The Undertakers
The Undertakers were one of the hardest-rocking Liverpool groups,
although they were handicapped by the lack of song writing
ambition that hampered most Merseybeat
outfits.
More than any of the other merseyside bands, they opted for
hard R&B and soul material in the Ray
Charles/James Brown mould,
employing a saxophonist as well as the usual guitar/bass/drums
line-up.
No notable commercial success awaited them on either side of
the Atlantic, although they managed to record nearly half a dozen
singles before breaking up in the mid-60s.
On the evidence of their energetic 45s, they were most likely
an excellent club band, and on record at least, they were better
than the other Liverpool band that was noted for pursuing a
tougher, blacker sound than the usual Mersey groups - The
Big Three.
But they didn't have the originality to compete either with the
early British Invasion groups
that wrote their own material, or the more ferocious and
imaginative R&B bands based in London.
Whatever press they got in the United States was due to their
publicity stunts of dressing up in real undertaker costumes, and
after three singles (including a raving version of Solomon
Burke's Stupidity) The Undertakers decided that
their name - and the coffin they carried on stage with them at
every performance - might be harming their image.
 So they streamlined themselves to The Takers . . . and were
promptly allowed on the telly, appearing on Thank
Your Lucky Stars in September 1964. A drama teacher
was recruited to teach them to smile - something not required in
their previous incarnation.
The final chapter of The Undertakers' story was a strange one.
After letting their Pye deal lapse, they went to America at the
behest of a promoter looking for British bands to work in the
States (Pete Best's group was taken in by the same offer).
Unable to play in the US because of visa problems (although
they did perform in Canada), The Undertakers spent much of their
American visit working in New York City studios.
One very rare
US-only single emerged from this period on a tiny label. As it
happened, it was their most impressive one, presenting the first
Jackie Lomax original to make it onto record (Throw Your Love
Away Girl).
The Undertakers dissolved at the end of 1965. Jackie Lomax
went on to make an album for Apple in the late '60s with George
Harrison producing.
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