The Love Affair Mk 2.1

(January 1970 - December 1970)

from left:
Morgan Fisher - keyboards
Maurice Bacon - drums
Rex Brayley - guitar
Mick Jackson - bass
August Eadon - vocals, flute

When Steve Ellis left, the other band members had wanted to replace him with Phillip Goodhand-Tait.

Not only was he a friend of the band and an excellent songwriter, Goodhand-Tait was also a seasoned performer. He had released three singles with the Stormswille Shakers back in 1966, plus he had a solo single issued by Decca in 1970. As it happened, Goodhand-Tait was considered being too old by the bands management, so they asked August "Gus" Eadon to join instead. At the time August fronted the Elastic Band using his real name Ted Yeadon, a band he formed in 1967 with guitarist Andy Scott.

Ted Yeadon had recorded an album with the Elastic Band for Decca in the summer 1969 but he left the band before the album was released, and changed his name to August Eadon at the same time. Bacon: "We got Gus (August) Eadon in from the Elastic Band, a really good frontman. My father carried on co-managing with Ken Street, ex-guitarist with Emile Ford & the Checkmates. John Cokell had left to look after Steve Ellis' affairs."

Gus Eadon was also a multi-instrumentalist. With him the Love Affair added flutes, vibes, congas, harmonica and trumpets to their sound. He joined the band in December 1969 and the new look Love Affair made their recording debut in February 1970, with a single called "Lincoln County". This was the final Goodhand-Tait composition to be recorded by the original band but he would help out a later incarnation of the band later, and it was the last to feature Keith Mansfield's polished orchestrations. It was another flop, so the band decided to finally drop the teenybopper image in favour of an underground approach, having realised that the musical tide was turning and a big new scene was opening up. A new direction had to be found, and the band looked to Jethro Tull for inspiration, having already experimented with progressive music on "Sea of Tranquility", the B-side of "Lincoln County". August Eadon had also gone progressive with the Elastic Band. August: "We couldn't become underground overnight, it had to be a gradual change. We began changing the image when I joined the group earlier this year. And now we have reached the point when we don't feature any of our old hits on stage". In keeping with the new policy, the Love Affair shortened their name to the more psychedelic sounding L.A.

Maurice Bacon: "The problem was, we started as credible and then became this sort of a joke - with the stigma of not playing on our singles. Things were changing, too. We played with the Episode Six, a pop harmony band like the Beach Boys, and suddenly they were Deep Purple! We wanted the same credibility".

L.A. appeared on Top Of The Pops in support of their May 1970 single, "Speak Of Peace, Sing Of Joy" which actually was credited to the Love Affair! Album sessions commenced during the summer. The L.A. album was called "New Day", and band did a few UK dates and toured Europe in order to promote it when it was released in September - they also performed "Bad Girl" and "Gypsy" on the BBC 'Disco 2' TV show on 7 October 1970. The album was produced by Mike Smith and the Zombies drummer Hugh Grundy and featured only group compositions. Sadly the album and single didn't sell - it was apparent that the pop fans didn't like their new, progressive sound and the rock fans wouldn't even give them a chance. Maurice: "The name change didn't work, so we reverted back to Love Affair again!" Love Affair signed with EMI in 1971 and a single was released on Parlophone in February 1971. "Wake Me I Am Dreaming" was credited to "the Love Affair featuring August Eadon". It was produced by Ken Street, ex-guitarist with Emile Ford & the Checkmates, who by then was acting as co-manager of the band as well. The song was a Lucio Battisti cover.

"Wake Me I Am Dreaming" turned out to be Rex Brayley and Mick Jackson's final recording with the band; they both formed bands of their own. Rex played drums in his new band which was called Muscles and included guitarist Huw Lloyd Langton (of Hawkwind fame), but he quit the music business after Muscles broke up around 1973. He resurfaced in 1998 as the co-writer of Steve Ellis' solo single "Step Inside My Love". He also played some live dates with Steve Ellis' Love Affair in the early 90s. In 2002 Rex made some new recordings available on www.mp3.com.

Mick formed the band Calvary who recorded some tracks for EMI that was never released. He eventually left the music business. Around 2010 Mick sold his successful automotive consultancy business (e-Goodmanners Ltd and Jackson Consultancy Plc) to channel all his energies into motor racing (BM Racing), competing with his son Ben across Britain and Europe in sports cars made by the British auto manufacturer Radical. He is currently (as of 2012) chairman of Win Win World.

The Love Affair Mk 2.2 | Mk 2.3 | Mk 2.4

(December 1970 - Summer 1971)

August Eadon - vocals
Morgan Fisher - keyboards
Bob Sapsed - bass
Maurice Bacon - drums
Eunan Brady - guitar
- replaced first by Bernie Holland
- and then by John Watchman


The new bass player was Bob Sapsed (pictured left). His band Springfield Park had signed with Love Affair managers Sid Bacon and John Cokell in 1968 and released a single for CBS, "Never An Everyday Thing" which was produced by Keith Mansfield. The band however didn't feel the single represented them as a band and struggled to find a true identity. They recorded some demos but couldn't get a record deal, and by 1970 the band had called it quits. Guitar player Andy Gee went on to play with Peter Bardens before teaming up with Steve Ellis in his band Ellis in 1972.

Rex Brayley was replaced first by Eunan Brady, who was sacked after a few weeks, then by Bernie Holland. In April 1971 John Watchman joined the Love Affair on guitar - he played his first gig with the band at Stoke University. With him on-board, the Love Affair recorded a second and final Parlophone single, "Help Get Me Some Help". It was produced by Norman Smith, who did some engineering work on the early Pink Floyd albums. Mike Batt was brought in to do arrangements - he had worked with the band on earlier records as well, not always credited! Interestingly it was Chris Spedding who played guitar on this single - he was a friend of Mike Batt. According to Spedding, the Love Affair guitar player was the only band member present when he was in the studio, but he is not sure who it was. John Watchman explains: "Yes Chris Spedding did play guitar on the single infact the only band member on the song was Gus, we did do some hand claps and harmony vocals, but the song featured all session men as did most of Love Affair singles."


Prior to joining the Love Affair, Eunan Brady (pictured left) was the guitarist in Mighty Mouse. This short-lived band (late 1969 to December 1970) also featured vocalist Nicky Moore (future Hackensack, Tiger, Samson). After the Love Affair, Brady was a short-time member of Bulldozer, a hard-rock band managed by Ric Lee of Ten Years After. He joined Hollywood Brats in 1972. The band made one album in 1974 but "Grown Up Wrong" (Mercury 6317 504) was only released in Scandinavia - credited to Andrew Matheson & The Brats. A UK re-issue followed in 1980 (Cherry Red A RED 6).

In 1975 Eunan Brady joined Kelvin Blacklock, John Brown and Mick Jones (later of The Clash) in the band Little Queenie. Producer Guy Stevens was approached, and agreed to work on the project but insisted that Jones was surplus to requirements. He wanted a Mott-like lineup, and demos were recorded with the remaining trio joined by Verden Allen (ex Mott The Hoople) and Theodore Thunder. Interestingly, one of the demos the band recorded was Mott The Hoople's "No Wheels To Ride". But even after being re-christened Violent Luck, the project failed to take off. Eunan Brady went on to play with Wreckless Eric in the late 70s.


Bernie Holland (pictured left) toured with Long John Baldry’s band Bluesology throughout 1969 before joining Jody Grind with Tim Hinkley and playing on their second studio album "Far Canal", released in 1970. After the Love Affair he struck a great friendship with the band Patto and in particular the great Ollie Halsall, sitting in for indisposed bass player Clive Griffiths in 1971 during Patto’s European tour. Bernie Holland would briefly join Stealers Wheel in the mid-70s before embarking on a fairly successful career as a session musician. In the 90's, he's been with Van Morrison among others.

Morgan Fisher, Maurice Bacon and Bob Sapsed decided to leave the band in the summer of 1971 to form the band Morgan with vocalist Tim Staffel from the pre-Queen combo Smile. This led New Musical Express magazine to assume that Gus Eadon was being replaced by Tim Staffell in Love Affair:

Eadon quitting Love Affair? The NME understands that Auguste "Gus" Eadon has either left, or is on the point of leaving. Love Affair is believed to be busy rehearsing in the country at the moment with new lead singer Tim Staffell. No information could be gained regarding Eadon's future plans, and indeed Love affair's co-manager Ken Street refused to confirm that Gus was leaving the group, saying that he had "no comment". Staffell is understood to have answered an anonymous advertisement for a lead singer which had been inserted in a trade paper. (NME 12 June 1971)

Love Affair split denial! A denial that Love Affair lead singer Auguste Eadon is leaving the group was issued this week by the group's manager Sid Bacon. He told NME: "This has been a misunderstanding. We have auditioned singer Tim Staffell, but not to replace Auguste. We are working on a new band." (NME 19 June 1971)

Morgan released two albums before disbanding in 1973. Morgan Fisher subsequently joined Mott The Hoople. He currently resides in Japan, is still making music and is more busy than ever. Maurice took over his father's management company in 1974, and still runs it. He has also been involved with many independent record companies, most notably Empire Records, Strike Back, Ultimate Records and Planet Dog Records. In 2006 he rejoined the Love Affair and played with them until the band broke up in 2010. Bob Sapsed was in a band called Red Rinse with Phil Little in 1978. In 1983 he joined guitarist Andy Gee (from Springfield Park), Chris Spencer (vocals) and Reg Isadore (drums) in the band Scandal. Sadly Bob Sapsed died in a motorcycle accident in London in the mid-80s.

The Love Affair Mk 2.5

(Summer 1971)

from left:
Gus Eadon (vocals)
Sean Jenkins (drums - back)
John Watchman (guitar - front)
Paul Martinez (bass)

After several months Gus Eadon and John Watchman also decided to put a band together, and got Sean Jenkins on drums (ex Elastic Band) and Paul Martinez on bass.

The new band would be named COLT. However when the record company heard the new material recorded by Morgan (the band), they were deemed to be unsuitable to be called LOVE AFFAIR so for contract reasons COLT went out as LOVE AFFAIR. John Watchman (by e-mail): "Paul was soon replaced on bass by Robin Lodge and in turn he was replaced by Ray Auld and we toured Sweden, Ireland and various other places until we decided to call it a day in September 1972."

Paul Martinez is now predominantly known for his work as a session musician, having worked with Jackie Edwards, Elmer Gantry, Neil Innes, John Otway, Tony Ashton, Dave Edmunds, Geoff Downes, Richy Hayward, George Harrison, Maggie Bell, Peter Gabriel, Jimi Page, Phil Collins, Vangelis, Stan Webb, Eno, Robert Plant, to name just a few.... find out more at www.paulmartinezmusic.com

The Love Affair Mk 2.6 | Mk 2.7

(Autumn 1971 - Summer 1972)

Mk 2.6 from left:
Gus Eadon (vocals)
Sean Jenkins (drums)
John Watchman (guitar)
Robin Lodge (bass)
- replaced by Ray Auld

Paul Martinez was replaced first by Robin Lodge, then by Ray Auld (who toured Sweden with them in early 1972).

New Love! After the departure of Steve Ellis from Love Affair, Gus Eadon joined. The group tried out new ideas, but all seemed to fail. Now Rex, Mo and Mick have gone their separate ways. But there's a new Love Affair, a new line-up of members, a new sound, which in all make a new and even better group. So forget the past and give Gus, Sean, Robin and John a chance to prove to you all what a great group they are. (Letter to Disc 09 October 1971)

The "Help, Get Me Some Help" single was recorded by the Mk 2.4 line-up back in April 1971 but it was held back for release until September 1971, when the new Love Affair line-up was in place to support it, touring Sweden and Ireland among other places. It eventually got to number 5 in the Swedish charts and it also charted in Ireland, but did nothing in England. Despite the minor success, the Love Affair were dropped by their label and they eventually broke up in the summer of 1972.

John Watchman (by e-mail): "I was offered a chance of a job with Roxy Music in Feb 72 after working in a previous band with Paul Thompson but decided to go to Sweden with Love Affair. After being refused work permits to go back to Sweden in the summer of 72 things got financially strained, and after disbanding the Love Affair gigs were fullfilled by another Barry Collins band called Pebbles going out under the Love Affair name. I started working in Sunderland Locarno in the house band from spring 73 to late 75 when the band transfered to Tiffany's Wimbledon then on again to Tiffanys Newcastle until sept 77. I then recorded two albums with Tommy Morrison on Real Records, the first being co-produced by Paul Rodgers. The second (never released at the time) was produced by Ed Stasium. I then recorded with Paul Rodgers but the material was all demo."

The Love Affair Mk 2.6 scrapbook reprinted with permission from John Watchman:



The Love Affair Mk 2.7 scrapbook reprinted with permission from John Watchman:



When the Love Affair split in the summer of 1972, Gus Eadon did a tour of Sweden billed as Gus Eadon's Love Affair, but that band broke up soon after. Eadon then cut one solo single for Dawn in 1973 which was credited to the Gus Eadon Band before he joined Zzebra for their selftitled Polydor album in 1974. He kept a low profile during the 80s and 90s, playing the cabaret circuit with his wife in the duo Knight & Day. In 2007 he reportedly was working on new songs in his studio. Sadly in 2010 he passed away, having been ill for some time.

John Watchman (by e-mail): "Paul Martinez a great musician who I lost contact with played with Led Zeppelin in the american gig of LIVE AID. I never heard of Robin after he left the band. Sean joined a band called City Lights but sadly died in 2007 and Ray Auld went to Canada in 75. I am in regular e-mail contact with him, he lives in Niagara Falls." John Watchman welcomes contact with fans and old friends at johnwatchman@sky.com

Ray Auld (by e-mail): "John and I grew up in the northeast of England together and played in 2 or 3 local bands in our early teens, John got the guitar player gig and shortly after I joined as a bass player. We toured extensively throughout Europe with Love Affair culminating in a political split, at which point I had made several friends while touring. One of them was a buddy from up North and we hit the road as the Sizzle Sisters. We did pretty much every coffee house and small club in Europe as a duo and meeting several U.S Canadian artists. One of which was Jim Kale (band leader of The Guess Who). He suggested that I visit him in Canada so I did moving to the mid west and staying with Jim. At that time all sorts of players would drop by to jam in his home studio (long story). I formed a band called Steele and toured throughout North America. We then changed line-up and called ourselves Magik in 1981. We recorded a self-titled album and began touring, warming up in large scale concerts for bands such as T-Rex, Rush, ZZ-Top, Bob Seger and many others. In 1987 I started a musical instrument wholesale supply business and am still doing that today. Have not played in quite a while, only connecting with players for fun (not business). We had some great times on the road with Love Affair".

SEAN JENKINS tribute

Sean Jenkins (Sean Frederick Jenkins) died 29 May 2007 in Marske by the Sea, North Yorkshire, UK. He was born 10 May 1945 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, UK.

He played drums with The Sunsetters, The Shakedown Sound, Lee Starr and The Astrals, The Elastic Band, Mayfield's Mule, Henry Cow, Love Affair and City Lights.

Sean Jenkins first band of note was The Sunsetters which became Shakedown Sound in 1965 when new vocalist Jess Roden joined. The other members were Kevyn Gammond (lead guitar), John Pasternak (guitar) and Pete Waldron (bass). Waldron soon left however, so Pasternak switched to bass. This 4-piece line-up lasted until Jess Roden quit the band in early 1966 to move to London and work with Alan Bown. Jess was initially replaced by Ted Yeadon but the band soon folded. Sean and Kevyn joined Lee Starr and the Astrals and went to London with them in December 1966 to audition as the backing band for Jimmy Cliff. They got the gig, changed their name back to to the Shakedown Sound, and played all over France and the UK in 1967. By this time, the band consisted of Verden Allen on Hammond organ, Jon Best (A.K.A. Jon Lee, A.K.A. Lee Starr) on bass, Sean Jenkins on drums, and Kevyn Gammond on guitar. Mick Ralphs eventually accepted an offer from Verden Allen to fill the lead guitar slot in the Shakedown Sound, because Kevyn Gammond had left to join Robert Plant in the Band of Joy. Before too long, Sean Jenkins had also moved across to The Elastic Band, and Dale Griffin took his spot behind the drum kit for the final weeks. When the Shakedown Sound gig ended in 1968, Ralphs, Griffin, and Allen returned to Hereford to reunite with Pete Watts and Stan Tippins, cementing the final lineup of the group that became Mott The Hoople.

Interestingly, two songs from Jimmy Cliff & Shakedown Sound's set in Paris on 01 June 1967 ("When A Man Loves A Woman" and "Give And Take") were released on CD in 2002! Released only in France, the "Festival 67, Live In paris" CD (LCD Records 29-2) also features live performances recorded at the 1st International Festival of pop music in Paris, Palais des Sports with the Troggs, the Pretty Things, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, and others!

Shakedown Sound scrapbook (from left): 1965 Jess Roden line-up (5-piece) | 1965 Jess Roden line-up (4-piece) | 1967 Verden Allen line-up | "Festival 67" CD with Jimmy Cliff and Shakedown Sound:



The Shakes (line-up 2) L-R: Kevyn Gammond, Johnny Pasternak, JR, Sean Jenkins and Pete Waldron At the end of the sessions for the tunes on this album Steve Bradley decided to leave the band. So some changes were made. Sean had worked with bass player MIKE SCOTT in the ELASTIC BAND and he brought him on down. Mike brought his guitarist brother ANDY SCOTT along and he joined as well. At some point here Chris Hunt, who had been drummer with Cat Stevens, Good Time Losers and Ian Hunter (in a band called Pendulum) replaced Sean, but I cannot get the chronological order thru my head. The Shakes line-up 3, L/R: Kevyn Gammond, Sean Jenkins, Jess Roden and Johnny Pasternak (Courtesy Faith Jenkins) After The Elastic Band split in 1969 Sean joined Chris Mayfield (formerly a roadie for Amen Corner) in Mayfield's Mule – who released three Parlophone singles and recorded one, eponymous album for EMI at Abbey Road. In a strange twist of fate, this album was only issued in Uruguay, but has recently been re-mastered and re-released by NightWing Records. The other band members were Pete Saunders (keyboards) and Steve Bradley (bass).

The Love Affair Mk 2.7 scrapbook reprinted with permission from John Watchman:





Henry Cow As a trio, with Fred Frith on bass guitar, Powell on drums and Tim Hodgkinson playing an organ that Frith and Powell had persuaded him to learn, Henry Cow performed a number of gigs on the university calendar, including the annual Architects' Ball, the Midsummer Common Festival and on the roof of a 14-storey building in Cambridge. In April 1969 Powell left and the band reverted to a duo again, with Frith playing violin and Hodgkinson on keyboards and reeds. In October 1969 philosopher Galen Strawson auditioned for the band. Later, Frith and Hodgkinson persuaded bassist John Greaves to join the band, and with the services of a couple of temporary drummers and then Sean Jenkins, Henry Cow performed as a quartet for the next eight months. In May 1971 Martin Ditcham replaced Jenkins on drums, and with this line-up they played at several events, including the Glastonbury Festival alongside Gong in June 1971. Sean then spent two years with Henry Cow who, emerging from Cambridge, melded avant-garde to progressive improvisation unlike no other outfit before (or, very possibly... since). He quit before Henry Cow signed to Virgin, hooking up with Gus Eadon once more, this time in Love Affair. Sadly, however, Sean died in 2007.