THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
The Kirkbys — It’s a Crime That This Freakbeat Classic By Liverpool’s Secret Weapon Did Not Chart
The Kirkbys — “It’s a Crime”
This is where it all started for Jimmy Campbell, who was responsible for the 23rd Turnoff’s “Michael Angelo,” the most sublime psychedelic masterpiece of the ’60s, and so much more.
I need to do a special edition focusing on this extraordinary and underappreciated artist who really is, as Get into This says, “[t]he greatest songwriter you’ve never heard of.”
In any event, it’s a crime that “It’s a Crime” didn’t chart. It is a freakbeat masterpiece with a killer riff. Mersey Beat says:
Jimmy joined a group called the Tuxedos in the late 1950s and in 1961 they changed their name to the Panthers. . . . The group decided to turn professional in 1964 [as the Kirkbys] and at one time were managed by Brian Epstein’s former secretary, Beryl Adams. The group had their first single, “It’s a Crime” . . . penned by Jimmy, issued in Finland in 1966, a country in which they had a large following.
But where did the name the Kirkby’s come from? Vernon Joynson tells us:
This Liverpool band was first known as The Panthers who revolved around Jimmy Campbell who then formed 23rd Turnoff (named after a motorway junction) before doing solo work. Bob Wooler of Cavern fame actually gave the band the name Kirbys during a live radio Luxembourg recording at the Cavern Club. He suggested that the band may gain support from all the people of Kirby if they used such a name. Actually at that time all the band members (except for Marooth) lived in Kirby, which is on the outskirts of Liverpool.
(The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
See my website at bracefortheobscure60srock.com.
Here’s the demo:
