Entertainment For Lively Minds
Jess Roden - what a great singer - do you remember him?
Cherry Red/Lemon are releasing a Best Of Jess Roden later this month, bringing Jess's music back in circulation after far too many years. One of the UK's finest singers, Jess has worked with The Meters, The Doors (ex Jim), Keef Hartley, Robert Palmer, Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Grace Jones (Pull Up To The Bumper !!) and countless others.
I've been in touch recently with guitarist Steve Webb who, together with John Cartwright wrote and recorded many of the Jess Roden Band's finest songs. Steve has an album of unreleased JRB songs - recorded immediately following the first Jess Roden album - but rejected by Island as being "too American" - they were sent back into the studio and came out with the much less US sounding "Leave Your Hat On" - you can hear the unreleased album tracks on the JRB myspace page : www.myspace.com/thejessrodenband (they are just great !!) and some different tracks can be found & downloaded at Steve's own web site (in the download section !) at www.webbsongs.com
Steve has a myspace presence at www.myspace.com/stevewebbsongs and John at www.myspace.com/courtofmiracles - check 'em out - Steve is still very active & based in Norway I think.
On Jess - he released the "Humans" album in the 90's - prompted by old mate Jim Capaldi - and I saw him play at an old converted cinema in Worcester with the band - and again at the Robin where they recorded the follow up live album - something happened to him after those gigs, exhaustion I think (he put a hell of a lot into those shows - some very powerful blues/rock - some great Neil Young covers - looked like his head was about to explode on "Rockin In The Free World" - I heard he ended up in Dudley hospital (not a great place to end a musical career) ... then returned to his new life in Graphic Design.
I'd love to know if he has plans for promoting this new release - and maybe finally get "The Player Not The Game" one of my all time favorite albums on CD at long last.
... maybe even Steve's stash of unreleased recordings will make it out as an "extras" package ???
Listen up & buy in May - you wont go wrong
All the best - Julian
(My own band The Cohen Brothers www.myspace.com/thecohenbrothers cover Jess's "Me & Crystal Eye" - and the kids love it !!)
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Blowin'
Got this live album lurking around somewhere - includes the best version of 'Desperado' by anyone, anywhere.
You've inspired me to dig it out...
Blowin'
Yes, its damn fine - there was a BBC b'bast that I have on CD as well which had a fantastic version on it too - should still be available from one of the online music shops
J
I was just thinking of Bronco earlier this evening
Jess Roden was in Bronco wasn't he? Are their two albums on CD yet?
Bronco on CD
Yes they are - I cant remember where I got mine from as they are not UK releases - its a 2-on-1 CD - SpinCD's in Newcastle maybe able to help ..... careful if you look on Amazon as there is another Bronco which is a Country band (not our Jess !!)
There's some info here - the reviewer rubbishes the CD, but I think it sounds fine !
http://www.discogs.com/Bronco-Country-Home-Ace-Of-Sunlight/release/13660...
Cheers
J
Thanks
Good news! I'll check it out.
They do at Wolfgang's Vault...
He's one of this week's featured concert streams.
Recorded at the Hippodrome Theatre, 1974
brilliant
Thanks Seamus - I missed this one - brilliant !
J
Excellent
Obdwella mentioned Jess in the Singers Who Can Really Sing thread back in March. I responded by asking what had happened to him.
So it's really goos to hear there's something new (albeit old) to listen to. I'll be giving it a listen later.
listen to Steve Webbe's unreleased JRB album
..... its just great - some tracks on myspace page .. others for free download on his web site
Cheers
J
jess
was also the singer who replaced Robert Palmer in the Alan Bown Set another great hard gigging band of the sixties
Partial (?) Discography
Great to see a long overdue Jess lovefest going on. Fed up of waiting for CD releases I digitised my fave Jess albums a while ago. By the way good luck with finding the Bronco CD! Just thought I'd post a list of all the albums that I'm aware of where Jess was the main vocalist:-
Bronco:
Country Home
Ace of Sunlight
Jess Roden Band:
Keep Your Hat On
Play It Dirty, Play It Class
Blowin'
Live at the BBC
The Rivits:
Multiplay
Jess Roden & The Humans:
Jess Roden & The Humans
Live At The Robin
Jess Roden:
Jess Roden
The Player Not The Game
Stone Chaser
I know he guested on a few projects as Julian said. Any one care to expand the list?
By the way the Steve Webb site may be the only way to get hold of the exquisite single-only release "Under Suspicion".
torrent!
torrent! torrent!
Just popped into existence
Demonoid members searching for "Jess Roden Vinyl Rips" should find what they're looking for.
Ooo thank you thank you
Any details about the provenance, bit rate, etc would be most welcome :-)
Under Suspicion
Its on the US release of the "Jess Roden" CD !!
J
The Butts Band
Oops! Forget about the first Butts Band album (which is/was available on CD as part of "The Complete Recordings" which puts both of their albums on one CD. Jess is not on the second album.)
also
I have the Butts Band on CD and the recent CD release of Keef Hartleys Lancashire Hustler .... bad news is I dont use Demonoid or p2p - swapshop ?
J
I saw Jess play at university,
and have been a fan ever since; those unreleased "too American" tracks are funky as hell. Kokomo would have given their back teeth to swing like that, and it's punchier than The Average White Band. Will those tracks get a release in a decent lossless format?
Blowin' - two versions?
My vinyl copy of Blowin' has the following tracklisting:
Big Sally
In a Circle
Desperado
Crystal Eye
Blowin'
Jump Mama
Blowin' (Reprise) - not credited on the sleeve.
The only references I can find to the album on t'interweb show 'I Can't Get Next To You' replacing 'Desperado' - were there two versions of the album, or was the original version replaced with a revised tracklisting? Did Messrs Henley and Frey take offence?
Anyone know?
Bless You
Julian - this is what the Word Massive is for! This band were one of the great British bands of the 70's. As we used to say back then - "Proper, proper band." Their version of Al Green's version of the Temptation's version (stick with me) of 'Can't Get Next To You' is the single greatest live recording I own.I saw Jess & The Humans in '95 in a pub in Covent Garden. The band was blistering and the boy was in fine form but I think there was only about 12 people who had a clue who he was - the rest of the place was full of tossers talking about funding their hedges. Little did we know! God, I loved this band. I remember I was working in a warehouse and hearing they'd split on the Radio 1 news (can't think why they were featured as no one else we knew had ever heard of them!). I was 20 years old and I shed a tear, they were that good. My mate Des will be the happiest man on the planet when I send him this link. Thanks Julian - we owe you a huge vat of Youngs Light & Bitter if we ever meet.
here's to Des
Mate - its a pleasure ! ..... btw that not "the" Des is it ??
J
Doh!
I don´t, no. Never even heard of him. And he´s not on Spotify.
Jess Roden
I've been singing this guys praises for many many years now. He was a massive influence on me as pro musician starting out back in the 70's, and I started a blog thread dedicated to him over 2 years ago, that has had thousands of hits. its full of links and chat and interesting rarities about Jess. Check it out!
http://musiquarium.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/unsung-heroes-no1-jess-roden...
great blog
Kev - I think I happened upon your blog a year of so ago - many thanks for keeping the fire burning.
I thought I would post this blog to raise awareness of the Best Of CD and the vain hope that Messers Hepworth & Ellen may include a Jess article to tie in with the release ..... so keep this Word blog going !
Cheers
J
Jess
We can always hope, Julian! Great to see someone else raising his profile - the more people that discover him through the new "best of" the better, along with Robert Palmer, Winwood, and Rogers, he's a national treasure.
Jess - Winwood - The Cohens = life !
I grew up in Brum - and some 30+ yrs ago used to go to see a local band called "Slender Loris" - when they split the singer & drummer formed "The Italians" who used to cover Jess, Palmer, Bill Withers, JJ Cale, Little Feat - and that got me & my mates into the great music that we have found ourselves returning to today.
Back in the day, we formed a band - and 30 years on me & the drummer have got back together - doing Jess's "Crystal Eye" - Winwoods "Dirty City" - some Marc Cohn (hence the name The Cohen Brothers www.myspace.com/thecohenbrothers - I was forced to accept an "e"!) - and some of our own tunes, to be recorded in about a month.
Now Jess is having a retrospective released, I'm 50, I'm in a great band - I'm conversing with ex Jess Roden Band members via myspace - Slender Loris have reformed & been to see us play & things seem oddly right - best make the most of it, I think !
J
Jess Roden Island Retrospective
I for my sins am responsible for the track listing choices on the new album to be released in May. Having seen the JRB on Sight and Sound in Concert on BBC 2 back in the 70,s I was hooked and have been a fan ever since with a great collection of cd and vynil.
I was contacted by Michael Heatley who was the instigator of this album release and asked me to give him 18 tracks from the Island collection for this retrospective.
Being a bit stunned as I was already using Kev Moore,s blog and thought that this may not happen.
Well some months later here we are with the release due 18th May.
As with personal choices the listing may not suit all fans taste but it,s a start and hopefully when released all true fans will buy it,so put the word around that this is out.
Next hopefully should be ths album that never was that Steve Webb has on his web site, so if the first one is a success we should push for a second.
Get the word out loud so that people who have not heard any of this stuff can be educated to one of the best rock/blues voices around.
Regards
Brian French
worked with jess extensively
worked with jess extensively during my own island days and would be really interested / intrigued in the track listing you've come up with.
by the way... to add to the other 'posters' above... a couple of additions... jess sang back-ups on grace jones' pull up to the bumper... plus was featured vox on paul kossof's back street crawler solo release... just two off the op of my head but there are others.
have a number of old live tapes (all on cassette) as direct desk-feeds... some of the london / marquee shows were stunning and whoever's posted notes about desperado and can't get next to you - absolutely correct, some of the best live versions ever...
if anyone knows the wherabouts of bruce roberts... be great to know; we lost touch too long ago... (southampton maybe?).
plus... the iguana album... the band from which most of jess' band came (barring billy livesey and jess himself)... can't imagine thats on cd but the vinyl well worth searching out.
and... did someone say that the bronco albums are now as one on cd...? wow, that'd be superb.
the singer who should've but, sadly, never quite did... one of the truly GREAT voices from the last howevermany years...
neil storey
happy to oblige
Neil - re: Bruce, you could try steve webbe via myspace or John Cartwright via myspace - they both pick up messages regularly, I seem to remember Steve commented to me a year or so ago that he had lost touch with Bruce too, but he was seen playing in a band in Southampton.
Those tapes sound very interesting ??!!
As the Bronco doesn't seem to be on general release I'd be happy to copy the CD for you if you e-mail me off blog at julian_crook@yahoo.com or via my myspace www.myspace.com/thecohenbrothers
J
how very Desperado !
Brian - nice compilation !!
My intro to Jess was also via the Sight & Sound gig and then a local band covering some JRB tunes .... I also won tickets from our local independent radio BRMB to see the band at Bham Town HAll and I'm pretty sure thats the show that ended up on the Blowin' album (including Desperado)
I have a confession - I saw Jess in come-back at the Northwick (?) in Worcester just before the Humans album came out - he sang Desperado (accapella as usual) - well, one too many beers for me and he hits the "let somebody love you" .... and I sing my heart out from the back of the hall in response - thinking, of course that everyone else would be too (at least 30 of us !) - did they hell, but he did comment back mid-song - "hey cool" or something similar.
I even got to talk to him afterwards - when I say talk it was of course pure gibberish at my end, as my band mate Pete will tell you - Pete just walked me away and Jess looked rather uncomfortable .... never good to meet your heroes when you're a little silly !
Oh well - nice compilation you have made - mine is on order from Spin CD's in Newcastle as they were kind enough to highlight it on their weekly mail-out
One question - why, oh why choose "Deeper in Love" and not the fabulous "Bird Of Harlem" ... Deeper is one of the only stinkers I think he has made - "Hold Me Close" by ~David Essex always comes to mind when I hear it - guess that makes it memorable thought
That "lost" Steve Webb album is just fabulous - so much better than the production of Keep Your Hat On ! it would be brilliant to get it released
Thanks for the post & thanks for keeping the Jess flag flying !
(is he having any involvement in this re-issue ?)
J
Compilation
J,
Have been in touch with Jess,s brother Nick and Jess is aware of the activity around this release as well as the growing interest that all the blogs are showing.
Frenchy
Contemporary Jess ?
I remember first writing into Q many, many years ago when they used to run a "where are they now" spot - god knows when this would have been - certainly pre-internet & definately in the first couple of years of the magazine & I was astounded at the interest still shown back then - I really hope our continued support helps to show Jess that he's still remembered, still thought of fondly and still an artist that we would like to hear some new contemporary material from ...... hell, I'd love to write him a song !
Since "The Player" I've always thought it would be great to hear a jazz album from him - or a nu-folk album - rediscovering the Bronco roots maybe - its a massive market out there for folk & jazz and a much less strenuous one than the hard blues he tried with The Humans .... maybe you could mention it in your next contact !
J
Bronco
Neil,
Got Bronco album on cd Country Home/Ace of Sunlight.
If you need a copy let me know on frenchyb53@aol.com.
Regards
Frenchy
Track listing on the following link.
http://www.spincds.com/product.asp?id=9020267
Was he not..
...at one point the Doors first choice to replace Mojo Morrison? If he was, why did he not get the gig?
The Butts Band
Well he kind of did get the gig - it was the Butts Band - The Doors ex Jim san Jess - but not really Doors as you may know them ... me, I love the album - what a time, Robert Palmer was equally set to become Little Feats front man after Lowell passed on .... these 2 guys are the best vocalists this country has produced - nice to find us all singing their praises now !
Cheers
J
Certainly do remember him...
...right back to the Alan Bown Set days - great vocalist and very under-rated I think, definitely a (if not THE) British 'blue eyed soul singer! Have seen him sing live quite a few times with various bands up until the 80's.
Now there's a name from the past...
His first/eponymous solo album on Island contains an absolutely glorious version of On Broadway which I understand was popular with Gilles Peterson et al at one point. I used to DJ at a couple of North London hostelries which were fortunate enough to be generously served by natural light during the summer, and it used to sound particularly good just as the sun was beginning to set over Stamford Hill.
He also did a bit of vocal work with Stomu Yamashita's Go Too cosmic/prog supergroup thingy, but I haven't listened to that album for a few years, so I can't be sure to what extent he's involved.
On Broadway
Hi there - "On Broadway" was a massive fave of mine from that first album - we used to play his arrangement (without strings !!) in the band I had in 1979 ! - we were 20 & totally out of sync with the UK music market - didn't care then - dont care now ! - didn't make me a punk back then, does it now ??
Cheers
J