Deviled Ham
Band members Related acts
|
line-up 1: (1968-70) - Ted Medbury -- drums, percussion, backing vocals - Vinton "Vin" Medbury (aka Uncle VInty) (RIP 1994) -- vocals, keyboards - Mark Vinbury -- lead guitar
|
- The Ascots (Mark Vinbury, Ted Medbury and Vin Medbury) - The Movies (Ted Medbury) - Uncle Vinty (Vin Medbury) - White Wash (Mark Vinbury, Ted Medbury and Vin Medbury) - Those XCleavers (Vin Medbury)
|
|
Genre: psych Rating: 2 stars ** Title: I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night Company: Super K Catalog: SKS
6003 Country/State: Barrington, Rhode Island Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: small cut out hole lower right corner Available: 1 Catalog ID: 5830 Price: $40.00
|
Deviled Ham's "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" was one of a slew of late-1960s 'psychsploitation' releases. What distinguished this one from much of the competition was the fact it was so bad it was actually fun to listen to. Yeah, that sounded kind of nonsensical, but listen to it a couple of times and tell me you don't agree.
Produced and arranged by Super Records owner "Big Al Pavlow" the album featured the remains of the Barrington, Rhode Island-based band The Ascots who had previously release a string of mid-1960s blue-eyed soul 45s for the Pavlow's Providence, Rhode Island-based Super label:
- 1965's "Monkey See - Monkey Do" b/w "You Can't Do That" (Super catalog number S-102) - 1965's "Midnight Hour" b/w "Midnight Hour Part 2" (Super catalog number S-103) - 1966's "Sookie Sookie" b/w "Put Your Arms Around Me" (Super catalog number S-104) - 1967's "I Need You" b/w "Knock On Wood'" (Super catalog number S-105)
By 1968 The Ascots had run out of steam with lead singer Rick Desilets and guitarist Peter Mayhew giving notice. The Medbury brothers and guitarist Mark Vinbury elected to continue onward. With Ted on drums, and Vin on vocals and keyboards, the trio recorded a single for Pavlow's small Zowie label:
- 1968's "You Better Think It Over" b/w "You Haven't Seen My Love" (Zowie catalog number Z-1000)
The single went nowhere but Pavlow decided the band had potential. Following another name change; this time morphing into the cooler sounding "Deviled Ham" he decided to finance an album. 1968 saw the trio go into New York's Bell Studios essentially recorded their stage act. Pavlow took the resulting demos, including a twenty minute promotional film of their song "The Raven", to a series of New York-based record labels. He eventually found an interested party in Neil Bogart and Buddah Records. Signed by Buddah, the band then hit a roadblock when Buddah shelved the album. The decision was based on the record label shifting their attention and resources to the newly signed Curtis Mayfield and his Curtom catalog. Frustrated by their inability to get the LP released, within a couple of months Deviled Ham called it quits. Vin Medbury struck out for a solo career while brothers Mark and Ted recruiting singer/guitarist Frank Curtis, his wife Leslie and former Orphans bass player Bob Munz for the band Thunderchicken (love the name).
Later
in the year Buddah elected to release the Deviled Ham album under their
Jeffrey Katz and
Jerry Kasenetz bubblegum focused Super K subsidiary. It
was certainly an odd pairing. Slapped with generic David Wilcox cover
art and stripped of all performance credits, the collection was released
under the title "I Had Too Muc
"I Had Too
Much To Dream Last Night" track listing: 1.) Come On In (Sean Bonniwell) - 3:30 rating: **** stars Opening up with some ominous Ray Manzarek-styled organ washes, the band's cover of Sean Bonniwell's "Come On In" started things out on a high note. Their cover served as a nice base for Vin's Morrison-styled snarling delivery. No special effects; just a psych-flavored slice of blues. Shame they didn't stick to this pattern for the rest of the album. I actually like it as much as The Music Machine's original. 2.) Alligator Wine (Jerry Leiber - Mike Stoller) - 3:39 rating: ** stars Apparently meant to be jarring and frightening, their cover of "Alligator Wine" simply came off as dumb. Vin's raspy delivery coupled with the screeching backing vocals and sophomoric sound efforts were about as threatening as a Scooby Doo cartoon episode. In fact my six year old was simply irritated by the song. If you have to hear this one, I suggest checking out Screaming Jay Hawkin's version. 3.) Frenzy (David Hill - Bobby Stevenson) - 1:57 rating: ** stars "Frenzy" suffered from much the same fate, except this time out Vin and company sounded like a bunch of senior citizens on a weeklong bender. Vin himself sounded like he was singing with a mouth full of sand. At least the song was short. 4.) Ohh My Soul (Richard Penniman) - 2:00 rating: * star Imagine a bunch of young white guys without a clue on what soul was. "Ohh My Soul" may hold the distinction of being the worst Little Richard cover I've ever heard. Simply dreadful. Little Richard should have sued for character assassination. 5.) Ohh Licky Licky Wah (Vin Medbury Jr.) - 1:37 rating: * star The fist of two Vin Medbury originals, just when you were starting to think it couldn't get much worse the band responded with the country-flavored "Ohh Licky Licky Wah." Yeah, it definitely got worse with this stinker. 6.) Port Of Ghost Ships (Vin Medbury Jr.) - 2:35 rating: **** stars Thankfully "Port Of Ghost Ships" found the group returning to their Doors-inspired sound. With Vin again doing his best Morrison impression, powered by his Hammond B-3 washes, the song was full of pompous, mock-Doors imagery. Very nice and unfortunate they weren't allowed to pursue this direction.
(side
2) While still working as White Wash "The Raven" evolved into the center piece of their stage act. Captured on vinyl the twenty minute plus piece reflected an awkward mash up of The Electric Prunes "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night", Christopher Komeda's instrumental theme from the movie "Rosemary's Baby" and Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven". Vin handled the vocals, including plenty of irritating screams and shrieks and the extended, increasingly wild spoken word section. Sprawling across the entirety of side two the studio version proved surprisingly bland and boy did it seem to go on forever.
Ted Medbury remained active in music, including a stint with the Los Angeles-based band The Movies. A trio featuring Medbury on drums, along with singer/guitarist Peter Barnes and ex-Michael & the Messengers keyboardist/vocalist Michael Morgan, the group released a 1976 album and a couple of singles for Arista. - 1976's "The Movies" (Arista catalog number AL-4085)
The late-'70s saw him living in Milwaukee where he hooked up with the new wave band Those XCleavers. He released at least one independent EP: - 1980's "Uncle Vinty Wants You" (Criminal Records catalog number EP-101)
There's a small website dedicated to his career: https://blog.unclevinty.com/
For anyone interested, the Rhode Island Musical Hall of Fame (yes, there is such an organization) has an extensive entry for The Ascots/White Wash/Deviled Ham story. https://www.ripopmusic.org/
© Scott R. Blackerby September 2025
|
BACK TO BADCAT PAYMENT INFORMATION
h
To Dream Last Night".
Accompanied by little promotion; not even the release of a single, the LP featured a
mixture of eclectic cover tunes (Screaming Jay Hawkins, Little Richard, The
Music Machine) and a couple of band originals. All of the songs were given
"psych" production touches -
some performances more successful than others. The goal clearly wasn't to come up
with anything particularly creative, or original, rather to cash-in
on the buying public's rapidly fading interest in psychedelia. As lead
singer Vin actually pretty good, at times recalling a less intense version of Jim
Morrison. Don't laugh at the comparison until you've check out the opener
"Come
On In", or "Port
Of Ghost Ships." The main problem with the
set was these guys were reduced to one-trick-pony status. They were
clearly tight and capable performers - just check out their Ascots'
catalog. Here they were nothing more than hired guns. And
in a couple of horrible songs (the Vin penned "Ohh Licky Licky Wah"
and most of the side lone "The Raven" and the results were pretty horrific,
if not without some camp entertainment value.
Prior
to his 1994 death Vin Medbury led an interesting post-Deviled Ham
life. In the mid-'70s he hopped into a van ("The
Creampuff"), traveling the country as a one man show (something he
continued to do until his death). Relocating to San Francisco under
the name Uncle Vinty he worked on the local club scene. A mixture of
"performance art", comedy and magic, his act sounded like an
acquired taste.