Stakes And Chips (studio album)
by The Roulettes

heir sound has developed in a direction similar to that of the Zombies.
The Roulettes were undoubtedly one of the best-playing British bands of the early 1960's. They had the potential of making it very big. This unfortunately never happened. They only released one album in their own name + a dozen of fine singles.They had released one single on Pye Records in 1962, and after having left Parlophone in 1967 they released two more singles for Fontana. These recordings are not included here; I'm not sure they have ever been released on CD, but apart from those 6 songs this CD contains all what they released in their own name ( their Parlophone material ).

In 1964-65 the music-press predicted them a big break through, and they nearly did make it with their second single "Bad Time", which was a minor hit and which is now considered a beat-classic of the 60's.

They were actually the backing band of singer Adam Faith, and they only recorded in their own name more or less just for fun. They were all very competent musicians and though they were young they had already years of musical experience. Best known are Bob Henrit and Russ Ballard, who would later join Chris White and Rod Argent in the latter days Zombies, which would eventually turn into "Argent"

The Roulettes also played a very big role in the recordings of another 1960's act "Unit 4+2". They played on many of their recordings, and when the Roulettes disbanded in 1967 Argent and Henrit joined Unit 4+2 for a short period. Unit 4+2 recorded two albums, but these records have not aged nearly as well, as the terrific recordings of the Roulettes. It`s hard to understand how this exceptionally talented band could be ignored by the majority of the record-buying public.

"The Tracks of My Tears" is simply outstanding; "The Long Cigarette" and "Bad Time" are great. In fact, there are no weak tracks at all. Give this CD a chance - I`m sure you`ll never regret it.