by Robert Wilkinson
Kicking off our musical Sunday, we have the drummer on some of the great tunes of our times!
Bob Henrit (2 May 1944) was a drummer for Buster Meikle & The Daybreakers, The Roulettes, Unit 4 + 2, Argent and The Kinks. While the last two groups are well known, the Roulettes backed Adam Faith, and the Unit 4+2 was an obscure British Invasion group that was a one hit wonder. But what a hit it was!
About the Unit 4+2, from wiki: “In 1962, Brian Parker, then the guitar player and songwriter with The Hunters, decided to form his own vocal harmony group. He asked his friend David 'Buster' Meikle to join him. They asked singer Tommy Moeller and Peter Moules, who were at school together, to join their group which they called Unit 4.
Unit 4 was later joined by Russ Ballard on guitar and Robert 'Bob' Henrit on drums (forming the + 2) for a six piece, four-part vocal harmony group. Moeller was lead singer and frontman, from the first show as the Unit 4 vocal group to the last show as Unit 4 + 2 as vocal group with instruments. Due to ill-health and a dislike of performing live, Brian Parker left the band, but remained involved as co-songwriter with Tommy Moeller for all of the band's original recordings…”
Of course, Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit went on to join Rod Argent and found the band Argent, one of the great rock and roll groups of the 70s, and after that Bob went on to drum for the Kinks in the late 80s through the 90s. So today we have a broad spectrum of this man's drumming across the years.
Here’s the Unit 4+2's biggest! Bob was the session drummer for the studio version. From 1965, (with the briefest nod to the drummer who doesn’t seem to be Bob), the Unit 4+2 lip synching the very bouncy “Concrete and Clay.”
From 1965, a ridiculous “live in the music instrument store” video of a song that isn’t quite ready for prime time, “Never Been in Love Like This Before”
From 1964, their first hit, which is clearly Brit proto-folk. "The Green Fields"Their second record, “Sorrow and Pain”
Here’s a live performance of their version of the Bob Dylan standard “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”
From earlier in his career backing Adam Faith with the Roulettes (who had a young Russ Ballard on guitar and keyboards!), the smash hit of 1964 “It’s All Right”
From late 1963, a typical UK “Merseybeat” offer as the Beatles broke big! “We Are In Love”This year I found a live performance on UK tv of their late 1963 tune “Hallelujah I Love Her So”
A strange live “performance” on television of “Leave My Woman Alone”
Another "big one," “You’ve Got A Way With Me”
Moving into his very successful career with Argent, here's a sample of his drumming live on the Midnight Special tv show pounding out “Hold Your Head Up”
This year the whole 45 minute show of Argent on the Midnight Special - 1973 has disappeared.
From 1972 on German tv, "Liar"
From 1973 on the Old Grey Whistle Test television show, Argent doing the anthemic “God Gave rock and Roll To You”
For his studio work, here’s Argent’s first album Argent (1970)
Their breakthrough third album All Together Now (1972)
And here’s their brilliant fourth album, worth every minute of your time! In Deep (1973)
We’ll finish his Argent set with an entire 45 minute show! Last year it was all on one clip, but this year it’s on 3. When the first is done, the second autoloads. Going back to 1973, at their peak, here’s Argent on Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert - 1973
We’ll close this tribute with 5 tunes he was on during his time with the Kinks, who he joined in 1985!
Here’s a great live performance from 1986 of “How Are You”
Live on The Tube in 1987, “Lost and Found”
Here’s the official 1989 music video for one of the best tunes Ray ever wrote, the hard rocking “How Do I Get Close?”
For our closer, a 1994 live performance on Children In Need of “All The Day and All the Night”
The encore? What else but a 1994 live performance on The Steve Wright Show of “You Really Got Me.”
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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