The Craig – “I Must Be Mad” / “Suspense” (Fontana TF 715) June 1966
The Craig do a fast-building lively job on “I Must Be Mad” – a useful party disc. (Record Mirror, 02/07/66)
The Craig’s “I Must Be Mad” is British freakbeat at its most manic. The pilled-up tension in the vocals is utterly palpable as the song builds to a sequence of astonishing crescendos that are full of blasting, overamplified guitar work and thunderous drumming of Carl Palmer.
The Craig hailed from Birmingham and signed to Fontana Records in 1966. They released two singles for the label – one rather forgettable beat offering and this murderous piece of action, produced by Larry Page and issued in June 1966.
The single also had a U.S. release but failed to sell in either country. The Craig soon disappeared off the radar altogether, with the exception of drummer Palmer, who became one third of prog rockers Emerson, Lake & Palmer. (Nuggets Box)
Coming on like the Seeds and the Who “I Must Be Mad” is the sound of musical chains being broken as drummer Carl Palmer and the boys approach freakout velocity behind singer Geoff Brown during this one take recording. The B-side falls flat in comparison. (Record Collector)
I was the lead singer and composer of both songs. We went into the studio with Larry Page producing with ‘Suspense’ as the potential A-side. He asked if we had another song and we played ‘I Must Be Mad’, which I had recently written. Little did we know he was recording it and there it was played live in one take!
Carl Palmer is the drummer, who was only fifteen at the time. Another interesting fact is the guitar solo on the B-side was played by Chris Brittan from The Troggs. (Geoff Brown on 45cat, 05/12/10)
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