From their original incarnation The Dominettes in 1957 onwards, this band ate up members for breakfast. Only Steve Gibbons would survive the endless culls. After joining in 1960 the singer and guitarist orchestrated a shift away from straight rock ‘n’ roll as they rose to the top of the feisty West Midlands live scene. Rechristened The Ugly’s (that gratuitous apostrophe never corrected) in 1963, they started writing topical R&B-inflected protest songs when they signed to Pye, epitomised by 1965’s debut ‘Wake Up My Mind’. Its failure to chart, along with its follow-up, meant Pye were already restless when the following year’s ‘A Good Idea’ proved to be anything but, with all concerned ignoring the nondescript single’s sabre-toothed B-side. Gibbons’ warnings of revolt sound vaguely Doorsy on ‘Quiet Explosion’, an impression underlined by Jimmy O’Neil’s swirling organ, John Hustwayte’s spaced-out bass and Jim Holden’s great off-the-wall percussion. A flip that was lauded at length in Jon Savage’s book 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded, it prompted ex-members to wonder aloud what might have been had they prioritised it instead. A similar argument could be made for ‘A Friend’ [ ‘It’s Alright’, 1965], an unsettling tale of loneliness elevated by Alan Freeman’s slashing production.