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'The only way to combat silliness is with cleverer silliness'... EM Forster |
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Recorded live on tour in 1975, this is the only documentation of the legendary Jet support slot to Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. Featuring their complete set from the Bristol Colston Hall, and bonus tracks from the Hammersmith Odeon. Jet's studio album is still not available on CD, thanks to the prejudice of the tea-ladies at BMG, who inherited the album from CBS. So this - 'Some Flotsam' - is the next best thing. Many of the tunes from the album are here, along with a few oddities like ‘Horrible Breath’, a Marc Bolan tune that would later end up as the b-side to the Radio Stars single 'Nervous Wreck'. Perhaps fortunately, there are no extreme examples of rumpy-pumpy, as the band was naturally aware of the rumpy-tolerance levels of their fans, even in the heady days of the mid 70s. Recorded over two nights at the Hammersmith Odeon and the Bristol Colston Hall, you can compare alternative version of the same tunes. What drugs had various band members consumed between the London and Bristol performances of ‘Horrible Breath’? And where can I get some? The release is sourced from a soundboard recording. Over at Martin Gordon's site, you can find such essential background information as the press release and track listing, the words and, for those with a firm grasp of reality and a strong stomach, the background to the whole affair. Download only - here's Amazon, here's iTunes. And many more. |
Jet was the legendary link between John's Children and punk, when glamour was king and the sparkly bandwagon rolled merrily on without so much as a hint of safety pin through its cheek. Formed by former Sparks bassist Martin Gordon, Andy Ellison from John's Children (and later with Radio Stars) was vocalist, Chris Townson was on drums and guitar was provided by the semi-legendary Davey O’List, who had been in the Nice, Roxy Music and a raft of other bands. (He had also depped for Syd Barrett during that other bonkers legend’s last days in the Pink Floyd). Keyboard duties fell to Sir ‘Peter’ Oxendale. They looked like a gang of glam anteaters – well, some of them, at least. Queen's producer Roy Thomas Baker produced their solitary album; it was critically savaged at the time but has subsequently become a cult classic. Jet's album emerged once more, blinking into the light of the 21st century. Participants in this excruciating soap opera are Andy Ellison, Martin Gordon, Davey O'List, Chris Townson, producer Roy Thomas Baker, engineer/fork soloist Gary Lyons and assistant Gary Langan. A re-written track-by-track commentary is also stuffed in there. It was re-released by Radiant Future in 2003 but was withdrawn following the arrival of a large individual waving a big stick, late one night... But now, it is officially available once more, on RPM Records, along with an expanded second CD entitled 'Even More Light Than Shade', and a booklet, and essays and out-takes, and unheard tracks, and stuff about how he knew Spike Milligan and is still pink, and more... Demented? You will be. 'Even More Light' is available to download just back there, whereas the 'Jet' download is still being batted around the boardroom. O'ELP, as has been said before. |
'More Light Than Shade' is the collection of almost all the other Jet stuff in existence, also with full lyrics and track-by-track commentary. It includes a full-colour booklet and include lots of previously unpublished, frankly intimate pictures taken at the time, none of which have previously appeared. Demos for the second album, prototypes of Radio Stars tunes and even a few live cuts are recklessly thrown into the super-deluxe collectors edition. Despite the large gentleman from BMG having gone away, at least for the present, this one is either available as a download or as part of the RPM doulbe Jet release, in a somewhat expanded version.
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