Artist description Slender Loris were a five-piece band based in Birmgham UK between 1974 and 1978. They gigged up and down the country in their own right and supporting established artists such as Procul Harum, Curved Air and Mike Nesmith, as well as having long-standing residences at Birmingham's Railway, Barrel Organ and The Imperial Hotel in Nottingham.The band was an amalgamation of the original semi- acoustic song-writing band comprising Andy, Phil and Martin and Dave and Micky of the jazz-rock fusion band Polyphony. The songs on Recordings 1975-77 reflect a rich range of influences.They were recorded in a variety of locations, for radio transmission and demo purposes.We have tried our best to get the best out of the old reel-to-reel masters, but audiophiles beware, the quality is variable.This material has never before been released, and we feel it's about time it had an airing.The original members, Andy Morton, Phil Kirwan and Martin Berry have recently re-formed to record and perform and have just released an entirely new album of early songs....unifinished business..

Music Style Rock/jazz/pop fusion songs

Artist History Birmingham in 1973 was a fairly unpromising place for aspiring song-writers Andy Morton, Phil Kirwan and Martin Berry. The local scene was dominated by conservative folk clubs and equally conservative plank-spanking venues of the heavy rock variety. The opening of John Mostyn's eclectic Big Ears club in 1973 gave the trio their first opportunity to perform songs that were, frankly, difficult to categorise. Building up a small but enthusiastic following, they made a modest expansion of the band, adding percussion (Colin Edmunds) and sax (Ray…?) to their original line-up, and started performing in earnest on the pub and college circuit. They often found themselves sharing the billing with Dave Bristow's slick jazz-fusion band Polyphony and mutual regard led to Dave and drummer Micky Barker joining up with Phil, Andy and Martin in mid-1975. The founder members provided well-crafted songs, and Dave and Micky tightened up the arrangements and added a high degree of instrumental credibility. Martin showed a natural aptitude for bass, and formed a great intuitive rhythm section with Micky. Dave also began to collaborate with Phil, Martin and Andy on songs. Under the management of promoter Steve Royston, the band became involved in a dizzy round of support gigs, residencies and college and club dates which eventually led to their being spotted by Island Records' Richard Williams. The subsequent recording sessions were not a success, problems arising from the band's lack of a credible front man and the lack of singles material. The songs and the jazz were also often pulling in different directions leaving Andy and Dave at loggerheads. Andy left the band in early 1976 and was briefly replaced by Paul Keatley, who brought with him a number of catchy songs including the classic Long Time Looking for a Dream. Within a couple of months, Paul was in turn replaced by Curtis Little, whose earthy vocals were to become a band trademark and feature on many of the best recordings. In their last period, under new management (the unconventional "Renee O' Switzerland" who had set City Boy on their first steps to success), Slender Loris developed a highly polished set with Martin and Phil turning out some pretty commercial numbers, but things had always been unstable. There were no singles, musical directions were pulling apart, as indicated by the temporary departure of Phil, and a futile attempt to replace him with a more compliant technical guitarist. Despite earning a dedicated fan-base and attracting plenty of interest from local and national radio, Slender Loris only ever released material on a local level. That elusive record contract was never to materialise and, in their mid-twenties and looking for viable careers, the band split up in early 1978. The musical world was changing, and Loris came to their peak just as Punk was scything a discordant path through popular taste. Dave went on to develop and impressive career as a session musician and in music technology (he jointly voiced the DX7 synthesiser); Micky played for many years with Birmingham based band Magnum and currently plays with The Bushburys; Curtis never stopped performing and has been a fixture on the Birmingham soul scene for years; Andy, Phil and Martin all took up teaching, but Phil continued to play guitar in a variety of local bands, as did Martin playing bass. In the nineties, Martin and Andy collaborated on a number of stage musicals, including Love and Spare Parts and Utopia and Beyond; Andy has his own career writing music for TV and theatre. All the band agree that the period 1975-77 was special, a tantalising time when they hovered on the brink of success. Looking back, the music seems to stand the test of time, and feels as good as most of its contemporaries. Andy, Phil and Martin are back in the studio and have just completed the album …unfinished business, which features songs in their original acoustic form and typifies the band before its excursion into the world of jazz and rock. They hope that an opportunity will arise to get the full band back together as featured on Slender Loris - Recordings 1975-77.

Group Members Andy Morton, Phil Kirwan, Martin Berry, Curtis Little,Dave Bristow, Micky Barker

Instruments Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion, Fender Rhodes and Hammond and early synths

Albums Slender Loris Recordings 1975-77 (Volume One) and ...unfinished business

Location Birmingham, West Midlands - United Kingdom

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