For all you Beatles fans out there, between their Strawberry Fields and Sgt. Pepper period, I just discovered a group that I think you’ll love called Timebox who hit their prime in the late 1960′s in England. Their master recordings sound like “missing Beatles demos” circa the Strawberry Fields – Sgt. Pepper period. These recordings are featured on a great album on CD, Timebox “The Deram Anthology” which seems to have been deleted and going for a high price now but fear not, these recordings are also on the new RPM Records CD, Timebox “Beggin’: The Sound of London’s Mod Club Scene” which also includes some of their singles before their prime line-up was formed and they didn’t sound as Beatlesque. But all of the “Deram Anthology” material is on that CD which is available at the regular price.

Timebox at their prime consisted of Mike Patto on lead vocals, Ollie Hallsall on guitar and vibraphone, John Halsey on drums, Clive Griffiths on bass and Chris Holmes on keyboards. Timebox minus Chris Holmes later evolved into Patto with in my opinion a whole different sound and repertoire and too me sounded nothing like Timebox even with virtually the same line-up. So if you’re in love with the Timebox album, if I were you, I wouldn’t buy all the Patto albums all at once, without listening to one of them and seeing if they’re your taste. Ironically, Ollie Hallsall and John Halsey, also played the guitar and drums for the Beatlesque, Rutles!

I’m frankly surprised that Timebox and their recordings didn’t make it big in the 60′s. Their originals in my opinion sound like material the Beatles would have written and recorded. The vocals are superb as is everyone instrumentally in the group is excellent. The vibraphone adds a nice layer to their sound and the production is excellent.

The Timebox Deram Anthology CD starts off with