Thread by @TheWrongtom, Ok, let's look inside and find out what and who makes up [...]

Ok, let's look inside and find out what and who makes up another obscure record.

Today's is an all time favourite of mine which I shout about on occasion, Rub Out by Jeff Britton & The Spitfires

Some context to this one...

I bought Rub Out on 7" from the 3 for a £1 box at Collector's Records in Kingston in 1991. That's 33.3333333p for just under 3 minutes of strange psych-electro-glam-disco perfection. A guy called Sam worked there at the time and sold me my copy

I played it out at my 1st few gigs back in the 90s and then someone nicked my copy. Barely thought about it for years until my old mate Colin got in touch in 2012 asking if I had any pointers on copyright law related to one of his dad's records

I'd known Colin since school in the late 80s and had no idea his dad was a musician let alone that he'd made this amazing record which I'd loved and lost.

This reignited my interest in this wild record I'd loved and lost. So let's have a look at who was behind it...

1. Jeff Britton.

Jeff (or Geoff, depending on the release) was a sought after drummer and former member of west country proggers East Of Eden. Here he is on the pots n pans live in Paris in 1970

Jeff also drummed with Wings, making him probably the "name" member of the Rub Out's lineup, hence top-billing. Here he is with Macca on Letting Go from the number one Wings album Venus & Mars

Jeff was also a member of a rockabilly revival group of the early 70s called Wild Angels.

I picked up a Wild Angels LP in a charity shop. Someone had drawn on the cover and scratched out the face of who I'm pretty sure is Jeff Britton!

2. Keith Read.

Jeff's fellow Wild Angel, and my mate Colin's dad, was responsible for the guitar on Rub Out. Prior to both groups, however, you could find him leading rockabilly dandies The Impalas (I love the big KEITH on the kick drum)

Some of Keith's handy work on bass/guitar with Wild Angels can be heard on their cover of I Fought The Law and on Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet, produced by Martin Rushent

I'll get to Rushent but just quickly. Keith's kids have dabbled in music too. His youngest Mark was in boyband A1, and Colin turned his hand to MCing/DJing and is now manager of vinyl record store Analogue October in Chichester which is well worth a visit http://www.analogueoctober.com/

Back to Rub Out and arguably it's most notable feature is the big growling moog bassline, and it's played by multi-instrumentalist Francis Monkman of Curved Air infamy

You can also hear Monkman playing with the likes of Sky, Kate Bush, and tinkling the Rhodes on this old beauty from Labi Siffre

Also from Curved was drummer Jim Russell who doubles up on the drum traps on Rub Out to create that relentless glam beat. You may well have heard him drumming on this one by Stretch, used in a key scene from Guy Richie's cockney barrel of wankers Lockstock

Jim Russell also dabbled in drum programming, joining The Human League on their Jam & Lewis produced LP 'Crash' but he teamed he crops up on earlier material like this one from Hysteria which was of course produced by...

Martin Rushent.

Yes. Rushent is obviously most famous for being the electro-pop pulse behind a succession of chart topping hits for the Human League starting with their Dare album in '81

And, yay, Rushent did produce (the banned by Rough Trade for sexism in '77 single) Peaches by The Stranglers. Used to great effect in this far superior cockney barrel of wankers film

But Rub Out marks the moment Rushent switched from his work with prog and rock n roll to electronic work, with Monkman's Moog at the heart of a track that perhaps bares a passing nod to John Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13 which also came out 76

A quick mention, finally, to Rub Out's label Decca, who are nearing a century in the business. Now owned by Universal, I contacted them a few years back about the possibility of licensing Rub Out and doing a re-edit. Turns out I don't have that sort of money (or any, LOL etc)

I've considered recording my own version and enlisting Keith on guitar duties. Maybe one day I'll get on it!

And, by the way, by a strange coincidence to all this, that guy Sam who sold me the Rub Out 7" years ago, he's now A&R at Decca. Their roster now includes Jeff Goldblum

And THAT'S how a Jeff Britton & The Spitfires 'Rub Out' 7" works

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