John Peel Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Greyhound

Greyhound was a British reggae band and began as The Rudies in the late 1960s, with core members Danny Smith and Freddie Notes. They also released material as The Tilermen and Des All Stars. Under the name The Rudies, they issued a covers of "Patches" by Clarence Carter and "Montego Bay" by Bobby Bloom. Billed as Freddie Notes and The Rudies, "Montego Bay" peaked at number 45 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1970. After Notes's departure, Glenroy Oakley joined the band and they changed their name to Greyhound in 1970.Their first single was an Earl Robinson/David I. Arkin composition, "Black & White", later recorded by artists as diverse as The Maytones, Sammy Davis Jr and Three Dog Night; Greyhound scored a Top Ten hit with the tune in the UK Singles Chart. Two more singles, including a cover of Henry Mancini's "Moon River" followed, before the group's fame faded.

Links to Peel[]

Peel's first reggae session, broadcast on 26 December 1970, was by the Rudies. This was their one and only session (recorded 1970-11-23) but the band would reform the following year as Greyhound. British reggae was big at this time and this is a group of Jamaicans who were living in the UK and were intent on riding the interest in reggae. They undoubtedly did a lot to popularise reggae and had a big hit with Black and White. Rudie and Greyhound found it difficult to pass the audition. They auditioned in 1968 as Glenroy Oakley and the Oracles. According to Ken Garner the audition panel recorded that they felt it was "badly played", "wrong chords" "pseudo reggae" "out of tune". Although the Rudies session wasn't viewed by Peel and Walters as a great success[1], it was later repeated in the Peel's Pleasures series on 24 July 1982. Originally it was decided not to broadcast one of The Rudies' tracks - Oh Me Oh My.

Greyhound (they had almost exactly the same line up as The Rudies) recorded the second reggae session on 29/6/71 which was broadcast (whilst Viv Stanshall was standing in) on 14 August 1971 alongside a session of the Pretty Things.

Sessions[]

The_Rudies_-_Peel_Session_1970

The Rudies - Peel Session 1970

Rudies

1. Recorded: 1970-11-23. First Broadcast: 26 December 1970. Repeated: 24 July 1982

  • Moon Bug / You Make Me So Very Happy / Patches / ('Oh Me Oh My' was not broadcast)
Greyhound

1. Recorded: 1971-06-29. First Broadcast: 14 August 1971

  • 54-46 Was My Number / Moon Walk / Black And White / Singer Man

Other Shows Played[]

Rudies
  • 02 April 1980 (& Owen Grey): Let It Be Me (7" - Ay-Ay-Ay (My Mammy Has Told Me)) Fab
Des All Stars
Music Doctors
  • 08 February 1983: The Wild Bunch (7") J-Dan (Peel calls them the Dandy Boys)
  • 16 February 1983 (BFBS): The Wild Bunch (shared 7" with Israelites - The Wild Bunch / Born To Be Strong) J-Dan (Peel referred the group as the Dandy Boys, probably because Dan Livingstone produced it with others)

External Links[]

Advertisement