Basket Items
The Jimmy Campbell Story
Jimmy Campbell was born on January 4th, 1944, in Liverpool to William and Anastasia Campbell. Only very essential rebuilding had occurred and the city had still not been restored back to normal living conditions. England’s vital port was consumed by the war effort transporting munitions and American soldiers for the invasion of Europe. It is hard to imagine that out of such devastation would arise some of the most creative popular music performers and composers the world has ever known and one that deserves to be known.
The Jimmy Campbell Story
born on January 4th, 1944, in
to William and Anastasia Campbell. Only very essential rebuilding had occurred
and the city had still not been restored back to normal living conditions.
effort transporting munitions and American soldiers for the invasion of
devastation would arise some of the most creative popular music performers and
composers the world has ever known and one that deserves to be known. Jimmy,
like most boys teenage boys in
during this period, became immersed in rock and roll records. School took a
back seat and Jimmy would eventually leave for an apprenticeship with Laughan
Engineering. He hated it. On March 11th, 1961 he would go to see The
Beatles at Aintree Institute and his life would be changed forever. “They were
God,” recalled Jimmy later. After that event, he began putting a band together,
The Tuxedos, with his mates from School in Kirkby. The Tuxedos changed their
name to the Pulsating Panthers in 1962 and supported The Beatles at Hambleton
Hall in January. Soon the Panthers would be playing the famous Cavern and in 1964,
the compere Bob Wooler would unintentionally change their name to The Kirkbys
after the area in
band members resided. The band would go on to tour Germany and Finland where
the band supported Herman’s Hermits, played live on Finnish TV and released
their first single Don’t You Want Me No More for RCA Finland. Their sole UK
single, It’s a Crime, would be released in 1966 before the band would change
their name to 23rd Turn Off and release the single Michelangelo for
Deram in. After the 23rd Turn Off fizzled out at the end of 1967,
Jimmy would continue to write his very personal songs while working as a
toolmaker in a factory to help earn money. Jimmy was very much influenced at
this time in his life by musicians Tim Hardin, Bob Dylan, Lennon and McCartney,
The Band, and master painters Michelangelo and Van Gogh. “I always wanted to
paint” explained Jimmy, “when I was in school I used to live for art classes.
Later on, while I was on tour with the Kirkbys, I had a lot of time on my hands
and I read books on art. I found a biography on Michelangelo and Van Gogh and I
was just swept away by their zest for art.”
Meanwhile, Merseys’
bassist Billy Kinsley had developed a deep friendship with
supported the Merseys. Billy would spend time at
amazing songs that Jimmy had composed. So impressed was Kinsley with Campbell’s
abilities as a songwriter, that he was able to convince Mersey’s producer Dick
Leahy to allow the band to record two Campbell compositions, Penny in My Pocket
and Dreaming as a single for Fontana in1968. Although the two Merseys’ singles
failed to attract much attention, Leahy was a confirmed believer in
abilities and managed to sign him to a three album recording contract with
Phillips. Jimmy was rushed into the studio at
enough material to complete two albums. Producer Dick Leahy specifically chose
the gorgeous Michelangelo, a song that everyone felt was certainly one of
Jimmy’s greatest compositions, along with a number of older songs that had been
composed while Jimmy was in the Kirkbys and the 23rd Turn Off, to
record for the album. “Jimmy only recorded about ten percent of what he had
actually written,” recalls Billy Kinsley, “He was very prolific during that
era. I think Jimmy would have preferred just being a songwriter and not having
to be bothered by a solo recording career.” Jimmy never possessed the self
confidence as a solo artist and he would have preferred bringing a band to back
him during the sessions. Leahy felt differently and envisioned
singer/songwriter like Cat Stevens. Jimmy’s nervousness shows on all of the Son
of Anastasia recordings and he described his own voice, years later, as
sounding “weedy”. Those working on the sessions that summer favorably compared
his distinctive vocals to everyone from Nina Simone to Chesney Allen. Most of
the songs were run through in just one or two live takes with Jimmy on an acoustic
guitar and kazoo. So naïve was Jimmy about the recording process that he
actually backed away from the microphone on the autobiographical Tremendous
Commercial Potential when he was told they would be doing a ‘fade’ to end the
song!
Legendary arranger
and musical director John Cameron was given an acetate by Dick Leahy of tracks
to work out the arrangements. Cameron would bring in his top session team of
Danny Thompson on bass, Colin Green on guitar, Ray Car for percussion and drums
and Harold McNair on flute. The haunting Lyanna, with flute accompaniment by McNair,
had been inspired by a prostitute that Jimmy met while in
Vincent Van Gogh, was an old 23rd Turn Off song that had been demoed
in 1967 and discussed as a follow up single to Michelangelo. Adrian Henri’s Party
Night (At O’Connor’s) mocked the new found celebrity of the Liverpool Scene,
artists and poets who would meet every Tuesdays at O’Connor’s Tavern on
the city. Jimmy never rated celebrity and certainly didn’t understand what the
fuss was about with this new in-crowd. The track breaks down at 1:36 when Jimmy
fumbles the lyrics and, amazingly, the second take is left on the recording
demonstrating how rushed the proceedings were. The album, released on April 11,
1969, would be titled after his loving mother, Anastasia, and the longing
Bright Side of the Hill was written for her. In the end, Jimmy was not happy
with the album. He was never satisfied with any work after it had been
completed. He lived in the moment as he recalled after the album was finished:
“I’m never happy when I’ve finished a song. I hate all my songs when I’ve
finished them. I get to like them again later, but when I’ve finished a song, I
hate it like hell because I never think it’s as good as it could be” In his
final years Jimmy would always wish he could have another chance to record the
songs again.
Dick Leahy chose On a
Monday as the lead single and arranged an appearance on BBC’s Colour Me Pop
that was televised on April 19th. On a Monday was hardly the best choice for
the first single and it failed miserably. A much needed promotional tour
supporting UK folk artist Roger Whittaker was arranged, but Jimmy was so
nervous that under the solo spotlight,
with the crowd all staring up at him, he fell off the stool the opening
night and never returned. A later support slot with the Merseybeats on Belgium
TV presented a much more confident performer: “It was just unbelievable,” Billy
Kinsley remembers, “Everyone in that audience knew Jimmy Campbell and he
brought the house down.” Jimmy also felt lost while recording in
am consistently happy is in
know what it is, but I hate leaving it for long and I want to be part of it
forever.” Jimmy did manage a trip back
into the studio in late 1969 to record Frankie Joe with a backing band for the
B-side of the second single Lyanna. However, by the time Lyanna was released
on, the
publicity machine had already spent it’s dime promoting Son Of Anastasia
It would be Dick
Leahy, A&R for
who had originally helped sign Jimmy Campbell to a three record deal with
Phillips, and who then approached Olav Wyper about releasing the second album
on Phillips’ subsidiary Vertigo. As Olav recalls, “Although I created the
Vertigo label concept, I was very ably assisted by Mike Everett and Dick Leahy
who were my A&R guys. Dick had known Jimmy when he made the first album
and it was his idea to put Jimmy on Vertigo and I agreed with him. Jimmy was a
very gifted writer and performer who deserved greater success.” Vertigo was
established in 1969 as Philips’ answer to EMI’s Harvest Records and Decca’s
Deram progressive subsidiaries and broke new ground by presenting rock as an
art form incorporating, jazz-fusion, world and contemporary folk artists. The label
change would provide Jimmy with the best opportunity in his career to be heard
by a larger audience.
Don Paul came
attached to the project as part of the production deal Olav signed with Essex
Music Producers and his task was to produce a collection of tracks that would
build on the debut album and be in line with the Vertigo vision. The recording
would begin in January of 1970 at Trident Studios with a solid all-star backing
band featuring former Escort Pete Clarke along with Merseybeats Tony Crane and
Billy Kinsley. As Pete recalled, “I had been gigging with the Merseybeats with
Jimmy and when it came to assemble a band for the new studio album there was no
doubt that we would be supporting him.” Half Baked would be a mix of Jimmy’s
very personal songs, many inspired by his wife Yvonne, much like its
predecessor, but with lush orchestral arrangements fleshing out the rustic and
fragile songs. The orchestration and vocal overdub sessions were all done at
Chapel Recording Studios on
Street in
Donald Fraser recalls the sessions, “We
were given lead sheets, the backing tracks with a rough vocal mixes and in
some cases, a guide to the style of arrangement they wanted.” Donald fondly
remembers a vocal take of the grandiose Don’t Leave Me Now which Jimmy recorded
in the bathroom of the studio to capture the great vocal echo. Unlike
its predecessor, Half Baked would also contain Jimmy’s more upbeat songs with
full rock ‘n’ roll band accompaniment provided by Rock ‘n’ Horse. Jimmy shines
on the Lennon/Phil Spector doppelganger So Lonely Without You and the
Dylanesque, That’s Right, That’s Me. The country
rock influenced Green Eyed American Actress tells the tale of the temptation of
an affair that never was. Half Baked, the song, is the tale of impetuousness
and jumping into love and marriage. The song‘s dire and plaintive verses are
juxtaposed to a driving chorus which features Badfinger member Joey Molland on
guitar. Joey recalled sitting in the sessions for this track with his old
track ends in a menacing array of ascending strings. The album would also
contain one of Jimmy’s more insightful songs, the plaintive In My Room, in
which he describes the possessions of his old bedroom in Kirkby with its
photographs of “Hitler, John and Paul.” Jimmy’s musical heroes had always been
Lennon & McCartney and he just so happened to have a framed magazine
article on the Volkswagen Beetle with a photograph of Adolph Hitler at the
Volkswagen plant in
in 1938. The gentle song also name checks the great master painters and authors
that sparked his muse. The first and only
released in July with the album following in September, 1970. With Global
distribution, Half Baked would be chosen as the inaugural release for the
Vertigo label in the
The album failed to chart, but it did find fans in
Although Jimmy played
one solo spot at the Marquee with fellow Vertigo label mate Warhorse
supporting, there were no tours established to promote the album. The album’s
sales suffered due to the reluctance and inability to get Jimmy on a
promotional tour as Olav recalls, “It certainly was a serious drawback and
clearly affected sales since it was part of the label credo that all artists
had to be regular performers and his management had apparently lined up a
series of gigs and we'd, wrongly as it happens, taken them at their word. I had
to see Jimmy perform before agreeing to his inclusion on the label and he was
pretty damn good that night.” An appearance performing the single, Don’t Leave
Me Now on the Simon Dee Show fell through when
was sacked the day of the broadcast. Such was Jimmy’s luck as the prime time
show would have given a huge boost to his career.
By 1972, Jimmy Campbell was still under contract to
Phillips, owing the company one final record, however Jimmy was in no hurry to
record that third album and was reluctant to spend more time away from his home
only to be locked inside a sterile recording studio. Nevertheless Hal Carter secured
recording time at an independent studio in
Salvation Army Citadel was an older song composed back in 1968 and Baby Walk
Out With Your Darling Man had been recorded by Rockin’ Horse a year earlier. As
far as Jimmy was concerned the studio time was merely fulfilling a contractual
obligation and he had no serious expectations that anything he recorded during
this session would further his solo career, nor did anyone at Phillips. Accompanied
by his well-worn acoustic guitar, Jimmy sat down on a stool and played a
repertoire of songs he thought were good enough to commit to vinyl. With only
two microphones Jimmy’s vocals and acoustic guitar were recorded in one
session. He recorded everything he had brought to the studio that day. Jimmy’s
timing was erratic in and his guitar was even out of tune on several songs. He could
not be bothered, and had no time for studio perfection, his only goal was to
record his performance and catch the first train back home to
Hal Carter would be left with a tape he could not possibly present to Phillips
for serious release consideration. It was a dilemma, but he knew just the musical wizard who could keep true to
Jimmy’s vision and make a more palatable record. By 1972 Michael Snow already
had a musical resume that few could match. Michael had come out of the early 60’s
Liverpool scene as a member of The Barons prior to leaving the city and joining
the West Five, The Blue Aces and in 1966, The Checkmates which would soon
evolve into The Ferris Wheel. Michael also had early songwriting success
penning Can’t Stop Now, the first hit single for Marmalade. In 1969 Michael
decided to quit Ferris Wheel and become a full time session musician and join
Robert Stigwood’s RSO as a publishing manager. Hal knew that Michael was the right musician to rescue Jimmy’s
final recording session and rang him up to offer him the job. At first Michael
was a bit hesitant and he had to sit down for a week with the acetate that Hal
sent over to him to evaluate. He instantly recognized the beauty and fragility
of Jimmy’s compositions and vocals but he could not get around the drops in
tempos and out of tune guitars. Eventually Michael accepted the challenge and
soon received a phone call from Jimmy imploring that he not add a lot of “bells
and whistles” to his recordings. It was obvious that Jimmy had been less than
enamoured with the heavy orchestration on his previous albums.
It would be quite a
challenge to accentuate Jimmy’s naked recordings with arrangements and
instrumentation that would stay true to the artists’ vision while pleasing the
executives at Phillips. The first job for Michael was to clean up the original
master tape and edit the mistakes – not an easy feet back in the pre-digital
age of 1972. Michael pulled in his arranger, Ron
Carthy, and soon set about
the task of writing rhythm section charts for every song that Jimmy had recorded. He also
called up old Rockin’ Horse band mates Billy Kinsley and Stan Gorman to add
bass and percussion to the tracks that required further instrumentation. Michael
himself would replace most of Jimmy’s erratic acoustic guitar playing with his
own. He would also contribute piano, organ, vibraphone and more. The orchestral sessions utilized small chamber ensembles, string trios
and quartets, French horn and musette accordion on
of Jimmy’s time and three months of Michael Snow’s. After all that work, the album sank with little fanfare
or support from Phillips. The album’s minimalistic cover depicts a faceless man
on a stool holding up a Jimmy Campbell mask conveying the fact that
there for the entire album. Even stranger, was the unimaginative title chosen
by Hal Carter for the album: Jimmy Campbell’s Album. It was anything but that
in reality.
Just as quickly as Jimmy had appeared and then disappeared
in Michael Snow’s life, he reappeared for the final time a couple of months
after the album had been released. Jimmy
rang up Michael and asked if he would meet him at the studio for a live
performance on BBC2’s Country Meets Folk radio programme. Jimmy, Billy Kinsley and Michael met up at
the BBC studios and quickly rehearsed a selection of tracks for performance on
the live broadcast. The set got off to a shaky start when Jimmy started the
first song in the wrong key! Michael and Billy looked over at each other and
quickly jumped into key. It was all over as soon as it had begun. The trio
packed their gear and walked across the street from the BBC studio to have a
few drinks before Jimmy caught the train home to
Michael would not hear another word from Jimmy until he wrote him a letter
decades later thanking him for not “overdoing” the production on the album.
Jimmy Campbell’s Album should be considered a bookend to
Jimmy’s solo recording career. The final album can be compared to his first
album, Son of Anastasia, in approach and style which typifies Jimmy’s lack of
appreciation or patience for studio session musicians and overdubs. Both albums
present Jimmy’s very personal view of his world, but Jimmy Campbell’s Album
succeeds over the first one in the more relaxed vocal delivery. Jimmy’s
approach presented the artist in the raw with all his imperfections on display
and his view of success was the simple art of crafting his words and music into
a song. He was not impressed by fame and he never aspired to put on the suit
and dance the dance. The reward was in the journey and not in the destination. Sadly,
beyond tracks he recorded for himself on a home portastudio and some songs that
were covered on The Swinging Blue Jeans 1979 album Jump N’ Jeans his days were
spent down the local pub, drinking, smoking and laughing. These years finally
caught up with Jimmy and he succumbed to emphysema on February 12, 2007 at the
age of sixty-three. The legendary minstrel may be gone but his songs will live
on and a whole new audience will now have an opportunity to become inspired.
Jimmy Campbell – Son Of Anastasia
Jimmy Campbell – Half Baked
Jimmy Campbell – Jimmy Campbell’s Album
