TREMENDOUS COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL
He was the motivating force behind freakbeat/psych heroes The Kirkbys and The 23rd
Turnoff before delivering three starkly emotional solo albums and one classic set of vintage rock ’n’ roll and Beatle-pop with cult Scousadelics Rockin’ Horse.
So why is JIMMY CAMPBELL only just starting to receive the acclaim he always deserved? Biographer, archivist and number one fan MARK A JOHNSTON tells his story.
“Jimmy Campbell is a major talent, who has been hidden away in the depths of a Liverpool engineering works. In the middle of the clamour, roar and hustle of the shop floor, he thought of nice things – pretty things. And he wrote his thoughts down, took them home and sat down with his guitar and tape recorder until they became songs.” 1969 Fontana press release for Son Of Anastasia
J
IMMY CAMPBELL IS ONE OF those overlooked musical talents spawned from the ’60s beat boom. There is something for everyone in his
varied musical incarnations. Jimmy’s musical lineage offers finely crafted Merseybeat, folk, psychedelia, melancholy singer-songwriter material and even powerpop. All of this condensed within an all too too brief eight- year recording career.
Jimmy attended Brookfield Comprehensive School with his fellow Kirkby estate mates John (JD) Lloyd, Albert “Alby” Power and Kenny Goodlass in the mid-50s. The foursome, like almost all teenage boys, enjoyed American rock ’n’ roll as Jimmy recalled, “After I heard Eddie Cochran and Little Richard, that was it –I was a rocker! Nothing else mattered – not even football. It was music all the time.” He soon formed his first band, The Tuxedos with JD on guitar, Tommy Ball on drums and Billy Reilly on vocals.
Billy Reilly departed and Jimmy, JD, and Tommy became The Pulsating Panthers (later The Panthers). After starting an apprenticeship at Laughlan Engineering he befriended Gerry Savage who shared Jimmy’s love for Elvis, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard and Carl Perkins. One afternoon, Savage asked Jimmy and JD to go with him to see a new group, The Beatles, play a gig at Aintree Institute – the cast was set. After the gig, Savage would be asked to join The Panthers solely on the fact that he owned a Carl Perkins 45.
Alby and Kenny went to see their school mates play a gig at St. Lawrence’s Youth Club. During the gig, Kenny walked up on stage and took over the drums from Tommy for a song – impressed, the boys soon asked him to replace Ball. Cavern compère Bob Wooler promised the band a gig at Aintree Institute if
28
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84