HISTORY OF THE LEFT BANKE / PART III

By Tom Feher (professional name: Tom Fair)

Mercury, like all record companies, was looking to cash in on the hit status of the group; there was a demand for more product. Left Banke managers Bill Ottinger and Roger Rubenstein (Rubott Management) were also anxious to turn around what looked like a sure catastrophe.

     There was a brief relationship with producer/arranger Artie Schroeck which resulted in two songs – "Dark Is The Bark" and "My Friend Today" - being recorded, but relations became strained and Schroeck bowed out.

    With Brown also out of the picture, the leadership of the group was in question. However, Tom Finn stepped up to take the responsibility that no one else seemed to relish, and took charge of rehearsing the group for a number of new recordings that would fill out the empty spaces on "Left Banke, Too."

     The group used as resources writer/performers also in the Rubott stable: Tom Feher and Marvin Potacki. 

     Having come off a 1 hit with "Green Tambourine," songwriter/producer Paul Leka was called in by Mercury to wrap up the album. It was done at Olmstead recording studio across the street from the main branch of the New York Public Library.

      Leka supervised the new recordings and either he or someone at Mercury (I don't have the information on this) patched together two Brown-Feher tracks, the two Artie Schroeck tracks and six new tracks including three written by Feher, two by Finn and one by Potacki, and "Left Banke, Too" was set to wax.

      If you want to keep score, it was "Nice To See You" and "There's Gonna Be A Storm" (Tom Finn); "Give The Man A Hand" (Marvin Potacki); and "Bryant Hotel," "Goodbye Holly" and "Sing, Little Bird, Sing" (Tom Feher). The two Brown-Feher compositions are "Desiree" and "In The Morning Light."

     Steve Tallarico, later to become Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame, and having the same Rubott management representation at the time, was a good friend of the Left Banke, and as a result his vocal assistance was obtained on "Dark Is The Bark," Nice To See You," "My Friend Today," and "Give The Man A Hand."

      At this point, things began to fall apart. The album did not do much sales-wise. The gigs were more difficult to get and the money was not that good. At one point in the demise of the group, it was Martin on lead, Feher on piano, and two buddies from Laurie Records group The Best of Friends, David "The Whip" Wesley and Jerry "The Hawk" Hawkins on guitar and drums.

     The Left Banke "baroque rock" sound was nowhere in evidence as this combination shared a bill with the MC5, and cranked out Rolling Stones' numbers and Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright?"

    
      By 1968, the Left Banke was history. Brown brought Feher into his Montage project, and in 1969 Feher brought Finn and Mercury Records' McCoys into a soundtrack project for a film starring British actress Genevieve Waite (Joanna).

      There were a number of attempts at Left Banke "reunions" which are documented elsewhere. Today, the group enjoys a somewhat legendary status as their music proves to have stood the test of time.

Copyright © 2006 by Tom Fair. All Rights Reserved.