The Cops 'N Robbers

A little-known but quality group from the R&B wing of the British Invasion, the Cops 'n Robbers (named after a Bo Diddley song) issued just three singles in the mid-'60s, as well as a French-only EP. Their chief claim to fame is recording (and writing) the original version of "You'll Never Do It Baby," a cool, nasty R&B-rock raver that was covered by the Pretty Things on their second album. Cops 'n Robbers were indeed rather similar to the Pretty Things in their punky R&B-rock approach, yet even punkier than the Pretty Things (but not as sloppy as another sub-Pretties act, the Downliners Sect). Singer Brian "Smudger" Smith had an unrefined, sullen leer in his delivery, and the band was picked up by the same management team that signed Donovan (a friend of Cops 'n Robbers). They issued a good version of "St. James Infirmary" on Decca in late 1964, but after its failure moved to Pye for the rest of their meager recorded output, which included a bizarre, ill-chosen cover of the My Fair Lady standard "I Could Have Danced All Night." Drummer Henry Harrison joined the New Vaudeville Band ("Winchester Cathedral"), an act which could have been hardly any more of a polar opposite from his previous group. ~ Richie Unterberger