The Mindbenders - "Groovy Kind Of Love" (1966)

The Mindbenders (originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana) was a 1960s beat group from Manchester, England. They were part of the mid 1960s British Invasion with their chart-toppers "Game of Love" and "A Groovy Kind of Love".

Wayne Fontana founded the band in 1963 with Bob Lang, Ric Rothwell, and Eric Stewart. The group was later joined by Grahame Foote.[2] The name of the group was inspired by the title of a 1963 film, starring the British actor Sir Dirk Bogarde, called The Mind Benders. They released a few unsuccessful singles before recording "Um Um Um Um Um Um" in 1964, which was a major hit in Britain and led to a tour with Brenda Lee. They also had a number one hit in the United States with "Game of Love".

After a tour of America and some more unsuccessful singles, Fontana abruptly left the band in the middle of a concert in 1965. Guitarist Eric Stewart suddenly became the lead singer of the band, which immediately dropped "Wayne Fontana" from its name.

The Mindbenders' first single without Fontana was the hit "Groovy Kind of Love" (a Carole Bayer Sager / Toni Wine composition). The song reached number two in the US, and sold one million copies globally. It was successfully revived by Phil Collins in the 1980s. The album of the same name, however, was a failure, as were their other singles and later albums.

A second song by Bayer and Wine, "Ashes to Ashes," did reach number 14 in the UK Singles Chart, after an earlier effort in 1966, "Can't Live With You (Can't Live Without You)" had struggled to break the Top 30. The Mindbenders made their final American tour in July 1966, kicking off in Atlanta, Georgia on Independence Day, in front of a capacity 25,000 crowd, but they were only the support act. James Brown was the headliner and, while Eric Stewart remembered, "we went down quite well," a more memorable show came when the Mindbenders played the Fillmore West later in the tour. "The liquid light show was great and really worked with our act, which was a lot heavier than on our records".

By this time Eric Stewart had developed into a strong songwriter in his own right, contributing one song ("My New Day and Age") to Family, but for singles the Mindbenders continued looking outside for new material. Their next project was a concept album, several months before Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, S.F. Sorrow and Tommy were issued. The Mindbenders release With Woman in Mind contained "I Want Her, She Wants Me", "Ashes to Ashes" plus the lascivious "Schoolgirl"; but unreleased in the US, it did little sales anywhere else and disappeared as quickly as the accompanying single, another Bayer/Wine composition, "We'll Talk About It Tomorrow".

They appeared in the Sidney Poitier movie, To Sir, with Love and were also on the soundtrack with the songs "Off and Running" and "It's Getting Harder All the Time". This major exposure did not break the group's run of bad luck and neither could an infusion of new blood, after drummer Ric Rothwell quit to be replaced by Paul Hancox. By the end of that year, the Mindbenders released their cover version of "The Letter" which fell short at number 42, whilst The Box Tops original soared into the UK Top 10. A couple more flops followed and in March 1968, Bob Lang quit and was replaced by Graham Gouldman, in which form the band cut one final single "Uncle Joe, the Ice Cream Man".

The Mindbenders then broke up for good at the Liverpool Empire on 20 November 1968, the last night of a UK tour with The Who, Arthur Brown and Joe Cocker. Stewart and Gouldman went on to form Hotlegs and, much more significantly, the band 10cc.

Bob Lang later joined another rock music outfit, Racing Cars. They had one hit single, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", which reached Number 14 in the UK Singles Chart in 1977.

In the 1970s, Grahame Foote joined the nostalgia group, 'Herman's Hermits starring Barry Whitwam'.

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[sirronald69]

* * * * *

[TheBacmaster]

@sirronald69 Thanks you.

~Joe~

[alan59able]

fantastic interpretation

[TheKreesman]

Hey can you upload the B side "Love Is Good" Thanks. 

[ZanyPete]

Absolutely great video! Thanks for posting.

[firefieldmpt]

ONE OF MY SCHOOL DAYS FAVORITE bg

[hunter147able]

I MISS U DEBBIE L JUST ME BRUCE

[TheSunbau]

I really love this song by one of the greatest bands from the mid 60s. I´m very interested to rediscover all those great unknown bands, in contrast to The Mindbenders, that "didn´t reach the highest level". Listen (youtube) to:

THE ZETTLERS in "Skinnie Minnie", "Beautiful Delilah" and "Can´t live without you".

(Awesome - with a bloody driving beat).

THE GANTS in "Greener Days".

(High class - from the Deep South - USA)

THE GOLLIWOGS in "Tell me".

(Listen to the singer - yes, it´s him!!!

[jimbamboozled]

The Grooviest song of all time, I wish it was longer!

[hazedus]

@kismet818 idk if its much better...

[kismet818]

What a great song and much better than Phil Collins' version!!! It's hard to improve on perfection.