Any Love for Jack Jones?

I wish his Kapp Christmas album would be released on CD in it's entirety. The MCA cd is missing some songs. Jack's version of "Sleigh Ride" is the best.

 

Some time in the late '60s ('67 or '68), I heard a song by Jack Jones on the radio. I don't recall the title, but it had a folky country-flavored groove with some tasty 12-string guitar licks. I never heard it again, but somehow, the 12-string bit has stuck in my memory. Does anyone know what song it may have been?

 

I'm in the process of transferring numerous Jack Jones' RCA 70's albums (from a mixture of sources) for my Dad's 78th Birthday in May.

I've already bought him all the available CDs with tracks from this period;
Write Me A Love Song, Charlie (Aznavour),
Sings Legrand,
Live At the Sands,
I Never Had It So Good (w/most of Harbour & approx 1/2 of The Full Life LP),
Mood Is Love,
The Christmas Album...

..but there are huge gaps in the catalogue..

for albums like;
A Song For You,
Bread Winners,
Together,
What I Did For Love..
it feels like these are never going to be released on CD/iTunes etc..
so, when I have the time,
I'm trying my best to digitise these for him!

 

I have all of these on vinyl - and have just started doing the same...Seeing Jack in concert on Wednesday at Cadogan Hall....

 

Jack's Michel Legrand album is incredible, probably the best thing he's ever done. He still performs "One At a Time."

 

I have a few LPs...

sean

 

Well said..! I have played select tracks from his Michel Legrand album to friends over the years and they have been entranced and enthralled by the music.. certainly the majority of Jack's tenure recording for RCA is one of the most criminally overlooked/undervalued periods of any such recording artists' long career imho..

..album after album of stunning vocal performances beautifully arranged with contributions from some of the finest musicians/session men of the day (James Burton, Tom Scott, Jerry Hey, Jay Graydon, Michael McDonald, Michael Omartian, Victor Feldman, Jim Horn, Max Bennett...)..

from that phase of his career his "Bread Winners" album should have greater recognition as an inspired tribute album with some lovely interpretations of Bread hits and the odd deeper album cut (an album David Gates himself loved and endorsed btw, it was not some hackneyed hurried thrown together thing to cash in on the band's success) and his album of Aznavour songs "Write Me A Love Song, Charlie" (the only original song not by Aznavour on it!) is almost as remarkable as his Legrand record, not quite but still unmissable if you enjoy Jack Jones at all..

what an incredible talent he is and still going strong. My only sadness is that one cannot buy digital remasters of his entire RCA catalogue.. I have been hoping for many years it might happen but to no avail.

 

I have a few of his KAPP records and one with "Love Boat" on it and the disco-version of "Wives and Lovers."

I really don't see the early '70s albums in the bins, I'd be interested to hear them.

 

Oh the disco version of "Wives and Lovers" is on his Polydor (MGM in some territories I think?) album "Nobody Does It Better" which isn't a patch on the RCA albums that came before it, he did one more album for the label ("Don't Stop Me Now", aka "I've Been Here All The Time" in some countries.. like "Nobody Does It Better" it is not terrible I would say but mostly forgettable tbh) and that was it for JJ and mainstream labels until Sony signed him up for the Gershwin Album in 92.. and that was it all over again, just one album for Columbia/Legacy.. a couple of albums on Linn records but small/virtualy unknown labels in the years since 1981. He was arguably bigger in the UK in the 70's (he lived here for a time when he was with Susan George) than just about anywhere and a few of those early 70's RCA albums charted fairly respectably over here.. I imagine he all but slipped off the radar in the States somewhat at that point but I don't know tbh?

 

In the last 12-18 months, Jack Jones LP discs on Kapp for me have turned up with regularity in nice condition. I now have many of them but not all. I have worse luck finding RCA era Jack Jones, however. And I have not had to pay more than $2 for any of them.

 

I was shocked to find that over the years I have over 35 Jack Jones LPs collected from record bins for under £1 each - my fave is actually Nobody Does It Better - the disco version of Wives And Lovers is amazing along with the Love Boat. I've been needledropping loads of his stuff. I'll post some here later. Also, SEEING HIM IN CONCERT in Sloane Square tonight! WIll post photos

 

Here are some of the photos from the amazing sold out gig last night at Cadogan Hall:

 

The song I associate most with Jack Jones by far is Wives and Lovers, which got a lot of airplay up here, probably in 1964 (it may have trailed the US release). I didn't really care for it at the time, being nine years old and all, but it's one of those songs that as the years passed I came to realize what a fine effort it was.

 

"Lollipops & Roses" has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. The fancy key changes in the bridge anticipated the bridge of "The Girl From Ipanima" three years later. I've also always preferred his slightly more uptempo approach to "Dear Heart" over Andy Williams' slow groove.

 

There was a various artists compilation around the house when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed Jack's rendition of Wives & Lovers. The lyrics are corny, but his vocal is so smooth and sincere. His cover is vastly superior to Frank Sinatra's.

 

Jack Jones was my first concert experience. Las Vegas 1971, I was 10 years old. The opening act was Louis Nye.

 

"She Loves Me" from '63 is without a doubt my pick of JJ...Mainly a Broadway tunes album but the arrangements are sparkling. Loove "I Believe in You". He and Steve Lawrence were putting out some good Sinatra-school product during this time period.

 

The lovely Harbour album is a big favourite of mine and still unavailable on CD in full, I think. I was working on a local newspaper when Jack lived in the UK with British actress Susan George. I believe she's featured on the Harbour cover, the pictures being taken in Wraysbury where the couple stayed. A colleague from a rival paper had a bit of a stand off with Jack when this chap tried some foot in the door journalism there. This guy said he was surprised Jack was affronted as foot in the door journalism began in the States. Ah, memories. It was a long time ago now. But not so long ago that we couldn't still do with a CD release of the full Harbour album.

 

Jack Jones is a true "singers' singer". One of the greats.

He was one of my mom's favorites and she always admired the control he had over his voice.

 

YouTube deleted my upload of Jack Jones "L.A. Breakdown (And Take Me In)", but that's OK as the current owners have put it up again. It's just the best: