Jon English - It's All A Game (1974)

(Australian 1972 - 2016)

Remembering Jon English on the 10th Anniversary of his passing (10th March, 2016), many of you might think back to the first concert where you saw this dynamic singer, or one of his many mighty stage performances: as Judas Iscariot in 'Jesus Christ Superstar', as the swashbuckling Pirate King in the 'Pirates of Penzance', or as Jonathan Garrett in 'Against the Wind'. Over his career, he won four Mo awards, four ARIAs, and a Logie. With his striking physical appearance and hypnotic eyes, he was a hard person to ignore.

Johnathan James “Jon” English was, as you might have guessed, English. A post-war baby, born in 1949 in Hampstead to working-class parents, he and his family emigrated when he was 12, and eventually wound up in Cabramatta in Sydney’s west.

After abortive musical efforts at Cabramatta High School, his first musical success was in a Rolling Stones-esque blues band Sebastian Hardie, which eventually morphed into a significant early symphonic rock band. This band featured the two highly talented Plavsic brothers - Peter and Alex, and the musical virtuoso Mario Millo.

English left Sebastian Hardie in 1972 to play Judas Iscariot in the first Australian performance of Rice and Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. It was a demanding, high-octane, countertenor role, which he played to acclaim for four years.

His Judas acted as a springboard for other opportunities. He once joked that he’d performed on every Australian cop show in the 70s – always as the drug-crazed, axe-wielding hippy. He both appeared in and helped score the acclaimed miniseries Against the Wind (1978), set in Australia’s colonial era.

In the 80s, he started appearing in, of all things, Gilbert and Sullivan, performing in lauded productions of The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and HMS Pinafore, as well as stage musicals such as Rasputin and Big River.

Jon the Pirate

These shows didn’t stop him releasing rock albums. English never had a number one, but his albums and singles usually charted, sometimes very well. Probably the best-known of his early songs was "Turn The Page" (1974), from his second album 'It’s All a Game', reaching #20 on the Australian charts and launched his pop career.

The violent guitar strum of the opening, the rhythmic chorus, and the raspy voice telling a tale of a singer on the road is all classic English. Other hits followed, including Hollywood Seven (1976) and Words are Not Enough (1978). In all, Jon released over a dozen solo albums and appeared on multiple soundtrack and colaboration albums over his long musical career.

Few other artists straddled the worlds of rock music and theatre with such authority and honesty. But he has a legacy beyond mere performing and recording. He was a risk taker.

Jon was always game to have a go at something, to put himself out there, risking very public failure, but usually succeeding beyond anyone’s expectations.

At one stage in his career, he’d be a countertenor Judas, screechingly chastising Jesus for his contact with Mary Magdelene. At another, he’d be releasing records and songs in a mainstream Australian rock style. At other times, he might perform Gilbert and Sullivan, or pen musicals, or act on television.

Performers with such a wide range of talent or success are rare beasts indeed; but along with this comes a great deal of hard work and dedication. Jon gave his all to the Australian entertainment industry, for which he will never be forgotten. [extract from theconversation.com]

Album Review
By Jane Matheson (Rolling Stone, May 8 1975 p44-45)

Jon English is one of the few rock-based musicians in Australia who has contrived to broaden his audience appeal to those with more middle of the road tastes. This second English album is sure to strengthen that appeal. It reveals a mature and confident songwriting talent coupled with a distinctively theatrical singing style, an unsurprising feature considering the degree of experience English has had over the last few years in theatre - most notably in the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar.

The rich melodic backing on a number of tracks supplied by his old band Sebastian Hardy - is capable of dramatic emphasis and fills a smoothly complementary role which allows the singer and his songs to take the spotlight. lt is only on the final track, "Hail all hail to the revolution", which exhibits a wailing guitar and a rougher edge to the sound, that the music assumes a more dominant position.

A variety of situations and characterisations are presented in the lyrics, from the romantic "By Firelight" - "I would give anything to just once again/Make love by firelight with you," to the bleak "Snake Eyes" where we are invited to "stare at the soul of a gambler man/whose nerve's just gone under the knife," to the tale of a misled would-be superstar who has just realised that he has been ripped off by his manager, "You promised you'd make me a superstar./I bought a gold lame suit and a Gibson guitar,/And practised all day while you sat in the bar".

Taken as a whole the songs present a catalogue of misfortunes, but they avoid self-pity because of English's robust sense of irony which allows him to laugh back at the vagaries of fate with a rueful realism. This attitude can be seen in the chorus lines of such songs as "Love goes on" - "So pick yourself up,/Dust yourself off,/ And get kicked in the head again".

English has produced a stylish album in which the music shows a strong affinity with the singer and his songs. He has a powerful voice and hits all the right notes. Yet in his singing, he voices notes and words rather than songs. Each piece is vehicle for his dramatic and vocal talents. There is a disappointing failure to communicate feeling, to make the songs live by breathing a little more than good diction and perfect pitch into them. This may be a legacy of English's time on the stage: he's a fairly self-conscious regulator of his voice. Given the technical capacities he displays, as well as his obvious talent as a wordsmith, the time is approaching when he should be capable of letting go a little. [review by Jane Matheson]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from Vinyl and includes full album artwork and a scan of the above album review. The album's lead single "Turn The Page" was my first introduction to Jon's solo career and is still a treasured 45 in my record collection. The remaining songs on this album are not quite as strong, as Jon was still trying to develop his rock status and severe his 'Stage' personna.  But in my eyes, Jon was always a Superstar. RIP Jon.

Track List:

A1 Intro

A2 Turn The Page

A3 Just The Way I Am

A4 He Could Have Been A Dancer

A5 Love Goes On

A6 By Firelight

A7 Space Shanty

B1 Snakeyes

B2 Chained To The Middle

B3 Superstar (You Promised Me)

B4 Hail All Hail To The Revolution (12 Bore)

B5 Credits

Musicians:

Jon English - Guitar, Harmonica, Lead Vocals

Peter Plavsic, Rod Coe - Bass

Alex Plavsic, Bruno Lawrence - Drums

Mario Millo, Mick Liber - Guitar

Michael Carlos, Ray Vanderby, Steve Dunne, Jamie McKinley - Keyboards

 It's All A Game Link (322Mb)