Liquorice John Death - Ain't Nothin' To Get Excited About (2002) @ 320

In 1969, after finishing A Salty Dog, organist Matthew Fisher and bassist Dave Knights decided to exit the lineup of Procol Harum. The remaining members -- Gary Brooker, Robin Trower, and B.J. Wilson, in the course of reshaping the band -- added Chris Copping, who played both bass and keyboards had been part of the original lineup of the Paramounts, whence the rest of Procol Harum had come. The new version of the band was still working out their sound with neophyte producer Chris Thomas and in mid-January of 1970 decided to head to Abbey Road Studios for a series of informal demo sessions, devoted to straight-ahead rock & roll of the kind that they'd played as the Paramounts.

The sessions, which were never intended for release but more as practice for all concerned, were jokingly credited to Licorice John Death & the All-Stars, a name once suggested by Dave Mundy, a session singer and an old friend of Gary Brooker's. The 38 songs from the sessions yielded 13 tracks that Thomas mixed, six of which were released (with the blessing of the participants) by EMI 28 years later in tandem with the original Paramounts' tracks on Abbey Road Decade 1963-1970 CD. Interestingly, these sides may have been informal demos to work out the group's sound and give Thomas a chance to practice working with the band, but they did anticipate the harder rocking sound that the reconstituted Procol Harum debuted on its next album, Home.

Liquorice John Death - Ain't Nothin' To Get Excited About (2002) 

 01. Liquorice John Death - High School Confidential 

 02. Liquorice John Death - Kansas City 

 03. Liquorice John Death - Lucille 

 04. Liquorice John Death - Brand New Cadillac 

 05. Liquorice John Death - Matchbox 

 06. Liquorice John Death - Breathless 

 07. Liquorice John Death - Everything I Do Is Wrong 

 08. Liquorice John Death - Old Black Joe 

 09. Liquorice John Death - Shopping For Clothes 

 10. Liquorice John Death - Well, I... 

 11. Liquorice John Death - I'm Ready 

 12. Liquorice John Death - The Girl Can't Help It 

 13. Liquorice John Death - Keep A Knockin' 

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Death Rides a Pale Shade : Louder than Beatles, Heavier than Stones

"Not ornate, stately, or even faintly progressive by Procol Harum standards, Liquorice John Death's Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About brings Whisky Train" – the most volcanic rock cut that PH did outside Simple Sister – into focus as an Elvis cop plated with Brit heaviness and played by guys who plainly didn't always want to be restricted to In Held 'Twas in I.

John Death, then, was a garage-pure R&R band given a pass in Abbey Road to loosen up for Procol's 1970 album Home. Having been known as the Paramounts prior to Harum stuffiness, John Death allowed Gary Brooker to slum as a rich man's Little Richard. Drummer BJ Wilson, by the evidence, did boogies and shuffles better than most Texans. And Robin Trower played a Les Paul-which still makes him Trower, only slightly thicker sounding, like a proto-metal BB King. Eighteen months later, the guitarist split to make more money in America, as a solo act playing barbiturate-flavored stuff far more like this than like A Salty Dog.

In any case, Kansas City and Matchbox show the band could do reverence and roots things louder than the Beatles and heavier than the Stones when they wanted to, if not as recklessly as the Who. Plus, Brand New Cadillac coined Clash-rock about eight years before there was a Joe Strummer.

The album cover was painted by a mentally ill fellow: Dave Mundy, furloughed from the nut hatch on afternoons by his good friends in the band. He gave them the odd name because it was more "rock and roll" than the Paramounts, then subsequently killed himself, and the boys wrote a song in his memory: For Liquorice John, which they put on Grand Hotel. Now there's a sad but still quietly affirming story." ~ (George Smith in the NYC Village Voice)

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