Mickey Finn, a band not a person, did a few non-hit singles in Britain in the mid-1960s, a couple of which are highly esteemed by British Invasion collectors. Originally known as Mickey Finn and the Blue Men, the band were also notable for including
Jimmy Page as a member for a while, although only briefly. Whether he was a session man or a full-time member at the time, he probably plays on a few of their records. The best of those is "Night Comes Down" (produced by Shel Talmy), an R&B raver with a cool jazzy tempo and powerful vocal. Also good is "Garden of My Mind," a solid piece of freakbeat psychedelia that was on their last single, in 1967. "Night Comes Down" was reissued on AIP's Electric Sugarcubes Flashback compilation; "Garden of My Mind" and its flipside, "Time to Start Loving You," are on the same label's English Freakbeat Vol. 2; and the 1965 single "This Sporting Life," the other side of "Night Comes Down," is on the See For Miles anthology The R&B Scene. ~ Richie Unterberger