Clouds (60s rock band)

Clouds
Clouds: From left to right – Harry Hughes, Ian Ellis and Billy Ritchie
Background information
Also known as	1-2-3
Origin	Edinburgh, Central Scotland
Genres	Progressive rock
Years active	1966 (1966)–1971
Labels	Island, Deram, Chrysalis, BGO, Sunrise
Associated acts	The Premiers
Website	http://www.cloudsmusic.com/
Past members	Ian Ellis Harry Hughes Billy Ritchie

Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis (bass and lead vocals), Harry Hughes (drums) and Billy Ritchie (keyboards).

In early 1964, Ian Ellis and Harry Hughes were playing in a band called The Premiers. The band itself consisted of Bill Lawrence (bass guitar), James ‘Shammy’ Lafferty (rhythm guitar), Derek Stark (lead guitar), Harry Hughes (drums) (born 5 August 1944) and Ian Ellis (vocals) (born Ian John Ellis, 7 October 1943). It was decided that an organ would help the sound of the band, and Billy Ritchie (born 20 April 1944) joined.

Cyril Stapleton took the band to London to record some demos, but nothing came of that, and Derek Stark, Bill Lawrence, and James Lafferty decided to leave. It seemed that Ritchie joining the band had prompted more changes than had been intended. Ian Ellis decided that he would take up the position of bass guitarist as well as lead vocalist. The group decided to move in a new musical direction, and changed their name from The Premiers to 1-2-3.

1-2-3 had a much different sound from the previous band, or from almost any other band at that time. After achieving little success in Scotland, the band moved to London, England where they hoped that their original music would catch on, but early audiences were confused by the lack of a guitarist.

The band were given a now-legendary headlining residency performing at the Marquee Club, attended by future prog-rock icons such as Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. That an unknown band was chosen to headline at the Marquee was unusual, as they hadn't first performed the customary support spots. At the time, they were described as "a unique group...who have created an entirely new sound in pop group music". The same publication referred to "the truly exciting nature of 1-2-3". Tamla Motown was the order of the day, but this band offered up a potent mix of blues, classics, pop, and scat-jazz, wrapped in arrangements that defied categorisation. Their set consisted of original songs and standards, but these latter pieces were studiously reshaped to become, in essence, new. It anticipated the techniques later used by America's Vanilla Fudge, but where the US group slowed their creations down for melodramatic emphasis, 1-2-3 were more concerned with swing, and used the pieces as stepping stones to self-expression, rather than a means in themselves.Yet they balanced this esoteric desire with a conspicuous focus on melody. There was nothing remotely like it around.