The rumours of Ray Pilgrim & Mike Redway meeting up again after 45 years are indeed true and the main reason for their coming together was to initiate a legal CD of Embassy recordings! Despite all the "bootlegs" there have been of Embassy recordings, many of substandard quality, Ray and Mike have over the last few months had dealings with Sony (CBS) and have with their co-operation just released a 24 track CD of Beatle covers which includes all Lennon-McCartney tracks, with the exception of "It's for you", that Embassy produced between 1963 - 65. Not only have they included "Money" and "Twist & Shout" which were not L&M songs but more significantly the twosome have been back in the studio to record two new bonus tracks, namely "The Long and Winding Road" and "In My Life" which round the CD off. It has to be said that the quality of many of the unofficial CDs leaves a bit to be desired but this set has been lovingly remastered and comes with a fantastic and fully informative insert, giving info on every individual recording. I have an advance copy already which sounds so fresh and the disc should be available any day now through the usual outlets e.g. Amazon etc. I have known of this project for months now but have to keep quiet in case it didn't come into fruition but the wait has been worthwhile and could if successful be the first of a series.
What it does mean as an official release, is that the performers will get royalties which will go to former members of The Typhoons & Jaybirds, namely Ray, Mike, Ken Barrie (Les Carle) and perhaps anyone who could lay claim to the estate of the late Tony Crane (Terry Brandon) So come on you Embassy fans get buying and help make this venture a success. It's catalogue number is WBCD 2010
Stuart Ralls
