“Juicy Lucy” by JUICY LUCY (2010 Esoteric Recordings 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

JUICY LUCY are part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"…Walked 47 Miles Of Barbed Wire…Used A Cobra Snake For A Necktie…"

Sandwiched between "Valentyne Suite" by Colosseum (VO 1) and "Chapter Three" by Manfred Mann (VO 3) - "Juicy Lucy" by JUICY LUCY was only the 2nd album ever released on the then fledgling progressive rock Vertigo Label (famous for its Spiral label design). This reissue is 24-bit newly remastered reissue of that fab boogie-woogie debut LP (it was first put out by Repertoire in 1994) and features a relevant bonus track. It's also available digitally at www.losttunes.com. The quality remaster on this mid-price CD is by BEN WISEMAN at Audio Archiving in London. Here are juicy fruity details...

UK released August 2010 on CD  - "Juicy Lucy" by JUICY LUCY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC2215 (Barcode 5013929731547) is an ‘Expanded Edition’ CD Remaster and breaks down as follows (41:07 minutes):

1. Mississippi Woman

2. Who Do You Love?

3. She’s Mine, She’s Yours

4. Just One Time

5. Chicago North-Western

6. Train

7. Nadine

8. Are You Satisfied

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "Juicy Lucy" released September 1969 in the UK on Vertigo VO 2 (874 901 VTY)

Track 9 “Walking Down The Highway” is the non-album B-side to their debut 7" single "Who Do You Love" (Track 2 on Side 1). It was released 6 February 1970 in the UK on Vertigo V 1 and entered the UK singles chart in late March 1970 at number 28 - eventually rising to Number 14 in mid April. On the strength of that popular rocker the album also belatedly charted in the UK in April 1970 - rising to Number 41.

The 5-piece featured RAY OWENS on Lead Vocals with GLENN ROSS CAMPBELL on Lead Guitar, Mandolin and Vocals [both ex The Misunderstood], NEIL HUBBARD on Guitars, CHRIS MERCER on Saxophones & Keyboards [ex John Mayall's Bluesbreakers], KEITH ELLIS on Bass & Vocals [ex Koobas and Van Der Graaf Generator] and PETE DOBSON on Drums and Percussion.

Sporting one of those gatefold sleeves you never forget - a nude Zelda Plum covered from head to toe in soggy fruit (she turned up at some of the early gigs and danced with the boys as they played the tune) - it promised sleazy Rock’n’Roll your mother would disapprove of. And it delivered in places too - especially when Ray Owens was at the microphone.

But therein lay the problem with this record and this band. With him to the fore, they had the kind of attention-grabbing growling vocalist they needed with a voice that sounded like a cross between Captain Beefheart and the US DJ Wolfman Jack. But of its 8 tracks only "Mississippi Woman" and "Who Do You Love" featured Owen on Lead Vocals. Glenn Ross Campbell handled the others ("Just One Time" and "Chicago North-Western") with Keith Ellis ("She's Mine, She's Yours", "Train", "Nadine" and "Are You Satisfied") - who was nowhere near as good. It meant that those who'd bought the single and expected more of the same felt short-changed.

Having said that - there's absolute gems on here. Their own "Mississippi Woman" is a cracking rock track while the eerie slow-paced menace of "Just One Time" has graced many of my Shop Play CD compilations - it's hard to categorize but its utterly brilliant. Their cover versions of Chuck Berry's "Nadine" and Buddy & Herb Rich's "Train" are good rather than great and "Chicago North-Western" sounds like sub-standard Allman Brothers. But it ends well on the mandolin-driven Dr. John voodoo of "Are You Satisfied". The non-album B-side is excellent too - far better than it had any right to be. 

But then you're back to their rip-roaring incendiary cover of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" - it's the album's ace-in-the-hole (lyrics above). Loud, manic and positively dangerous for hip joint replacements - it sounds utterly astonishing even now - a full 40 years after the event. Half way through its radio-rattling 3-minute duration, Campbell just goes ape on the slide steel guitar and combined with Owen's fantastic vocal delivery, it often brings customers to our counter asking - "who the f**k is this!"

The sound quality is incredibly clean and crisp - full of power - while the 16-page booklet features a really detailed account by MARK POWELL of their transition from The Misunderstood of 1966 to Juicy Lucy of 1969. The UK inner gatefold is also reproduced, Chris Welch's original liner notes, there's pictures of the alternate Dutch, Mexican and New Zealand album artwork (more variations on a woman in fruit), the 7" single (UK Demo and Foreign Picture Sleeves) and Vertigo adverts for the album and the band. It's all very well done indeed.

There are some bands you're soppy for - and JUICY LUCY is one of them. And although some of the tracks on here don't quite live up to the wanton promise of that unbelievable single and that saucy-as-sin album cover - there's much that does...

PS: Their 2nd Vertigo album from October 1970 "Lie Back & Enjoy It" has also been remastered and reissued by Esoteric in 2010 with a bonus track - as has their 3rd LP on Bronze "Get A Whiff A This" (reissued in April 2013)

"The Ultimate Staple Singers – A Family Affair 1955-1984" by THE STAPLE SINGERS (2004 Ace/Kent Records 2CD Compilation) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)…"

Like most people I came across the Staple Singers through their fabulous run of Stax and Curtom sides in the Seventies (although their career stretched back to Gospel roots in the early Fifties). This truly impressive double CD by Ace Records of the UK (using their Kent Soul logo) is a thorough and deeply satisfying retro for one of the most underrated Soul acts of all time. It even includes four properly storming Previously Unreleased cuts and a chunky 28-page fact-filled booklet (pretty much typical of Ace's quality).

UK released September 2004 - "The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair 1955-1984" by THE STAPLE SINGERS on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEN2 240 (Barcode 029667224024) offers up 44 tracks across 2 CDs covering their record label stays with Riverside, Vanguard, Epic, Stax, Curtom and Warner Brothers - with 4 previously unreleased thrown in. Disc 1 roughly deals with 1955 up to 1971 while Disc 2 covers everything after that. Here's a breakdown...

DISC 1: (76:07 minutes)

1. Hammer And Nails

2. Nobody's Fault But Mine

3. Too Close

4. Uncloudy Day

5. Won't You Sit Down (Sit Down Servant)

6. I Wish I Had Answered

7. A Hard Rain's Gonna Fail

8. Swing Low

9. This May Be The Last Time

10. For What It's Worth

11. Be Careful Of The Stones You Throw

12. Why (Am I Treated So Bad)

13. It's Been A Change

14. Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Tracks 1 to 14 feature their Gospel years with the Riverside, Vanguard and Epic labels.

15. The Ghetto

16. Long Walk To DC

17. God Bless The Children

18. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

19. The Gardener

20. When Will We Be Paid For The Work We Did

21. Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas

22. John Henry [Pops Staples]

23. You're Gonna Make Me Cry

24. Solon Bushi

Tracks 15 to 24 touch on the Stax issues from 1968 to 1971

DISC 2: (78:14 minutes)

1. I Have Learned To Do Without [Mavis Staples]

2. Respect Yourself

3. Tryin' Times [Pops Staples]

4. Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha Na Boom Boom)

5. I'll Take You There

6. You've Got To Earn It

7. The Only Time You Ever Say You Love me [Mavis Staples]

8. Oh La De Da

9. If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)

10. City In The Sky

11. I Got To Be Myself

12. Touch A Hand, Make A Friend

13. Trippin' On Your Love

14. Let's Do It Again

15. New Orleans

16. Love Me, Love Me, Love Me

17. I Honestly Love You

18. Slippery People

19. H-A-T-E (Don't Love Here Any More)

Of the 20 singles they charted between 1971 and 1985 on the US Billboard R&B charts (group and solo) - an impressive 14 are here (on Disc 2) - they are "Heavy Make You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)" (1971), "You've Got To Earn It" (1971), "Respect Yourself" (1971), "I'll Take You There" (1972), "This World" (1972), "Oh La De Da" (1972), "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" (1973), "Touch A Hand, Make A Friend" (1973), "City In The Sky" (1974), "Let's Do It Again" (1975), "New Orleans" (1976), "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me" (1976) and "Slippery People" (1984). There's also the solo Mavis Staples torch ballad single "I Have Learned To Do Without You" from 1970.

What is even more shocking than the classiness of the released material (which still manages to raise a smile to this day) is the quality of the unreleased stuff - how have these gems remained in the can until now? First up on Disc 1 is the Traditional song "John Henry" given a harmonica/guitar driven John Lee Hooker boogie - it's nearest approximation is "Keep On Chooglin'" by Creedence Clearwater Revival - fabulous stuff. Then there's "Tryin' Times" on Disc 2 - also by POPS STAPLES (an unreleased alternate version of Stax 0064). It was co-written by Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson and first recorded by Roberta Flack in 1969 on her "First Take" album (Donny did is own version of "Everything Is Everything in 1971). Pops goes with the slower Flack interpretation and it's a socially aware bluesy winner. I've played both tracks many times on the shuffle play in the record shop and they've always elicited a customer response. Then on Disc 2 are "The Only Time You Ever Say You Love Me" by MAVIS STAPLES (a gorgeous slow ballad) and a version of "Oh La De Da" without the fake audience participation that appeared on the Stax 0156 single. Both of these are superb too. Not a lot of unreleased stuff I know, but man the quality is good...

The mastering has been handled by DUNCAN COWELL at Sound Mastering (it's uniformly excellent throughout - especially on the Fifties and Sixties material), while the chunky 28-page colour booklet is jammed with pictured 45's and adverts and has detailed and informative liner notes by noted Soul writer and aficionado TONY ROUNCE. Between them - they've handled large numbers of Ace and Edsel soul reissues throughout the 2000's - see a TAG above for each giving pictorial displays of their work...

I love The Staples Singers - "I'll Take You There" (lyrics above), "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" and the wonderful number one R'n'B hit "Let's Do It Again" - every song imbibed with their lifelong creed of positive action, love and racial harmony - and music as a healer. Quite possibly one of the best Kent-Soul reissues for me - a hugely impressive listen from start to finish and it has great audio quality too...

"The Ultimate Staples Singers - A Family Affair 1955-1984" is a fantastic overview of their extraordinary career - buy it and thoroughly enjoy...

PS: see also reviews for the following - "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" (1972 album on Stax) now 2011 reissued and remastered with bonus tracks as part of the "Stax Remasters" series, the "We'll Get Over" album reissue on CD, the compilation "This Time Around" from 1981 with the fabulous "Trippin' On Your Love" song and finally the 2015 Stax Box Set "Faith & Grace" (4CDs) which boasts awesome audio but awkward packaging...