The Attack was an English freakbeat / psych band formed in London in 1966 by singer Richard Shirman. The first line-up of the band featured guitarist David O'List (later of The Nice) and drummer Alan Whitehead (soon to join Marmalade). Following the departure of O'List, John Du Cann (later of Andromeda and Atomic Rooster) joined the group on guitar. The group only released four singles in the period 1967-68 before disbanding. From the 1990s onwards, various posthumous albums were released compiling the group's singles and other unreleased material.
In March 1967 the group issued a version of "Hi Ho Silver Lining", shortly before the more familiar version by Jeff Beck that became a hit single. The flip side of the Attack's version was a composition of their own called "Any More Than I Do", which had been developed from a riff that guitarist O'List had started playing in the studio. This became an enduring favourite of Peel over the years. Back in 1967 he used the guitar intro of the song for trailers and jingles during his pirate days on Radio London - especially an ad for the Nautilus Club, Lowestoft, a regular venue for the station's DJs during their weeks onshore[1]. It can be heard on the show of 01 July 1967. Peel said on 12 December 2000 that he was still in possession of one of these trailers (describing it as "breathtakingly and truly and genuinely crap") but sadly hadn’t been able to find it to play that night.
"It's a great favourite of mine, some marvellous guitar playing on it by Davy O'List." (30 January 2002)
In later years, Peel was puzzled by a reference to a "Georgina Whitney" written on the sleeve of his copy of the single:
"It's one of those great mysteries in my life actually, because I do occasionally play that, some of you will have heard me play that before. I don't know whether it was intended as a prize for a listener to Radio London, but written on the white paper sleeve that the record has been in even since it first was released is the name Georgina Whitney. And I have no idea who Georgina is or why her name is written on this. It's not even in my handwriting. So I think I probably stole this record out of the Radio London office. But I did the right thing, and Georgina, if you're listening, or any of your descendants are listening, I apologise. But I think it's more important that I have it. That's the kind of selfish attitude that I have." (22 January 2002)
Peel says much the same thing a few months later after giving the single another spin on 11 April 2002.
Fortunately, a recording of the final evening of the Perfumed Garden on Radio London on 14 August 1967 reveals that Peel had met Tony and Georgina Whitney on the train the previous evening whilst travelling to Ipswich and had promised to play a record for Georgina at least.
Other tracks by the Attack appeared in Radio London's playlists[1] and were played by Peel during his stint on the station, but they were very much of their time and didn't have the enduring appeal of "Any More Than I Do". Perhaps surprisingly given his affection for the B-side, the single did not merit a place in John Peel's Record Box.
The list below was researched only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further information if known.
↑According to Chris Welch, writing in Melody Maker at the time, Peel used O'List's solo as a signature tune, although no audio evidence of this has been found so far.
↑If the track was played on BFBS, experience suggests that it was also aired on a Radio One show around the time of recording - possibly 06 November 1992 (shared recording of show is as yet incomplete.)
