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Simple Simon and the Piemen
People of Time / Anyhow - 7"
Regency - 1968
Michael Panontin
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Simple Simon and the Piemen from Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood are probably best remembered today - if at all, truthfully - for having been the launching pad for guitarist Robert Stanley, whose talents have graced the likes of the Ville Emard Blues Band, Contraction and Harmonium, as well as the closing theme to Denys Arcand's 1989 film Jesus of Montreal.
The five-piece group - lead guitarist Stanley, along with singer Kevin Moore, Billy Oliver on guitar and organ, and a backfield of bassist Louie Legasakus and drummer David Nunns - issued their only record in the early days of 1968. There is not much evidence that the psych-rocking 'People of Time' or the Kinks-inspired 'Anyhow' on the flipside managed to trouble many charts back then (though CFOX out in suburban Pointe-Claire pegged it for the week of March 8th as "A Hit Across Canada").
But it was probably not for lack of trying. For one thing, the disc was an early project of Donald Tarlton, a.k.a. promoter/producer Donald K. Donald, who would later go on to uber-success as the co-founder of Aquarius Records, and thus introduce the world, for better or worse, to the sounds of April Wine, Corey Hart and Sum 41.
The February 3rd, 1968 issue of Billboard, for instance, notes that the 'People of Time' record launch was accompanied by the delivery of pies - baked by the group's mothers, no less - to influential deejays in the Montreal and Ottawa areas. RPM noted that the gimmick, predictably dubbed 'Pie-ola' by a local paper, "rated considerable radio, TV and press coverage." Even as late as October of that year, the magazine was reporting that Simple Simon and the Piemen were getting set for a two-month tour, with gigs scheduled as far away as Newfoundland.
There was allegedly even a US release planned for the sizeable Kapp label, but it doesn't seem to have come to fruition. Since then, 'People of Time' has found its way onto several compilations, including 1983's sought-after Nightmares from the Underworld Vol. 1 and more recently on the swell Mind Blowers Volume 11 CD in 2005. Originals come up for sale from time to time and are not that expensive, about a hundred bucks for a decent copy.
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