Tomorrow – Top Gear – John Peel – September 21, 1967 – BBC Radio 1 –
Tomorrow – A band featuring future Yes bassist Steve Howe and The Pretty Things/Pink Fairies drummer Twink in what has been acknowledged as one of the first wave of Psychedelic bands in Britain, starting in 1966. With critical acclaim, and having the distinction of being John Peel’s very first band in session (via Top Gear on September 21, 1967), they only managed one album, a string of singles and mostly legend status before calling it a day and going off to other things.
Despite all the enthusiasm they weren’t a commercial success, and opportunities didn’t materialize or were replaced at the last minute, as was the case during Tomorrow’s previous incarnation as The In Crowd, for their aborted appearance in Blow-Up, a movie that was synonymous with Psychedelia, featured music written by them as well as performed by them on the film, was scrapped at the last minute and replaced by The Yardbirds. The same thing happened with another appearance in an iconic film, this time in the 1967 British Comedy Smashing Time where their music was scrapped and replaced by the music of Skip Bifferty. Ironically, the movie was a box-office dud.
This session features their follow-up single, Revolution. Their debut single White Bicycle (which is not on this session) was inspired by a Dutch anarchist group Provos, who would leave White Bicycles around Amsterdam for people to take and use if they needed them and leave them when they were done. Revolution, despite not being a hit at the time, has turned into a song synonymous with 1967 and 1968 and the political/social upheavals at the time.
Ironically, because of Steve Howe’s involvement with Yes, his involvement with Tomorrow has given the band a legacy and a place in Pop music history it didn’t have at the time. They were also far more influential than initially given credit for, and their appearance at the legendary UFO Club (which has been preserved) has been cited as an important link in the Psychedelic movement in 1967.
Worth checking out if you aren’t familiar – worth revisiting if you are.
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