Heads of Our Time (Jay Jackson & Ric Robertson) - The Subtle Art of Self Destruction

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Airhead	03:18
	2	Mercy, Mercy, Mercy	02:31
	3	With a Little Help From My Friends	03:44
	4	W.O.R.D.S.	00:52
	5	Bizarre Requiem	03:15
	6	Crosstown Traffic	03:12

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Time Cycle 1	06:27
	2	Most Anything That You Want	01:29
	3	Time Cycle II	00:44
	4	Is Your Mind Bent Now?	01:32
	5	Time Cycle III	00:16
	6	Fastrax	01:31
	7	Time Cycle IV	00:23
	8	Wichita Lineman	03:16
	9	Listen Hear	04:01
	10	Speed Stretch	00:42

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Information/Write-up

In an obvious attempt to update their sound, the majority of the band stuck together to record an album credited to Jay Jackson and Rick Robertson.

Majestics vocalist Jackson and keyboard player/arranger Eric Robinson were the apparent brainchildren behind the project. Released on the small Canadian Goodgroove label (love the name), 1970's "The Subtle Art of Self Destruction" offered up a mix of original material and contemporary pop and soul hits done in an exploito fashion that you were either going to love, or curse with considerable fury. This was one of those albums where there simply was no median ground. Musically the album could serve as a primer for studio psych effects - it was all here including waves of fuzz guitar, sitar, backward tapes, channel panning, tons of sound effects and hysterical over-the-top belly button gazing insight such as that found on 'W.O.R.D.S' ("a burning desire for a woman with a blank look on her face, who will assist you in the subtle art of self destruction"). These guys just didn't waste a single trick in pulling the album together. Highlights included the blazing opening instrumental 'Airhead' and the weirdest cover of 'Wichita Lineman' you'll ever hear. Less impressive, but still worth hearing were a couple of the covers, including the instrumental 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' which harkened back to their Majestics days, a ''heavy-ed up' 'With a Little Help from My Friends' and one of the stranger Hendrix covers I've ever heard - 'Crosstown Traffic'. Sure it may not have been great art, but the LP was a load of fun! As an aside, the album was best heard through a pair of quality headphones with a good beer in hand. It's also a horn rock album for folks that don't like horns with their rock and roll .......

1970 Acid-Fuzz Original Housed In A Silver Foil Jacket. Totally Demented, Off-The-Wall Psychedelia Where NOTHING Is Spared - A Truly Varied Album Where Some Tracks Succeed And Some Fail - But The Ones That Succeed Are Nothing Short Of Inspired! This Album Has It All - From Stereo Panning Effects, Sound Effects, Acid Fuzz Guitar, Sitar, Spoken Word - You Name It, They Threw It In............

This is the group with the name of which I do not completely understand. The album is also very strange. Impression. it's a collection of songs and compositions of various artists in various genres. Here the rock, prog, funk, soul, jazz, and pop music in the style of Frank Sinatra, suddenly turning into the avant-garde, then again to return to the pastoral motive ... Team - Canadian, most of the musicians who back in the 60 ies. He acted as a team under the name Jay Smith & The Majestics, later - Shawne & Jay Jackson And The Majestics or simply The Majestics. By the way, the team is united in its composition former members rather popular Toronto rhythm and blues-al jazz groups, and from the beginning had a powerful brass section. Boys often gave concerts, but also a lot of work in the studio, which generated a few singles and a couple of albums.

In 1969, the original lineup of The Majestics collapsed. However, vocalist Jay Jackson did not lose heart, and put together a new composition, which is now called Jay Jackson, Ric Robertson And Heads Of Our Time. With new musicians, he went into the studio to record a new album, but many of his old friends at The Majestics too rushed, having heard about the preparation of LPs. The result of this work, and was the album "The Subtle Art of Self-Destruction", was released in the United States a small little-known label "Audio Fidelity". The group changed its name again, becoming Jay Jackson & Heads ° F Animals in Our Times, and shellac-released EP "With A Little Help From My Friends / Listen Here". Then, the team ceased to exist, but in subsequent years revived from time to time again for a short time.........

Eric Robertson: keyboards
Jay Jackson: vocals
Brian Russel: guitar
Jack Posluns: drums, percussion
Arnie Chycoski: trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn
Bill Cudmore: baritone sax
Orly Guerrieri: trombone
Brian Lucrow: trumpet
Chris Vickery: bass
Russ Strathdee: tenor sax

Recorded at Bay Studio, Toronto, Ontario, 1970
Produced by Tony DiMaria, Eric Robertson, and Gary Starr

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