Concrete and Clay

'Concrete and Clay' by Unit 4 + 2 was among the singles my mother bought when she was a teenager, that she later misguidedly gave to me and my sister. The other singles from her collection I can specifically recall ran a gamut between the cool ('Mr. Tambourine Man' by The Byrds; Lee Dorsey's 'Working in the Coal Mine') and the uncool ('Deck of Cards' by Wink Martindale) by way of the likes of The Springfields' 'Island of Dreams' and 'Glad All Over' by The Dave Clark Five. She would have probably owned some Beatles 45s too, had her big sister not already acquired them.

Unit 4 + 2 came by their name by virtue of having been a quartet that became a sextet. 'Concrete and Clay' was their sole big hit, reaching the heights of Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart for a single week in April 1965. It's a protestation of undying love clad in a rather lovely Latin-influenced arrangement. There's a promotional film-clip of the band miming along to the song on a London building-site.

The B-Side is a version of 'When I Fall in Love' in something akin to the style of a '50s rock-n-roll ballad, with some harmony vocals. It's passable filler, but no more than that. My mother's old copy is long gone: I picked up my current one only a few months ago.

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