Unfairly tagged for far too long with the Lindisfarne link, Jack The Lad actually survived their parent band through hard work and a determination to be far more than just another good time act. That determination meant creating their own identity which they achieved quite quickly, certainly their second album ‘The Old Straight Track’ drew a line in the sand pointing the way forward in terms of repertoire and approach. By the time of ‘Jackpot’ they were down to a four piece with only two original members left and later additions from Geordie band Hedgehog Pie, but they’d lost none of their spirit and drive, leaving the Charisma label they’d inked a new deal with United Artists, who issued the album back in late 1976 and were no doubt confident of riding out the approach of punk.
With good reason since ‘Jackpot’ was over seen by recognised rock producer Tom Allom (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and perhaps more fittingly The Strawbs) who turned everything up and gave them a very English ‘wall of sound.’ From the opening ‘Eight Ton Crazy’ to the closing ‘Take Some Time,’ the tracks almost roar out of the speakers, there are lots of keyboards courtesy of session player Andy Bown – later in Status Quo – and multiple overlays of guitars and vocal harmonies. Vocally they were helped by another ex Lindisfarne, Ray Jackson who also plays great harmonica through out, but especially on ‘Trinidad.’ In fact Ray Jackson toured with them and should have joined the group but it never came off. Shame since bootlegs of the tour show just how neatly he fitted in.
The main writing was done by Billy Mitchell who was also the singer, ‘Amsterdam’ is a noisy love story in which our hero finds comfort in the arms of a lady of the night, great guitars from Mitchell and Ian Fairburn. Mitchell’s commercial writing ability comes to the fore on ‘Take Some Time,’ a sing a long which has bags of chart appeal, as the sleeve notes attest if somebody had only covered the song it had Top 40 all over it. The traditional ‘The Tender’ is a spectacular, rumbling piece of folk which really rocks, guitars all over, a great lead break, a jiggy mandolin, everything just fits. As you might expect there is a set of jigs ‘Walter’s Drop’ which I’m assured refers not to the demon drink but dominoes; crunching riffs and flying fingers.
A very odd pairing saw JTL promote this record round the country with New Zealand art rockers Split Enz, before drummer Ray Laidlaw rejoined other former Lindisfarnes in a new band called Radiator. Jack The Lad carried on for a while with a new drummer Eric Green but soon went their separate ways. Ironically Lindisfarne reformed on a permenant basis a year or so later having hits and a long life which continues. Billy Mitchell joined them when Alan Hull passed. Jack The Lad was revived in the mid 1990s, playing with a selection of old and new members, they put out a great live album on tape only which is now as rare as hen’s teeth.
‘Jackpot’ completes the original JTL albums reissue series by Talking Elephant and with extensive sleeve info from the band as well as the original demoes and bonus live takes, including a great Geordie folk song medley from their tour with Ray Jackson, it’s highly recommended. As they sometimes say and it’s especially true about Jack The Lad, they don’t make albums like this any more. Reassessment of Jack The Lad is long over due. Start it here.
Simon Jones.
www.talkingelephant.com
