Welcome to a worryingly high proportion of my brushes with the recording business from 1965-1969. For more than four years, my musical efforts, whether as songwriter, record producer or even performer, were markedly unsuccessful - even after the first public performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in March 1968. Perhaps That’s My Story explains why. Nonetheless I believe that many of these tracks illustrate typical aspects of sixties pop, and that not all deserved instant obscurity. There are some strong tunes, some original ideas and a lot of youthful enthusiasm attempting to escape, and most are great fun. The results are nothing like as bad as I have remembered them over the decades.

My songwriting career began in earnest in March 1965, when I met Andrew Lloyd Webber. Very soon afterwards we embarked upon the writing of a stage musical, in the Oliver! style, based on the life of the Victorian philanthropist Dr. Thomas Barnardo and entitled The Likes Of Us. In our first three years together, it was our principal concern, though the only recordings made of it were pretty basic demos. In fact, the score never saw the light of day until 2005, when we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our first work together by staging a one off performance at Andrew’s Sydmonton Arts Festival, narrated by Stephen Fry (a recording is now available on Polydor). Our first recording of Joseph was not issued until early 1969, and we made no significant commercial impact with it until after the release of Jesus Christ Superstar as an album in 1970.

But this album is not concerned with my theatrical output, such as it was in 1965-69. Instead the recordings herein are highlights (relatively speaking) from the pop and rock ventures of my early years.