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"...Open Up Your Soul..."
Like Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band – Jimmy James And The Vagabonds are held in many British beating hearts with a fondness that hasn’t faltered since their exciting heyday five whole decades ago. Both were top-tier live draws in the late Sixties, both multi-cultural bands bringing Soul Music to a hungry crowd – with a fair dollop of sweaty joyous R&B too. And that’s pretty much what you get here...
Four albums originally on Pye and Marble Arch Records of the UK (two each from 1966 and 1968) pumped up by eight Bonuses lopped on at the end (mostly stand-alone single-sides). This 2CD set certainly represents value for money and comes just in time to celebrate their 50th Anniversary with quality and quantity. Let's get to the Swingin' 6ts and the 'New Religion' of Soul and R&B...
UK released 23 October 2020 (delayed from September 2020) - "The New Religion/Long Swings 'Live At The Marquee Club'/This Is Jimmy James And The Vagabonds/Open Up Your Soul + Bonus Tracks" by JIMMY JAMES And THE VAGABONDS on Beat Goes On BGOCD1432 (Barcode 5017261214324) offers 'Four Albums On Two Discs' Remastered plus Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows:
Disc 1 (76:47 minutes):
1. Ain't Love Good, Ain't Love Proud [Side 1]
2. This Heart Of Mine
3. Do It Right
4. I Gotta Dance To Keep From Cryin'
5. I'm Just A Fool For You Girl
6. Honest I Do
7. Hi Diddley Dee Dum Dum (It's A Good Feelin')
8. People Get Ready [Side 2]
9. The Entertainer
10. Come To Me Softly
11. Little Boy Blue
12. It's Growing
13. Amen
14, Ain't No Big Thing
Tracks 1 to 14 are their debut album "The New Religion" - released December 1966 in the UK on Piccadilly NPL 38027 in Mono and July 1967 in the USA on Atco 33-222 in Mono.
The US LP used different artwork and dropped the song "Honest I Do" from Side 1 making a 13-track LP. It was reissued March 1968 in Stereo on US Atlantic SD 33-222 but this time titled after their latest single - "Come Softly To Me". That second variant also had a different track run (only 12 songs) - to sequence it use:
Side 1: Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7
Side 2: Tracks 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14
15. Ain't Too Proud To Beg
16. I Can't Turn You Loose
17. Amen
18. If I Had A Hammer
19. You Don't Know Like I Know
20. That Driving Beat
21. Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do
22. Sock It To 'Em J.B.
Tracks 15 to 22 are Side 1 only of the LP "London Swings 'Live At The Marquee Club'" - released November 1966 in the UK on Pye NPL 18156 in Mono. The live album was shared with The Alan Bown Set who had seven tracks on Side 2 (no US equivalent of this album)
23. I Feel Alight
24. I Don't Wanna Cry
25. I Can't Get Back Home To My Baby
26. Never Like This Before
27. No Good To Cry
28. You Showed Me The Way
Tracks 23 to 28 are some of the LP "This Is Jimmy James And The Vagabonds" - released early 1968 in the UK on Marble Arch MAL 823 in Mono (no US equivalent). Three tracks have been removed here because they are duplicated with the first pressing of "The New Religion" LP. If you want to sequence the 10-track UK Marble Arch LP "This Is Jimmy James..." use the following Tracks on Disc 1:
Side 1: Tracks 10, 23, 24, 25 and 1
Side 2: Tracks 26, 27, 28, 11 and 7
Disc 2 (52:13 minutes):
1. Wear It On Your Face
2. Red Red Wine
3. Four Walls
4. Courage Ain't Strenght
5. Who Could Be Loving You
6. Cry Like A Baby
7. Good Day Sunshine
8. Open Up Your Soul
9. I Believe
10. Everybody Loves A Winner
11. If You're Gonna Love Me
Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Open Up Your Soul" - released October 1968 in the UK on Pye Records NSPL 18231 in Stereo (No US equivalent)
BONUS TRACKS:
12. Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do - October 1966 UK 45-single on Piccadilly 7N 35349, Non-Album B-side to "Ain't Love Good, Ain't Love Proud
13. I Wanna Be Your Everything - February 1966 UK 45-single on Piccadilly 7N 35298, Non-Album B-side to "I Feel Alright"
14. Hungry For Love - January 1967 UK 45-single on Piccadilly 7N 35360, Non-Album B-side to "I Can't Get Back Home To My Baby"
15. Bumper To Bumper - June 1967 FRENCH 4-Track "No Good To Cry" E.P. on Pye PVN24193, Exclusive Track, Second On Side 1
16. Close The Door
17. Why - Tracks 16 and 17 are the Non-Album A&B-sides of an April 1969 JIMMY JAMES solo 45-single on Pye 7N 17719
18. Better By Far
19. Give Us A Light - Tracks 18 and 19 are the Non-Album A&B-sides of a February 1970 JIMMY JAMES solo 45-single on Pye 7N 17886
The card slipcase that accompanies all those BGO releases lends the double-jewel case 2CD set inside an air of event, whilst Blues and Soul, Mojo and Record Collector contributor CHARLES WARRING gives us his usual thorough appraisal in the chunky 24-page booklet. All the artwork is here as are the liner notes blurbs that accompanied the original British LPs. James' only US release - the first LP which was renamed "Come Softly To Me" on second issue is pictured too. And the great newly Remastered Audio is care of long-standing BGO Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON - tapes licensed from Sanctuary. All good and full of beans...
Jamaican (Michael) Jimmy James already had a career dating back to 1962, 1963 and 1964 with Reggae releases on 45 in the UK (and even a release on Columbia in July of 1965 as JJ and The Vagabonds) - before he finally won over Blighty hearts with his first 7" single as Jimmy James And The Vagabonds on Piccadilly Records - "I Feel Alright" b/w "I Wanna Be Your Everything". Warring tracks the man's near 60-year career (he is now 80) and the (shall we say) healthy competition James had with his main British rival - Geno Washington - both ploughing the same musical turf in London clubs with six-piece bands behind their distinctive vocals. To the music...
The studio debut album tried for two moods – Side 1 the dancer – Side 2 the mellow smoocher. Though in truth both were peopled by grinding Otis Redding type Soul with lashings of Curtis Mayfield via his Impressions songs to smooth out the rough edges ("People Get Ready" and "Amen"). In between he tapped The Dells for "Hi Diddley Di... " and Barrett Strong of Motown fame for the Northern Soul popular "This Heart Of Mine". The one original on Side 2 was his piano and strings "Come Softly To Me" – a shuffling dreamy ballad that had become a No. 44 R&B hit over there in early 1968 – hence their renaming of the band’s American debut LP on Atco after the song.
Whilst "The New Religion" LP sets up things nicely, you get a real inkling of what they were like in their natural habitat – live on Side 1 of he shared "London Swings... " Album – actually issued a month before the studio set but sequenced here as LP No. 2. There is more Otis Redding, more Curtis Mayfield, more Motown in The Temptations opener - but there is also Isaac Hayes via "You Don't Know Like I Know" – the 1966 Sam & Dave classic. The feel of the whole in-yer-face live show is manic brought to a cauldron fever by "Sock It To 'Em J.B." – a suitable end.
I actually sequenced the British LP "This Is Jimmy James And The Vagabonds” from Disc 1 – I used to have it on a bettered Marble Arch LP – and it plays so much better than I remember with its six new tunes sat alongside those oldies but goldies. I have sequenced the numbers up above for info purposes. And although there are moments on the "Open Up Your Soul" album like their cover of the Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham Box Tops hit "Cry Like A Baby" and the William Bell song "Everyone Loves A Winner” – I never really like the Beatles cover or even the catchy "Red Red Wine”. However, I must confess I did not know the B-sides in the Bonus Tracks and "I Wanna Be Your Everything" is very cool. As are those Jimmy James solo 45s that I recall you never saw that much in the shop’s box of Soul 45s.
For sure it is of the time and at times it can feel like Geno did – a glorified covers band that happened to be around at just the right time. But like the Washington platters (also subject to a BGO multiple CD offering in late 2020) - I remember these James LPs with affection and I’m fairly sure that this superb 2CD motherlode from Beat Goes On will make many fans very happy dancing bunnies indeed...
