Jack The Lad
Encyclopedia
Jack the Lad was a folk rock
or electric folk
group from North East England
formed in 1973 by three former members of the most successful band of the period from the region Lindisfarne
. They moved from the progressive folk rock of Lindisfarne into much more traditional territory and were in the mid-1970s something of a northern counterpart to bands like Fairport Convention
. They have also been seen as part of an important roots movement, rediscovering traditional Northumbrian
music.
(1972) was a commercial and critical failure and the band split with main song-writer Alan Hull
going off to perform solo projects and eventually reforming Lindisfarne with a new line up later that year. The remaining members: Rod Clements
(bass, violin, guitar, vocals), Simon Cowe (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals), and Ray Laidlaw (drums) formed Jack the Lad with former Lindisfarne member Billy Mitchell (guitar, banjo, vocals).
They had originally thought of calling themselves the Corvettes, but decided it would make them sound too much like a rock 'n' roll revival outfit, and instead took their name from a phrase that Status Quo had used when they and Lindisfarne were touring Australia
together earlier that year. The phrase "Jack the Lad" is British slang for a "flashy, cocksure young man".
, Clements, who had penned Lindisfarne's first hit single 'Meet me on the Corner', continued to write most of their material, which in the view of some fans and critics was the equal of anything Lindisfarne produced at around the same time.
Lindisfarne’s record label Charisma, decided to keep the band under contract and the first line-up of Jack the Lad recorded one album for them, It's Jack the Lad, released in 1974, and two singles, 'One More Dance' (1973), and 'Why Can't I Be Satisfied' (1974). Neither charted, though they received positive reviews for their records and live performances which began to gain a reputation for outlandish entertainment. The traditional roots of the band were evident in an 8-minute medley of jigs, reels and polkas on their first album, which staked a claim to their being in part a Geordie answer to Fairport Convention
and a guest appearance on 'Song Without a Band' for Steeleye Span
’s Maddy Prior
. The band toured with Ralph McTell
, who was then at the height of his post 'Streets of London
' fame.
, Ian 'Walter' Fairbairn
(guitar, mandolin, violin, banjo, vocals) and Phil Murray (bass, vocals), which inevitably, together with the loss of their main songwriter, gave the band a much more traditional focus. This may have helped them gain greater acceptance in the folk world, and they headlined the Cambridge folk festival in 1974. On the second album The Old Straight Track (1974), six of the eleven tracks were traditional songs, most of the rest written by Cowe. The album was very well received and was voted Folk Album of the Year by Melody Maker
.
The third album Rough Diamonds and single 'Gentleman Soldier' (both 1975), were both produced by Fairport Convention stalwart Simon Nicol
. The latter, which featured John Kirkpatrick on button accordion, was a new arrangement of a traditional song which borrowed the vocal four-part harmony break from 'Twist And Shout' for the introduction, and featured a Scottish accordion reel back to back with a mock-heavy rock guitar solo. Presenter John Peel
chose it as one of his favourite singles of the year, but like all previous attempts it failed to chart.
on keyboards, and a brass section on some tracks. Despite the return to a more commercial sound chart success still eluded them. The 'Jackpot' UK tour in Sep/Oct '76, bizarrely coupled with the NZ punk/goth orientated Split Enz
did neither act any favours.
Laidlaw left to join Radiator and the group disbanded soon afterward. Lindisfarne had split in early 1975, but Clements, Cowe and Laidlaw continued to join founder members Alan Hull and Ray Jackson to play Christmas concerts in their native Newcastle-on-Tyne each year, and the response was so positive in 1977 that the original five reformed the following year and continued to record and perform until 2003. As a result of the continued interest, Jack the Lad’s albums were eventually released as CDs. Following this in 1993 Jack The Lad re-formed in as both the original band running side-by-side with their Lindisfarne commitments, and as a festival act which included Mitchell, Fairburn and Murray.
and Nancy Kerr
.
Albums
DVD
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
or electric folk
Electric folk
Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...
group from North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
formed in 1973 by three former members of the most successful band of the period from the region Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne (band)
Lindisfarne were a British folk/rock group from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1970 and fronted by singer/songwriter Alan Hull. Their music combined a strong sense of yearning with an even stronger sense of fun...
. They moved from the progressive folk rock of Lindisfarne into much more traditional territory and were in the mid-1970s something of a northern counterpart to bands like Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
. They have also been seen as part of an important roots movement, rediscovering traditional Northumbrian
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
music.
Origins
After two highly successful albums, Lindisfarne’s third Dingly DellDingly Dell
Dingly Dell is a 1972 album by English rock band Lindisfarne.-Production:The album was produced by and mixed by Bob Johnston, who had also worked on the earlier #1 album Fog on the Tyne. However, the band were unhappy with the album, and remixed it themselves shortly before it was released.-Release...
(1972) was a commercial and critical failure and the band split with main song-writer Alan Hull
Alan Hull
Alan Hull was an English singer-songwriter and founding member of the Tyneside folk rock band, Lindisfarne.-Career:...
going off to perform solo projects and eventually reforming Lindisfarne with a new line up later that year. The remaining members: Rod Clements
Rod Clements
Rod Clements is a British guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Career:...
(bass, violin, guitar, vocals), Simon Cowe (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals), and Ray Laidlaw (drums) formed Jack the Lad with former Lindisfarne member Billy Mitchell (guitar, banjo, vocals).
They had originally thought of calling themselves the Corvettes, but decided it would make them sound too much like a rock 'n' roll revival outfit, and instead took their name from a phrase that Status Quo had used when they and Lindisfarne were touring Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
together earlier that year. The phrase "Jack the Lad" is British slang for a "flashy, cocksure young man".
It's Jack the Lad 1973-74
While Lindisfarne without them had become a harder rocking outfit, Jack the Lad retained much of the folksy spirit, warmth and good humour of the original group. Though his talents had previously been overshadowed by the more prolific songsmith Alan HullAlan Hull
Alan Hull was an English singer-songwriter and founding member of the Tyneside folk rock band, Lindisfarne.-Career:...
, Clements, who had penned Lindisfarne's first hit single 'Meet me on the Corner', continued to write most of their material, which in the view of some fans and critics was the equal of anything Lindisfarne produced at around the same time.
Lindisfarne’s record label Charisma, decided to keep the band under contract and the first line-up of Jack the Lad recorded one album for them, It's Jack the Lad, released in 1974, and two singles, 'One More Dance' (1973), and 'Why Can't I Be Satisfied' (1974). Neither charted, though they received positive reviews for their records and live performances which began to gain a reputation for outlandish entertainment. The traditional roots of the band were evident in an 8-minute medley of jigs, reels and polkas on their first album, which staked a claim to their being in part a Geordie answer to Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
and a guest appearance on 'Song Without a Band' for Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
’s Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
. The band toured with Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s....
, who was then at the height of his post 'Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
' fame.
Northern electric folk 1974-75
Clements left in late 1974 and was replaced by two former members of northern electric folk band Hedgehog PieHedgehog Pie
Hedgehog Pie were an electric folk group from the north-east of England, formed in 1971. Despite frequent line-up changes, they build up a considerable regional and national following and produced three highly regarded albums...
, Ian 'Walter' Fairbairn
Ian 'Walter' Fairbairn
Ian 'Walter' Fairbairn is an English folk musician, who was raised in the North East of England. He developed his musical talent whilst still at school, inspired by his contemporaries Dave Richardson and the concertina player Alistair Anderson...
(guitar, mandolin, violin, banjo, vocals) and Phil Murray (bass, vocals), which inevitably, together with the loss of their main songwriter, gave the band a much more traditional focus. This may have helped them gain greater acceptance in the folk world, and they headlined the Cambridge folk festival in 1974. On the second album The Old Straight Track (1974), six of the eleven tracks were traditional songs, most of the rest written by Cowe. The album was very well received and was voted Folk Album of the Year by Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
.
The third album Rough Diamonds and single 'Gentleman Soldier' (both 1975), were both produced by Fairport Convention stalwart Simon Nicol
Simon Nicol
Simon John Breckenridge Nicol is a guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founder member of British folk rock, or electric folk group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band...
. The latter, which featured John Kirkpatrick on button accordion, was a new arrangement of a traditional song which borrowed the vocal four-part harmony break from 'Twist And Shout' for the introduction, and featured a Scottish accordion reel back to back with a mock-heavy rock guitar solo. Presenter John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
chose it as one of his favourite singles of the year, but like all previous attempts it failed to chart.
Disbandment and reformation
With no great commercial success forthcoming the band were dropped by Charisma and moved to United Artists. Cowe left shortly before the group recorded their final album, 'Jackpot', (1976). The need for success pushed this closer to pop and rock territory than its predecessors, with only two traditional tracks, it featured Andy BownAndy Bown
Andy Bown is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo.-Career:...
on keyboards, and a brass section on some tracks. Despite the return to a more commercial sound chart success still eluded them. The 'Jackpot' UK tour in Sep/Oct '76, bizarrely coupled with the NZ punk/goth orientated Split Enz
Split Enz
Split Enz were a New Zealand band of the 1970s and early 1980s featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. They achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada during the early 1980s ‒ most notably with the single "I Got You", and built a cult following elsewhere...
did neither act any favours.
Laidlaw left to join Radiator and the group disbanded soon afterward. Lindisfarne had split in early 1975, but Clements, Cowe and Laidlaw continued to join founder members Alan Hull and Ray Jackson to play Christmas concerts in their native Newcastle-on-Tyne each year, and the response was so positive in 1977 that the original five reformed the following year and continued to record and perform until 2003. As a result of the continued interest, Jack the Lad’s albums were eventually released as CDs. Following this in 1993 Jack The Lad re-formed in as both the original band running side-by-side with their Lindisfarne commitments, and as a festival act which included Mitchell, Fairburn and Murray.
Significance
Jack the Lad were one example of the music scene that flourished in the North-east of England in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and produced, the Animals, Lindisfarne and Hedgehog Pie. The shift from progressive folk rock into more traditional electric folk territory partly reflected the popularity of the genre at the time, but also has been seen as part of a process of rediscovering regional musical roots that has continued with figures such as Kathryn TickellKathryn Tickell
Kathryn Tickell is an English player of the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. She has recorded over a dozen albums, and toured widely.-Life and career:...
and Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr is an English folk musician, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott....
.
Band members
- Rod ClementsRod ClementsRod Clements is a British guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Career:...
(bass, violin, guitar, vocals), - Simon Cowe (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals),
- Ray Laidlaw (drums)
- Billy Mitchell (guitar, banjo, vocals).
- Phil Murray (bass, vocals),
- Ian 'Walter' FairbairnIan 'Walter' FairbairnIan 'Walter' Fairbairn is an English folk musician, who was raised in the North East of England. He developed his musical talent whilst still at school, inspired by his contemporaries Dave Richardson and the concertina player Alistair Anderson...
(guitar, mandolin, violin, banjo, vocals)
Discography
Singles- ’One More Dance’ / ‘Draught Genius (Polka)’ (1973)
- ’Why Can't I be Satisfied’ / ‘Make me Happy’ (1973)
- ’Home Sweet Home’ / ‘Big Ocean Liner’ (1975)
- ’Gentleman Soldier’ / ‘Oakey Strike Evictions’ (1975)
- ’My Friend the Drink’ / ‘Rocking Chair’ (1975)
- ’Eight Ton Crazy’ / ‘Walters Drop’ (1976)
- ’Trinidad’ / ‘Let It Be Me’ (1976)
Albums
- Its Jack the Lad (Charisma, 1974)
- The Old Straight Track (Charisma,1974)
- Rough Diamonds (Charisma,1975)
- Jackpot (United Artists, 1976)
DVD
- On the Road Again (1993)