George Clemons has an illustrious past
to say the least. Born in 1938 and raised in Virginia, he moved to
New York in the 60's where he performed at the legendary Apollo
Theater with soul singer Don Covay. Clemons sang back-up on his 1964
classic ”Have Mercy”, covered by The Rolling Stones the following
year. Upon leaving Covay's band, George Clemons added 'King' to his
name and released his first solo single ”Drive on James” in 1966,
backed by members of Ray Charles' band and legendary soul drummer
Bernard Purdie. He played gigs in Harlem, made friends with Jimi
Hendrix and performed with Jimmy Castor (of The Jimmy Castor Bunch).
A Scandinavian promoter found out about
King George and asked him to come over to Europe for a three month
tour with the Sweden based band Harlem Kiddies. Once here, they made
a couple of recordings together, and as it happened, King George
remained in Sweden. In 1968 he teamed up with guitarist Anders Nordh
and bassist Paul Sundlin, both formerly of Trolls that made a couple
of singles in the 60's and later to form
Life. Completing the line-up
was Lennart 'Lilly' Bergman, and together they made one 7”, the
Motown sounding ”I'm the Best” backed with pop soul track ”Hold
me Closer” for the Swedish Columbia label in 1968.
King George Discovery (Haparanda, 1969)
English vocals
International relevance: ***
An album followed in 1969, curiously
enough the second outing on the Haparanda label that later turned to
Swedish dance bands and budget albums with uncredited cover versions
of current hits. ”King George Discovery” is on one hand funkier
than what the preceding single suggested it would be, on the other
softer and a tad more psychedelic (sometimes in the direction of 'B'
grade soul outfit The Chambers Brothers).
The album was produced by one
Cbristopher P. Cooper who previously had worked on one single by
Rolling Stones copycats The Shakers (lead by Tommy Rander). Cooper
obviously had no idea what he was doing – the album sounds weak
with the vocals too loud in the mix and the guitars way too low. He
effectively ruined any possible impact the album might have had had
it been mixed by a real professional. (There's a Christopher P.
Cooper currently writing books about tourism. I've no idea if it's
the same guy, but one thing's for sure, Cooper the producer would
have been better off as a tourist guide...)
”King George Discovery” is a wasted
opportunity, although the material isn't particularly good either. There's no point whatsoever getting this album when there's so much truly great soul/funk from the same period. Without the Life connection, I'm sure no-one
would give a rat's arse about this album.
Peace of Mind (Shadoks, 2011; recorded
1968)
English vocals
International relevance: ***
The ”King George Discovery”
sessions resulted in a slew of tracks voted off the final release to
avoid the obvious comparisons to Jimi Hendrix. Those outtakes were
only pressed as a demo LP, like a keepsake for the band and
not intended for official release. A copy of the demo album fell into
the lap of a UK record collector who uploaded a few of songs to
Youtube. They caught the interest of German reissue label Shadoks who
released the six rejected tracks as ”Peace of Mind” in 2011.
If you thought
Mecki Mark Men and
Nature were
aping Hendrix, wait until you hear this. I understand why they kept those tracks off the album for that reason. Yes, it's guitar drenched;
yes, it's psychedelic (if you by 'psychedelic' mean loads of fuzz,
reverb and an idiotic drum solo); yes, it's rawer and therefore
better sounding than the proper King George Discovery album. But so
what? If I want to listen to Jimi Hendrix, I put on a Hendrix album.
Simple as that. And if I want to hear a crappy cover of ”Light My
Fire”, I can just as well pick up a ”Best of José Feliciano”
in any flea market in the Northern hemisphere (although that will
admittedly not sound like Jimi Hendrix).
Sessions were held for a proper second
album but it was scrapped as King George Discovery split up. Clemons
then formed another band, Red White & Blues with a couple of U.S.
draft dodgers residing in Sweden. They released one 45 in 1971 on MNW
subsidiary Green Light, ”Last Train to Georgia” with ”Far, Far
Away” on the flip – better and than anything on the Discovery albums.
from King George Discovery