MORE OF MICKEY’S LEGENDARY TALES
Legend, the legendary rock’n'roll band formed by Mickey Jupp, is well represented on Repertoire with the release of his classic ‘Juppanese’ CD and the ‘Legend’ album of 1971, also known as ‘Red Boot’. However, we are now pleased to announce the restoration of the very first ‘Juppy’ album, simply called ‘Legend’ and originally released in 1969.
A fine singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter Mickey is now retired from the music business that he once professed to love and hate. He loved the music but hated the business. Nevertheless, he retains fond memories of the days when he put together what was in many respects his debut solo album.
After gaining early experience performing with rockin’ bands in Southend On Sea, Mickey began writing original songs. The first batch secured him a contract with Bell, a newly formed American record label. An album was scheduled and so Mickey put together the first version of Legend, comprising himself on piano, guitar and vocals with Chris East (vocals, harmonica, 12 string guitar), Steve Geere (string and electric bass and vocals) and Nigel Dunbar (drums). The resulting album called ‘Legend’, features mostly acoustic performances of Juppy’s well crafted songs.
Mickey: “Legend was the first English act signed to Bell. We did one gig but it wasn’t meant to be a touring band. ‘Legend’ was my first album. My previous band The Orioles only made a couple of demos.” Juppy’s album was recorded at Regent Sound in London’s Denmark Street. (The studio premises have recently been restored after serving some years as the HQ for music book shop Helter Skelter. It has an original ‘Regent Sound’ signboard painted in 1950s style above the shop front).
Chris East recalls that the sessions were done very quickly. “The day before we had a practise and went through the songs. Then we did them all in one or two takes. We knew exactly what we were going to do. Mickey had the songs already and we just added the intros and outros.”
Among the epics Juppy wrote for his all-important debut was ‘National Gas’ which was done in two ‘takes’ and released on a Bell single with ‘Wouldn’t You’ on the B side. Says Mickey: “ ‘National Gas’ was about a girl so beautiful that entire nations fell in love with her.” The next song ‘Heather On the Hill’ is about the beautiful scenery in the Lake District, an area Juppy always liked and was why he ended up living there. “The song all about my affection for this part of the world.”
When reminded of old favourites like ‘Come Back Baby’ and ‘City,’ Mickey tends to burst into song as he relives the romantic times that inspired lyrics from so many years ago. “ ‘City’ is about me going off to London and wondering if my (fictional) girl friends wants to come along too. I was going through a folky phase! Funnily enough I can remember every word of songs like ‘Good Boy’ even though I haven’t heard them for years. Somebody else recorded this one. A guy called Tony Sumner who called himself Conroy Cannon, recorded a single version of ‘Good Boy.’”
‘Wouldn’t You’ was the number that got Mickey a contract for a second album when he hooked up with new management a couple of years later. “Robin Trower, who was involved with Procol Harum at the time, was knocked out with this song. He recommended me to David Knights, the bass player with Procol, who was leaving the band and he became my manager.”
The different moods of each song reflect the lifestyle of a travelling musician, in particular the prosaically titled ‘Doncaster By Pass’. It doesn’t have the romantic ring of Chuck Berry’s ‘Route 66.’ Explains Juppy: “I wrote that while walking home from seeing a lady friend who worked in a department store with me. It was one of the few times I’ve had a proper job. She lived a mile down the road and I was walking home from her place and started whistling this tune. I called it ‘Doncaster By Pass’ because it was part of my regular drive north to the Lake District and was one of the first stretches of motorway. I wrote another song, which has never been recorded, called ‘West Coast Mainlining’ all about a train ride from Euston to Carlisle. It mentions all the stations along the way!”
‘Twenty Carat Rocker’ is about a guy who plays rock’n’roll all day in his garden shed while ‘Bartender’s Blues’ revives the spirit of the old boozy blues ‘One For My Baby.’ ‘Good Money’ is about a girl spending too much of her boy friend’s money, a familiar complaint in any relationship. Mickey: “I was doing most of my writing on guitar in those days, although for the last 20 odd years I’ve been using piano. It’s amazing how songs turn out totally different when you are playing another instrument. Guitar based songs are usually more gentle.”
‘Shindig’ was written about a party and Mickey thinks the track was excluded from the American version of the album because it was also the title of a popular U.S. TV show. Robin Trower produced the CD’s bonus track ‘Georgia George, Part 1’. His Procol Harum colleague Matthew Fisher was also involved on the session.
“It was recorded as a one off single with ‘July’ on the B-side,” recalls Juppy. “The demo of ‘July’ got Tony Visconti interested in producing us. He really liked the song and thought it was great. Although ‘Legend’ was a nice album it didn’t really work. However, it got great reviews and a certain amount of airplay. The music isn’t really rockabilly, more folk rock I’d say. But each song sounds different and it is an odd mix. The LP sleeve had a weird front cover – like all my records. It looks like somebody sitting on a beach. Really naff. I don’t know who dreams these ideas up! “
Chris East says that the negative picture on the back of the album shows the four band members sitting on a fence. “It was taken by Mickey’s brother Dave in Mucking Hall Road, Barling Magna, Essex. We drove out there recently to see where we’d taken the photographs and would you believe the bloody gate is still there.”
Mickey: “We did one acoustic gig with this line up on a boat moored on the Thames near Marlowe. And that was it. Nothing went wrong. I had been offered a contract to make a record and wasn’t really thinking about doing gigs at this time.”
Did Mickey think he was a legend by this stage in his career? “Er, no. I don’t know where the ‘Legend’ thing came from. It was just a name we liked and there was no deep meaning.”
As we have seen, Mickey moved north in January 1983 and settled in the village of Boot in the Lake District. His craft shop sells pottery, woodwork and his own paintings. Chris East lives a few miles away and Mickey and Chris are planning to record a new album at Chris’ home studio.
East explains that the pair have known each other for years: “We formed that first version of Legend together and got the other two guys in. Mickey and I had grown up in Southend. He started me smoking for God’s sake! You don’t forget things like that do you? He carried on playing when I joined the Navy. When I came back I started writing songs. These days Mickey and I both run art galleries and live just forty miles from each other in the Lake District. Mo Witham also lives a few miles away and I’m I touch with him too. We all write our songs, send them off and hope to become famous one day – before we’re all dead!”
WEBSITE LINKS
For more information on Mickey Jupp and Legend check out ‘Mickey Jupp Southend Legend’ at http://home.clara.net/giaco/jupp/
Monday, April 16th, 2007 in Hot New Repertoire Releases.
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