Blackpool band Complex receive rave reviews for material recorded 50 years ago

Complex were formed in the resort in1968, consisting of lead guitarist Brian Lee, lead vocalist and drummer Tony Shakespeare, bass guitarist Lance Fogg and rhythm guitarist Tony Fisher.

They met after an advert was placed in the Blackpool Gazette asking for band members.

In November 1970 they cut their first album, entitled simply "Complex", which was released in May 1971.

Originally devised as a demonstration record in the hope of getting a record deal, it was recorded at "107 Studio" in St. Annes, engineered and mixed down by Graham Atkinson.

Just ninety nine copies of the album were pressed by Craighall Studios in Scotland. The reason for such a limited release was to avoid paying tax.

Lance Fogg said: “Blackpool was in its heyday, the country’s busiest and biggest seaside resort and we just wanted to get a part of it.

"We played anywhere we could, literally. Youth clubs, pubs, private functions, hotels, sports clubs – all up along the Fylde Coast which includes Blackpool, St Annes, Lytham, Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Thornton, Warton, Freckleton, Kirkham and a few times in Preston. We later started playing further afield across the North West. We did a Summer Season at The Gaiety Bar in central Blackpool.”

The band recorded a second album, The Way We Feel, in 1972 and recorded demos for a third album and in 1976, the band released a single, "Who Got the Love". This was their final release.

Now the bands complete works have been released as a box set entitled Live for the Minute and is the first time fans have been able to hear the unreleased material.

And the release has been receiving rave reviews in magazines and online.

Rough Trade said: “Featuring roughly 75 minutes of previously unreleased music alongside newly remastered upgrades of those two albums, Live For The Minute is a long-overdue anthology of the band’s body of work that includes the full Complex story, with new quotes and many previously unpublished photos.”

Shindig magazine hailed the first abum as a ‘lost classic’ giving the release a five star rating.

Reviewers on Amazon