No run-down of the many bands that Rod has graced with his presence could possibly be complete without due mention of the awesome Defectors. Likewise, any attempt to catalogue the host of vocal talents that Rod has worked with has got to include the mighty 'Mantha. Both of these elements combined forces for a one-off single in 1980.
In fact, the Defectors were none other than Lindisfarne operating under an alias. Both sides were credited to Lou Nella, but if you say this backwards, it sounds uncannily similar to Alan 'Ull (apparently), which is a sort of broad hint as to who exactly wrote both these tracks.
'Mantha - short for Samantha - was actually a dog. No, I'm not being sexist, she really was a dog, an Irish Setter to be precise. She had the only vocal part on the whole record. Rod recalls that 'when it began to sound like nomads in a storm on the Steppes (or so we fancied), we got Samantha to bark on it.'
In point of fact, the history to this whole episode is a bit confused, and only emerges bit by bit, like all those things you shouldn't have done but did do, on the morning after the night before. Dance of the Dissidents was originally entitled Red Square Dance, and vice versa. But after the band had let their imaginations off the leash (Rod's line, not mine), and added bouzoukis, sound effects, dogs and what have you, the lads felt so pleased with themselves that the 'dog song', originally written as the 'B' side, emerged as the clear choice for the 'A' side. One surmises that the labels had been printed by the time that this decision was made, so that the only way this turnaround could be accomplished was to switch the titles around. Besides, Red Square Dance was definitely the better title, and also the one which had inspired the project in the first place.
One of these days, someone is going to do a Dogs in Rock anthology, and our 'Mantha will no doubt hold pride of place, along with that canine off of Meddle by Pink Floyd, but, until then, I hope that the following biographical details will suffice.
Rod tells me that 'Mantha was a lovely dog, and that she lived to a ripe old age. This was by no means her first venture into the recording studio, having previously appeared on Three Chord Trick on Bert Jansch's A Rare Conundrum album. At that time, she was owned by Pick Withers and his wife Regan. Pick and Regan later split, and Regan became Mrs Simon Cowe. Regan and Si got custody of the dog, which is how she came to get the gig with the Defectors.
Sadly, the single never came to be the massive hit that all concerned so richly deserved. Only 500 promotional copies were printed, and the radio stations failed to pick up on it. Dance of the Dissidents appears to have sunk without trace, though the same recording of Red Square Dance resurfaced as the b-side of the 1982 Lindisfarne single Nights. On this occasion, the title was changed to Dog Ruff, as due acknowledgement of who the real talent in the band was. Red Square Dance, incidentally, surfaced once again as one of the four tracks on the 1985 Lindisfarne Christmas E.P. It gained a further lease of life as the opening track on Buried Treasures Volume 1, the sleeve notes to which explain that the band had used the 'dog song', 'Mantha's mantra and all, as the pre-recorded intro to the second half of their show for many years.
A word or two is certainly due to 'Mantha's backing band on this occasion. As Rod recalls:
'I played bass on both tracks, and back-up mandolin on the dog one. The acoustic sections of this track are led by Si on bouzouki, with me & Jacka playing the mandolins behind him, as far as I recall.'
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