T H E C O U G A R S
Saturday Night At The Duckpond / See You In Dreamland (vocal)
Parlophone R4989 - 1963
Red Square / Fly-By-Nite
Parlophone R5038 - 1963
Saturday Nite With The Cougars (EP)
Saturday Nite At The Duckpond / See You In Dreamland (v) / Red Square /
Fly-By-Nite / The Rustler / Our Man In Siberia
Parlophone GEP8886 - 1963
Caviare & Chips / While The City Sleeps
Parlophone R5115 - 1964
The Cougars' total released output weighs in at less than 20 minutes when played back to back and that is nowhere near enough for me. In the early sixties this exciting west country quartet won a local talent contest judged by EMI A & R man Norrie Paramor and the first prize was a recording contract with EMI.
They were signed to Parlophone and their first waxing was a rockin' arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake which they'd retitled Saturday Nite At The Duckpond. Two more singles and an EP followed but none of them matched the success of Duckpond which had climbed to a very respectable No.33 in the charts.
By 1964 instrumentals were becoming increasingly rare in the Hit Parade mainly due to the onslaught of Beatlemania and the Beat boom so Caviare & Chips became the last ever Cougars 45.
The Cougars' final session for Parlophone was on Monday 16th December
1963 when they taped Caviare & Chips, While The City Sleeps and
Crying For The Carolines, the latter track remains unreleased.
Five takes of the last track exist.
The Cougars gave it everything and played with a rawness and an edge that set them aside from other instro acts.
Throughout their short career the line-up of Keith Owen (lead), Dave Tanner (rhythm), Adrian Morgan (bass) and Dave Hack (drums) remained the same and even now in 2006 they're still good friends and keep in touch.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING:
Saturday Nite At The Duckpond is featured on EMI's 'Instrumental Greats Of The 60's' (CDB 7 94226 2 - 1990)
Fly-By-Nite can be heard on 'Instrumental Diamonds - Jumpin' (Sequel Records - NEXCD 149 - 1990)
Red Square, The Rustler, While The City Sleeps can all be enjoyed on Instro Beat (Legacy Sounds UK, 2009, LCD001)