Turquoise

Turquoise was a British pop-psych group who only officially released two singles in their short existence as a band, but the four songs on those two releases became beloved by collectors of the genre, and led to a complete album of the band's surviving recordings being released some 40 years later. The group, who initially called themselves the Brood, was formed in North London's Muswell Hill area in 1966 by Jeff Peters, Ewan Stephens, and Vic Jansen (a fourth member, Barry Hart, was added later), who were all friends and neighbors of the Kinks' Ray and Dave Davies. Dave Davies produced a batch of demos for the Brood in 1966, and a second batch was produced by the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle a year later in 1967. Eventually the Brood was signed to Decca Records, and after a name change to Turquoise, released two wonderful double-sided singles, "'53 Summer Street"/"Tales of Flossie Fillett" and "Woodstock"/"Saynia," but neither release really took off, and the band called it quits in 1969. Peters and Hart went on to form Slowbone, releasing an album, Tales of a Crooked Man, in 1974. Collectors of the Kinks/Who/Small Faces/Move style of 1960s British pop discovered the two singles, however, and Turquoise became a sort of long-lost cult band, resulting in Rev-Ola releasing all of the Brood's and Turquoise's surviving demos, alternate takes, and of course, the two singles, on disc in 2006 as The Further Adventures of Flossie Fillett: The Complete Recordings. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide