Love Maker is most likely one of the biggest earworms you’ve never heard. At least if you have an appreciation for melodic British pop from the late 1960s with a touch of psychedelia.
This obscure song was released as a single in 1968 by the British band Calum Bryce, with I’m Glad as the b-side. This single was the only release in their lifetime and pretty much beyond, with just one additional single (The Wig) appearing out of nowhere in 2003. Love Maker is curiously used again on the b-side of that release, bringing the band’s tally of released songs up to a whopping total of three.
The group consisted of Dave Mumford (guitar and vocals), Tim Posford (bass), Mel Wayne (sax), Derick Horn (keyboards) and Geoff Coxon (drums). Record producer Howard Conder was instrumental in putting them together as he needed musicians for a job: create a catchy melody for an advert and record it!
That’s exactly how Love Maker started its life: as a song/jingle written for an advert. Many will remember one of the many adverts for Woodpecker cider from their childhood – whether said childhood was in the 90s, 80s, 70s, or earlier.
Back in the 60s, Bulmers were creating adverts for their Woodpecker cider yearly (sometimes twice a year), which always featured catchy bespoke music that fit the current fashions to make the advert cool and relevant. The adverts would frequently use the tagline “Woodpecker, yes I would.”
By 1968, new music was needed for yet another cider cinema advert. Record producer Howard Conder got involved, secured the musicians he needed, and they all ended up co-writing the song by coming up with as many hooks and catchy elements as they could.
Bulmers wanted the music to be built around the “Woodpecker, yes I would” slogan yet again, and the result was a very contemporary-sounding and groovy rock track.
The advert featuring that music got very heavy rotation in cinemas (and even some TV, I believe). It turned out to be extremely popular, and “everybody” started humming the music and the Woodpecker slogan.
Sometimes you manage to catch lightning in a bottle when you least expect it. The music they had come up with had obvious qualities, and Conder felt it would be a shame not to explore its potential as a full-fledged pop song. He encouraged the musicians to continue working together, and advised them to start by making the music from the advert into a proper pop song and release it. He would of course produce. The band didn’t really need much persuading – they all felt that the music was too good to just end up as a jingle. They decided to become a proper band and have a go.
First of all, they would obviously need to remove the cider references and write new lyrics. The brand ‘Woodpecker’ was swiftly removed and substituted with ‘love-maker’ as a more suitable lyric. It fit the phrasing of the song, too.
As with the commercial, the track is positively bursting at the seams with amazing hooks. The drums start out with a slinky rhythm pattern. The bass line that comes in is very catchy and percussive. The keyboard motif will engrave itself into your brain and is one of those melodies you will find yourself whistling or humming. The voices that come in singing “Love-maker, love-maker, yeah yeah yes I would” are harmonising beautifully. So many hooks, and all of this happens just within the first twenty seconds!
The rest of the song builds on and develops the themes established in the early part. The song was designed to be a catchy earworm, but more than that, it is a quality example of everything that is good about late 1960s psychedelic pop-rock. It has hooks galore. The melody is infectious. All instruments have their moments to shine and have memorable parts. The harmonising vocals are just lovely. The song grabs you from the get-go and makes you swoon with delight. It is impossible to sit totally still and not get into those grooves, and at the same time the song also has an ambience that allows you to get lost in it.
There was high hope that Love Maker would do well. The same principles can definitely be applied to pop and rock music as to catchy adverts. As long as the quality and the hooks are there, you have all the makings of a hit. The song definitely have those elements.
However… the single was a total flop.
Sometimes, featuring a catchy song in a TV or cinema advert can make that song into a hit, or at least (re-)introduce it into the public consciousness. Inevitably, this will sometimes mean that a mediocre song is lifted to undeserved heights. On the other hand, sometimes a good song will not catch on or not manage to have a life of its own outside of that ad, despite the publicity.
I am unable to say in certain terms why the song failed. My own speculation is that perhaps its adapted chorus of “Love Maker, yes I would” was too similar to the Woodpecker slogan to shake off those associations. That would make it harder for the public to view it as a proper pop song. If listeners think of your song as an advert off-shoot, will they be able to judge the song on its actual merits? It also makes the song less cool. People may like it in the advert, but will they buy it and play it?
In the comments section of the song on YouTube, you will still see older viewers add comments like “A pint of Woodpecker please…” under the video. It goes to show that what the song still reminds people of the advert. It seems impossible for people of that time to hear the song without associating it with the product it promoted all those years ago. While that advert is clearly still fondly remembered, it is interesting that well over fifty years later the song’s association to it is still that strong.
Coming to it without that association is a totally different game, which may be why the song keeps finding new audiences today. Sadly the song did not have that luxury when it was first released.
Another factor at the time may have been that the song does not carry a particularly deep message. This is a slice of music to groove out and dream away to, which definitely has its place, but it was released in the era of protest songs and more politically-conscious material. It just might have been too uncool for the press to get behind by late 1968, even without the advert connection.
Let’s not forget to mention I’m Glad – the single’s b-side! It is a catchy enough pop/rock number, which almost sounds as if it was recorded a few years earlier as it fits the mid-60s RnB/beat style rather than the late-60s psychedelic pop style of the a-side. It is not of the same quality as the a-side, and was likely written and recorded quickly to be used as a b-side for the main track.
While the single flopped in 1968, the song has worked its way onto numerous 1960s compilations since, and remains available on iTunes and Amazon. If you are looking for the original single, however, be warned as it sells for several hundreds of pounds, once going for as high as £1505 (!) on eBay. That’s assuming you even see it for sale – the original pressing has still never been available for sale on Discogs at the time of this writing.
A 2013 re-pressing is more affordable and has been somewhat easier to find but still normally sells for around £30-40. The fact that even the re-press is now getting hard to find has made counterfeit copies popular. It has at least given enthusiasts the chance to at least own some physical version of the single that they can play.
It has been claimed that the band recorded further material, but if they did, it has never been released and never leaked.
They did however continue to tour for a number of years after this single’s release, and they appeared live on the Radio One Roadshow on a number of occasions. For as long as they were active, however, Love Maker was unfortunately destined to be their so-called “two-in-one”: their first release, and their last one.
Facebook Comments