MICK FLINN WAS IN THE OZ GROUP THE MIXTURES. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THEIR HITS. AFTER THEIR BIG SUCCESS WITH THE PUSHBIKE SONG THE MIXTURES HEADED OFF FOR ENGLAND. WHILE THERE MICK LEFT THE GROUP AND TEAMED UP WITH DONNA JONES AND WORKED AS A MEMBER OF SPRINGFIELD REVIVAL. NOT LONG AFTER IN THE MID 1970S THEY PUT TOGETHER A DUO CALLED PUSSYFOOT. MICK STAYED IN THE BACKGROUND WHILE DONNA TOOK LEAD. THEIR PUSSYFOOT SINGLES ARE LOCATED ON THIS BLOG AT A PREVIOUS POST - PLEASE USE THE SEARCH FACILITY TO LOCATE THE TRACKS.
MICK WORKED ON AND OFF WITH NUMEROUS PROJECTS INCLUDING THE SEEKERS WITH HIS OLD MIXTURE'S BAND MATE BUDDY ENGLAND. IN THE LATE 1970S MICK FORMED A BAND CALLED THE MICK FLINN BAND AND IN 1978 THEY HAD A SINGLE READY FOR RELEASE BUT IT DIDN'T GET MUCH FURTHER THAN BEING A RADIO STATION DEMO. THE A-SIDE WAS "DOIN' IT RIGHT" AND THE B-SIDE WAS CALLED "DO WHAT YOU WANNA DO". SINCE THE PROJECT WAS SHELVED THE TRACK SAT IN THE VAULTS UNTIL 1982.
MICK KEPT THE BACKING TRACK AND WHILE HERE IN OZ (CIRCA 1982) HE RECORDED OVER THE OLD SHELVED SONG USING FOSTERS BEER TO GAIN HIMSELF SOME PRODUCT PLACEMENT RECOGNITION FOR SALES IN THE U.K. WHERE BREWERY COMPANY FOSTERS REIGNED SUPREME...IN FACT THE WHOLE THING COULD HAVE BEEN COMMISSIONED BY FOSTERS FOR ALL I KNOW...NB. THE LABEL SAYS "AUSTRALIAN RECORDING" ON THE ASTOR SINGLE, YET THE MUSIC WAS ORIGINALLY RECORDED IN 1978 IN ENGLAND. THE OZ RECORD PRODUCER WAS JOHN FRENCH.
BY CLEVERLY USING "DO WHAT YOU WANNA DO" AND REMOVING ALL THE VOCALS MICK CREATED AN A-SIDE CALLED "TWO CANS OF FOSTERS AND A PACKET OF POTATO CHIPS" WHICH WAS A REMAKE OF THE DAVE AND THE DERRO'S SINGLE "TWO CANS OF BEER AND A PACKET OF CHIPS", WHICH IN TURN WAS BASED ON THE U.K. SONG "TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS, PLEASE".
ON THE A-SIDE MICK SHOUTED OVER THE LOUD BACKING TRACK, ASKING A BARMAN AT A PUB FOR THE CHIPS AND BEER. THE B-SIDE WAS THE SAME SONG WITH THE BARMAN'S ANSWERS CLEVERLY PLACED IN SYNC WITH MICK'S SHOUTS ON THE A-SIDE....BY PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF THE DISK SIMULTANEOUSLY YOU CREATE A QUESTION AND ANSWER STYLE SONG....
THE FLINN SONGS ARE COURTESY OF JIM B. WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED PREVIOUSLY TO THIS BLOG, MANY THANKS JIM!
HERE FOR DOWNLOAD ARE ALL THREE VERSIONS OF THE SONG "DO WHAT YOU WANNA DO", "TWO CANS OF BEER AND A PACKET OF POTATO CHIPS" AND "THE BARMAN'S REPLY":
http://rapidshare.com/files/222770759/FLINN_-_DO_WHAT_YOU_WANNA_DO_WITH_TWO_CANS_OF_FOSTERS_AND_PACKET_OF_POTATO_CHIPS.mp3
FURTHER OVER IN THIS BLOG ARE TWO 7" SINGLES AND TWO 12" MIXES BY MICK AS PART OF THE DUO PUSSYFOOT...HAVING GONE THROUGH MY OLD CLUB DANCE RECORDS RECENTLY I DISCOVERED I HAD ANOTHER TRACK WHICH WAS AN IMPORT FROM CANADA. I DON'T RECALL IT BEING RELEASED IN OZ...???
AS PUSYFOOT, DONNA JONES AND MICK FLINN RELEASED A DANCE 12" CALLED
"DANCER DANCE" WHICH WAS A 1982 CLUB HIT IN NORTH AMERICA, MOSTLY IN CANADA. IT FOLLOWS THE SAME MUSICAL DIRECTION AS THE DONNA SUMMER HIT "I FEEL LOVE".HERE FOR DOWNLOAD IS PUSSYFOOT'S EXTENDED VERSION OF "DANCER DANCE" SLIGHTLY REMIXED AND ATTENUATED BY YOURS TRULY TO BRING IT UP TO TODAY'S MODERN HI-FI DEMANDS...
ENJOY!
http://rapidshare.com/files/222794844/Pussyfoot_-_Dancer_Dancer__Stereo_Tom_Mix_.mp3
Hey Tom, We may have to agree to disagree about whether Pussyfoot was a solo singer, a stance which I maintain as she was promoted as such in Oz, or whether Pussyfoot was a duo of Mick & Donna. However according to Australia's leading music website re all things 60's & 70's, Milesago, following Buffalo Springfield, "Flinn then became Jones' manager-writer-producer and he and DONNA scored two major hits under the stagename Pussyfoot, including the 1977 Australian #1 single "The Way That You Do It". So Pussyfoot were no more a duo than Kylie Minogue was a band as Stock Aitken Waterman produced, managed & wrote for her too. Oh well :-)
ReplyDeleteOne thing IS wrong though Tom, Mick is in the reformed NEW Seekers as of 2001, his old Mixtures band mate Buddy England joined the reformed original Seekers in the mid 70's(& produced albums for them). The 2 were never in the same Seekers but were in 2 completely diffrent groups. Just for your information of course LOL
Cheers
Micko :-)
Mick thanks for you input. According to Mick's site he he worked with Buddy...probably helping behind the scenes at the studio with the Seekers...
ReplyDeleteMick,
ReplyDeleteThe other issue about duo or not duo...
If you look at the record labels the first label credits the song "Do what You Wanna Do" as Mick Flinn Band then when the OZ single came out using the same backing track it was credited as "Flinn"...artist names don't really mean much in the industry...
I still consider Pussyfoot a duo as Mick Flinn and Donna (Mrs Flinn) were married...I consider married people a duo...not a single act....
Tom
Mick,
ReplyDeleteIn your first reply you also have a typo...Donna was in UK group Springfield Revival not Buffalo Springfield which were an American band.
Tom
In 1971 Mick Flinn became a UK "one hit wonder" when his band the Mixtures made it big with The Pushbike Song. Although the Mixtures continued to have hits in Australia, Mick quit the band and made his home in the UK with Donna Jones. From 1972-75 Mick and Donna worked together as members of Springfield Revival. Later in the '70s they teamed up as Pussyfoot and had a number 1 in Australia. In the 1980s and '90s they continued their partnership as members of the New Seekers.
ReplyDeleteMore:
In the mid 1960s (1965-67) Mick Flinn made three singles with a five piece band called the Wild Colonials. Their biggest hit was a remake of "Roses Are Red (My Love)".
In 1967 he joined the Mixtures, replacing Rod DeClerk on bass guitar. Along with Laurie Arthur (guitar) and John Creech (drums), DeClerk had been one of the founding members of the Mixtures in 1965. By the time Mick joined, Laurie Arthur had become the group's manager and the trio had expanded to include Dennis Garcia (organ) and Fred Wieland (lead guitar). The group continued to go through a variety of line-ups and by 1970 when the Mixtures had their first hit in Australia, all of the original members had left.
In 1970 Australian radio stations banned records put out by some of the major record labels and by recording artists from overseas. This provided the Mixtures with an opportunity which they gladly accepted. They recorded Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime as a single and soon found themselves at number 1. The follow-up The Pushbike Song also went to number 1. This time, however, their success was not confined to Australia.
In January 1971 the Mixtures made it big in Britain. The Pushbike Song reached number 2 and spent 21 weeks in the Top 50. In the USA the single was a more modest success, peaking at number 44. Like many musicians from Australia (Marty Kristian and Peter Doyle amongst them) the Mixtures came over to the UK to build on their success "down under." A follow-up hit, however, proved elusive and the Mixtures returned to Australia towards the end of the year. Back home the hits kept coming - in July Henry Ford made it to number 29 and in December Captain Zero put the group back in the Top 5. The latter was co-written by Mick Flinn and fellow-Mixture Peter Williams.
During 1971 the Mixtures line-up changed several times. The group went through two drummers and three vocalists. In May 1972 there was yet another change when Mick Flinn became the latest member of the group to "up sticks". While the Mixtures continued with Chris Spooner as their new bass player, Mick teamed up with Donna Jones and Ray Martin to form Springfield Revival. The trio took the "old group / new name" formula made successful by the New Seekers and applied it to the original Springfields. No surprise then that they were managed by David Joseph, who also managed the New Seekers, nor that their first album was arranged and co-produced by Keith Potger, a founding member of the New Seekers. But just as the original Seekers had been more successful than the Springfields, so it proved the second time around. While the New Seekers toured the world as a headline act, Springfield Revival played support to Slim Whitman and the Osmonds. And despite numerous television appearances, including an appearance on the 1972 Academy Awards show, the hits never came.
Mick continued to work with Donna Jones after the demise of Springfield Revival, recording five UK singles with her as Pussyfoot and another two as Mick and Donna. Mick also recorded for a time as the Mick Flinn Band. Mick found time to assist old Mixtures mate Buddy England with the Seekers when Buddy was producing their albums.
Mick began performing with the New Seekers in 1981, filling in for Brian Engel on UK cabaret dates while Brian was in Los Angeles. His connection with the New Seekers, however, goes back to the early 1970s. To quote Paul Layton: "We met Mick through his association with our management who at that time looked after the Mixtures." Paul and Mick wrote a song together, Me And My Guitar, which was used on the B-side of the New Seekers' single Goodbye Is Just Another Word and also appeared on the Peter, Paul & Marty album in 1973.
After joining the New Seekers, Mick continued to write and produce records for other artists including Mike O'Brian, Jealous Girl, Julie Felix, Lips and Special Attention (for whom he composed and produced a single Loving Eyes / Something Serious). In 1984 Mick had a Christmas hit in the UK with Do the Conga, a song co-written with Peter Morris and recorded by Black Lace. Do the Conga (Flair FLA 108) entered the UK singles chart on 24th November and got as high as number 10.
In 2002, following Marty Kristian's decision to take a break from performing, Mick moved centre stage, taking on the role of New Seekers' "front man" - introducing the other members of the group and chatting to the audience in between songs.
Mick also renewed his association with the Mixtures, teaming up once more with Fred Wieland and performing at UK cabaret venues with a revised line-up featuring Mark Hankins, (also a part-time New Seeker) Peter Lenon and Mark Sugden.
Whoops. How could I possibly confuse failed pop wannabes Springfield Revival with one of the all time classic bands Buffalo Springfield. I mean Mick & Donna vs. Neil Young & Steve Stills is just a non-event ain't it?. My only defence for making such a ridiculous slip is that it WAS late LOL.
ReplyDeleteAs to all partnerships being a duo, does this mean that Shania Twain is a duo then? Coz her husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange was also her manager/songwriter & producer. But like Pussyfoot, Shania was promoted as a soloist with Robert in the background. Locally, the same could be said of Pat Wilson & hubby Ross (except the actual duet "Real Love) & I'm sure there are many other examples. So as I said, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this Tommy.
Hey guy's stop bickering, the truth is Mick was writer, producer,manager and boyfriend at the time, and Donna was Pussyfoot solo. It was not until 1979/80 that Mick joined Pussyfoot, when they had a song in the Song for Europe contest in the Uk called "I Want To Be Me"and then it was a 6 peice band consisting of 5 girls and Mick. By the way that was a great record, and could be a hit today. Check it out on youtube.
ReplyDeleteOh and by the way for the record, The Wild Colonials were a four peice band and were fabulous.
ReplyDeleteAlso Mick didn't help Buddy in the studio for The Seekers, but he did play Bass for The Seekers in the mid seventies on one of their tours of the UK.
bad quality record
ReplyDelete