It seems silly to say that I've been binge listening to The Action. They recorded so little, one could probably listen to their entire output twice in an hour. But even with that compact catalogue, they are still cited by both Phil Collins and Paul Weller as a favorite band...and I can see why.
Produced by George Martin, The Action were doing what bands like the Small Faces and The Creation were doing, but to fewer ears. Five singles between 1965-1967 and an unreleased album, that was it from the band. The label Cherry Red is releasing a 4 CD set in October, "The Complete Recordings," which will feature everything, from the early singles when they were The Boys to BBC sessions, rare mixes and that unreleased album mentioned above. It's hard to imagine spreading five singles over 4 CDs, but Cherry Red did just that and it looks pretty damn good.
Listen to the tracks posted. The Action definitely had something going on. Paul Weller has said that singer Reggie King "stands as one of the best of the white soul singers, in some ways his rich, smooth voice sounds a lot more natural than Steve Marriott's." I will agree. If you can cover Motown, as well as these guys did, you are absolutely worth a listen. And their "Harlem Shuffle" kicks ass.
11 comments:
Paul Weller was right. Reggie King is a fine singer, not unlike Carl Wayne. Pretty cool. The liner notes probably detail what went wrong.
Fucking killer! Please post an update near the October release of the Cherry Red release as a reminder if you can. Thanks!!
Randy
For a band named The Action I was surprised that three of the four tracks sounded like sunshine pop.
I have to disagree with the opinion that Reggie King is an interesting singer. He doesn't do much for me. Reggie doesn't come close to what Carl Wayne could do. He doesn't do much for me. I guess there is just so much even George Martin can do with middle level talent.
Captain Al
Hey Captain,
It's one thing to not dig it. I just don't get the Carl Wayne comparison. I mean, it's apples and oranges.
5 singles over 4 CDs, huh?
I have a number of songs (about 8 or so) from the band from various comps (like "Nuggets II" -- which I *love, love, love*) Songs are decent, but it wasn't hard to see why they they just didn't make it (along with probably hundreds of other bands from that era) because the hooks weren't quite there even with George Martin behind the boards.
Cherry Red, though, knows what they are doing. They are a pretty cool reissue label. Out in October their site says...
Buzzbabyjesus mentioned Carl Wayne and I felt that Reggie was not as good.
Captain Al
This is all OK by me, with me favoring the version of Harlem Shuffle; hearing it reminded me of something vaguely, and it occurred to me that it was the Bjork song Human Behaviour. The only Action song I have is Follow Me. But.....sorry, Steve Marriott is untouchable, in my book!
C in California
To the Captain,
I did not see BBJ’s comment. Now I understand. Apologies.
To C In California,
Regarding Steve Marriott- I hear ya! But there is something going on with The Action. Maybe Paul Weller extended himself a bit for his liner notes. But I think if you take this band on its own, they are pretty damn good
....whereas I would recommend starting & maybe finishing with ROLLED GOLD
their later album of originals, demos that are arguably finished masters
Great stuff!
If you can't wait until October, "Rolled Gold" is an excellent album that is supposedly demo tracks for an album that was never released.
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