add Tandy to their line-up as a keyboardist, when Burton fractured his shoulder, Tandy switched to bass for a few gigs and TV shows, and left to join The Uglys upon Burton's recovery. After a fight onstage with Bevan at a show in Sweden, Burton quit the band to pursue a blues career. Burton was replaced on bass by Rick Price. Later career Burton was rumoured to be forming a new group with Noel Redding, who, like Burton, was a guitarist who had switched to bass. Burton and Redding shared an apartment in London at that time, and Roy Wood suspected the prospect of forming a band with Redding had encouraged Burton in his decision to leave the Move. However, nothing came of this. Burton jammed with members of Traffic and became a friend of Steve Winwood, and almost joined Blind Faith in 1969. He later said that he "nearly got the job on bass – Steve wanted me, I think," but Ginger Baker wanted Ric Grech instead. Burton then teamed up with Steve Gibbons, who fronted the long-established Birmingham group The Uglys. Burton and Gibbons, along with Uglys' rhythm section Keith Smart and Dave Morgan, plus keyboardist Richard Tandy created a Birmingham supergroup to be named Balls. Balls was managed by one-time Moody Blues/Move manager Tony Secunda. Following in the trend of Chris Blackwell's Traffic, Secunda arranged for the new group to "get it together" in the country at a rented cottage on the Berkshire Downs and also hired Traffic's record producer Jimmy Miller for the group's recording sessions. With Secunda arranging a large Malcolm McLaren style cash advance from the record company, the group started to compose and record new material while playing a few local gigs. Morgan left during the summer of 1969, to be replaced by Denny Laine, ex-singer/guitarist of The Moody Blues. But Balls split at the end of 1969, with Tandy joining The Move (for live gigs only), then Electric Light Orchestra, and Smart eventually joining Wizzard. Balls reconvened as a quartet the following summer, with Laine, Burton, former Plastic Ono Band drummer Alan White and vocalist Jackie Lomax. Lomax was soon replaced by the returning Gibbons, and ex-Spooky Tooth drummer Mike Kellie replaced White in January 1971. The group's only release was a single that came out on Tony Secunda's Wizard record label in January 1971 and was re-issued under Burton's name in