Mr. Bloe

Mr. Bloe was the name given to the musicians who performed the single "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe", which was a hit in 1970 in the UK for Dick James Music (DJM). These included Harry Pitch on harmonica, and on piano.

The tune "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" was written for the US studio group Wind, by Bo Gentry, Paul Naumann and Kenny Laguna. They released it as the B side of their single "Make Believe" which, with Tony Orlando as lead singer, was a chart success in the US in 1969. According to co writer Kenny Laguna:"When "Make Believe", the first Wind single was ready to be released, we needed a B side. Our Buddah releases were known for their ridiculous B sides, like A side played backwards in order for the business dudes to copyright something with themselves as writers, even though they couldn't write songs. We dusted off a backing track from a "Yummy Yummy", "Chewy Chewy", "Sugar Sugar", "Money Money" wannabe song that was called something like "Bingo Bingo" and improvised a haphazard harmonica and melodica overdub for the B side "

BBC Radio in the UK then unwittingly played the wrong side of the Wind single. "Groovin' With Mr Bloe" spent 18 weeks on the UK chart. The lack of an obvious performer made the recording mysterious and it became a favourite of Morrissey who was then 11 years old. with John playing piano on both, backed by most of the members of Hookfoot. Other singles, "Mr. Bloe" and "Curried Soul" were then released. The follow up single, "Curried Soul", failed to chart, and an album, also entitled Groovin' with Mr. Bloe, was released in 1970 but flopped, leaving the act as a one hit wonder. The bass player on the actual recording is session bassist Russ Stableford. In 2002, Robin Carmody of Freaky Trigger describes "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" as "the last great groove driven pop record of the 60s",

"Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" was used as the theme music to the 2009 BBC TV series Oz and James Drink to Britain. It was also used in the early 1970s by Argentine television as the introduction music for football broadcasting. "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" is also a lyric in the song "I Was a Mod Before You Was Mod" by the band Television Personalities. The B side to Madness' "Our House" single was "Walking With Mr Wheeze", an instrumental with scratch mix effects. The song was partly recorded by The Fall in 2003, for a Peel session as the beginning of their song "Green Eyed Loco Man". The tune was covered on a B side by Associates in 1990, and Robert Johnson and the Punchdrunks in 2002.