JAY AND THE AMERICANS – Livin’ Above Your Head – (United Artists) – 1966

For those who have mentioned that they don't like it when I comment on LPs by acts I have already commented on … hit delete now. Go turn on JJJ as you are bound to find something new and interesting there*.(*sarcasm)

I am going to use a lot of shorthand here again and copy what I said back in other "What Frank is Listening to" comments in relation to the underrated vocal group Jay & The Americans:

"A great underrated US pop band from the 60s. It baffles me that pop groups like Jay and the Americans, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Dino, Desi and Billy, The Four Seasons,  are often referred to disparagingly whereas all the Merseybeat bands are lauded. When it comes to sublime pop the Brill building  type bands had it all over Merseybeat (with one notable exception) . The trouble is perhaps that in1967, the summer of love, and the evolving psychedelic scene a Spectorsish wall of sound vocal group was "perhaps" dated. I use "perhaps" intentionally because it may have been dated but the music stands up surprising well today especially compared to a lot of the psychedelica or hippy tunes of the day.

New York's Jay and the Americans (John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane (né Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (né Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (né Yaguda)) were discovered by Leiber & Stoller ( of Elvis song writing fame – if you don't know them shame on you) in the late 1950s. They were recording by 1961 and notching up 4 top10 hits, and many top 40s ( they even had a #6 late in the piece in 1969 with the magnificent "This Magic Moment"). Like many other bands of their ilk they were a singles band and never really had much chart action with their albums, which is a pity as the albums are professionally put together and contain many hidden gems.

The group started off as a white doo wop band, heavy on semi operatic teen dramas and laments of unrequited love …. and they never really moved far from that. And there is nothing wrong with that – as the recording techniques improved the sound necessary to create these mini pop operas improved accentuating the drama of the song. Forget the rock operas of the 70s there is much more rock "opera" in any 2 minutes of Jay and The Americans or The Four Seasons .

Generally with a band like this the vocals are always infinitely superior and the music is nothing short of lavishly produced…. Whilst the singles  are usually tailor made for the band, the albums succeed or die according to the strength of the covers chosen".

This album marks JATA move to middle ground lush pop. Those with a fascination for song writing will note that here JATA actually write two songs. I only note this because JATA being a vocal group wrote very little material. In fact only one of their five members played an instrument … did I say they were a vocal group? It could be argued that they are the grandfathers of the contemporary boy band though that is not something I care to concede but the link is there. If that is the case then the boy band is also the slovenly descendant of doo wop, and white and black gospel quartets as are JATA. So don't blame JATA.

Interestingly here, JATA are not so much a vocal group as they are a backing vocal group for lead singer Jay Black … well even more so than normal.

This change in direction and occasional song writing would mark this as their "Rubber Soul" or "Summer Days (and Summer Nights)" which, as transitional albums, they are not dissimilar to.

The move to "big ballad" type stuff, with big instruments, and Jay's deep voice, makes them at this time a sort of American "Walker Brothers" or  perhaps the Walker Brothers are a English "JATA" (yes I know the Walker Brothers were American anyway). Either way this is also a move into what The Righteous Brothers were mining with perhaps more MOR and less blue eyed soul … a sort of Phil Spector doing cabaret (and that's not all bad either).

I'm never going to convince hardened punk rockers or dedicated metal heads but for anyone that likes The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Big Star or any other number of pop rock perfectionists it's not a quantum leap from there to here …I just re-read what I have written above … it's all very bitty but I couldn't be bothered to change it.

Tracks ( the best in italics)

• Livin' Above Your Head – a original big beat MOR track … and an excellent track which throws everything 1966 into the mix including some slightly Spanish flavoured horns half way through. Interestingly it is less a group effort than a solo with backing voices. Covered by the Walker Brothers in 1966.