Tintern Abbey
Taking their name from Wordsworth's poem, Tintern Abbey came
together in mid-1967 after meeting in a Chelsea dole queue and
soon became a regular attraction on the London-based late 60s
underground circuit.
Their profile was helped in no small measure by the fact that
they were managed by Nigel Samuel, a teenage multi-millionaire
who, among many other subterranean ventures, financed the
counter-culture's parish magazine, International Times.
Founding member and bassist Stuart Mackay had started 1967 with
Yorkshire R&B band The Sect before moving down to
London. The band were despatched to Carnaby Street to pick up
all the latest psychedelic clothes, and Samuel soon had them all
living in a flat he owned in Earl's Court that had been the
previous headquarters of IT.
Shortly after, the group were sent by Samuel to spend a month
in a Cornwall cottage, thereby following the fashionably bucolic
route pioneered by Traffic.
By the time they returned to London the band had written a
fistful of new songs, including what were to prove the jewels in
their crown - Beeside and Vacuum Cleaner. These
two tracks were chosen to launch Tintern Abbey in late November
after Samuel had brokered a deal with Decca's experimental
offshoot, Deram.
A paean to the joys of acid-induced indolence, Beeside was
a shimmering haze of Mellotron, clashing cymbals and throbbing
bass lines, with David MacTavish's spectral, gossamer-light vocal
floating over the top of a message from beyond. The title was
something of an in-joke amongst the band - "let's call the
A-side Beeside".
Vacuum Cleaner, which the band often played as the
opening number of their live shows, was rather more visceral - a
song that rejected the narcissistic Mod philosophy of yore
("new clothes don't buy my soul") in favour of the
hippie lifestyle ("fix me with your sweet dose, now I'm
feeling like a ghost . . . all the time"), impeccably sung by
lyricist MacTavish and featuring a staggering guitar break from
Don Smith.
Within days of the single's release, Tintern Abbey were back in
the studio to record a possible follow-up, Snowman, that
was abandoned after Smith's abrupt departure. The band's roadie
suggested as replacement a young guitarist he'd known from his
days on the Cambridge music scene.
An audition was duly arranged, but it quickly became clear that
the group and the guitarist were incompatible. Fortunately, David
Gilmour (for it was he) would fix himself up just a few days
later, accepting an offer from some old Cambridge friends to join
their band instead . . .
Guitarist Paul Brett and organist Terry Goldberg joined the
group, and a full-length LP was planned for August 1968. Sadly the
group disbanded before the album could become a reality.
Copies of the Beeside/Vacuum Cleaner single
in mint condition today change hands for around £400.
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