Label: Columbia SCX 6488

Release Date: April 1972

Running Time:  37 minutes

The debut album from The Fivepenny Piece arrived in the spring of 1972,  produced by EMI's respected producer Bob Barratt the album was very much one of two faces.  Side 1 showcased the folk / pop crossover material of John Meeks and Colin Radcliffe,  with ballads like 'Mountain Climber' and 'I Don't Know If I Wanna Go Home' combined with the more singalong pop of 'There's A Great Deal of Difference' and the whimsical 'Watering Can'.  Side 2 is given over to the 'lanky' as Eddie Crotty is given full reign on songs such as 'Ee By Gum',  'They Tell Us Owt' and the song that would long become an unofficial anthem for the groups fans, the story of the giant worm 'Big Jim'.

As with most of the groups records for EMI, their core sound was augmented with additional orchestrations such as strings, brass or woodwind.

Producer: BOB BARRATT

Recording Engineer:  Richard Lush

Side 1

1. Mountain Climber (Meeks / Radcliffe)
2. Stories From The Wishing Well (Meeks / Radcliffe)
3. Look Into My Eyes (Meeks / Radcliffe)
4. Watering Can (Meeks / Radcliffe)
5. Tuppence Change (Meeks / Radcliffe)

    6. I Don’t Know If I Wanna Go Home (Meeks / Radcliffe)

    7. There’s A Great Deal Of Difference (Meeks / Radcliffe)

Side 2

1. Ee By Gum (Meeks / Radcliffe / Crotty)
2. Bob Platt (Crotty)
3. They Tell Us Owt (Meeks / Radcliffe / Crotty)
4. Mistaken Identity (Crotty)
5. Fine Feathers (Meeks / Crotty)
6. Owd Rimbant (Crotty)
7. Big Jim (Meeks / Radcliffe / Crotty)

The cover photo shows the band at the bridge at Portland Basin, on the Ashton Canal. The present bridge dates from 1835, and was built to allow horse-drawn canal boats to be towed across the junction with the Peak Forest Canal. For more views of the area, see the excellent Pennine Waterways website.