“Somebody Help Me” (unreleased EMI recording) February 1969
Cliff Bennett | Somebody Help Me | (unreleased) 1969 | This track by Cliff Bennett is a random find today, having just played the 1998 CD ‘Cliff Bennett at Abbey Road 1963-1969’.
Most of Cliff’s records during this period in time merged beat with soul, some would say a definitive sixties mod sound.
When I checked the track listing on the back of the CD I noticed the number “Somebody Help Me’, and immediately thought it was a cover of the Spencer Davis Group classic.
However, it turns out that the song is an original composition co-written by Mick Green, who was a member of Cliff’s backing group the Rebel Rousers.
Mick Green, of course, goes way back to the late fifties / early sixties as the guitarist in Johnny Kidd & the Pirates.
“Somebody Help Me” is a sublime sunshine pop tune with orchestration and backing vocals. Cliff Bennett’s singing is a little more restrained than on his soul numbers but it still retains its soulful force.
The track was recorded on 25/02/69 in stereo at Abbey Road Studios, but surprisingly remained unreleased for almost thirty years.
Cliff Bennett | Somebody Help Me | (unreleased) 1969
“Lack of a follow-up to ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ and maybe the death of Brian Epstein led to the band splitting up (we did have a spell with The Robert Stigwood Organisation but I felt that they didn’t have the same commitment.
“I continued to record with David Paramor, we covered The Beatles ‘Back In The U.S.S.R’ and finally ‘Somebody Help Me’ and ‘Red Bus’ which I wrote together with Mick (The Pirates) Green, a long time friend, before moving into my Heavy Metal era with Toe Fat.” (Cliff Bennett, 1998)
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