December 1969 - June 1970: In The End It's For The Best

Pictured above: Soft Machine, 1970

In December of 1969, Soft Machine (having recently dropped the proper article from their name) got together with keyboardist David Bedford, saxophonist Lol Coxhill, and guitarist Mike Oldfield to record a piece written by Bedford, entitled The Garden of Love. During the session, bassist Kevin Ayers reportedly felt out of it, seemingly mostly uninterested in putting effort into the piece. It was a week later that he informed his fellow bandmates that he was leaving the group, being subsequently replaced by Hugh Hopper.

“There’s no bad blood between us, we were just sort of drifting apart in terms of what I wanted to do with my music and what they wanted to do, so in the end, it’s for the best.”

- Kevin Ayers, 1970

It would be a few months later that Ayers would assemble a new band, dubbed The Whole World, consisting of himself on bass and vocals, David Bedford on organ, piano and keyboards, Lol Coxhill on saxophone, Mike Oldfield on bass, guitar and vocals, Syd Barrett on guitar (briefly) and Mick Fincher on drums and percussion. They, however, would not begin recording a proper album until April and spent most of the months beforehand jamming and rehearsing.

Pictured above: George Harrison and Eric Clapton, 1970

In early 1970, George Harrison invited over legendary producer Phil Spector to his recently purchased home, Friar Park. Spector was impressed by the sheer quantity and quality of the songs he was shown, with Harrison having accumulated songs as far back as 1966. Sessions for George’s second album, titled after the track All Things Must Pass, officially started in January of 1970, with a rotating lineup of several musicians, soon enough George found himself with a consistent lineup of himself, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman and Ringo Starr. The idea of the formation of a proper band came when the lineup recorded It Don’t Come Easy, intended as a non-album single for Ringo.

“We were working on Ringo’s song It Don’t Come Easy I think, and I felt like there was this dynamic between all of us that I haven’t felt since I left The Beatles. Eventually, we all started bringing in songs, well, except for Klaus, and just like that we were a band.”

- George Harrison, 1987

The idea of the group’s name came from Klaus Voorman while listening to one of The Beatles’ old Christmas records, Christmas Time is Here Again, where he heard the name of a made-up band, called The Ravellers.

“I brought that up to George during one of the sessions, figuring that it would have the potential for an actual band. As soon as I asked him, he chuckled and told me ‘He’d give it a thought’”

- Klaus Voorman, 1994

Pictured above: Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones on Upbeat!

Despite the Monkees breaking up in 1969, Colgems still demanded at least one more record from the group, asking all four members to come back initially. With Peter Tork declining, focusing on his teaching career, and Mike showing no interest, it was Micky and Davy who were to make this last album for Colgems, initially titled One For The Road.

“I mean, I don’t really know why Colgems wanted us to do another album, the fact was that we were pretty much irrelevant at that time, and well, even if we wanted to release another album, it wouldn’t do well commercially, but me and Micky buckled down and gave it a shot”

- Davy Jones, 2001

From February to April, the duo recorded a dozen tracks with producer Jeff Barry, despite them having little faith that the album would even do anything for the public, and with the release of Do it in the Name of Love, their predictions would come true, the album being the worst-selling Monkees album to date.

Do it in the Name of Love

Side A:

01. Oh My My (3:02) [1]

02. Ticket on a Ferry Ride (3:29) [1]

03. You’re So Good to Me (2:33) [1]

04. It’s Got to Be Love (2:25) [1]

05. Acapulco Sun (2:54) [2]

06. 99 Pounds (2:28) [2]

Side B:

07. Tell Me Love (2:38) [1]

08. Do You Feel It Too? (2:37) [1]

09. I Love You Better (2:27) [1]

10. All Alone in the Dark (2:52) [1]

11. Do it in the Name of Love (2:07) [2]

12. Lady Jane (2:44) [2]

Released: June 1970

Track sources

[1] - Changes, 1970

[2] - Non-album singles