The 'N Betweens

The 'N Betweens only did a couple of singles in 1966, and would be forgotten except that the group evolved into Ambrose Slade and then Slade. Back in the mid-'60s the musicians, like many in England, were playing heavily R&B- and soul-influenced material in the mod British Invasion style. The group originally evolved from the Wolverhampton band the Vendors, an average British rock band with a cover-heavy repertoire who'd done a rare privately pressed EP in 1964. With future Slade members Dave Hill on lead guitar and Don Powell on drums, the group changed their name to the 'N Betweens and went for a bluesier, more R&B-heavy sound. This first lineup of the 'N Betweens did a rare French EP for the Barclay label with adequate but faceless covers of songs by the Sorrows, the Pretty Things, and Johnny Preston. All four songs from the EP have been reissued on the CD A Genesis of Slade, which features a couple dozen rare tracks by bands in which members of Slade played before Ambrose Slade formed. The somewhat more interesting phase of the 'N Betweens began when they reorganized their lineup to the four-piece with the same members who would eventually comprise Slade. At a London gig they attracted the attention of American producer Kim Fowley, who produced their 1966 Columbia U.K. single "You Better Run," a decent but still rather anonymous cover of a hit by the Young Rascals. A U.S. promotional-only single, a cover of Otis Redding's "Security," also came out in 1966, bearing the same B-side ("Evil Witchman," a rewrite of the Sam & Dave soul song "I Take What I Want") as "You Better Run" had in Britain. Three other tracks were recorded in 1966 that were unreleased at the time, the most notable of those being "Ugly Girl" (co-written by Fowley with the band), which hinted at the...