Rare as hell, this amazing rare compilation from this band from the British Invation style. Pay attention to this extremely rare lost beauty.You may wonder when you read the title of this lp, "R&B Plus" - plus what ? Plus the Mark Leeman Five of course, but also a little bit of jazz - a lot of feeling and the distinctive sound that can be only produced by true musicians. Personally I am unable to select a favourite track from the eleven. This is just a small sample of the very wide range the boys are capable of. From the belting rhythm of "got my mojo working" to the gentle phrasing in "Frenzy" -
THIS is the Mark Leeman Five.
Jim Goff
If you're a fan of British R&B and haven't heard the tracks you'll be blown away - listen to the incisive guitar and Mark Leeman's stunningly sublime vocals on the barnstorming opener, and then realise that this was recorded in 1963 - it makes bands like the Stones and Yardbirds recordings from the time sound like that of pissant wannabees, and even my beloved Downliners Sect and Pretty Things don't come close. Even if you're not a fan of the era and style, then you have to be impressed by the musicianship and the sheer balls of a British band daring to take on a jazz classic like "Moanin'" or the arrangement and vocals on "Work Song". I guess that as an unsigned band using Pye's studios they were limited by time, and most of the tracks were one or two takes. It's an understatement to say they must have been absolutely awesome live...
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Pablo,thanks a lot for good congratulation.Good luck and strong "siberian" ( 8))) ) health for you !!! Since New Year!!!
Jamonazo del medio.!!,hoy creo que te salto el paredón vecino y me llevo este,un abrazo y gran trabajo..!!
for being recorded in 1963 - this is pretty hard stuff. even if it were recorded in 1965 or 66, it'd be considered good solid garage! Never heard of them before and though i haven't listened to all of it, what I have sampled of it, it's good British Invasion material worth listening to. Many thanks and have a healthy and worthwhile new year.
excelente Post ( RECOMENDABLE )..!! decime Pablo cuantos temas tiene este disco??
este disco tiene 11 temas
y agregue a modo compilatorio
8 singles mas, 19 en total, correcto?
estan todos en el archivo?
thanks, seriously overrated by the description this doesn't even come close to the stones, yardbirds, pretty things, sect etc. but it's still good, pissant wannabes who's he kidding? Ridiculous comparison
Hey guys, this download doesn't work - keeps making me enter the three digits over and over -- or is it just me?
No it isn't just you , it keeps doing that to me too !
If this is from the I Can See Miles CD of Demo Stuff they did as they never released an official album, the guy who wrote the description is on crack and needs to be checked into a hospital. The music itself is fine but as far from frenzied and raucous as you can get.
This is REALLY COOL, I like it a lot…I’ve been reading the other comments and I agree about the wrong comparison with The Pretties, The Sect etc.
I had known all of this thanks to the aforementioned See For Miles album that never stated the existence of this album…Intrigued by it, a quick Google search revealed where this came from and who wrote so (over)enthusiastically about it. A certain Stuart found this truly “lost” album on e-bay and was blown away by it and was rightly very very happy for not having paid lots of money, a true find!
There is a strong Jazz influence here, “Moanin” is Jazz pianist Bobby Timmons classic for example and I would draw comparison to the more Soul/Jazz R&B of Manfred Mann, Graham Bond or The Spencer Davis Group or even the Animals rather than the dirty, raw stuff played by the early Stones, Pretty Things etc.
Pablo added their great singles too, the last one recorded with the new vocalist after Mark Leeman’s premature death in 1965.
Their version of “Portland Town” is great and I particularly love “Blow my blues away” and “Going to Bluesville”.
GREAT STUFF!
Hi,
I'm the guy who was lucky enough to get the LP and gave the... ummm... definitely very over-enthusiastic review and comparison with other British R&B bands! You should consider that when I posted it, I'd only just received what I still wasn't sure was a "real" LP, and as the other poster has said I was completely blown away by it. When I mentioned the Stones and Sect etc. I was comparing it against the contemporary releases i.e. the Stones 1st two singles and the Sect's "Gt Newport Street" EP. I really don't rate the Stones first two 7"s, and they only really start impressing me from "Not Fade Away" onwards. Ther Sect private pressing EP is great, but the two tracks from the EP that are also on the Mark Leeman LP ("Green Onions" and "Shame Shame Shame") do fall short when played back to back - if you haven't heard the EP I'll upload the tracks and scans of the sleeve and Pablo can put a link to them, if they're not already here that is. By the time of the first single the Sect were definitely the full package, and their first LP is stunning, but at the time of the EP (January '64) they do fall short to my ears.
The big thing that strikes me with the LP is the sheer confidence in the playing - considering that they were using it to try to get a record deal makes the choice of material even more impressive especially for 63. I can hear quite a Mose Allison influence on the piano parts, but that may be because I listened to a lot of the guy over the weekend. You might find it interesting to look at the calendar for The Marquee Club in London for late '64 and '65:
http://www.themarqueeclub.net/1964
http://www.themarqueeclub.net/1965
I'd have loved to have them seen them on the same bill as The Who on 25/5/1965!
Mark Leeman's death in a car crash after the release of the first single was a real tragedy...
Cheers,
Stuart
p.s. I said that the tracks and cover could be posted anywhere as I was keen to share the LP with others. I wasn't aware part of my original post after I'd just received it would be copied too! ;-)
thanks for the "original" share.
yes only added the bonus.
Stuart,
I knew what you meant and you’re right about what the Sect or the Stones recorded at the time of this album, that’s how I read your comment without having the exact dates….
Somebody here seemed to have taken your comparison a bit too…”personally”..ah! ah!
I thank you for your generosity and enthusiasm about this great stuff!
Pablo, muchas gracias por este “descubrimiento”, pero sí por la proxima sería bueno acreditar la fuente desde el principio especialmente cuando, como en este caso, la persona ha sido tan generosa!
Hi Aldo,
Cheers - and I'm glad you understood the point I was making! You obviously have a "feel" for the British Beat and R&B stuff, as The Graham Bond Organisation comparison you made is a really good one, and I'd probably add the great Duffy Power too. Funny you should mention Manfred Mann, as they were huge fans of the Mark Leeman Five, and the first single is actually a "Manfredisc Production", produced by Paul Jones and featuring him on some fine blues harp on the B-side ("Gotta Get Myself Together"). Can you imagine how good they would have sounded in '66/'67 if Mark Leeman hadn't died, and they had kept their momentum going?
I honestly have no problem with Pablo posting the tracks and cover with no credit to me. It's a pretty much unknown album (only 4 or 5 copies are known to exist from its original very limited private pressing) and most people are unaware of its existence, so I thought it was important to share it. I also said people were free to take the links to the tracks and album cover and post it where they wanted, so Pablo has done me no wrong at all (although I'd rather he had written his own review of the album and not used the one I'd made just after I received the LP!). He has a great site here, and it's exactly the kind of place I was hoping it would end up on, so I'm really glad he posted it. :)
I'll post a link to the live Downliners Sect "Nite at Gt. Newport Street" EP some time over the weekend if Pablo doesn't mind, and he's more than welcome to post it on a separate page. No site can ever have too much "sect" appeal... ;-)
Take care,
Stuart
Stuart:
sorry that i didnt put any credits, cause I got this one from SLSK, with the review and everything (on a word note), so thats why I didnt put the source, If I would have known from the first moment, i would have written the link to the site where you post the lp.
I think that we (bloggers) always have to put the original "source".
And please...feel at home...if you want to post your stuff here... just drop a comment (IF YOU WANT AND LIKE) and I ll post it soon.
It would be great to have more stuff to share... and someone that has the same taste.
@ Aldo:
si como le explicaba a nuestro nuevo amigo, no sabia bien la procedencia, lo adquiri en Slsk, con la review en el bloc de notas y nada mas.
Este tipo tiene un gran sentimiento por compartir! desde ya que merece reconocimiento!
Saludos
Y mejor aún es reconocerlo,bién por los dos...
Pretty sure that's Jimmy Page on "Follow Me" (toward the end there). And if you listen carefully to the flip side of that single ("Gather Up The Pieces") it sounds like Jimmy again.
Hi Pablo,
Looks like someone's already posted a couple of Downliners Sect LPs! Never mind, here's a great LP of British beat and R'n'B, released in the UK on the Columbia label in 1964, called "On The Scene". The tracklisting is:
A1 The Animals - Baby Let Me Take You Home
A2 The Cheynes - Respectable (*)
A3 Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames - Do-Re-Mi
A4 The Moquettes - Right String, But The Wrong Yo-Yo
A5 The Yardbirds - A Certain Girl
A6 The Syndicats - Maybellene
A7 Mickie Most And The Gear - Money Honey
A8 Downliners Sect - Baby What's Wrong
B1 The Yardbirds - I Wish You Would
B2 Rey Anton And The Peppermint Men - You Can't Judge Book By The Cover
B3 Mickie Most And The Gear - Sea Cruise (*)
B4 The Zephyrs - I Can Tell
B5 Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames - Green Onions
B6 The Cherokees - Seven Daffodils
B7 Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers - Everybody Loves A Lover (*)
B8 The Animals - Gonna Send You Back To Walker
All 1964 except (*) 1963
It's all zipped up with pretty bad photos of the front and back covers (damn my camera and photographing at night!). I'll try and scan the back cover at work sometime this week as there's some great photos of the bands on the back. It's definitely not in mint condition (!!!) but the crackles make it sound nice and authentic, and that's why I haven't replaced some of the tracks with 7"s in better condition...
Heres the link - let me know if you have any problems downloading it (Click where it says "Download File" just below "OnTheScene.rar"). Oh, and I hope you enjoy it!
http://www.divshare.com/download/6306814-9da
Cheers
Stuart
p.s. The label released a similar album a year later called "Scene 65" which I haven't got but wouldn't half mind... ;-)
Hi,
You realy kind for posting this treasure. It's really rare and this is my long most wanted stuff!
And for "On The Scene", I have trouble for download it... the link (divshare) for free download is unavailable in my region Asia...
Would you give us alternate links?
Thanks a lot,
Don
Hi Don,
If Pablo can't download it later, I'll post it on Rapidshare after work this evening.
Cheers,
Stuart
I've removed the "On The Scene" LP from DivShare, but Pablo has posted it up on MegaUpload if anyone wants to download it.
You can find his link to it here:
http://mza-garage.blogspot.com/2009/01/va-on-scene-uk-1964.html
Cheers,
Stuart
Thanks!
Zeno
Pablo, could you PLEASE re-up this? I can't find it anywhere else on the Web, and of course Megaupload is gone. Thank you,
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