Album Notes

Catalogue Number is LSECD83 1 A Special Child 2 Lord of the Dance 3 The Gift of Love 4 Away is a Manger 5 Marys Boy Child 6 If I were a Carpenter 7 Silent Night 8 Great Deal of Difference 9 Onward Christian Soldiers 10 While Children Sleep 11 Scarlet Ribbons 12 Perfect Christmas The Fivepenny Piece are (as their name implies) a five-piece band, formed in East Lancashire around Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge,Cheshire UK. The band met and performed on Wednesday nights at Ashton's Broadoak Hotel, which gave them their original name The Wednesday Folk. Their big break came when they won the Granada TV talent show New Faces in 1968, which led to a contract with the famous Noel Gay agency, a recording contract with EMI, and their new name. Their public profile was further enhanced by a residency on Esther Rantzen weekly BBC-TV programme That's Life, watched by huge numbers at its peak. They also had their own BBC TV series, shared with fellow "Lanky" funny man and singer Mike Harding The Fivepenny Piece made more than a dozen albums & singles throughout the 70s and early 80s. Their first single was issued in 1969 on EMI's UK Columbia label. Their album Makin' Tracks made the top forty album charts while King Cotton made the Top Ten. In the late 1970s they left EMI and released two albums on Philips Records. Then in 2004 came the great news that John Meeks had returned to the studio and recorded new songs plus some old favourites from the Fivepenny Piece days especially for those loyal fans all over the world, who remember the Fivepenny Piece's music and Lancashire humour with great affection. A Special Child is a special Christmas album you will not want to miss.