Gracious!
It all started in 1964 when Paul Davis, Alan Cowderoy, and Peter Lawes formed “Satans Disciples“ , a pop/blues based cover band whilst studying together at St. Georges College in Weybridge, Surrey.
Lineup changes and schooldays over,with the addition of Martin Kitcat (Electric Piano) and Mark Laird (Bass Guitar), the first carnation of “Gracious“ was complete.
Gracious was formed in Esher, England in 1968 by Paul Davis (vocals/12-string acoustic guitar), Alan Cowderoy (guitar/vocals), Robert Lipson (drums), Martin Kitcat (keyboards), and Mark Laird (bass).
The band had previously played together in a pop/blues based cover band Satans Desciples; formed by Paul Davis, Alan Cowderoy, and Peter Lawes in 1964. Paul had been multi-tasking drumming and singing, Robert Lipson explains “Alan asked me to join as it was getting more and more difficult for Sandy to sing and drum… It opened up his writing too… I was a very different drummer to him. Much busier! Gracious started to model their music around the musicians so it worked well.“
The band first signed with Norrie Paramours Polydor records in 1969 to record a series of pop based singles with Tim Rice producing. Though Davis & Kitcats Beatlesque compositions had progressed into lengthy descriptive pieces such as their four seasons symphony titled “Opus 31“. It was during this time that the band split from their original bassist Mark Laird in favour of Tim Wheatley, the bands former roadie during 1968.
Norrie Paramor Tracks
The early Gracious recordings for Norrie Paramor’s ‘Polydor‘ Label. Norrie was famous for producing ‘Cliff Richard & The Shadows’, as well as dozens of singles. Along with George Martin, he held the record for producing the most UK number-one hit singles for decades.
Needless to say, Norrie was a big deal, and his first independent signing to Gracious was strange to say the least. There were attempts to produce Gracious as a pop band in their early days, but as the music became bigger and more progressive Norrie became uninterested in producing the band but retained a publishing deal with them. In 1970 Paramor had the Davis/Kitcat penned song “Whenever Never Comes“ published as a single by Diana.
The recordings were actually produced by a team of Nick Ingram and Tim Rice. Recorded at Denmark Street Studios in Soho, London, the band was the regular lineup including original bassist Mark Laird in spring of 1969. Only 2 tracks from the sessions were released as a single ‘Beautiful‘ & ‘What a Lovely Rain‘. Released in June 1969, a month before the bands fateful encounter of King Crimson at a double bill on July 11th. The other tracks recorded include; ‘Whenever Never comes‘, ‘Life Is On a Movie‘, and a faithful but progressive rendition of ‘I Put a Spell On You‘ featuring a 5/4 riff and 4/4 to 6/4 changes.
After the band had played a double gig with King Crimson, their sound began to develop into a eclectic mix of progressive rock, whilst still retaining their poppy material. Damon Fox of ‘Bigelf’ purchased Martin’s Mellotron in the 90s, he even met up with Martin in America to check it out, “Kitcat was the first person to put ‘lead’ sounds on both sides. Most bands had Mk II’s and used them as they were sold: the rhythm sounds on one side, and then flutes, strings, horns — the lead sounds — on the right side. But Martin was the first guy to contact the Bradley brothers (UK-based Mellotron manufacturers) and have his made custom, with lead sound on both sides.“
As the bands material began to get more and more demanding, bassist Mark Laird exited the band, and former roadie Tim Wheatley was approached to join.
“I did some driving and lugging equipment for Gracious including going with them for a 6 week tour in Germany over Christmas and New Year 1968. Then I left them and had a job working for a friend for part of 1969 who had a clothes company, then Sandy approached me about playing bass in the band because they were parting company with Mark Laird. I jumped at the opportunity but it was a lot of work learning the set that Gracious were doing, it was pretty different from my limited blues band experience. In fact the material we played on the albums was not part of the set prior to my joining the band. Quite soon we got the record deal with Vertigo.“
The initial musical project was “Opus 31“, a progressive rock sympony inspired by The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. The band was rehearsing in a unused theatre and Norrie Paramor came to hear “Opus 31“.
Here are a few Gracious resources, albums, live recording, bonus tracks, newsclippings, interview etc… click on the highlighted names, albums and places for links.
Albums
‘Gracious!’ - 1970 Vertigo Album - Youtube - Spotify - Tidal - Apple Music - Itunes - Discogs
‘This is… Gracious!!‘ - 1972 Philips Album - Youtube - Spotify - Tidal - Apple Music - Itunes - Discogs