The Action are perhaps the "greatest" of the unknown Brit bands from the 60's. They started out as typical mods covering American R&B around 1965. Soon they caught the ear of George Martin and he signed them to Parlophone, and produced 5 singles. All those early 45's were wonderful but went nowhere. Perhaps the best of the Martin produced sides is their version of I'll Keep On Holding On" which can be found on Nuggets Volume 2.

By 1967 they had lost their deal with EMI/Parlophone and were on their own. About the same time they discovered various illegal substances and started to write their own tunes. Icaurus was recorded with the help of famed Yardbirds producer Giorgio Gomelsky and is little more than a demo but I reckon it's leagues better than much of what was actually released in 1967. Bassist Mike Evans is amazing. In fact he was great friends with Keith Moon and had even played with him in a band prior to Moon joining the Who. Reg King turns in a fab vocal as always.

Things didn't work out all that well for the Action. Reg King left and they morphed into Mighty Baby who put out 2 pretty swell discs that were also ignored.

This tune along with a plethora of other great songs can be found on The Action - Rolled Gold which is available from Parasol. You should buy it now!

Bobby Sutliff