The Pink Umbrellas

 

The Pink Umbrellas

by Pete Clemons

Coventry band, The Reluctant Stereotypes, should have gone on to better things. They were quite unique. They were Paul King - Vocals, Paul Sampson - Guitars, Steve Edgson - Clarinet, Tony Wall - Bass & Colin Heanes - drums.

After the demise of The Reluctant Stereotypes, Paul King, Tony Wall & Colin Heanes formed King during 1984 who, you may recall, sang 'Love & Pride'. Additionally, Paul Sampson and Steve Edgson formed The Pink Umbrellas were formed who recorded the delightful 'Raspberry Rainbow'.

My first encounter with them was during an evening in1981. It was after a gig had finished a at Warwick University. At another campus venue two rather eccentric old hippies, called the Pink Umbrellas, were playing. They performed with the accompaniment of drum machine, guitar, clarinet and xylophone. They sang quaint songs about raspberries and odd people and I quite enjoyed what I saw of them.

The following year, 1982, I remember the following review of them. It was a strange analogy and one that I completely disagreed with: At a time when The Jam, whose primary songwriter regarded their music as getting stale, and had just split up, it was a shame to see the Pink Umbrellas at times sounding too similar to them. They were bland without being incredibly bad and left no lasting impression. However, in their more 'psychedelic' moments', with their clarinet lamenting mournfully in isolation they deserved some of the polite applause they received.

Another twelve months on, 1983, saw the duo on an upward trajectory. When I say duo, I mean they had now become a band and had expanded to a four piece.

They prompted the following, and far more accurate, review: After hairstyles had flopped amongst the dudes of the Market Bar on came the Pink Umbrellas, and they were great!. Despite being 1960s influenced, but more up to date with it, they had an interesting line up with a clarinet, which added melodic feeling throughout. The occasional use of the glockenspiel added a new dimension, though I'm not quite sure what the instrument was. They had an instant appeal, coming over as a commercial pop band who were honest and unpretentious, putting their music across rather than any image. Despite being a band to listen to rather than to dance to their songs, a few verging on being ballads, contained a lot of energy and it was a pity the crowd were unreceptive until the end. However, the encore showed the band were appreciated and deservedly so.

And it was this four piece that released the incredibly pleasant and entertaining single 'Raspberry Rainbow' single with its blackberry skies and strawberry sunshine.

Later, Steve Edgson & Paul Sampson ran the club night, The Groovy Garden, held at various venues in Coventry. Although arguably it was on a Sunday night at the excellent, centrally located, Tic Toc club, where the 60s/70s disco/club night was at its finest. The club night lasted for several years.

Paul was also known as a highly acclaimed producer. Sadly Steve passed away during January 2009.