With its classical piano flair, Good Vibrations style organ, syncopated drums and bass with gothic lyrics about growing old, ‘Saga Of A Wrinkled Man’ by Fortes Mentum stands out as one of the outstanding UK psychedelic seven inchers of the late 60s. Released in March 1968 ‘Saga’ was the first of three superb singles released on Parlophone with an album’s worth self-penned material recorded whilst the band were active. However Fortes Mentum’s full story is not well known so Jason Barnard speaks to ever-present bassist Ron Regan and saxophonist/flutist Bob Flag from their second incarnation to uncover their tale.
We start in late 1966 with Danny Beckerman, a 19 year old Morgan Music songwriter looking to form a band record his own material. After placing an advert in Melody Maker Danny recruited fellow London musicians Frank Bennett on vocals, Ron Regan on bass, Keith Giles on drums, Alan Ward on organ and Barry Clark on lead guitar.
Ron explained “We met Danny straight away and just hit it off. He was a great guy and more talented than most. He was also a very good pianist, classically trained, but humble with it and was happy to show you what to do.” At the time Danny wanted to call the group The Sons of Chopin’ due to his piano sound but ultimately soundings from BBC radio bosses that they wouldn’t play their records under that name led a change to Fortes Mentum which meant ‘strong mind’.
They soon ventured into the studio to record Danny’s ‘Saga of a Wrinkled Man’ however it sat on the shelves for over a year so they turned their attention to live work. All the group were very experienced especially Frank Bennett who’d spent the best part of five years playing Germany. They rehearsed three sets of covers leading to regular shows at the Starlight, Crawley as well as the St Mortiz, Whiskey a Go Go, and Staircase Club in London. Ron “We were one of the few acts to have a piano and organ. Danny played a Selmer Pianotron. It was a tinkly but nice sound whereas Alan played the keyboard organ.”
Tied to their classical edge, the group had a Victorian look and dressed in period costumes for shows, out of time for the scene. Ron “We all dressed a la Beau Brummel. It was Danny’s idea and stemmed from The Sons of Chopin look. He played with a candelabra on the top of his piano.”
As Danny’s employers, Morgan Records had an existing deal with EMI, Morgan co-founder Monty Babson arranged for Fortes Mentum’s singles to be released through Parlophone. For publicity for their first single, they arranged for three hundred pink silk handkerchiefs to be sent out to DJs and producers with an accompanying message. Ron recalls it was something like “Please use enclosed to wipe the tears from your eyes after playing Saga of a Wrinkled Man.” Strengthened by the similar sounding but no less strong b-side ‘Mr Partridge Passed Away Today’, ‘Saga’ got widespread airplay from the pirates plus Alan Freeman’s Pick of the Pops radio show.
Recording now at Abbey Road and Morgan Studios the group’s second single, September 1968’s ‘I Can’t Go On Loving You’ b/w ‘Humdiggle’ was a much more commercial package than its predecessor. Ballad “I Can’t Go On Loving You” was given a huge string laden production led by Danny’s piano. The 7 inch was wrapped in a striking picture sleeve of the band in full dress grouped around an Abbey Road piano. Ron “We tried to give an air of importance but it kind of worked. It was different.”
Again, despite being released on a major label and more airplay ‘I Can’t Go On Loving You’ failed to chart and by early 1969 live work started to dry up. In this period their agents, The London City Agency, offered them work in Germany which Frank championed having sung on the continent since he was 17. However at the same time this led to Barry being the first band member to leave. Ron “Frank said this is a chance and we need to go but Barry left as he had a job too good to give up. So the rest of us went over and played the same club The Beatles played, the Top Ten, which was quite a thrill. We were doing those long sets, starting at 7.30 in the evening and playing until 4 in the morning, Fridays and Saturdays we played until half 5. The band became really tight and we were there for two and a half months and it was great.”
‘I Can’t Go On Loving You’ had already been released in Germany which led to the opportunity to appear on a primetime TV show. The group travelled to the studio thinking they would mime but on arrival we told they had to play live. Ron explained that the group responded they couldn’t play it live “We have to mime it because we’ve got a string section on. It’s impossible.” As Frank spoke good German he talked them round and the TV bosses relented.
After coming back from Germany, Parlophone released ‘Gotta Go’ backed with ‘Marrakesh’. ‘Gotta Go’ was in the same vein as ‘I Can’t Go On Loving You’, with a lavish production and strong plaintive vocals by Frank and the band. However, ‘Marrakesh’ was the highlight with a much more inventive approach to bring the song to live. Ron “I can remember doing that in the studio. It was such a laugh. It wasn’t planned but somebody said ‘Why don’t you do some shouting and put some atmosphere on it?’ It just seemed to work but that was Danny. He wouldn’t do the old three chord trick. He was always inventing new little ways of doing a song.”
Throughout this period Danny continued to write prolifically with the band continuing to record with the aim of releasing an album. Danny worked on other projects in the Morgan Studios, notably on the ‘Pussy Plays’ album released under the Pussy moniker. Recorded in autumn 1968 and released in March 1969, with musicians including Barry Clark, Pussy had a heavier progressive sound than his main band. Regarded now as psych classic ‘Pussy Plays’ rarity has also ensured it is one of the most valuable albums from the period.
Danny’s focus in the studio rather than on live work saw the band splinter, with Danny and Barry leaving in summer 1969. ‘Baby You’ve Got To Stay’ had been lined up as their fourth single but never saw a release. Danny then worked with York band Angel Pavement on the same material. Ron “I can remember driving in my car one day and hearing it on the radio. I thought ‘That’s not Angel Pavement. That’s us!’”.
Their connection to the London City Agency led to them reshaping the band due to one of their publicists, Bob Flag. As leader of The Riot Squad, Bob released a string of records in the mid to late 60s and, in fact their singer for a brief period had been David Bowie. Thr Riot Squad rehearsed at The Swan in Tottenham, with Bowie on vocals, and played live together for approximately twelve weeks. There were also six recording sessions, at which Bowie recorded ‘Toy Soldier’, ‘Silly Boy Blue’, ‘I’m Waiting For My Man’ and ‘Silver Treetop School For Boys’.
Bob had seen Fortes Mentum live and thought that they had a sense of fun, something that was lacking when the Riot Squad was playing with Bowie. Bob asked the agency for his permission to join them and asked them for better equipment.
This new direction was welcomed by the remaining members, Bob “I felt that it would be good to extend the ‘Bowie touches’ and to inject comedy material into the show with them.”This second version of Fortes Mentum brought their theatrical focus to the fore. Bob devised a 40 minute ‘Fortes Mentum Opra’ with multiple costumes and comedy props. Adding young guitar star Tony McGill, the newly reconfigured group performed the ‘Opra’, the tale of Tommy Atkins an English soldier who was posted in India and falls in love with a local girl. Ron “The romance was forbidden of course and was played out by us.”
On a gig in the Kent area they shared the bill with David Bowie who’d recently enjoyed great success with ‘Space Oddity’. The group were surprised how ordinary he seemed, with Bob confirming that “He was laid back, strumming a 12 stringed acoustic guitar, for a short 20 minute set and there I was, with a bunch of nuts, more visual and more ‘over the top’ than I had been with him.” Audience response to Bowie was muted and he and his wife Angie didn’t seemed to be pleased about it all.
Fortes Mentum Mk2 lasted a year but after their agency ceased, work ran out and it was difficult to keep them on the road. Bob bought the rights to the name ‘Wild Wally’ so he and Ron gigged as Wild Wally’s Rock and Roll Circus’ which name toured the college circuit as well as stints in Germany. Later they backed Marty Wilde in cabaret before joining the successful reformed ‘Nuts and Bolts’ comedy show.
Bringing us up to date, Ron plays with The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra and has written a musical based on a book he wrote called ‘Letters from Lovelock‘. Bob remains a musician and currently divides his time between London and Japan.
Singer Frank Bennett remained in the industry as a singer but passed away on 16 October 2019.
Drummer Keith Giles became a masseur, organist Alan Ward joined Creola Music with guitarist Barry Clark before eventually designing oil rigs and drill ships. Barry now runs a retail business selling musical instruments over the States. Mk2 guitarist, Tony McGill, became a successful session musician and went onto teaching music.
Danny Beckerman continued his studio work for Morgan Blue Town plus arrangements for other projects such as Rick Wakeman’s ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’. However Danny’s whereabouts where then unknown to many until almost a decade ago when Ron tracked him down to Australia “It was great we had such a laugh on the phone and chatted about the old times in Hamburg. He was producing songs for TV and had success with a big Ford commercial tune ‘Just Say Hello’. It was fantastic and we said ‘Let’s keep in touch.’ The next thing was that I got an email from him and he said ‘I didn’t have the heart to tell you but I’ve got some bad news. I’m dying from cancer and I haven’t got long to go.’ He was a big smoker and had lung cancer. I rung him straight back and we were then on the phone a few times. After a couple of months I called and the line just went dead. It was very sad.” Danny died in 2006.
Since then Fortes Mentum’s output has continued to be repackaged and reissued, including the ‘Humdiggle We Love You’ collection that captures the album that never was, twinning it with the “Pussy Plays” long player. With the ‘Humdiggle’ set’s tight pop-psych tinged songs and orchestration it perfectly bottles the English pre-prog rock era for a new generation of listeners. Ron “All this was nearly fifty years ago but held with warm feeling and affection for all concerned. I hope my dear mate Danny is looking down and reading.”
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Ron and Maggie Regan and Bob Flag for their support.
Photographs used with permission from the Fortes Mentum website.
This feature was originally published in Ugly Things #42 in 2016.
