Jimmy James & The Vagabonds

The Vagabonds, a Jamaican calypso outfit, had been together since 1960, but it wasn't until their singer Jimmy James moved the band to London in 1964 that things started to happen. Already a star in his native Jamaica, James' vocal dexterity provided the perfect foil for the high-octane performances of their MC Count Prince Miller. The band immediately attracted the attention of mod impressario Peter Meaden, who was licking his wounds following his inopportune displacement by the mercurial Lambert and Stamp in The Who camp. Meaden envisaged an authentic mod band, in a way that The Who could never be - black! 

Guy Stevens chose the songs for Meaden, and The Vagabonds delivered. The album 'A New Religion' spelt out Meaden's mod manifesto for the new generation, and the band became a live sensation. But chart hits proved hard to come by. The Vagabonds’ mod contemporaries were discovering their own songwriting voice, and whilst the Vags remained a big live draw, the lack of chart success eventually split the band.

Jimmy James, however, went back to basics. He recruited a new set of Vagabonds; some of the finest British soul musicians answered the call. Herb Prestige and John Roberts stepped across from The Ram Jam Band and were joined by David Tedstone and Art Regis from The Squires. 

The session on this EP was recorded in late 1967 and is taken from the original quarter inch tape – only recently rediscovered by guitarist Dave Tedstone. She’s Looking Good, the Albert Collins classic. Aunt Dora’s Soul Shack, Arthur Conerly's dancer. Soul Sister, Brown Sugar, the Sam and Dave raver and Why (Must I) the classy soul grover. 

The latest in the run of rare EPs in the Acid Jazz Records rare mod series. 

Check it.

    

Galliano and JTQ

The Acid Jazz Records 25^th Anniversary re-issue series continues with two uber rare seven inch singles. Galliano – Frederic Lies Still and JTQ’s – Blow Up.

Galliano were formed in 1987, a time when House music was becoming ever more prominent, and the Rare Groove scene really started to develop. The group was founded by new-age rapper and jazz poet Rob Gallagher, who had been broadcasting on pirate radio and performing at Gilles Peterson’s Babylon Club. This is where he first started to use the jazz and rare groove sounds that were played there as a musical background for his poetry. Rob traced his influences directly back to The Last Poets, bringing a purity into his raps that easily made him stand out from the crowd.

Frederic Lies Still is a play on Freddie’s Dead from the Superfly soundtrack with Rob Gallagher’s rapping redefining the idea of poetry.

The track was the first ever 45 released on Acid Jazz Records (originally released as a fake US import, which fooled many a reviewer), marking the beginning of a new musical era. Their sound defined the feel of the time, and the band enjoyed a productive relationship with producer Chris Bangs throughout the late 80s and early 90s, establishing themselves as first-class act of global proportions.

The late and great Radio 1 DJ, John Peel, once described JTQ’s Blow Up as his favorite single, Ex-Prisoners, The James Tayor Quartet were the epitome of the early Acid Jazz sound.

This version of the theme from Antonioni’s classic mod film Blow Up is coupled with the Jazz standard One Mint Julep, both of which also feature on JTQ’s debut album Mission Impossible.

The James Taylor Quartet’s first ever recording was also the first record ever to be labeled Acid Jazz and became a template for what was to follow.

Two more to collect and others to follow.

Brand New Heavies - BNH

The Brand New Heavies began in the 1980s as an instrumental group called Brother International. The group came up with the Heavies name, borrowing it from a liner note by James Brown. The original line-up consisted of Simon Bartholomew, Jan Kincaid, Andrew Levy, Lascelles Gordon and Jim Wellman. As The Brand New Heavies they quickly gained a cult following in the London club scene as Acid Jazz replaced Rare Groove in the venues around the capital.

Newly signed to Acid Jazz Records, the band released their debut album in 1990, with Jay Williamson as lead singer, to critical acclaim. Known as ‘the blue album’ or ‘the elephant album‘ to fans, ‘The Brand New Heavies’ LP was a groundbreaking British Funk release and the springboard to world-wide success for this Ealing band. Featuring such classics as Dream Come True and Stay This Way (both to later achieve Top 40 status for the band), it is an early classic of UK Street Soul.

This is the first vinyl repressing since 1996 and the second of the 180g vinyl reissue series to celebrate Acid Jazz Records 25th Anniversary.

 

JTQ - Mission Impossible

Proudly independent record label Acid Jazz Records are celebrating their 25^th anniversary this year. Having played a major part in shaping the musical landscape of the nineties and onwards, Acid Jazz aim to commemorate their quarter of a century with a bang! The campaign to honour the label’s varied and influential history will get underway in July with the first of numerous re-releases of classic albums and singles from throughout its past. The albums will be on 180g heavy-weight vinyl, while the singles come in a classic Acid Jazz housebag. This series will once again underline the legendary status of the acts and tracks featured.

 

1985, Medway: The band, who - according to the NME - recorded the 38th most important British album of all time, The Prisoners, had split. Stiff Records had gone bankrupt the week they released The Prisoners’ final album, In From The Cold and that was the final blow...

Three weeks later, organist James Taylor had recruited fellow ex-Prisoner Allan Crockford to help form his next project THE JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET. A 7” single, Blow Up, quickly followed - immediately pounced upon by John Peel (the track featured in his annual top 50 countdown for four years), and became an indie smash - peel pushed the band and the establishment followed, securing JTQ’s status as the band who reinvented the Hammond organ.

JTQ’s debut album Mission Impossible, an album of interpretations of film and TV themes, features both tracks from their first single, as well as a whole host of other smart Hammond groovers, which re-defined the term cool and put the band and their record label firmly on the musical map.

Historic.