Noir -

Noir was an English soul-psych band that cut one album, We Had to Let You Have It, released in 1971 on Pye/Dawn.

Members: Tony Cole (organ, piano, lead vocals), Barry Ford (drums, lead vocals), Gordon Hunte (guitar), Roy Williams (bass)

Background

Formed in London in 1970, Noir emerged from the split of Cat’s Paw, a UK-based group of African expatriate musicians. Also known briefly as The Power, they were one of three acts to arise from Cat’s Paw’s dissolution, alongside Osibisa and Assagai. Noir featured keyboardist/singer Tony Cole, guitarist Gordon Hunte, bassist Roy Williams, and drummer/singer Barry Ford, and became known as the first all-black British progressive rock band.

They gigged during the summer of 1970 and recorded an album that September for Dawn, Pye Records’ underground imprint. However, Noir disbanded before the album’s release.

We Had to Let You Have It

In November 1971, Dawn release Noir’s album under the title We Had to Let You Have It (DNLS 3029), a label-chosen phrase referencing the band’s abrupt disappearance before final mixing. The original UK LP (plain-white cover) included a printed insert and translucent dark red vinyl (when held to light). A French edition (pictured) dropped one track (“Beggar Man”) and reshuffled the sequence with alternate cover art.

The album blends progressive rock, psychedelic soul, funk-inflected heavy psych, and jazz blues, with a percussive, spiritual atmosphere often compared to Rare Earth, Tonton Macoute, and Indian Summer. The nine-minute opener “Rain” sets a solemn, gospel-tinged tone with organ swells and Native American-style harmonies, while the fuzz-heavy “Hard Labour” and propulsive “The System” explore darker grooves. Tracks alternate lead vocals between Ford and Cole.

Noir group-composed all songs apart from “Indian Rope Man,” a wah-wah-laced funk-rock treatment of the Richie Haven’s standard (also recorded by McPhee and Trinity). It contrasts the elegiac “In Memory of Lady X” and the closing proto-prog soul-fusion of “Ju Ju Man.”

A1. “Rain” (9:25)
A2. “Hard Labour” (5:23)
A3. “Beggar Man” (5:05)
A4. “In Memory of Lady X” (6:55)

B1. “How Long” (6:29)
B2. “The System” (6:17)
B3. “Indian Rope Man” (3:32) originated on Richard P. Havens, 1983, the singer’s 1968 double-album; co-written by Joe Price and Mark Roth.
B4. “Ju Ju Man” (3:57)

The album was produced by Johnny Mack for Pye Records. Released on Dawn Records with a bonus insert. In France, Pye lifted “Ju Ju Man” as a single (b/w “Hard Labour”).

Aftermath

Drummer Barry Ford contributed to B.B. King’s 1971 live release In London and later played in Clancy, Kilburn & the High Roads, and Merger. Gordon Hunte joined jazz-funk unit Gonzalez and later performed with Sade.

We Had to Let You Have It has since become a prized collector’s item and a rare document of early Afro-British progressive music.

Discography: