Holiday Inn Spain - The Field Guide To The Raybeats

At times it can be frustrating to ‘discover’ a band only after they’ve already split up…  I guess I might have encountered some of (The) Raybeats’ instrumentals before on a compilation, but despite my love for this kind of music, somehow it didn’t register enough.

That finally happened once their ‘lost’ 1982 session with Philip Glass was released, because his name for sure piqued my interest. The minimalist guy teaming up with a neo-surf rock combo? Unreal!  Three tracks: Pack Of Camels, Black Beach, and A Sad Little Caper got the full Glass treatment with Michael Riesman on keyboards which certainly made a difference… 

Another sign was the discovery of Neville Brody’s sleeve of their Holiday Inn Spain single…  From there on I backtracked and started listening to their other records as well, which sadly enough weren’t that many.  Altogether they released only 3 albums and a couple of 45s between 1981 - 1984…

The Raybeats formed in 1979 out of the ashes of the New York no-wavers, The Contortions. They decided to focus on Link Wray style guitar instrumentals and combine this with Dick Dale surf/space age/spy movie/no-wave, an interesting mix to say the least!

Lineup was George Scott (bass), Don Christensen (drums), Pat Irwin (guitarist/keyboardist/sax), and Jody Harris (guitar).  Scott sadly enough died of a drug overdose in 1980 and was replaced by Danny Amis (bass, guitar).

Their records output started with an EP Roping Wild Bears (1981), followed by an album, Guitar Beat (1982), which was recorded in England in Martin Rushent’s brand new studio.  According to Greg McLean’s Bar-None rerelease liner notes: This is modern American music-each song a chapter in a Bill Burroughs novel, cutting up sci-fi secret agents with the pulp of travelogues, voodoo recipes and bartending texts. 

Only one more album followed: It’s Only A Movie!, before the band decided to throw in the towel in 1984.  The band members moved on; Jody (The Golden Palominos), Pat (B-52s), and Danny (Los Straightjackets).  

No official compilation was ever released, therefore leave it up to Jokonky to correct this serious omission! It includes several tracks from their albums and as they apparently had quite a reputation as a live band, I added 2 examples from a live Stiff Records album as well. 

The Field Guide To Jeb Loy Nichols

If I remember correctly I first heard Jeb Loy Nichols about 20 years ago when someone posted ‘As The Rain’ from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. I was immediately hooked by this song, his dusky vocals and the kind of reggae background did the trick. A bit later I stumbled upon the Adrian Sherwood version which gave Jeb’s song a dub treatment, even better!

Over the years I kept encountering his music and have seldom been disappointed.  His work is best described as ‘Countrymusicdisco45reggae’ which somehow he uses effectively!

Jeb Loy Nichols is an American-born expatriate singer, songwriter, musician, artist, and novelist living in Wales. He came to the UK in the early eighties where he met Adrian Sherwood and the rest is history. His first band was The Fellow Travellers, with whom he recorded a couple of albums, again a mix of country, folk, and reggae.

In 1997 Jeb went solo, had a deal with Capitol Records who released his Lover’s Knot album. Unfortunately it did zilch and Jeb had to look for another company.  Luckily he usually manages to get his songs released, whether on Ryko, Rough Trade, Decca, Compass, or other labels. Besides being a musician, Jeb is also an impressive artist who designed most of the artwork of his albums and singles as well as some covers for Pressure Sounds, the UK based reggae label. Jeb is also active as a writer and has published several stories and a novel.
 

Despite an impressive track record of 5 Fellow Travellers, 1 Okra All-Stars, and 18 solo albums, only 1 compilation (of the first 2 solo albums) was ever (self) released.  This Jokonky Field Guide is divided into 2 CDs, the first ‘Singles’ focuses on exactly that: CD/Vinyl/Promo/FLAC one-offs. The second ‘Odds and Sods’ looks into remixes, B-sides, collaborations, dubs, covers (2xPrince, Gomm, Cash), and more. 

If you like what you hear, check out his Bandcamp or his own site for the real deal!