Jet turns 51! To mark the occasion, here’s the Sony press release from the Jet album’s Spotify debut:
Jet now available digitally
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the anthill: Vince Vermilingua is back! Now the legendary Jet album from 1975 is finally made available to a new generation, after skipping four of them. For those Jet fans who still survive, and for newer converts, SONY Music now officially release the digital version of Jet. The album is available via the usual outlets (Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer and more).
Plectrum
Whyfore Jet? Where did these musicians spring from? Bassist/songwriter Martin Gordon was in Sparks at the time of their album Kimono My House. Following his ouster, he teamed up with drummer Chris Townson, once of John’s Children and briefly with the Who. John’s Children had Marc Bolan on guitar and Andy Ellison on vocals. Townson dragged Ellison along to Jet rehearsals one day, wearing a green anorak. Jet needed a singer with a green anorak, so Andy was in. Guitarist David O’List stepped up under the nom de plectrum of Vince Vermilingua. Vince had once been in The Nice and Roxy Music, and had briefly depped for legendary acid-casualty Syd Barrett in Pink Floyd. Frankly, he got around a bit, did Vince. Finally, and appropriately, on keyboards was Oxendale.
Your Mothers
Thanks to the foresight of Jamie Turner, who became Jet’s personal manager, the band were snapped up (but not literally) in 1974 by one-time Beatles string arranger (She’s Leaving Home) turned businessman Mike Leander. His voracious company snapped up (literally, this time) all management, publishing and recording rights. Mike Leander also asked for a controlling share in the band’s mothers, their mother’s mothers and any friend of their mothers who happened to be passing at the time of the band’s signing away of all their rights, or indeed at any other earlier and/or later time.
Hello (and Goodbye) There, Ladies and Gentlemen
In 1975, Jet recorded their debut, and simultaneously their farewell, album for CBS. This prescient plan saved them a tremendous amount of subsequent studio and touring costs. The album was recorded in London’s East End at Trevor Horn’s SARM Studios. It was produced by Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, Jet Foreigner) and engineered by Gary Lyons (later to produce the Rolling Stones) and Gary Langan (subsequently co-founder of The Art of Noise).
Has Anyone Seen My Winnebago?
Aa far as the band were concerned, the name of the album was to be titled Has Anyone Seen Charlotte? A corresponding album design was worked up by Hipgnosis, and a photoshoot was carried out at Mick Jagger’s house Stargroves. It featured the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio in the background, in fact a Winnebago caravan formerly owned by Ronnie Lane and now parked round the back.
It Must Be a (Mr) Miracle
As attractive as the initial artwork results were, they were roundly rejected by CBS, who made a counter proposal. The album should be called Jet, they said (it was), and the design should feature a design (nicked from a Jack Kirby ‘Mr Miracle’ comic cover) by Roslav Szaybo (it also was). Plagiarism lawsuits followed, but we digress.
Sorry, He’s Tied Up (Again)
Following the release of the album, Jet went on tour with Hunter-Ronson. Ian Hunter was now emerging from the mad shadows of Mott the Hoople, and Mick Ronson was making his own mark following his debut as David Bowie’s musical factotum. Jet were told off for stealing the headliner’s stagecraft, but all ended peacefully and they began their own headlining UK tour. This tour saw, among other things, members of the band tying themselves up on stage and falling immobile to the floor (at Newcastle’s Mayfair Ballroom) and performing to audiences consisting of two people (in Dunoon).
Following the tour, Jet went ‘to the countryside’ to begin work on a second album, at the request of the record company. In response to the visit of head honchos from the record company, Jet sensibly disbanded, only to shortly regroup as Radio Stars. But that’s another story. Which, entirely coincidentally, can be found here.
Criticism
What the critics say: All Music: “As befits their Roxy/Sparks connections, Jet were definitively camped [ooh, get you, ducky] on the brainier side of glam; instead of thudding, clap-along beats and simple guitar hooks, they created sophisticated little art rock gems, with Davy O’List’s guitar lines sometimes evoking Queen axeman Brian May’s orchestral approach to the six-string. Singer Andy Ellison’s delivery was arch and mannered, as befits the milieu — imagine David Bowie imitating Sparks’ Russell Mael, with wry lyrics to match”.
Jet on Spotify.
Back to the Jet treasure trove.