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I wonder whether the ‘Jake Thackray Live’ cassette might not be a private and rather amateur live recording from the Red Lion folk club: at least one other member of this forum has purchased such a tape from Jake at a gig, and he appears to have sold such items after his recording contract ended and back catalogue was largely deleted. Does the cassette have a proper cover?
Welcome aboard! The LP ‘Jake Thackray and Songs’ does turn up reasonably regularly on eBay and I would strongly recommend that you get a copy: to my mind it is the best live album, since it contains material from a small theatre gig when Jake was at the height of his powers. The two studio tracks on the album, One of Them and The Remembrance, are both outstanding, and you get The Bull as well! (You can also pick up The Bull as a digital download from http://www.hmvdigital.co.uk.) Give a shout if you need more information.
Paul
If this is the item which recently appeared on eBay, then the title is misleading. Looking at the track listing on eBay it looks to me like the first CD compilation of Jake’s songs, Lah-di-dah. So I suspect that ‘Tony Fayle’ is a complete red herring (maybe the owner of the cd?)
I find it impossible to single out any one song or line: I have so many favourites. However, I agree with the late and much lamented Ian Watson (in the Jake on the Box documentary) that the second line of On Again (‘to me it is palpable proof of God’s existence, a posteriori’) is superb: the Latin tag works as a joke on multiple levels here. In The Kiss, ‘with my nose in her breastbone…there was a lot to understand’ is a simply wonderful line, and the verbal gymnastics and internal rhymes in The Lodger (‘she was chaotic, idiotic…’ etc.) are brilliant. I, too, could go on…and on…
Welcome aboard, Jonb! The EMI vaults are apparently completely clear of unreleased material now, but, as you suggest, the BBC must certainly have some material. I don’t recognise either of the songs to which you refer (I’m too young to have seen Jake on TV in the sixties), but I know of the following:
– the BBC4 documentary ‘Jake on the Box’ featured a clip of Jake singing (on Nationwide?) a song about a municipal workers’ strike;
– we know that the 1974 programme ‘The Camera and the Song’ featured alternate versions of a number of songs, as well as the unreleased (on vinyl or CD) The Cenotaph, which you can find in the audio clips on this site;
doubtless there are other songs, but how good they will be is doubtful: Jake seems to have known the quality of his own writing and most of the previously unreleased tracks on Jake in a Box are not front rank songs (IMHO). Whether we can ever persuade the BBC to open its vaults is doubtful, although a number of the members of this site have been trying.I can vouch for the fact that seeing Jake in the setting of a very small club was truly magical.
Post edited by: Paul, at: 2008/01/24 19:34
Good luck to the group! Apparently Jake was pretty sensitive about this song, which he had written specifically for children, and he did not like adults singing it. So it is great to know that the song is being performed as he intended.
Any chance of a recording for YouTube?
Paul
Yes, I (and others, I think) have spotted this hidden track. This version features Jake’s own French translation.
Click on the link below to go to the right place, then type ‘Thackray’ into the ‘Search and Listen’ box and click enter; this should get you to all the digital Thackray material.
http://www.hmvdigital.com/HMV.Digital.WebStore.Portal/default.aspx?&WT.mc_id=101338
Post edited by: Paul, at: 2007/06/23 08:08
This is tantalising but sadly it could well be something of a red herring: as Jake would readily admit, he made lots of things up.
Welcome aboard, Bigconman36, and well done on your performances: you should definitely look to book yourself up to play at the next Jakefest!
I have posted on YouTube a cover of Famous People, from the recent Jake Thackray Experience night at Knutsford. I hope to add some more clips of other songs and performers in the weeks ahead, to give those who have not been to Jakefests some idea as to what they can expect. The next Jake Thackray Experience performance will be at Holmfirth in May.
Post edited by: Paul, at: 2007/04/21 18:14
