Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich : "Time To Take Off" Vinyl, LP, Album, U.S., 1968 (Imperial)

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich is the worst name for a band ever made.  Beyond that, I have a fondness for DDDBM&T.  As one can gather, if you read this blog on a regular basis, I have an odd collection of their recordings.  Why I collect them I can't possibly give you an answer.  The truth is I have an obsession with Joe Meeks' The Honeycombs, whose first album I adore to bits. All their songs on that album are written by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who go by their name "Howard Blaikley."  The material they wrote for DDDBM&T is very different from The Honeycombs' songs.  For one, the scope of their subject matter is huge for DDDBM&T.

"Time To Take Off" is DDDBM&T's 1968 album, which means for a British pop band they had to get serious or make a statement of some sort on their album.  In other words, the sound on this album is huge and clearly advanced to another level, compared to their early works.  Of course, the early recordings are superior to anything on this album.  Still, they had two hit singles off this album, the wacky "The Legend Of Xanadu" and the bizarre "Zabadak."  The rest of the album is crap, but it's 1968 type of crap, and that makes this album listenable, even enjoyable in a bad taste manner.  Their version of "If I Were a Carpenter" written by Tim Hardin is probably the strangest version of that classic song yet.   It sounds out with respect to the rest of the songs on "Time To Take Off."   Also, note that this album in the U.K. is called "If No-One Sang."