Vinyl 10 inch
EP with 4 page booklet - (TSEP 001) £9.99
Compact
Disc EP with 12 page booklet - (TSCDEP 001) £6.99
Your
chance to catch unbelievably.........THE ACTION!
"We
all tried our hand at getting that Motown sound you know...all the bands in the
mid '60s. The best ones at it were the Action... They were an amazing
band." (Steve Marriott, 1987)
Four
previously unreleased tracks by the ultimate ACTION recorded during 1964 and
1965, on both vinyl and CD EP.
Alongside
the Small Faces and the Who, London's ACTION were undoubtedly Britain's premier
mod band during the mid 1960s, and their chain of five singles for Parlophone
from October 1965 to June 1967 are venerated as one of the finest runs of 45s
of the period (or indeed of any period really). Subsequent releases of the
group's material such as The Ultimate Action, Rolled Gold, Uptight And
Outasight and CD repackages of the band's EMI output, plus the Action's period
of reformation, have endeared the group to a huge swell of post 60s fans and
the band command a level of respect and adulation rarely bestowed on many other
groups of their era. Sadly with the aforementioned slew of records and CDs the
well of archive Action material appeared to have run dry...until now that is!
The
excellent book on the Action In The Lap Of The Mods, published in 2012, shed
light on a previously rarely documented aspect of the Action's recording
career, specifically their audition for the Decca record company in May 1965.
Indeed some copies of the book included a limited edition vinyl 45 extracted
from an acetate recently discovered from that audition, which was a supreme
version of the Temptations 'Why You Wanna Make Me Blue'. That recording, taped
six months before their EMI debut, makes a welcome re-appearance here and also
emerges on CD for the first time. Unbelievably since the book came out another
acetate from that Decca session has surfaced, one side of which features a
wonderful interpretation of one of many people's favourite Action tracks 'In My
Lonely Room', which incredibly surpasses the later recording for Parlophone and
has a real 'live' feel to it. Coupled with 'In My Lonely Room' was a fine
rendition of the Impressions' 'You'll Want Me back', which finds the Action in
a more mellow blue eyed soul groove and showcases perhaps the most Reggie
King's leap in vocal prowess in the comparative short space of time since the band's
recordings for Pye as the Boys barely six months previous.
Not that
the Boys' single for Pye was a slouch - far from it - and Top Sounds round off
the EP with another previously undocumented recording. Committed to acetate
during their time as the Boys was one of Reggie King's earliest compositions,
and 'Fine Looking Girl' exposes further the pre-emptive Action in rather good
form indeed.
Restored
to the best possible standard from the original acetates, the four selections
on In My Lonely Room are a fascinating, important and invaluable document of
the emergent Action during late 1964 and 1965, and Top Sounds are justifiably
elated to place these portentous recordings together for the first time. With
the blessing of Action drummer Roger Powell, help from In the Lap Of The Mods
authoress Jane Shepherd and delivered in full vintage 60s style packaging
courtesy of Bruce Brand, In My Lonely Room is sure to excite Action fans
everywhere and in all probability - unfortunately - may well be the final release
of 'new' vintage Action recordings. Your last chance to catch some new
unbelievable ACTION!
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