Octopus: I Am the Walrus (1971)

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Octopus: I Am the Walrus (1971)

Although they muck up some lyrics, this live version of John Lennon's classic – recorded at the Storthfield Country Club in Derbyshire – isn't a bad stab at a very difficult song.

But it's who was in this band which had fallen under the wing of impresario Larry Page that is most interesting.

The band was based around brothers Paul (vocals/guitar) and Nigel (bass).

385012_Product_0_I_638240330356669423_83bbfc48_4fe7_4b12_995b_34260be6e2eaThe band didn't last long.

A couple of months after this previously unreleased version was recorded they broke up.

But Nigel Griggs and the band's drummer Malcolm Green joined . . . Split Enz in 1976 and appeared on the band's Dizrythmia in '77 and the commercially successful albums thereafter.

This song is available on the 3-CD compilation Looking Through a Glass Onion: The Beatles Psychedelic Songbook 1966-72.

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.

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