The Scrap Iron Rhythm Revue

Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent, both influences on Stavely Makepeace.

Rob Woodward (born in Coventry in 1945) became a professional musician in 1963 and released two unsuccessful singles under the name Shel Naylor on Decca Records between 1963–64 before the label dropped him, which resulted in him returning to performing on the nightclub circuit.[3] It was at this stage that he began collaboration with Nigel Fletcher.[2] The music that the pair made together was eccentric pop, reflecting their obsession with producer Joe Meek.[4] The pair were separated while Fletcher served in the British Merchant Navy, but their creative partnership was resumed in late 1968 after Fletcher was discharged. They moved into the Coventry home of Woodward's mother Hilda, and set up their own makeshift recording studio in her living room. They dubbed their project Stavely Makepeace and added Pete Fisher on bass and Don Ker on drums to flesh out their initial sessions.[4]

The duo experimented with disparate musical ideas in the studio,[3] allegedly taking influence from Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent, despite Stavely Makepeace's music bearing little to no resemblance to either performer.[2] Stavely Makepeace referred to the style of music they created as the "scrap iron sound," the name referring to how they relied on experimentation as much as they did musicianship. This followed Joe Meek's ideas of sound creation in that, for as long as a sound is considered great, it does not matter how it is produced.[5] The duo became confident enough to record a number of songs to take to different record labels. Pyramid Records took interest in the band and released their debut single, "(I Want to Love You Like a) Mad Dog", in mid-1969.[3][4] Before Pyramid could release the band's projected second single, "Reggae Denny", the label went bankrupt.[3] They added guitarist Steve Tayton on guitar and woodwinds in early 1970 and, following the departure of Fisher, Steve Johnson joined the band as the replacement bassist. The band signed to Concord Records and scored a minor hit with "Edna," which was performed by the band on Top of the Pops.[4] It was first released by Concorde in the UK in 1970 and was then released by EMI in France on 14 August and by Deutsche Grammophon in Germany two weeks later, an example of Concorde's continental distribution deal with the two latter labels.[6]

The single was followed by 1971's "Smokey Mountain Rhythm Revue", whose tongue-in-cheek instrumental B-side, "Rampant on the Rage," inspired the creation of a side-project band named Lieutenant Pigeon, who had the same line-up as Stavely Makepeace but with the addition of Woodward's mother Hilda on piano. This single was in turn followed by "Give Me That Pistol" later on in 1971.[4] Despite Woodward and Fletcher being so productive in the early 1970s that they would write at least a song a week for the Stavely Makepeace project,[7] none of Stavely Makepeace's singles had been successful so far, and this pattern continued when they left Concorde and released a trio of singles on Spark Records.[3] Their first single for Spark, "Slippery Rock '70s" (1972), nonetheless received airplay on BBC Radio 1 by Dave Lee Travis.[7] Meanwhile, as Lieutenant Pigeon, the members had found success when "Mouldy Old Dough", a novelty instrumental that unfaithfully replicated vintage pub music in an "odd and off" fashion with growled vocals, reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart,[8] becoming one of the best-selling singles of 1972 and also allowing its 1973 follow-up "Desperate Dan" to reach number 17.[5]

After the release of Stavely Makepeace' final Spark singles "Walking Through the Blue Glass" (1972) and "Prima Donna" (1973), the band released "Cajun Band" on Deram Records to further public indifference. When 1974's "Runaround Sue" also flopped, the band focused their attention on Lieutenant Pigeon.[4] The Stavely Makepeace outtakes "Baby Blue Eyes" and "No Regrets" were released to no success by Unigram Records in 1977 and Barn Records in 1978 respectively, but convinced the band to reunite. Nonetheless, when the 1980 Hammer Records single "Songs of Yesterday" and 1983's self-released "Just Tell Her Fred Said Goodbye" both flopped, the pair permanently discontinued Stavely Makepeace and once again focused on the long-lived Lieutenant Pigeon. Woodward and Fletcher also continued their partnership in other ventures, including voice-overs and radio jingles and the 2001 joint autobiography When Show Business Is No Business.[4]

For a lengthy period of time, Stavely Makepeace's material was left uncompiled. This was in contrast to Lieutenant Pigeon, who were subject to the Cherry Red Records compilation The Best of Lieutenant Pigeon (2001), which combined the band's 1970s singles alongside album tracks and unreleased songs.[9] In February 2003, Stavely Makepeace's 1972 single "Slippery Rock '70s" appeared on the various artists compilation Velvet Tinmine, which compiled 20 obscure glam rock singles from the 1970s.[10] Interest in the group had picked up, which allowed the band to release a compilation of their material.[11] Named The Scrap Iron Rhythm Revue after the band's description of their musical style, the album compiles most of the band's singles, recorded between 1969 and 1984, and is their first overall album. The BBC noted that, with the compilation, "it took thirty-six years for Stavely Makepeace to release their first album."[5] It features 22 tracks and was compiled by journalist and musician Bob Stanley with help from Mark Stratford, whose reissue label, RPM Records, released the compilation on 24 May 2004.[11] The album's lengthy liner notes are written by the band themselves.[11] Lora Findlay designed the album artwork.[11]

• Rob Woodward
• Nigel Fletcher

• Bob Stanley – compiling, producing
• Lora Findlay – design, artwork
• Nigel Fletcher – production
• Rob Woodward – production
• Mark Stratford – production