MATCHBOX: RUN MUCH FASTER - FUZZ GUITAR PSYCH MONSTER 45 ON POLYDOR

	£		230
	$		305

A RARE ORIGINAL UK MONO COPY OF THE ULTRA RARE POLYDOR SINGLE, RUN MUCH FASTER/EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES (56327), BY MATCHBOX FROM 1969.
VERY FEW COPIES OF THIS SOUGHT AFTER PSYCH MASTERPIECE HAVE SURFACED.
CONDITION: RUN MUCH FASTER EASILY GRADES VG+ AND PLAYS BEAUTIFULLY, LOUD AND CLEAR, ALL THE WAY THROUGH; EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS GOOD+ WITH A COUPLE OF MARKS, ONE OF WHICH CAUSES CLICKS AT THE START OF THE TRACK.
GOOD LUCK IF YOU ARE BIDDING ON THIS TREASURED ARTEFACT FROM THE PSYCHEDLIC ERA.

* MYSTERY/MASTERY: How the dynamic track Run Much Faster has remained under the radar for so long is one of life's great mysteries. Fortunately psych-lovers can check it out on YouTube (try Matchbox - Run Much Faster (mod psych). Thomas Smith in Comments sums it up with: "This song is the mastery of the psychedelic sound - power vocals, great catchy bass, awesome sounding guitars that lean towards the sound of early '70s heavy metal. Great recording."

** BOXED HISTORY: Matchbox briefly flared up in the '60s somewhere between The Bunch of Fives and The Tickle. Producer Peter Sames offers a little insight into the spirit of the era ...       Peter, who was to later work for Decca (and could if he were so inclined boast credits for Cross & Ross, Fantasy and Peter Skellern among many others) told me: "My assistant Frank Davies took me to see beat group The Bunch of Fives, who were known as 'the darlings of the debutantes' and used to play at various upmarket venues in London including The Dorchester and The Savoy, earning something like £100 a gig when £30 might have been more the going rate.
"I went to see them doing a gig at a very posh club in Fulham, the Hurlingham Club - the sort of place royalty would go for a knees-up. Mike Docker was their lead singer, and they were really very good. I thought why don't I try and make a record with them and so I said to someone at EMI: 'If we pay for it will you release it?' and they said they would certainly have a look at it, so we got some money together and went into Sound Techniques, a four-track studio in Chelsea, and recorded 'Go Home Baby', which the guitarist Mick Wayne had written and was already part of their setlist. I took this track to EMI and to my surprise they said they would put it out."
Go Home Baby/At The Station duly appeared on the Parlophone label, with Peter later receiving a cool £10 in royalties for a total of 650 copies sold.
Peter added: "I ended up managing the band, together with Tim Peacock - my Brian Epstein moment - not that I was ever paid though. I got very involved with them. Mick Wayne was an excellent guitarist but the drummer, Viv Prince, ex of The Pretty Things, was forever being arrested by the police for drugs."
Although Peter's first production failed to make much impact he was "determined to get more involved with bands" and shortly after that "made a rash decision, because I had a good job with EMI, and I decided to leave EMI to start managing bands in the hope that it would lead to my becoming a producer".
"I next got involved with a band called Matchbox (not the band from the '70s everyone has heard of) ... these were a five-piece whose singer Rick De Jongh was only 17, and the lead guitarist was Ian Stephenson who had lessons from Pete Townshend. They used to rehearse in Ian's parents' front room in Kingsbury - a full electric five-piece who were very loud and yet they never seemed to get any complaints. I don't know if they'd worked out some sort of agreement with the neighbours!"
Peter produced Matchbox's debut single, Every Little Thing She Does/Run Much Faster. "They were one of those part-time bands, of which there were many, although they were in another league as they were writing and playing their own material. We did, however, have to get one of the top session drummers in to redub the drums. I managed to get a release through Polydor, as well as the follow-up, Time Hasn't Changed Us/Everywhere and Nowhere."
With the addition of Jane Marlow on vocals, Matchbox morphed into Columbus to record the 1970 Deram single Ev'rybody Loves The US Marshall/Tired, both penned by De Jongh, Jackman, Stephenson, and again produced by Peter Sames.
In 1972 things came full circle when Mike Docker teamed up with De Jongh, Jackman and Stephenson to form Little Witch, recording Cry A Little Inside/Illusions on Strawberry (possibly only released in Canada). 
Meanwhile The Bunch of Fives turned into The Tickle, recording the psych classic Subway (Smokey Pokey World)/Good Evening, before the band became Junior's Eyes, now more famous for backing David Bowie. ericpsyches

*** Sorry, no offers (my mistake) - auction will run to end.