Tomorrow

Overview

Tomorrow existed under that name for only part of 1967, but their two Parlophone singles and one delayed album preserve a complete version of London psychedelic rock: melodic, rhythmically forceful and constructed in the studio without losing the snap of a live quartet. “My White Bicycle” links a countercultural idea to reversed guitar and compressed drums; “Revolution” answers with a harder riff and collective chorus.

The group’s later fame is often reduced to Steve Howe’s move to Yes or drummer Twink’s work with The Pretty Things. The recordings deserve their own history. Keith West and Ken Burgess wrote much of the melodic material, Howe treated guitar tone as part of composition, Junior Wood and Twink gave the songs physical momentum, and producer Mark Wirtz turned those elements into densely layered pop.

Formation & History

Tomorrow developed from the In Crowd, a London beat and soul group that had released three Parlophone singles in 1965. Singer Keith West, guitarist Steve Howe and bassist John “Junior” Wood were joined by drummer John “Twink” Alder as the music and stage presentation turned psychedelic. Producer Mark Wirtz, already working with Howe, took a particular interest in “My White Bicycle”; the recording was made at EMI in March 1967 and released by Parlophone in May.

The band performed at underground venues and recorded the first session broadcast by John Peel on BBC Radio 1 in September 1967. That month Parlophone issued “Revolution” with “Three Jolly Little Dwarfs” on the reverse. At the same time, Wirtz’s studio project “Excerpt from A Teenage Opera,” sung by West and featuring Howe, became a British No. 2 hit. The solo success redirected attention toward West while Tomorrow’s own releases remained commercially marginal.

The quartet separated before its album reached shops in February 1968. Twink and Wood made one single as the Aquarian Age; Twink then joined The Pretty Things during S. F. Sorrow. Howe worked with West again, formed Bodast and joined Yes in 1970. The delayed LP therefore documents a finished group language rather than the beginning of a career.

Sound & Style

“My White Bicycle” begins with Twink’s urgent drum pattern before reversed guitar, whistles and layered voices make the track feel as if it is moving in two directions at once. The words refer to the Amsterdam Provo movement’s White Bicycle Plan, so the studio effects reinforce an image of public freedom rather than decorating an unrelated novelty lyric.

The album varies that design. “Real Life Permanent Dream” uses vocal harmony and sitar-like guitar colour; “Revolution” is built around Howe’s intricate electric riff; “Auntie Mary’s Dress Shop” turns English character comedy into a theatrical miniature. The cover of “Strawberry Fields Forever” is heavier and more guitar-led than The Beatles’ recording. Wirtz’s keyboards and production expand the sound, but the rhythmic identity remains that of West, Howe, Wood and Twink.

Why They Still Matter

Tomorrow matter because their surviving catalogue connects the live force of freakbeat to the constructed possibilities of British psychedelic pop. Wirtz’s effects are inseparable from the compositions, yet the recordings still reveal four musicians responding to one another. That balance keeps “My White Bicycle” and “Revolution” vivid after their immediate London-underground setting has receded.

The group also supplies an important prehistory for several later careers without being reducible to them. Howe’s command of texture and counterpoint precedes Yes, while Twink’s drumming leads directly toward The Pretty Things and the Pink Fairies. More importantly, West, Burgess, Wood and Wirtz help define a compact one-album language whose melodic intelligence survives the period whimsy.