St. Valentines Day Massacre was actually the Artwoods, a good if second- or third-tier British R&B/rock band of the mid-'60s, featuring Art Wood (Ron Wood's brother) on vocals and future Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord. In 1967, never having had a hit and down to their last single, they were coerced into changing their name to St. Valentines Day Massacre. As Art Wood recalled in the liner notes to the Artwoods' anthology 100 Oxford Street, "Towards the end of the group's life we were signed by Jack Baverstock at Philips Records who was looking for a group to cash in on the '30s-style gangster craze which had been triggered off by the film #Bonnie Clyde. As a result we changed our name to St. Valentines Day Massacre and released a single of the old Bing Crosby hit Brother Can You Spare a Dime? It was an ill-fated venture, which I would prefer not to dwell on, virtually signaling the end of the band apart from a few heavy-hearted gigs with a changed lineup." The sides are indeed unexceptional, strained fusions of the Artwoods' soul-funk-rock-organ R&B style with the '30s standard on the A-side, and Al's Party (presumably referring to an escapade of gangster Al Capone) on the flip. Both of the songs from this rare Fontana 45 were issued as bonus tracks on Repertoire's CD reissue of the Artwoods' 1966 LP Art Gallery. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi