Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Too Many Mornings


Bobby Jameson 
Rest In Peace

I first heard Bobby Jameson when I picked up an LP about 15 years ago called Songs Of Protest And Anti-Protest by Chris Lucey. I knew nothing of Lucey, but was intrigued by the title and cover-photo, which oddly enough is a live shot of Brian Jones. Songs is an excellent dark folk album — with hints of Latin jazz and the occasional out-right pop-psych number like "Girl From Vernon Mountain" — at times reminiscent of Arthur Lee and Love, as well as Phil Ochs, Fred Neil and other tragi-folk go-nowheres. It turned out that Lucey was in reality the singer/songwriter Bobby Jameson who put out a string of fantastic 45s, highlights being his 1963 debut "Let's Surf" (released under the name Bobby James), "I Wanna Love You" b/w "I'm So Lonely" (ethereal Buddy Holly-eque weep), the classic "All I Want Is My Baby" (co-penned with Andrew Loog Oldham and Keith Richards, and rumored to feature Jimmy Page on lead guitar), "Reconsider Baby" (arranged and produced by Frank Zappa), and the absolutely scorching two-sider "Vietnam" b/w "Metropolitan Man," which Jameson recorded with garage-punk legends The Leaves.

Jameson also released two other LPs, and recorded intermitdedly throughout the '70s and '80s, but drug and criminal problems — as well as thieving record labels — kept him from achieving any semblance of success (he was even homeless at one point). Seek out any of his songs on YouTube, and you'll see how history overlooked a real gem of a songwriter/performer.

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