Living Daylights - Let's Live For Today - The Complete Recordings

Living Daylights were formed in early 1967 when the members of The Guyatones, brothers Garth and Norman Watt-Roy on guitar and bass respectively, and drummer Ron Prudence, joined forces with singer/harmonica player Bob O’Neale and rhythm guitarist Dougie Ellis, who had been in the band The Naturals.  Based on the high hopes that they would have a hit with their first single “Let’s Live For Today” the band hit the studio to record an album, but unfortunately until now that album has never seen the light of day.  With the exception of the two tracks that made up their debut single, the album is presented here in both mono and stereo versions along with a handful of bonus tracks, including the US single version of “Let’s Live For Today” and another version that was rechanneled in stereo for a Japanese single.  If you’re thinking to yourself, “Didn’t The Grass Roots release that?”, the answer is yes, so before we get to that, let’s touch on the convoluted story behind that song.  It was originally written (with help from an Italian lyricist) and released in June 1966 as a b-side under the title “Piangi Con Me” by The Rokes, an English band who had success in Italy after relocating there.  It was then covered with English lyrics by the Dutch band The Skope under the title “Be Mine Again” and became a Top Forty hit in The Netherlands in January 1967.  The Rokes, unaware of that version, also recorded an English version called “Passing Thru Grey”, but Dick James, who had signed The Living Daylights to his production company, didn’t like that version, so it wasn’t released.  He hired songwriters to write new lyrics and it became “Let’s Live For Today”.  He then gave it to The Living Daylights and they released a version in the UK in April 1967.  Ironically (or maybe not), The Rokes had also recorded a version with these new lyrics and released it on that exact same date in April (many years later their version as “Passing Thru Grey” was released on a compilation).  At this same time in America, Dunhill Records had given this new version to their band The Grass Roots, who released it a month later, where it became the US hit and classic that we all know.  First up here are the two tracks that comprised that first single.  Their take on “Let’s Live For Today” isn’t that far from the version that became a hit, but it does have a bit more of a ragged garage rock vibe, while the flipside “It’s Real” is a catchy, upbeat track with a hint of The Who.  Following these two songs the band recorded nine more tracks for the album, four originals written by Garth, one written by producer Caleb Quaye and four covers.  A few of these did see the light of day, Quaye’s “Cos I’m Lonely”, a gorgeous psychedelic ballad and “Jane”, a bouncy, hook-filled track with hints of The Kinks and The Beatles, were released in France on an EP along with the two single tracks, and “Always With Him”, an interesting psychedelic tune with an aggressive sense of urgency, was the b-side to their “Baila Maria” single.  “Baila Maria”, which is also included here, but was not one of the songs recorded for the album, was written by Tash Howard and is more of a dance tune that really didn’t work for them.  It had initially been released in the US six months earlier by Joey Powers and The New Dimensions and was apparently forced on them by Dick James after he picked up the UK publishing.  The other two originals recorded for the album and finally seeing the light of day are “Up So High”, a heavier psychedelic rocker with some great almost droning guitar and “If I Had My Way”, a catchy midtempo tune with an early Beatles feel.  The covers include two Beatles’ songs, “Getting Better” and “I’ll Be Back”, and Denny Laine’s “Say You Don’t Mind”, all of which stick pretty close to the original.  The final cover is the R&B song “What’cha Gonna Do About It”, which was originally recorded by Doris Troy.  They really give this track a nice little spin and it really does a great job of showcasing their vocal harmonies.  With the album shelved and the band members wanting to move in different directions musically they called it a day in early 1968.  Bob (and possibly Doug) partially reformed The Naturals and rerecorded a lush, fully orchestrated version of “Cos I’m Lonely”, released under the band name Elliots Sunshine.  The Watt-Roy brothers and Prudence moved on to form the prog rock band The Greatest Show On Earth, who released two albums on Harvest and they have since performed with various other bands and musicians, including Norman’s being a member of The Blockheads.  Rounded out with an outstanding twenty-four page booklet that does a great job of detailing the history of this recording, Grapefruit has once again given us a chance to enjoy an album that deserves to be heard and would have otherwise been lost forever.  

(Grapefruit)