Box Sets #6: Hidden Masters - The Jess Roden Anthology

I wrote last year about a forthcoming box set representing the career of Jess Roden who I believe in his peak had the greatest soul/blues voice in the UK. The set has been lovingly compiled by Neil Storey in collaboration with Jess himself, and the work has involved much trawling through hundreds of tapes of studio and live recordings. These have been restored and remastered and among them are some previously unreleased gems.

 

 



 

 

After literally months of waiting, the hard work of mastering, manufacturing and hand numbering and signing the sets has been completed and this week I received my copy (number 120 if you must know). And a very fine set it is too. Well worth the wait.

 

The six discs are set into the front and back covers of a 12" square hardback book. There are complete recording details of all of the songs, numerous photographs and notes from Jess Roden regarding the various stages of his career. Of course the music represents this full career and consequently spans work with Alan Bown, Bronco, The Butts Band, The Rivits, Paul Kossoff, Seven Windows, The Jess Roden Band, Jess Roden & The Humans and of course his solo work.

 

While the package itself is great, the quality of the music is phenomenal. The boys have certainly done a wonderful job of remastering this material and I am hard pushed to find any fault with this set at all.

 

I suspect that this box set is going to occupy most of my music listening time over the forthcoming weeks and months.

 

Deep joy!

 

 

 

Jess Roden - Hidden Masters

On 1st September I wrote about the 1970's band named Bronco that were fronted by one of the finest British vocalists ever, Jess Roden.

I first became aware of his work when he sang with a Northern Soul band The Alan Bown Set. They released a few singles and one side of an LP record which was recorded live at the famous Marquee Club in London. The album, released in 1966 was entitled 'London Swings' and the other side featured Jimmy James & The Vagabonds. I played the Alan Bown side to death and loved it for its high energy as the band tore through several soul based numbers which then formed part of their stage repertoire. After that I never missed an opportunitiy to catch them live when they played in the north east of England.

As pop music became more psychedelic, the seven piece band featuring trumpet, saxophone, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, changed their image and renamed themselves as The Alan Bown! With Jess Roden on vocals they released one more album, the imaginatively titled 'Outward Bown' but then having recorded the follow up album in 1969, Roden decided to leave the band. His replacement was none other than Robert Palmer who recorded new vocals for the UK version of the album, though the US version was released with the original Jess Roden vocals.

Roden subsequently went on to form Bronco, then played with two surviving members of The Doors under the name The Butts Band. A band called The Rivits followed and then a trio of albums under Roden's own name. Despite being critically acclaimed as they say, none of the albums were commercially successful and for a time, Roden left the music business altogether. He re-emerged in the mid 1990's as Jess Roden & The Humans, but after one album, he disappeared again.

At the end of my last blog on the subject of Roden, I hinted that there was some very interesting and exciting news for the hard core of Jess Roden fans out there. In 2010 almost 800 pieces of music recorded by Roden were discovered in the archives. These included released works (most of which have been deleted) and many that have never seen the light of day. From these tapes, a five CD anthology has been lovingly compiled and restored and I am now told is due to be released in the very near future. This covers all of his career and the release will be strictly limited to 950 hand numbered copies. The collection will not be available through the usual outlets. For more information and a full track list, check out the Jess Roden website at http://www.jessroden.com/news.html 

Hidden Gems #2 Bumpers West by Bronco

Bronco - Bumpers West

Bronco unfortunately only released two albums during the early 1970's, 'Country Home' from which this track is taken, in 1970 and 'Ace of Sunlight' the following year.

They were fronted by vocalist Jess Roden who early in his professional career joined white soul outfit The Alan Bown Set. Moving to a more psychedelic pop format, the band changed their name to The Alan Bown! and with Roden released only one album, the imaginatively titled 'Outward Bown'.

Despite recording a second album with the band, Roden decided to leave and his vocals were re-recorded by his replacement, Robert Palmer. Incidentally the original version of the album with vocals by Jess Roden was released in the US and today it is pretty hard to come by.

Roden then spent a couple of years with Bronco before joining forces with two members of The Doors, releasing an album under the name The Butts Band. He then formed his own outfit but after a few highly regarded albums he left the music scene altogether and turned his attention to graphic design. His re-emergence in the mid 1990's as Jess Roden & The Humans was sadly short lived and he now appears to have retired from the music business. In my opinion, it is a sad loss as he possesses one of the finest and most soulful voices I have ever heard. Listen to the track and let me know what you think.

To the best of my knowledge both Bronco albums have been deleted but I managed to obtain an import copy of both albums on one CD.

There will be more about Jess Roden in a future blog and for other fans of his music out there, some very interesting news!!

Meanwhile, enjoy this hidden gem.