(Scotland 1963-1980)
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If you have ever listened to the original Stone the Crows or Robin Trower at his peak, then you've heard the voice of
James Dewar. The Glasgow-born singer is one of a legion of great Scottish vocalists who brought a soulful passion to their music.
Dewar's career began in the early 60s. While still a teenager he sang and played bass in the Gleneagles alongside Alec Bell (guitar), Ross Nelson (guitar), Jimmy Smith (saxophone) and David Miller (drums). By 1963 they were the resident band at Glasgow's Lindella Ballroom but their fortunes changed dramatically one night when a diminutive girl vocalist got up to sing with them. Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie was barely fifteen, but her confidence was overwhelming. She joined the group, which quickly took another name inspired by the new arrival, Lulu and the Luvvers. Jimmy Dewar left the group in 1965, returning to Glasgow to rethink his career.
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By 1967 he could be found in a new band, Sock 'Em JB, an exciting unit fuelled on material by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Wilson Pickett. The vocalist was ex-Del-Jack Frankie Miller and the pianist John McGinnis, formerly of the Blues Council. Sock 'Em JB were together for only a matter of months, ending when Miller formed a new group, Westfarm Cottage, en route to the Stoics. Dewar and McGinnis remained together and, by the following year, had formed a new tough-sounding band, blending blues and progressive rock. They were preparing to be the resident act at a new club, the Burns Howff, when Leslie Harvey and Maggie Bell walked into a rehearsal. After a jam it was suggested they join forces and Power was born.
With Bell on vocals and Harvey on guitar, the unit gelled perfectly and they quickly became one of Glasgow's most popular attractions. In 1969 Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin's manager, came to Glasgow to see them and within a matter of months they had won a management and recording deal. Renamed
Stone the Crows – and with the addition of ex-John Mayall drummer Colin Allen – the group recorded two excellent albums, Stone the Crows and Ode to John Law. Bell's passionate voice and Leslie's fluid, economical style may have defined the band's music, but Dewar's role should not be underestimated. His playing was always sympathetic and his earthy duets with Bell were genuinely moving.
'He's one of the finest singers I've ever heard,' she said in a later interview. However, the axis of the band had moved – the singer and guitarist were also a couple – and both Dewar and McGinnis were unhappy with the diminished role they now played in the group they had formed. Both quit in February 1971.
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'I had to get Jimmy Dewar in a band', Frankie Miller told me in 1992. 'He was doing nothing in London.' The band in question was
Jude, formed in July 1971. Miller had quit the Stoics, but Chrysalis, with whom he had a publishing deal, suggested he pair with guitarist Robin Trower, who had recently left Procol Harum. With Dewar on bass and Clive Bunker (ex-Jethro Tull) on drums, Jude seemed like a marriage made in heaven, but it was not to be. 'I wanted to do the two-vocal thing,' Miller explained 'but the vehicle wasn't right. The best thing for Jimmy to do was to sing in a power trio with Robin.'
In September 1972, this is exactly what happened. A new group, dubbed '
Robin Trower', made its début in Vienna with a line-up completed by Dewar and drummer Reg Isadore. Two enthralling albums, Twice Removed From Yesterday and Bridge of Sighs, followed, on which Trower's searing but melodic guitar work was matched by Jimmy's soulful voice, fully free at last to express emotion and empathy. Another former Procol member, Matthew Fisher, produced both sets and the understanding he showed with Robin and the group was clear to hear. By 1974 Robin Trower were established on the US circuit and when ex-Sly Stone drummer Bill Lordan replaced Isadore, a more rhythmic texture came to the fore. For Earth Below (1975), Live and Long Misty Days (both 1976) ensued before another ex-Sly member, Rusty Allen, took over on bass to allow Dewar to concentrate on vocals. In City Dreams (1977) and Caravan to Midnight (1978) were completed before Allen quit and the group reverted to a trio for Victims of the Fury (1980). This was the last Robin Trower album to feature Dewar. The guitarist and drummer formed a new band, BLT, with ex-Cream bassist Jack Bruce, while Jimmy gradually dropped out of professional music altogether.
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During the halcyon Robin Trower era, Dewar recorded this solo album, but was not released until the 90's. Matthew Fisher was again on hand for the bulk of the recordings, producing and adding organ, piano and synthesisers. Other collaborators included Andy McMasters (ex-Motors), who wrote or co-wrote some of the material, John Platania and David Hayes from Van Morrison's Caledonia Soul Orchestra, and Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks. The set includes three cover versions: the Rolling Stones favourite Out of Time (re-cut around the same time by fellow Scot Dan McCafferty), Buddy Holly's Heartbeat and the Drifters' Dance With Me, the last of which is beautifully understated. Indeed the entire selection is nicely restrained, a contrast to the sometimes turbulent sound of the Robin Trower band. The ease with which Jimmy tackles Lay Down the Night, Sands of Time, and the Christmas anthem Hosanna!, confirms his talent, but the undoubted highlights are the Dewar / Fisher composition Nature Child and the same team's title track. The mastery with which the singer approaches this melancholic piece is moving: warmth tinged with regret, and perfectly controlled – a self-portrait which sums up the poignant artistry of the whole collection. [Brian Hogg 1997]
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"Stumbledown Romancer" is, sadly, Jimmy Dewar's last record. Tragically, James Dewar, best known as bassist and vocalist for Robin Trower and Stone The Crows, passed away on May 16, 2002. Dewar had been ill since a medical mishap in 1987. He was born on October 12, 1942.
I personally believe that Dewar was one of the most talented vocalists of the 70's / 80's and I was fortunate enough to see him when he toured Australia with Trower in 1975, playing at Festival Hall in Melbourne. The only other vocalist that comes close to his talent is Gary Brooker from Procal Harum, both having voices that you never get tired of listening to.
The rip included here was taken from a CD released in 1998 at 320kps but only includes limited artwork
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Track Listing01 - Out Of Time
02 - Goodbye Love
03 - Stumbledown Romancer
04 - Bright Lights
05 - Hosanna
06 - Loves Melody
07 - Sands Of Time
08 - Heartbeat
09 - Lay Down The Night
10 - Dance With Me
11 - Nature Child
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Band Members:
James Dewar (Bass / Vocals / Acoustic guitar / Electric guitar / Tambourine )
Matthew Fisher, John Allair, Andy McMasters (Organ / Piano / Synthesiser)
Peter van Hooke, Bill Lordan, Dave Mattacks, Graham Jarvis (Drums)
David Hayes, John Platania, Martin Jenner (Guitar)
Mo Foster, Alan Johns, Paul Westwood (Bass)
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James Dewar Link (59Mb)
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Gilligan's Island was an American television situation comedy originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964, to September 4, 1967. It was originally sponsored by Philip Morris & Company and Procter & Gamble. The show followed the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and ultimately escape from a previously uninhabited island where they were shipwrecked. Gilligan's Island ran for a total of 98 episodes. The first season (consisting of 36 episodes) was filmed in black-and-white, though colorized in later syndication. However, the next two seasons (62 episodes) and three television movie sequels were filmed in color.
five passengers on a "three-hour tour" run into a tropical storm and are shipwrecked on an uncharted, uninhabited island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The episode "The Pigeon" places the island approximately 300 miles (480 km) southeast of Hawaii, while the episode "X Marks the Spot" gives a location near 140° longitude, 10° latitude, which puts it about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to the southeast. In the episode "Big Man On a Little Stick," however, the Professor gives the position as "approximately 110° longitude and 10° latitude". It should be noted though that wherever it's location was, the island was close enough to Hawaii to clearly pick up Hawaiian AM radio transmissions on their old portable receiver. Executive producer Sherwood Schwartz believed in avoiding exposition, and so he composed the sea shanty-style theme song, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle," as a capsule summary of the castaways' predicament.
This was done so that first-time viewers would instantly understand the premise (studio executives were reportedly afraid that viewers would be confused about the show's concept without some form of explanation). He took the same approach with the themes to The Brady Bunch and It's About Time.
