Worth Every Penny | |
|---|---|
| Creators | The Refunds |
| Genre | Pop |
| Year | 1962 |
| Tracks | 10 |
| Length | 36:32 mins |
Worth Every Penny
Background
The album where it all started for The Refunds. Worth Every Penny was the first step along their path from unknown lads from Chester to national pop heroes. It was recorded in the shed studio owned by Burt Griggs with the assistance of Dekaf Records. It wasn’t a hit straight away so a limited run of vinyl was sold in shops. Thankfully for the band, a groundswell of support arose when word got out about their popular songs. This sudden increased popularity for the album meant it sold out everywhere. It got to the point where people were buying any copy they could in the hopes of selling it on for profit. Dekaf put these schemes to bed by pressing a new larger run of the vinyl album much to the fanfare of their growing fanbase.
The title track, Worth Every Penny, was written by bassist Harry. It was a well-worded song about his longing to be able to afford expensive items to impress his girlfriend. Sadly, the girlfriend in question had already left Harry by the wayside before the dividends of the song paid off for him.
Another popular song from the album was Green and Pleasant. It was a jaunty song about the wonderful beauty of the British Isles. The instrumental in the middle of the song was used as the theme tune to popular 60s children’s TV show, Let’s Get Outdoors! This led to them performing the song live on the show to much excitement to children up and down the country.
Album Art
The design of the album was in the hands of the Dekaf executives. They wanted something simple but also reminiscent of the money that the band used as a theme for their release. The final idea was using the band’s images inside abstract bronze coins. The lads loved it, and the next two albums followed a similar theme with silver and gold coins instead. It was the first time that the band members had been professionally photographed in their lives. It was an extra special day when the prints came through the door for use on the cover. Drummer Henry’s gran loved his picture so much she had another copy of the portrait made to hang above the mantelpiece.
The band’s clever logo was an idea by Pete. He was the one who really wanted to go all in on the money theme of the band. He was so pleased when he came up with it and, happily for him, the other members liked it too. Once the pound sterling sign appeared as a “e” in the band’s name it never left. In every iteration of the design the £ mark appeared. Whether it was promotional material or album covers you could always see this version of their name, much to Pete’s delight.
Track Listing
Worth Every Penny – 3:49
Green and Pleasant – 2:55
Fly City Love – 2:14
A Day at Chester Zoo – 3:26
Curtain Twitcher – 2:44
My Old Dream – 5:01
I Love You, and Her Too – 4:12
Potless – 3:11
The Ballad of Dockyard Davis – 6:31
Sweetest Darling Dear – 2:29