I'm Losing You / Can't You See / Yes I'm Crying [Vinyl]

ON CLEAR VINYL The Newcastle Five could have made a monkey out of any of the so-called rock experts. The band didn't come from Newcastle, the English city best known as hometown of British Invasion stalwarts the Animals. Their sound was strictly folk-rock, heavily influenced by the Rickenbacker 12-string jangle of the Byrds.Hailing from San Mateo, Calif., 20 miles south of San Francisco, the Newcastle Five was assembled by rail-thin brothers Rich and Tom Martin who, in the summer of '65, were ready to retool their British Invasion-style group, the New Impressions, into something more timely. They recruited vocalist Lydia Pense from Redwood City, whose Jackie DeShannon-like pipes were a perfect fit for this hot new sound rocketing into the national charts via the Lovin' Spoonful and the Turtles. "I was really into that P.F. Sloan thing," says Rich. Long before Pense went on to front San Francisco's Cold Blood and the Martin Brothers hooked up with New Zealand native Ray Columbus as the Art Collection, they served up three delicious slices of folk-rock pie from the Newcastle Five. TRACK LISTING:1. I'm Losing You 2. Can't You See 3. Yes I'm Crying