LOST TREASURES

JAKE AND THE FAMILY JEWELS

“Jake and the Family Jewels”

By Peter Marston

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When I was a in junior high, I must admit that I was often—and perhaps too easily—confused by which band had recorded which hit singles. I know I thought that the Hollies’ “Long Cool Woman” was a Creedence Clearwater Revival song and I’m pretty sure I thought America’s “Horse with No Name” was Neil Young. I suspect I might even have thought Leo Sayer’s “Long Tall Glasses” was Bob Dylan on first listen (that’s definitely the most embarrassing of the bunch). And when I first heard “I Remember Cissy’s Baby” by Jake and the Family Jewels, I was under the impression it was the Lovin’ Spoonful. Now I know better, and even though it’s not the Spoonful, it’s still a terrific track.

The Jake of Jake and the Family Jewels is Allan “Jake” Jacobs, whose musical career begins with Bunky and Jake, a New York folk duo that formed in 1962 (Bunky was Andrea Skinner and she will rejoin our story shortly). Post-British Invasion, Jake joined The Magicians, the legendary folk-rock group that included Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon (who would later pen “Happy Together” and “Me About You”). The band broke up in 1966 and Jake briefly joined counter-culture heroes The Fugs. By 1968, though, Jake had reunited with Skinner to write songs which were ultimately recorded for two Bunky and Jake LPs, a self-titled debut and a provocatively titled follow-up, L.A.M.F (a colloquial abbreviation of “like a mother fucker”). In 1970, Jake put together his own band, The Family Jewels, which was promptly signed to Polydor Records. Their self-titled debut was released later the same year and featured a number of prominent musicians, including Cat Mother’s Charlie Chin and Bob Smith as well as John Sebastian’s former roommate, Buzzy Linhart.

The opener, the aforementioned “I Remember Cissy’s Baby,” is one of the standout tracks on the album—a little old-time tune with lots of backing “oohs” and a catchy chorus that modulates beautifully between a couple minor chords and a return to the major key. “The Racetrack Song” is another song that flirts with vaudeville, but stays in the Spoonful vibe, loose and casual with some terrific lead guitar and some nice organ parts that also recall The Young Rascals. “Mother of Pearl” is a gentle instrumental, downtempo with arpeggiated guitar, woodwinds and strings. It would fit in perfectly with the incidental music from the You’re a Big Boy Now soundtrack. Next is a cover of Jimmy Driftwood’s “The Tennessee Stud,” very straight with the exception of some rather playful―perhaps pot-fueled—slide guitar and Jew’s harp. “It Came Without Warning” is a folky ballad, again combining a traditional form with a pop sensibility, especially in the backing vocals, which offer a vague approximation of the Spoonful attempting a Beach Boys arrangement. “Farewell” comes close to the feel of Jim Croce’s “Bad Bad Leroy Brown,” but with some Dixieland touches that bring it into the Americana and jug band traditions that are the core of the Jake and the Family Jewels repertoire. “Open the Door, Homer” is a lively cover of the Dylan song from The Basement Tapes, though both are simply homages to the popular ’40s vaudeville tune, “Open the Door, Richard” (indeed, both versions use “open the door, Richard” as the hook line in the chorus). “At the Well” closes the album with sweet waltz ballad that sounds quite a bit like The Band, circa ’71-’72.

No singles were released from the album, but Jake and the Family Jewels did release a second album on Polydor in 1972 called Big Moose Calls his Sweet Baby Lorraine. The band has played off and on over the years (often opening for NRBQ) and in 2011 released their comeback album A Lick and a Promise (under the slightly different band name Jake and the Rest of the Jewels).

Jake and the Family Jewels was reissued on CD by Big Pink Music, but it is so obscure that I think it may be a grey market release—I have, in fact, never seen a copy. The album is currently not available in the legit digital domain. Auction sites will typically sell the original vinyl for $20-$40. Fortunately, it is easily found on various file-sharing sites. If you like the Lovin’ Spoonful, this one’s a no-brainer!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   They will have a track on the upcoming “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation shipping end of December, 2015.

You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

Biography:  http://jakeandthefamilyjewels.com/biography.html

Reunion Show:  http://territorialimperatives.com/2014/09/24/reeling-in-the-years-jake-and-the-family-jewels/

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