Nuggets II: No Good Without You Baby by The Birds

The success of Rhino’s 1998 Nuggets boxset justified a follow-up. The sequel covers the rest of the world since the first volume only chronicled the USA.

Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 emerged in 2001. It features music from countries such as Iceland, Uruguay, and Japan. I’m profiling and rating each of the 109 tracks, working backwards.

Track 98 – No Good Without You Baby by The Birds

From: London, UK

8

Credits

PERSONNEL/ALI McKENZIE: vocals * RON WOOD: lead guitar, vocals * TONY MUNROE: rhythm guitar, vocals * KIM GARDNER: bass, vocals * PETE McDANIELS: drums
Produced by FRANKLIN BOYD
Recorded in London, England
Decca single #F-12257 (1965)

The Birds

It must be frustrating when another band forms in the same year, shares your name, spells it wrong, but goes on to worldwide success. Meanwhile, despite your superior spelling skills, you struggle in obscurity, only recording a handful of singles.

Such a fate befell London R&B band The Birds. Their career started well, sharing equal billing with The Who. But they were quickly eclipsed by the folk-rock Byrds, whose version of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ was a worldwide smash in 1965.

The Birds are notable as the first band of lead guitarist Ronnie Wood – Wood went on to play with the Jeff Beck Group, The Faces, and The Rolling Stones.

Formed in Yiewsley, West London, in 1963, the band was briefly known as The R&B Bohemians before becoming The Thunderbirds (later shortened to The Birds, to avoid confusion with Chris Farlowe’s backing group). Signed to Decca in 1964, their second single, “Leaving Here,” scraped into the Top 50 for one week in May 1965, but that was as close as they ever came to a commercial breakthrough. On the English club circuit, however, they knocked them dead, and fans like Motörhead’s Lemmy still talk in awe of the magic of The Birds’ live performances.

“We didn’t make a lot of money,” remembers Tony Munroe, “but, by Christ, for four years we had a great time!”

Mike Stax, Nuggets II liner notes

No Good Without You Baby

‘No Good Without You Baby’ was penned by Motown songwriter William Stevenson. Stevenson also wrote (or cowrote) ‘Dancing in the Street’, ‘Stubborn Kind of Fellow’, and ‘Devil in a Blue Dress’.

The collision between a tough-sounding English R&B band with a slick Motown sound is effective. Ali McKenzie’s voice is commanding, while Ronnie Wood’s effect-laden guitar solo is also memorable.

The Aftermath

The band released one more single, ‘Say Those Magic Words’, as The Birds Birds. Their label suggested the name to differentiate them from The Byrds. They appeared in the 1966 horror film The Deadly Bees before breaking up.

Bassist Kim Gardner joined The Creation, along with Ronnie Wood.

Read More

• Nuggets Song by Song
• 1960s Album Reviews