– B.B. Blunder in Session for Top Of The Pops – 1970 – BBC Radio 1 –
Gone-in-30-seconds B.B. Blunder in session for the BBC’s Top Of The Pops tonight. B.B. Blunder came about as their previous venture, Blossom Toes ceased to exist. Together for what seemed like ten minutes, the band actually were together a bit longer, enough time to make the classic (and completely underrated/overlooked Worker’s Playtime), provide backup for a solo effort by Reg King who also briefly joined the band and then drifted back into neglect.
Worker’s Playtime was issued in the States, on the Polydor label, which may have explained why they were overlooked. Polydor was just getting it’s act together in the U.S. and not having an easy go of it in 1971. For some reason, United Artists (the label they were on in the UK) passed on the option to release them in the U.S., which probably compounded the lack of enthusiasm for what was otherwise a great debut album.
From Richie Unterberger via Allmusic:
After it was issued as Workers Playtime in 1971, Reg King (formerly of mid-’60s cult mod band the Action) joined the group for live work. The enterprise was basically a non-starter, though. Westlake soon quit, new members joined (including Reg King’s brother and fellow Action veteran Bam King), and the group fell apart by the end of 1971. To add to the confusion surrounding this none-too-tight aggregation, in 1989, their sole album was reissued under the title New Day by Decal, who attributed the recording to “Blossom Toes ’70 (formerly B.B. Blunder).” This is why this none-too-interesting one-shot record also shows up in the Blossom Toes discography.
But as I’ve said countless times before; it’s almost impossible to predict what people will respond to and whey they won’t respond to where the subject of Pop Music is concerned. Bands you were dead-certain would make it massively came and went almost totally unnoticed.
At any rate – here is one of the rare appearances B.B. Blunder made via The BBC’s Top Of The Pops. Just two numbers, but enough to make you wonder why they weren’t a huge success in 1970.
One more band to wonder about.
