Johnny Goodison and The Quotations - March 1966

 Johnny Goodison and The Quotations - March 1966.

by Pete Clemons

Strange how an article I put together a few weeks ago, about Big John's Rock 'n' Roll Circus, led to a chat that gave me enough information to put a few more words together another about the subject matter.

It seems that Johnny Goodison left his home town of Coventry, during mid 1964, in the hope of finding fame and fortune in the great city of London. John Goodison?. To help you a bit he used the somewhat more compelling name on stage, that of Johnny B Great. In London John became leader of a band called The Quotations. And, while in The Quotations, he was the front man of The Walker Brothers backing group.

In a short space of time John had progressed from organist and vocalist to the groups leader, arranger, organist and vocalist. It took a great deal of talent but, by all accounts, Johnny had the lot.

Sound wise it was said that The Quotations had probably the best line up, for that type of vocal group in the country, at that time. During 1966 they were an eight piece, organ, drums, guitar, bass, tenor sax, baritone sax, trumpet and trombone, and Johnny had hopes that the group might be even go on to bigger things. Which of course they did.

Johnny Goodison was interviewed on the opening night of the Roy Orbison / Walker Brothers tour of the UK which began during March 1966. And I found his views very interesting.

'We have completely different acts for ballrooms and clubs' he said. 'Six members of the group can sing, so we use a great deal of vocal harmony stuff for the clubs, and keep the more commercial hits for ballrooms. Obviously we owe a lot to the Walkers but we weren't doing too badly before they came along. There was plenty of work in the clubs and occasional gig with people like The Drifters. It was in one of the clubs that the Walkers first saw us'.

'None of the original Quotations are left now, but our sound seems to be improving all the time. This could be why we haven't had a record released until now but, personally, I think its because I freeze every time I get into a recording studio. I don't know why this is, but I've only just got over it. Anyway our first disc is out now titled 'Going Where the Loving Is', and was A&R'd by Scott Engel and John Stewart his business partner'.

On their current tour The Quotations have added strings for backing The Walkers but say this wont be a permanent arrangement. In their own act they perform such items as 'Don't Fight It', 'I Got You', and a very jazz flavoured 'Summertime' which features fantastic solo's from the baritone of Barry Martin and the trumpet of Tony Allen.

Don't The Quotations feel that they will always be in the shadow of the Walker Brothers?. Says Johnny 'The Walkers sing the type of material that we like, and lets face it, the money's much better, so we've got no complaints. If the Walkers go back to the States for six months we'll go out on our own and see what happens then. The main thing is, we're happy'.

The Quotations continued to tour with The Walker Brothers for several years acting as their backing band for many of their live performances. The group also backed Carl Perkins in 1964 and, later in the 1960s, supported Cat Stevens and several others.

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Other articles by Pete Clemons on Johnny Goodison or Johnny B Great.

1 Big John's Rock n n Roll Circus

https://coventrygigs.blogspot.com/2021/02/big-johns-rock-n-roll-circus.html

2 Johnny B Great (Johnny Goodison)
https://coventrygigs.blogspot.com/2013/07/johnny-b-great-johnny-goodison.html

"The Quotations toured along with The Walker Brothers during 1965/66 and also acted as their backing band for many of their live performances. The Quotations also backed Carl Perkins in 1964 and supported Cat Stevens. Later, when Gary Leeds aka Gary Walker released his single "You Don't Love Me' in 1966 it was The Quotations who were the backing band. Two members of this line-up went on to much bigger things; John Goodison and Johnny Gustafson.
Members: Johnny Goodison on keyboards, Pete ‘Greg’ McGregor and Barry Martin on sax, Graham Alexander on bass guitar, Tony Mabbett on trumpet, Graham Dee on guitar and Jimmy Buchard on drums." https://www.discogs.com/artist/3057121-The-Quotations-3

I Need You - The Walker Brothers with the Quotations