

Shel Naylor was managed by the manager of Coventry's Orchid Ballroom, Larry Page, who later inserted himself into The Kinks operation and would soon start to claim credit for their success.

While in Coventry Larry would, of course, promote his protege at the ballroom.

A 1963 gig for Decca Records saw Shel performing at a twang night that included Johnny B. Great and The Goodmen, The Avengers, The Chimes and The Orchids.

During 1964 a Shel Naylor gig was advertised: the 18 years old Coventry recording artist and his new group, The Goodmen (who had previously backed Johnny Goodison), are to turn the clock back to the era of rock 'n' roll. He has teamed up with them and we hope that the Goodmen play their favourite type of music.

Rob Woodward did eventually found UK chart success in the early 1970s with the group Lieutenant Pigeon who had a big hit record with an instrumental called 'Mouldy Old Dough'.

One Fine Day Shel Naylor

It's Gonna Happen Soon - Shel Naylor

How deep is the Ocean - Shel Naylor

La Bamba - Shel Naylor

Tony Clarke (Moody Blues) – A Fascination With Space and Astronomy

 

Tony Clarke (Moody Blues) – A Fascination With Space and Astronomy.

By Pete Clemons

NASA’s Artemis program, recently, successfully completed its historic first crewed mission, Artemis II, which launched on 1 April 2026 and safely returned to Earth on 10 April 2026. The focus of today's lunar efforts has officially shifted to hardware preparation and crew training for the next phases of deep-space travel.

NASA has also introduced the designated crew for the Artemis III mission which will return humans to the lunar surface. Reusable Rockets using the frequently used Falcon 9 flights and ongoing test flights of large next-generation vehicles like SpaceX's Starship system will drive down launch costs.

This is all a far cry from the days when music producer, Tony Clarke, took some of his inspiration from the space age days of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Yes, it appears that Tony Clarke, often called the 'sixth Moody Blue', had a huge fascination with space, he visited Cape Canaveral several times as a guest of NASA, and that fascination influenced some of his production work.

Coventry born music producer Tony Clarke had a large telescope and a custom dome installed on the roof of his house for stargazing. Moody Blues band member, the late Ray Thomas, recalled going up to the roof to look at the moon and stars with Clarke while discussing philosophy and music.

Clarke's deep fascination with astronomy directly inspired the space-themed concept for the 1969 Moody Blues album To Our Children's Children's Children.

While the band’s relationship with NASA was extensive—their 1969 album To Our Children's Children's Children was inspired by the Apollo 11 moon landing. The album also had a strong connection to Apollo 15. The Astronaut Playlist for the crew of Apollo 15 (1971) carried and listened to the album To Our Children's Children's Children on cassette tape during their mission.

For the song 'Higher and Higher', the band initially requested a recording of a rocket launch from NASA. When they found the provided audio unsatisfactory, they created their own 'space sound' (partially by dropping a piano off a building) and sent it back to NASA for their potential future use.

'Higher and Higher' opens the album with a dramatic custom rocket launch sound and spoken-word poetry celebrating humanity breaking Earth's gravity.

Another tune, 'Gypsy' (Of a Strange and Distant Time) explores the emotional isolation and vast distances of a long space voyage.

'Floating' a whimsical track by Ray Thomas was quite possibly imagining a low-gravity walk on the moon.

'Out and In' and 'Candle of Life' can be percieved as both reflecting on the quiet isolation, the journey, and the beauty of looking back at the world from the cosmos.

Finally 'I Never Thought I'd Live to Be a Hundred' / 'I Never Thought I'd Live to Be a Million' could be contemplating the immense stretches of time required for deep-space travel.

Dirt Road Band – Godiva Festival 2026

 

Dirt Road Band – Godiva Festival 2026

by Pete Clemons

The much maligned Godiva in the city 2026 wasn't all negative. Yes the administration of the event left room for improvement – absolutely no accountability for tickets appeared to be one of the main issues - but, from what I saw, and I only attended the millennium stage, the organisation and the artists who appeared were excellent.

The Millennium stage, ironically, was set within the area of the site where the long lamented Coventry Theatre once stood. Of course the Millennium square is now in the shadow of the transport museum.

And finding a temporary outdoor event stage on or very near this exact footprint is fitting given the area's rich history. The former 2000 seat Coventry Theatre (originally the New Hippodrome) on Hales Street was a local cultural staple before its demolition in 2002. But this is now in the distant past, generations before many of today's younger music lovers came along.

While there isn't a permanent theatre on Hales Street any more, a variety of exciting performances and theatrical events regularly take place across the city centre. And this festival was no exception.

However, back to the music, and one of the highlights for me was the late addition of the Dirt Road Band.

Don't be put off if you hear that Dirt Road Band are just another blues combo and you prefer your music a bit more edgy. Dirt Road Band are a rock 'n' blues band rolled into one satisfying whole. Dirt Road Band delivers raw power, gritty guitar riffs, and deep emotional grooves. They combine the fast energy of rock with the soul of the blues.

On the Millennium stage Dry Road Band, as they were inexplicably introduced, were positive and aggressive blending their usual attack with tunes like 'Never get over losing you' and 'Worry no more'.

If you enjoy seeing a band playing exceptionally good music please make a point of seeing Dirt Road Band who stand out within their field.

Set list.......

'Never Get Over Losing You'
'Instinct to Survive'
'Cutting Room Floor' – dedicated by Horace to the Smithfield Pub
'Worry No More'
'And Johnny Winter' - the working title of a brand new song
'Down to the Doctors' - Steve dedicated this tune to his 32 years in Dr Feelgood

Fingers crossed the organisation team can have better control over ticketing next year. People intuitively grab anything for free regardless of whether they use it or not. The overused adage 'lessons must be used' has to come into play. Exceptional artists deserve better.

Coventry College of Education (Canley College)

 

Coventry College of Education (Canley College)

by Pete Clemons

Graphic from Hobo (Coventry Music and Arts Magazine) February 1974

For many years any gig I saw on the Warwick University campus I simply referred to seeing the band at Warwick Uni. Generically called the place Warwick Uni when I referred to gigs. Only recently, through research, have I discovered that some of those bands may actually have been at Coventry College of Education.

As such I am attempting to rectify this situation and give Canley College the recognition it deserves.

Also it personally explains a decades old puzzle as to why venues, at times, looked different. I guess I assumed the Uni simply had several band rooms which technically it did. But at that time, bearing in mind I was probably still a teenager, I was more interested in seeing the band rather than wonder about the room they were playing in.

People, me in particular it seems, absolutely got confused, primarily because both venues operated as bustling, high-profile stops on the UK college gig circuit. Adding to the confusion, the former Coventry College of Education was absorbed into the University of Warwick in the late 1970s and became its Westwood Campus.

The history of the college can be traced through several key milestones. It appears that the college began around 1948 when it was established on Kirby Corner Road inside a converted wartime workers' hostel to urgently address a post-war shortage of teachers.

By 1958 the college became coeducational and was officially renamed the Coventry College of Education. Under the long-standing leadership of principal Joan Dillon Browne (who served from 1948 to 1975), the student roll grew to approximately 1,500.

Canley College of Education (historically known as the City of Coventry Training College for Women then Coventry College of Education) was a prominent teacher training institution in Coventry that operated as a separate entity until its incorporation into the University of Warwick in 1978. It expanded significantly in the 1950s and 60s, offering specialist courses in areas like secondary PE. Later, the site is known as the university's Westwood Campus.

From the late 1960s to the late 1970s, the Coventry College of Education (colloquially known as 'Canley College') boasted a fantastic live music scene. Students flocked there to see massive touring acts such as Genesis, Thin Lizzy, Wizzard, Status Quo, Stealers Wheel, The Pirates and many more. Meanwhile, the University of Warwick (and its growing Warwick Arts Centre) was pulling in the likes of Pink Floyd, The Wailers, and The Smiths.

And maybe I am not alone in my generic terminology of 'Warwick Uni'. It appears that because the college sat roughly 2 miles from the main Warwick campus, ticket buyers regularly mixed up which campus venue hosted which artist.

The fact that the Coventry College of Education sat in Canley (while Warwick sprawled out toward Gibbet Hill/Coventry) made directions tricky. Once Warwick absorbed the site, many gig-goers simply remembered seeing historic bands 'at Warwick' without realising the specific venue changed.

Either way the legacy as a whole, whether it be Canley College, Warwick Uni or the Arts Centre is something to be admired. And still today great entertainment can be found at the venue.

THE FORTUNES 1965

THE FORTUNES 1965

BY Pete Clemons

The Fortunes, who have had strong Coventry connections through the year, are to this day still thrilling audiences. Incredibly they are on a second tour of America as part of the 'Happy Together' tour which acknowledges 60 years since the invasion of British pop into the US. The following article goes right back to 1965. Not when The Fortunes formed but when they finally became a unit and the hits started to flow......... Considering all the well publicised praise that's been lavished on them, The Fortunes remain unusually unaffected. 

Leafing through their credentials I see that - long before they ever made anything remotely resembling a hit record - they were being hailed by a recording manager as the best vocal harmony pop group in Britain, by a television producer as 'too good for his show', by Johnnie Ray as 'wonderful fantastic, etc and billed breathtakingly, as 'the group who stole the show from The Beatles'. Well if they'd inspired all that gush before, you can imagine how I expected them to be after, after two solid hits, that is - for 'Here it Comes Again' looks like duplicating the success of 'You've Got Your Troubles'. But perhaps because The Fortunes had a solid two years of troubles until the good times started to roll, they've stayed totally level headed about their good fortune. When they began they were three - Rod Allen, Barry Pritchard and Glen Dale. 

But three didn't turn out to be a luck number: the musicians they used as accompanists had a habit of turning ugly and saying they weren't getting paid enough. And, although the boys were working steadily enough, they just didn't seem able to pull in the big money with their records. This, despite the fact that few groups have been launched with such careful planning as The Fortunes. The threesome lived together at Clifton Hall, Rugby (the massive mansion bought by manager Reg Calvert as a potential headquarters of a Midlands commercial radio station: when commercial radio was not legalised by the government Reg set up Radio City instead in the Thames estuary and used the Rugby house as an incubator for The Fortunes). 

Anyway, this year The Fortunes tiring of squabbling with backing musicians decided to become a complete unit and so they added a drummer - Andy Brown, and singing organist - Dave Carr, and turned themselves into a quintet. They also had a change of A & R man and began an association with arranger Les Reed. Said Rod: 'Troubles was certainly the best record we'd made by a long way. But we weren't sure we'd made a hit'. Glen said: 'But we've only just got our foot in at the moment. We've got to get to the top and stay there'. But who were those accompanying musicians? Well for that I tapped into the memory of Tom Long who also worked for Reg Calvert. It seems that Chris Capaldi played keyboards and Gary Fletcher drums but 'he left very early on' remembered Tom. Another musician was Tony Britnell who later featuredwith Jigsaw. 'He was a phenominal sax

The Flys Talking – Taking off February 1978

The Flys Talking – Taking off February 1978

by Pete Clemons

The Flys. Group of Coventry origin: Neil O'Connor guitar and vocals; David Freeman lead guitar; Joe Hughes bass; Pete King drums.

Flying Start: 'Me and David and Joe have been playing together for three or four years. The front room situation!' - Neil

'Neil started us off. We began writing songs together and recording them on beat up cassettes' - David

'We were originally called Midnight Circus. You see I was really into the Pretty Things and that came from a song of theirs. That was the first working situation, but it was not easy or right to remember' - Neil

'We all made lists of names for the band and The Flys on two people's lists. So that was it' - David

'F-l-i-e-s may be correct, but looks terrible. Flys is visually more acceptable. We were not thinking of insects, zips or anything like that. Though when zips became trendy friends accused us of that implication' - Neil

'Coventry died in the disco thing. The only live music is from club bands. We had difficulty in finding a drummer, because most to work in a £5 job in the clubs, rather than do something new' - David

'Its only recently that people have tried to get something together. There are four or five new wave bands in the area and one club has a new wave night. It may only be 18 months late but in Coventry.........' - Neil

'One club used to book us when other bands cancelled. People must have got fed up with seeing us'. 'One night Peter almost refused to play there. That night we got an encore' - David

'Four or five night supporting Buzzcocks helped us. They paid for us out of their own money'. 'Yeah, they're really decent blokes' - Neil

'EMI saw us at a gig with them. It also brought us to London' - David

'Even before EMI came along we decided our own record out. We wanted to put out value for money so put out value for money so we made a five track EP for 90p' - Neil

'We recorded 13 tracks in two days at Pathway Studios. 2350 printed and it made number ten in the Lightning new wave chart. We were going to put out 7000 then EMI showed interest' - David

'We were surprised when EMI said they wanted to put out 'Love and a Molotov Cocktail' on the single. It was on our own record label too and has been in the set for months and we were getting a bit tired of it. Now we can't put it on the rest pile' - Neil

'Big interest from EMI came after Buzzcocks Marquee gig. There were so many bands in London that it had been difficult for us yo get gigs here because we were not a London band. We've still only played here a handful of times' - David

'Coming from Coventry we felt a bit like country bumpkins. Sometimes it seems a bit strange with us in Coventry and the company in London but I wouldn't want to live here full time. I wouldn't mind somewhere we could stay when we're down here though. Whether we can afford it is another matter though' - Neil

A Fly in the ointment: 'You're the most rubbishy band we've ever seen. And I'm going to tell all the other people I know not to book you. Here's a fiver' - manager of a London club

Flying squad: 'A year ago we did a gig up Redcar way and it was so heavy we were scared stiff. There was a long line of bouncers armed with wooden clubs forming a line in front of the stage. People were shouting: 'come on be a punk. Do something outrageous'. The manager of the place told us we'd be alright the next time as the next gig was at an elite place. But it turned out to be near a skinhead stronghold and they were chucking bottles at the stage and pouring beer down the neck of the roadie sitting at the mixing desk. The manager had to take me through the crowd to get to the toilet and told me very reassuringly - 'your going to get fucking battered tonight lads'. Our van was showered with missiles. We had to have a police escort. Can you imagine the police protecting a new wave band?' - David

Fly blown: 'We supported the Rich Kids at the 100 club and had no room to play at all. Their roadies set their stuff up on stage and we weren't allowed to move it, so we ended up cramped up trying to get our gear and ourselves on the stage as well as their gear. Consequently we were pretty crappy' - David

'We've vowed that that sort of thing wont happen when we're at the stage of having someone support us. Support bands should get the chance to have a soundcheck, use of a good PA and other equipment if necessary. Groups can't forget what they had to go through can they? Some of them obviously don't remember the days when they used to be supporting better known acts and what they had to put up with' - Neil

'It's not always the bands fault. Some of the roadies get a bit bossy' - Neil

Fly paper: 'Some of our mates were dead jealous when we told them we were being interviewed by Sounds magazine, it's the first time we have been interviewed' - David

'When we released our EP that for us was fulfilling our fantasy. Then when we signed with EMI that was a further step into the dream world' - Neil

'Now our fantasy is to be on television. Your standards and hopes rise all the time as things develop. It was incredible to hear our record on the radio, even though John Peel didn't sound overkeen on it after he played it. After five years of learning guitar it is quite good to walk in a disco and hear a DJ say; 'this record is by The Flys.....' That is enough to get the heart going very fast' - David

'We're straining at the leash to get into the studio's to start work on the album. We have plenty of material to work on. We have already had six of our songs out on record, which isn't bad going (five of their own on the 'Bunch of Five' EP, with two re-done cuts on the EMI three track single now in the shops)' - Neil

Unidentified flying object: 'People tell us our songs are very melodic. That's just the way they come out. This fresh pop craze is nothing new, just another fashion. It's like at the end of the year all those one-two-three-four punk stuff just neatly disappears for the next craze' - David

'I'm glad we came out at the end of '77 instead of the beginning. We could easily have been swamped in the mass movement. By the end of '77 it was obvious you had to come out with something different if you're going to break through' - Neil

FLY-OVER

Lanchester PolyTech Festival - February 1973

 

Lanchester Polytech Festival - February 1973

by Pete Clemons

Lanchester Polytechnic festivals of the past have been celebrated affairs. Here is an account of one that maybe has kind of flown under the radar as time has advanced over the years.

Friday: Charisma at Lanch

Friday night at the Lanchester Arts Festival was Charisma night, featuring Howard Werth (will he join The Doors? Even he doesn't know). Peter Hammill and Genesis.

Genesis were experimenting with a new stage set up, due to be completed before their new tour officially starts, and when it works it should be dramatic.

The set was good, if unspectacular - a standard performance of recorded works, but nonetheless popular and well received. So many of the audience knew and sang the words that it was hard to tell, in the quiet sections, if the echo effect was their singing or the terrible acoustics. 'Suppers Ready' was the longest and possibly the best piece they played, with more depth and content than their lighter fairytale songs, but all went down equally well.

Saturday: Jazz at the Lanch

The following night was billed as a jazz night - a title that may have put off many rock fans from an excellent new band that calls itself Q, it should really be called X, with a complete set of musicians previously in more famous bands.

There's Paul Jones vocals, ex Manfred Mann, Mike Giles drums and Graham Preskitt on violin and piano, both ex King Crimson, and Dave Wintour bass, Terry Smith guitar and Dave Quincey saxophones, all ex - If.

The first piece was an If song, 'The Light Still Shines', and it looks as if that's the way they are going to go - a full band sound, and Terry Smith sending out surging waves of guitar notes. But there's too much diversity in the band for that, and they go through such a range of styles from free-form improvisation to vaudeville and poetry reading - not a collection easily labelled.

Paul, Mr. TV, Jones, appears for one song 'Wrestling Man', dressed or rather under dressed for the part, in wrestling boots and trunks only - but the musical quality is not compromised - a superb solo piece with just a harmonica. That's really the essence of this band. All superb musicians taking turns to express their own musical ideas. What direction they may move in its impossible to predict.

Sunday: Coventry Theatre

The finale of the festival turned out to be a fiasco. Sunday night at the Coventry Theatre with a host of stars billed to play together. The list was extensive and grew during the whole week as further names were tentatively added. Carl Palmer, Albert Lee, Chris Farlowe, Poli Palmer and Keith Tippett were to have been the central core with Keith Moon, Rick Wakeman, Ric Lee, Tony Iommi and so on as possibles.

However something went wrong, and after the two support bands, Necromandus and the really excellent Average White Band had suitably whetted our appetites, we were greeted with sad news. Viv Stanshall and sundry limbs belonging to Keith Moon appeared through the curtain, expressed considerable dissatisfaction that they and Gaspar Lawal were the only ones there and would perform, and assisted by various members of Necromandus, they played a wholly chaotic couple of pieces interrupted loudly by an angry audience.

People who left in disgust before an announcement was finally made, are recommended to write to the organisers who have promised to do their best concerning refunds. It was a sad end to a festival which makes commendable efforts to put on a wide range of activities, and it is, unfortunately, their reputation which will suffer most.