The Norman Haines Band -

The Norman Haines Band was an English post-psych act led by the keyboardist and mastermind of Locomotive. They released the 1970 single “Daffodil” and the 1971 album Den of Iniquity, both on Parlophone. Another single, “Finding My Way Home,” appeared under the name Avalanche. Haines followed with the 1972 solo single “Give to You, Girl.”

Members: Norman Haines (keyboards), Neil Clark (guitar), Andy Hughes (bass), Jimmy Skidmore (drums)

Background

Norman Haines formed the band after his three-year stint in Locomotive, a Birmingham psych quintet that recorded the album We Are Everything You See.

Haines first played in The Brumbeats, a local beat group named after the midlands scene. He worked at a Smethwick record shop where co-workers exposed him to Jamaican ska music, an influence he carried into Locomotive, which charted with the 1968 single “Rudi’s in Love,” a rare example of white British ska issued eleven years before the Two Tone craze.

Locomotive embraced psychedelic brass-rock on We Are Everything You See, recorded in late 1968 at Abbey Road. Haines left the band between the album’s completion and belated 1970 release on Parlophone. The band’s rhythm section formed The Dog That Bit People.

Meanwhile, Haines formed Sacrifice with guitarist Neil Clarke, bassist/singer Andy Hughes, and drummer Jimmy Skidmore. Parlophone signed the quartet and issued “Daffodil” on October 30, 1970 (b/w “Autumn Mobile”) under the misspelled credit Norman Haynes Band.

Den of Iniquity

The Norman Haines Band released their only album, Den of Iniquity, in August 1971 on Parlophone.

Side A contains three compact pieces by Haines, who co-wrote “Finding My Way Home” with “Bourgeois” contributor Andy Hughes. Side B features epic suites by Haines and Neil Clarke, whose “Rabbits” spans four sections. They recreate the Locomotive track “Everything You See (Mr. Armageddon).”

“Den of Iniquity” erupts on an overdriven organ figure before thick wah guitar and bent-note soloing seize the momentum. “Finding My Way Home” glides through airy harmonies and a light twangy lilt. “Everything You See (Mr. Armageddon)” broods through a slow entrance before Clarke extends a heated solo across the second half. “When I Came Down” grinds on a blunt riff while distorted swells coil between phrases. “Bourgeois” withdraws into spare acoustic strumming and a theatrical lament.

“Rabbits” careens through linked improvisations as synthesizer bursts and acid wah cross repeated motifs. “Life Is So Unkind” drifts from soft electric-piano figures into a claustrophobic fugue and cosmic electronic haze.

A1. “Den of Iniquity” (4:33) – Haines
A2. “Finding My Way Home” (3:25) – Haines–Hughes
A3. “Everything You See (Mr. Armageddon)” (4:35) – Haines
A4. “When I Came Down” (3:56) – Haines
A5. “Bourgeois” (2:59) – Hughes

B1. “Rabbits” (13:05) – Clarke
a. “Sonata (For Singing Pig)”
b. “Joint Effort”
c. “Skidpatch”
d. “Miracle”

B2. “Life Is So Unkind” (8:21) – Haines
a. “Moonlight Mazurka”
b. “Echoes of the Future”

Sessions occurred in spring 1971 at Abbey Road Studios in London with producer Tony Hall and engineer Peter Bown, then between work on the 1970/71 Pink Floyd albums Atom Heart Mother and Meddle.

For the Den of Iniquity cover, Parlophone repurposed “Parlour Game,” a gruesome 1923 black-line drawing by German illustrator Heinrich Kley. The savage creatures appear under blood-drip paint strokes of the album title.

Parlophone issued “Finding My Way Home” on March 12, 1971 (b/w an edited “Rabbits”) under the name Avalanche. The label also circulated “Den of Iniquity” as a 1971 promotional single (b/w “Everything You See (Mr. Armageddon)”).

Esoteric Recordings issued a 2011 CD reissue with “I Really Need a Friend,” “Daffodil,” “Autumn Mobile,” “Give To You, Girl,” “Elaine,” and the single edit of “Rabbits.”

Later Activity

Tony Hall continued the partnership on the July 14, 1972 Norman Haines single “Give to You, Girl” (b/w “Elaine”), issued by Parlophone.

Haine left the industry and worked in construction, though he continued to lead a band for weddings and local dances around north Birmingham. He and Laurel Phillips recorded the unreleased 1996 song “We Never Thought.” Haines died on June 22, 2021, aged 75.

Discography: