Responsible for the first English-language version of '60s chestnut "Let's Live for Today," British group the Living Daylights recorded an album of rugged freakbeat and groovy post-beat pop in 1967 that was relegated to the dustbin -- save for the occasional appearance of a song on an obscure compilation now and then -- until it was reissued in 2022 as Let's Live for Today: The Complete Recordings. The band came together when two groups who were the toast of the Essex town of Harlow joined forces. Both the Naturals and the Guyatones built a large following with their beat group stylings; the former got as far as scoring a recording contract and releasing a few singles. One of them, 1964's "I Should Have Known Better" almost broke into the Top 20, while another featured the first cover of a Pete Townshend composition ("It Was You"). By the time 1967 rolled around and the beat boom was giving way to freakbeat and psychedelia, the Naturals had broken up and the Guyatones were looking for a change. Their core membership (guitarist Garth Watt-Roy, bassist Norman Watt-Roy, and drummer Ron Prudence) welcomed refugees from the Naturals (vocalist Bob O'Neale and guitarist Dougie Ellis) into the fold. Rechristened the Living Daylights, they were taken under the wing of legendary publisher Dick James, signed to Phillips, and sent to the studio with producer Caleb Quaye. The song "Let's Live for Today" had been a hit for the Rokes in Italy, and James was looking to replicate that success in the U.K.; therefore, the Living Daylights were given the song -- with newly written English lyrics -- to record as their first single. They turned in an energetic take but were pipped to the post by a newly recorded version by the Rokes in the U.K., then a version by the Grass Roots in the U.S. The Daylights' version did make a few inroads in New York thanks to some support from Murray the K, but the main benefit the band received for their efforts was the opportunity to cut an album. Mixing together some catchy Garth Watt-Roy originals that leaned in the chunky freakbeat direction, a couple of Beatles covers (picked since James owned the publishing rights), and a song penned by Quaye (the melancholy post-beat ballad "Cos I'm Lonely"), the album was finished in mid-1967 and quickly pressed up on acetate. While it never made it to record store shelves, a handful of songs were released on a French EP and the song "Always with Him" came out as a single later that year. The band continued to play live shows, hoping for a break that would inspire their label to issue their finished album. It wasn't to be, though, and the group broke up in early 1968. The two Watt-Roy brothers and Prudence continued on together under the name the Greatest Show on Earth, signing to Harvest and making music in a more progressive vein. Once that band folded, the Watt-Roy brothers stayed active in the music business: Garth notably played in Fuzzy Duck, and Norman was a member of Ian Dury & the Blockheads and a session bassist. Songs by the Living Daylights began turning up on collections of British freakbeat and psych starting in 1984, with "Let's Live for Today" and "Always with Him" appearing on the first volume of the Rubble series, The Psychedelic Snarl. A song here and there was all anyone could hear of the full album until Grapefruit Records released Let's Live for Today: The Complete Recordings in 2022. It included liner notes that told the full story of the band alongside remastered mono and stereo versions of the lost freakbeat classic. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi