STONEY & THE JAGGED EDGE on LP from Big Beat end of April

[Frantic]

Six tracks, vinyl only, released end of April

• Big Beat’s excavations of Jeep Holland’s A-Square imprint continue with the exciting discovery of a true Detroit holy grail – the long-lost session by Stoney & The Jagged Edge, one of the premier attractions at the Grande Ballroom during the halcyon “high energy” days of the late 1960s.

• Contemporaries of the MC5 and Stooges, the Edge were equally as cutting edge, with a wild stage presence and notorious, enigmatic frontman in Dave “Stoney” Mazar. The quartet burned briefly but fiercely between early 1967 and late 1968, leaving only some indelible memories with the few that witnessed them in action, and one studio session supervised by Holland at Detroit’s United Sound, which in the ensuing decades was believed lost.

• Now that a source has surfaced, the world can hear what it missed – prime 1968 Grande Ballroom psychedelia, with the power and punk edge that only Detroit can provide. Cuts like ‘Rainbows’, ‘Can’t Find The Key’ and ‘Crystal Rain’ fully justify the Jagged Edge’s legend, and this special vinyl release is cause for vintage psych fans of hues to celebrate. Sleeve comes with a lengthy interview where Stoney spills the beans on this outrageous outfit.

 

[Frantic]

Turns out that Iggy lifted a lot of his moves from Stoney. Wait til you you guys hear these tracks... Insane stuff.

 

[MopTopMike]

This is gonna be killer - cannot wait!!!

 

[Ned]

Jeep & I both worked for the same record chain in the mid 1970s & he raved about Stoney & the Jagged Edge.

Ned

 

[franku]

A friend of mine taped a radio show off the air in 1969 where Jeep played several of these tracks. It was in excruciatingly lo-fi sound, but when he played songs like "Crystal Rain" for me I knew it was the best material A-Square records would have released, had it come out.

Thank goodness Alec Palao has finally been able to locate sources for this stuff! I would rate the Jagged Edge well above more prolific groups like SRC, the Frost, et al., as one of Michigan's top psychedelic bands (with a punky edge). A shame that only six tracks survive, but at least they are good ones!

 

[bosshoss]

Sounds more than promising. I'll have to order it for sure based on the above comments. Pity it ain't gonna be 3 45s on A-Square. But I'm just biased towards 45s!

 

[franku]

I agree! When I first heard a couple of these tracks around 20 years ago, I assumed they were planned for a 45, and have always pictured "Crystal Rain" and "Chasing Rainbows" as the single. Somebody (not me) put my friend's tape of the former song on youtube - the LP is going to have much better sound, but dig this as a teaser!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pidxs3rUhBY

 

[bosshoss]

This is going to be incredibly unpopular, but they remind me of Pearl Jam.

 

[Frantic]

This is going to be incredibly unpopular, but they remind me of Pearl Jam.

I was thinking when you said that you said you were going to buy it "I don't think this is Mark's cup of tea."

 

[Perkeo]

Yeah, music sounds cool but I don't much like the vocals, there is the faintest wiff of Eddie Vedder about them! I like those two Dick Rabbit 45's better...having said that, will probably snag this when it shows up.

 

[bosshoss]

Yeah, music sounds cool

There's no way I'm going to sit through a guitar solo like that, and pretend I like it!
File under prog/psych (mediocre at that)

 

[Perkeo]

There's no way I'm going to sit through a guitar solo like that, and pretend I like it!
File under prog/psych (mediocre at that)

Reminds me more of the Spike Drivers or Mystic Siva than the Stooges...frankly I don't see the comparison. Still, gonna keep a slighly ajar mind until the whole thing is available...

 

[bosshoss]

Reminds me more of the Spike Drivers or Mystic Siva than the Stooges...frankly I don't see the comparison. Still, gonna keep a slighly ajar mind until the whole thing is available...

Sure, it's only one out of six, but it's not a good start. Rhyming "Higher" with both "Fire" and "Desire". OK, I'll stop now.

 

[Andreas]

Still, it's better than rhyming "iron" with "lion" and "Zion"...

 

[Frantic]

Reminds me more of the Spike Drivers or Mystic Siva than the Stooges...frankly I don't see the comparison.

Alec never said they sounded like the Stooges, he said "They were contemporaries of the Stooges" Big difference.

 

[Frantic]

You oughta know that as a punk rock era kid Alec HATES progressive rock more than anything else - look at the stuff he digs up and reissues. He doesn’t even own any Tamam Shud . . . he also said that one of the other Jagged Edge tracks sounds like “Hindu Gods Of Love”! HA! What's your Prog-nosis on this one? Pure '68 Dee-troit


http://www.divshare.com/download/25309567-6bc

 

[bosshoss]

That's a lot more listenable. Sounds very Cream influenced, like 90 percent of hard rock from 68/69.

 

[Frantic]

That's a lot more listenable. Sounds very Cream influenced, like 90 percent of hard rock from 68/69.

Cream sounds like Burt Bacharach compared to JAGGED EDGE. They never had a guitar sound that jagged. Pun intended.

 

[Perkeo]

Alec never said they sounded like the Stooges, he said "They were contemporaries of the Stooges" Big difference.

It's actually you who made the claim that Iggy lifted a lot of his moves from Stoney, ergo...

 

[Frantic]

It's actually you who made the claim that Iggy lifted a lot of his moves from Stoney, ergo...

Hey Perk...Moves and sounds are 2 totally different things. Alec interviewed Iggy 2 weeks ago and Iggy said that the only way to follow Stoney was to take his clothes off