Mal & the Spirits were a footnote in the convoluted story of the Primitives, the obscure British R&B-mod-rock band that are fairly well remembered by intense British Invasion collectors due to the high quality of some of their releases. Mal & the Spirits' lead singer was Mal Ryder, who would join the Primitives in mid-1965, after the Primitives had already done a couple of singles. Mal & the Spirits did two singles for Decca in 1963-1964 and then moved to Piccadilly for the November 1964 release "Forget It"/"Your Friend." "Forget It" is a competent, generic R&B-pop tune with Ryder's characteristically raw R&B vocals; "Your Friend" is a minor-key beat ballad. Both of these songs have been reissued on the Primitives' Maladjusted compilation. Mal & the Spirits split up in the spring of 1965, around the time, a Mal Ryder solo single appeared. After briefly working with his father in construction, Ryder accepted an invitation to become lead singer of the Primitives, whom he stayed with until the early '70s. ~ Richie Unterberger