The story of Lieutenant Pigeon is tightly inter-twined with that of another
group "Staveley Makepeace" (also featured on Kenny's show - see 4.5 [show 4, track 5]).
The story is long and involved but is summized as follows:
"Both Rob Woodward and Nigel Fletcher had played in bands in the early 1960s,
they’d even been writing songs together in these times, but it would be much
later in the decade before they would eventually join forces and launch
‘Stavely Makepeace’.
In the mid sixties Nigel fulfilled an ambition and joined the merchant navy,
where he stayed for almost three years. In the summer of 1967 he left his last
ship and moved to London where he stayed until early 1969.
Meanwhile Rob worked in various office jobs and continued to play in bands on a
semi-pro basis. By 1966 however he was working full time in the music business,
traveling the country with his one man cabaret act.
1968 ended with Rob traveling to see Nigel in London with a proposition.
Join forces to recreate the song writing partnership, produce records and even
build a sound recording studio.
Rob’s mother Hilda, herself an accomplished pianist, donated the front room of
her semi detached house in Coventry to the boys so that they could record their
own demo tapes. On a simple domestic reel to reel tape recorder, a Sony TC200,
which they had modified to run at double speed, (ie 15 inches per second instead
of the usual seven and a half), they produced a number of fine backing tracks
which would be finished off in other recording studios.
Out of this Stavely Makepeace was born.
On August 29th 1969 "I WANNA LOVE YOU LIKE A MAD DOG" (Pyramid Records PYR 6072)
became the first Stavely Makepeace record release and a new era of home
recording emerged. Rob fronted the band as Stavely Makepeace in those early days.
After 1970 however he fronted the band under his own name.
The first line up was: Rob Woodward lead singer and keyboards, Nigel Fletcher drums,
Don Ker guitar and Pete Fisher on bass.
Early in 1970 Steve Tayton, an excellent jazz guitarist and woodwind player was
recruited and the band became five! Shortly afterwards Pete Fisher moved on and
was replaced by bass guitarist/vocalist Steve Johnson.
Several records were released by the band but an administrative problem with their
label (Concord Records) resulted in their option not being renewed and they were free to
explore new musical ideas.
The idea of a second string to their bow had always appealed to the lads so they
set about producing half a dozen songs using just two pianos, bass guitar and
drums. Lieutenant Pigeon was born!
As an additional gimmick they introduced Rob’s mother Hilda to the line up,
which became; Rob on one piano, Hilda on the other, Nigel on drums and
Steve Johnson on bass guitar.
With the recent interest shown in Stavely Makepeace by Decca Records,
Rob and Nigel used the new contact to present the Lieutenant Pigeon idea for a
possible record deal. Decca liked the idea and selected "MOULDY OLD DOUGH" to be
the first single. The rest, as they say, is history!
Released early in 1972, "MOULDY OLD DOUGH" (Decca F 13278) eventually went on to
become the biggest selling British hit single of the year and earned Rob and
Nigel the Ivor Novello songwriting award for 1972!
Meanwhile Stavely Makepeace was still alive and kicking!
There had never been any intention of Lieutenant Pigeon becoming the main band,
and despite one more line up change,(Steve Tayton making way for violinist Owen
John), there were several new Stavely recordings in the pipeline.
In fact less than a month after the release of "MOULDY OLD DOUGH",
Stavely Makepeace released, "WALKING THROUGH THE BLUE GRASS" on Spark Records
(SRL 1066) in March 1972.
Having Hilda, who was by now aged 60 in the line up, meant that the band would
never become a full time ‘live’ touring unit.
Despite this Lieutenant Pigeon did several overseas mini tours and also appeared ‘live’
in Britain at various venues (including Jimmy Savile’s 'Speak Easy' for BBC Radio One
and numerous TV appearances).
The novelty of having a sixty year old ‘mum’ in the line up attracted much
publicity and the band went from strength to strength.
Hilda was quite prepared to go out "on the road" full time, but the lads,
knowing just what it would entail, managed to talk her out of it.
Nevertheless during the next few years Hilda proved to be a bastion of strength
and never complained once about any of the many appearances she had to make.
The very last time the original four members of Lieutenant Pigeon were to play
together finally came in Luxembourg in September 1978, but that was still a long
way ahead in 1972.
Early in 1973, the follow up to "MOULDY OLD DOUGH", "DESPERATE DAN"
(Decca F 13365) was in the charts. This was followed by two more 1973 releases,
"...AND THE FUN GOES ON" (Decca F 13403) and , "OXFORD BAGS" (Decca F 13440).
Neither was successful. The band had to wait until 1974 for their next UK success.
This came in the shape of "I’LL TAKE YOU HOME AGAIN KATHLEEN" (Decca F 13486).
It was a different story overseas however where there was a string of successful
releases in a range of countries around the world.
Belgium Holland and Luxembourg continued their love affair with Lt Pigeon music,
as did some other European countries. In Australasia the band even had hits with
records which weren’t released in this country! "THE BLUE DANUBE" (Decca Y 10599)
and "THE GRANDFATHER CLOCK" (Decca Y 11273) to name but a couple."
