W.O.C.K On Vinyl: Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons - Limited Edition Double Single (1980)

 Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song or album at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.

Joe Camilleri was born in Malta during 1948, the third of ten children. In 1964, he was singing with a band called The Brollies, then joined up with ex-Captain Matchbox member Dave Flett in the King Bees. After they split, Camilleri retired from rock'n'roll for a few years, resurfacing as leader of the Adderley Smith Blues Band in 1970. Two years later he was with Lipp & The Double Decker Brothers and, even later, toured WA mining towns with Flett and Skyhooks founder Peter Starkie — as Roger Rocket & The Millionaires.

In 1973, Joe Camilleri moved from Western Australia to Melbourne to play with The Sharks and then formed The Pelaco Brothers in 1974, who recorded a memorable EP (see previous post). This led to a brief association with Mushroom Records for the Christmas 1975 single "Run Run Rudolph" (as Jo Jo Zep), produced by Ross Wilson. Camilleri was then asked to open for Skyhooks at a Myer Music Bowl concert in Melbourne and recruited Gary Young, John Powers, Wayne Burt and Jeff Burstin. Thus was born Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, who debuted on vinyl with "Beatin' Around The Bush", which was featured in the film Oz.

This was followed by the 1977 albums 'Don't Waste It' and 'Whip It Out' produced by Ross Wilson, the live EP 'Loud And Clear' and a 10" mini-album 'So Young'.

The hard-blowing, hot-swinging Falcons were a distillation of a decade of diligently noncommercial urban blues bands. They stood their uncompromised ground until Australian rock caught up with them and then proceeded to blow everyone else offstage with contagious boogie of a relevant and intelligent nature. Highly regarded in diverse musical circles, they toured with Graham Parker & The Rumour and were invited to play at the 1980 Montreaux Jazz & Blues Festival, in the wake of the acclaimed 'Screaming Targets' album and two strong chart hits, "Hit and Run" and "Shape I'm In".

The band continued on its winning streak with the 1980 'Hats Off Step Lively' album and the hit single "I Will Return" which was the band's first attempt at using strings in a recording. In Joe's words 'We had a great arrangement for it and I had the whole song down and recorded apart from the very first bit which I just could not sing in tune for ages!'

This month's WOCK on Vinyl post features a limited edition Double Single package which contained two 45's from Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons. The first 45 features two versions of "I Will Return", the A side is a track from Hats Off Step Lively album which was recorded at AAV studios in March, 1980, whilst the B side was recorded live at the bottomline nightclub, New York in July, 1980. The second 45 showcases the tracks "Don't Wanna Come Down" and "I Need Your Loving" which were both recorded live at the 1980 Montreux Jazz & Blues Festival held in Switzerland. This unique double single, four track package was strictly a limited edition release (selling for $1.99, the same price as a normal 45 at that time). To ensure that the two 45's were not sold separately by dodgy record outlets, Mushroom records printed "Bonus Single Not For Sale" on the 2nd 45's label.

 Because this double single had a limited number of pressings and rarely appears on eBay, it certainly ticks the Obscure check box for  being a WOCK on vinyl candidate.  This post consists of FLACs,  cover artwork and label scans taken from my prized vinyl. Although my copy is in almost mint condition, it was still necessary to increase the volume of the D-Side "I Need Your Loving", due to it's excessive length - 8:40.  This release is certainly worth grabbing, as you won't hear any of these live recordings elsewhere. 

Track Listing

Side A -  I Will Return (Studio)  3:20

Side B -  I Will Return (Live at the Bottomline nightclub, New York)  3:29

Side C -  Don't Wanna Come Down (Live At The Montreaux Jazz & Blues Festival)  3:26

Side D -  I Need Your Loving (Live At The Montreaux Jazz & Blues Festival)  8:40

Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons Link (121Mb)