Jackson Heights
"The Fifth Avenue Bus" 1972
When Keith Emerson disbanded The Nice, Lee Jackson decided to hang up his bass guitar and go back to 'simpler' music. With this in mind he gathered together some musicians he had known for a number of years: Charlie Harcourt, Tommy Sloane and Mario Tapia. The result being the first Jackson Heights album King Progress, on which Jackson sang and played acoustic guitar. The standout tracks are 'Mr Screw' and a reworking of the old Nice song 'The Cry of Eugene'. It did not sell in any great numbers. The band started to drift apart and Jackson's next recruitment began.
Joining him were John McBurnie and Brian Chatton, both multi-instrumentalists. He did not, however, recruit a drummer. The band was now a trio with Jackson playing bass, sounds familiar! McBurnie took over the majority of the writing with all three sharing the vocals and a second Album The Fifth Avenue Bus, was recorded with Mike Giles on drums. At this stage the band was touring as a trio, without a drummer.
Sample pic: Click
"Ragamuffin's Fool" 1972
Undaunted, writing and recording of the next album, with Brian Chatton now contributing to the song writing, began. The resulting album Ragamuffins Fool, was easily their best so far. There was almost a hit single with 'Maureen' and the overall sound was of a band confident in what they were doing. Again most of the drumming was done by Mike Giles. They toured, again without a drummer, and recorded their only Radio One Session in support of the album. It what was becoming inevitable it did not sell.
Sample pic: 1, 2
When Keith Emerson disbanded The Nice, Lee Jackson decided to hang up his bass guitar and go back to 'simpler' music. With this in mind he gathered together some musicians he had known for a number of years: Charlie Harcourt, Tommy Sloane and Mario Tapia. The result being the first Jackson Heights album King Progress, on which Jackson sang and played acoustic guitar. The standout tracks are 'Mr Screw' and a reworking of the old Nice song 'The Cry of Eugene'. It did not sell in any great numbers. The band started to drift apart and Jackson's next recruitment began.Joining him were John McBurnie and Brian Chatton, both multi-instrumentalists. He did not, however, recruit a drummer. The band was now a trio with Jackson playing bass, sounds familiar! McBurnie took over the majority of the writing with all three sharing the vocals and a second Album The Fifth Avenue Bus, was recorded with Mike Giles on drums. At this stage the band was touring as a trio, without a drummer.
Sample pic: Click
"Ragamuffin's Fool" 1972
Undaunted, writing and recording of the next album, with Brian Chatton now contributing to the song writing, began. The resulting album Ragamuffins Fool, was easily their best so far. There was almost a hit single with 'Maureen' and the overall sound was of a band confident in what they were doing. Again most of the drumming was done by Mike Giles. They toured, again without a drummer, and recorded their only Radio One Session in support of the album. It what was becoming inevitable it did not sell.Sample pic: 1, 2
posted by Lizardson at 12:12 AM
4 Comments:
Wow. You're really hard at uploading new albums. How can I ever thank you? There are too many albums that I should try. The more the better, though. I'm always appreciating you dedication and effort. Thanks a billion!
A thousand thanks for these 2 files. I have the first JH album on CD but never got around to these. Now... Can you post any 'Blinky'/Brian Davison's 'Every Which Way' please?
Thank you once again, Michael.
I loved these, thank you so much!
Too beautiful and too exotic album. A soft prog rock, with romantic atmosferes, with layers and layers of soft keyboards and soft voices. In a few words, " bucolic prog"!
Post a Comment
<< Home