“Brother, Can You Spare A Dime” / “Al’s Party” (Fontana TF 883) November 1967

That well-known plea against post-crash America “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime” has been updated very well indeed by St Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Nice organ build-up at the beginning and parts reminded me of the Fudge. Might do something. They’re nice lads, too. (Disc & Music Echo – 11/11/67)

There is a current rage for gangsters, black leather, machine guns, death, and despair, apparently induced bt the motion picture triumph “Bonnie And Clyde.”

A bit of quick thinking by record producers and publicists have resulted in this new group, complete with genuine Thompson sub-machine guns and enormous fur coats.

And they’ve made a groovy, bluesy version of the oldie that might well be a smash. And after all, it’s our old friends the Artwoods in heavy disguise folks, so it’s got to be a hit! (Melody Maker – 11/11/67)

The Artwoods under a new and more sinister name. Great old song and done well enough, but may just miss out – despite publicity. (NME – 11/11/67)

Intro magazine – 02/12/67

24 hours on the road with a pop group

That there is little real money in the pop world except for a favoured few, we’ve already revealed in INTRO.

Now we can show you the other part of the same story – that the work is enough to make strong men blanch at the thought. We went out with a London-based group to see what a typical day might bring.

So we arranged to meet the St Valentine’s Day Massacre (until recently known as The Artwoods) at the crack of dawn as the van was rounding up the group.

From then on, it was non-stop activity right through the day, filming a television show – over and over again, in the pouring rain before deciding to abandon the set and start the whole thing again, indoors.

Then, a 111-mile dash to the University of Warwick for an evening date, play until 1 a.m.; a half-hour drive to find the hotel and fall into bed exhausted at 2 a.m.

This was a repeat of the previous day’s schedule and was to be duplicated on the following two days. Naturally, they don’t always have a TV date but they might well have to travel about four times the distance to appear at a concert.

Glamorous? Occasionally. Money? Sometimes. Hard work? Always. Take a look at our pictures. Could you stand the pace?