Indefatigable Ian Harris + The Earth: Pop culture maverick’s 60s rock roots come to light
//Front cover, Elemental, The Earth, Rare Vinyl, 2016. Design: Ian Harris//
Ian Harris is one of those London characters who turns up at various stages in the capital’s post-war pop culture narrative.
An early 60s mod who served a stint as an assistant at the Swinging London store Kleptomania, Harris contributed valuable memories and background info to Mr Freedom, my 2012 book about the boutique’s late co-owner Tommy Roberts.
//Harris’s hamburger motif shirt from Mr Freedom, now in the V&A collection//
//Practical Styling carrier bag from Harris’s collection, photographed by Keith Roberts for the book Mr Freedom in 2011//
Also a prodigious collector of ephemera, Harris had previously handed over to Roberts many items from the design entrepreneur’s career. These were photographed for the book, including clothing from the Mr Freedom stores and items from Practical Styling, Roberts’ and Paul Jones’ influential 80s homeware outlet.
//Harris’s first wife Maggie outside Strictly For The Birds, 4 Holland Walk, Kensington, London, 1971. Ian Harris Collection//
I have previously posted here how Harris – a graphic artist by trade – was on hand to decorate the exterior and interior of John and Lyris Mann’s Kensington clothing store Strictly For the Birds, and also worked in the art department of West One, the fashion-forward mid-70s magazine edited by Janet Street Porter.
When the mod revival came around in the late 70s and early 80s, Harris – who remains one of the most dapper individuals you will encounter – created the Terry Tonik character for performances and recording.
//Coffin Club poster, 1968. Ian Harris Collection//
But his musical pedigree also includes an excursion as the frontman and lyricist of the late 60s rock outfit The Earth, whose ranks included the notable producer Alan Parsons.
Harris – now recovered from a spell of ill-health – has engineered the release for the first time of The Earth’s recordings as a new album entitled Elemental. True to form, Harris has realised the impressive sleeve artwork himself.
The Elemental tracks were recorded at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street, home to recordings by the Rolling Stones (their first LP and the Not Fade Away single), The Who, The Beatles (Fixing A Hole), Pretty Things and Genesis among others.
“Weirdest of all, Black Sabbath recorded ‘Paranoid’ and their debut L.P. there in 1970,” says Harris. “I now believe – as I have long thought – they were influenced by The Earth’s track Angel Of Death; their track Black Sabbath is so similar.”
//Record Collector’s recent coverage of The Earth’s exploits//
//Back cover, Elemental, The Earth, Rare Vinyl, 2016. Design: Ian Harris//
Record Collector magazine has described Elemental as “one of the great lost albums of the 60s” and is releasing it in a limited edition of 500 on January 25. Copies are available to pre-order here; if interested my advice would be to snap up the opportunity now while stocks last.
Read Harris’s recollections of rehearsals in North Finchley, recording demos at a friend’s parent’s house in Kingsbury and the group’s Coffin Club in the basement of 39 Gerrard Street, Soho (previously the first address of Ronnie Scott’s famed jazz establishment) at his website here.