The Ferris Wheel

The Ferris Wheel were one of England's great lost musical treasures of the middle-late '60s -- immensely popular among club audiences, they were never able to translate their ability to win over crowds into chart success, but they made some great records while they were trying. The group came together out of the remnants of two earlier British bands, Emile Ford & the Checkmates and West Five. Dave Sweetman (saxophone), George Sweetman (bass, vocals), and Barry Reeves (drums) had played in the Checkmates, the backing band to Emile Ford (who was half-brother to Dave and George Sweetman), while Mike Liston (keyboards, vocals) had been with a group called the West Five. Trinidad-born Diane Ferraz (vocals) had recorded as part of the duo of Diane & Nicky, in tandem with vocalist Nicky Scott, under the auspices of Simon Napier-Bell, best remembered as the second manager of the Yardbirds; and guitarist Keith Anthony filled up the last instrumental spot in the group. The band's original name was Diane Ferraz & the Simon's Triangle, but that arrangement -- with the others designated as Ferraz's backing group -- proved awkward and irrelevant when the whole act jelled as a unit, and Sweetman and Liston also both proved good vocalists in their own right. For a new name, they selected the Ferris Wheel, taking off from Ferraz's family name. The Ferris Wheel quickly became one of the most popular club acts in England, with their mix of soul music spiced with the influence of the psychedelic music that was starting to spread across the pop world. Vocally their sound was centered around Motown, but instrumentally they were very much a part of the London scene of the time -- there were no Mellotrons or sitars, but lots of guitar arabesques and extended ornate organ swells, and all of it...