THE ROGER JAMES FOUR - BETTER THAN HERE

 

THE ALBUM THAT NEVER WAS!

 

A BRAND NEW RELEASE DIRECT FROM BLUE JAY RECORDS.

 

18 TRACKS AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON CD.

 

It's not in the shops, it is only available direct from us, Blue Jay Records, on line here on eBay and Amazon. 

 

At last, for the very first time officially on CD, the best track of the sixties not to have been a hit, 'Better Than Here' by The Roger James Four.  47 years after it was first released, this classic track is now available for you to buy, along with 17 more tracks from the boys recorded between 1964 and 1968.  This is the album that never was.  Including 10 (ten) previously unreleased tracks, not heard for almost 50 years.  Blue Jay Records have really pushed the boat out and raided not only the EMI vaults, but also the personal tape collections of ex band members Roger James and Bill Stanley, to bring you an piece of history hidden for almost half a century. 

 

Between 1964 and 1968, England was the music capitol of the world, London was swinging with a capitol 'S' and bands like 'The Roger James Four' were packing out some of the coolest joints on the planet, giving birth to the 'Freakbeat' soundtrack of the mid sixties, when scooters were king of the road and mirrors were for show.  This album is a ‘snapshot’ of those times, from the Motown Sound, through Freakbeat, to Psychedelia. 

 

The Roger James Four were first employed by EMI in 1964 by producer Norrie Paramor, who is famous for producing The Shadows.  Having been presented with a series of demo acetates by the bands manager ‘Harry Stanley’, he first booked the boys to accompany an up and coming singer ‘Beverly Jones’ on a cover version of the, now classic Motown song ‘Heatwave’.  Credited to ‘Beverly Jones with The Prestons’, the Prestons were, in fact, ‘The Roger James Four’.  Issued on the Parlophone label in 1964. This single is now much sought after by ‘Northern’ soul record collectors, which is not surprising when you here the incredible vocal performance by Beverly, pushing Martha Reeves well and truly into second place with this ‘Holland, Dozier, Holland’ classic tune.  Having no plans for a ‘B’ side for the 45, Roger James wrote a song especially for Beverly to use.  ‘Here you talking’ was one on Beverly’s favourite songs amongst those she recorded during the sixties. It has surfaced before on a CD compilation called ‘Destroy that boy’  a collection of stonking sixties girl vocal recordings.  So impressed was Norrie Paramor with the song and both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ side performances, that he signed the band to Columbia Records (then a subsidiary of EMI), where they recorded six tracks over the next four years, including the classic ‘Better Than Here’.  Prior to this, the band had recorded at the ‘Tony Pike’ studio in Putney, where many famous bands recorded their demos during the sixties.  These tracks have never previously been released and have remained unheard for 50 years.

 

Blue Jay Records in association with RJS publishing Ltd. and Bill Stanley enterprises have acquired the official license from Parlophone Records Ltd.  to bring you all of the original EMI tracks, digitally re-mastered at Abbey Road Studios earlier this year (2013) as well as the demo tracks recorded at the Tony Pike Studios, Putney in 1964, from master tapes and demo acetates lovingly restored by Nic Farmer at the Blue Jay Records Studio in 2012.

 

Use the following link to preview the title track ‘Better Than Here’

 

 

 

Then BUY THIS CD NOW DIRECT FROM BLUE JAY RECORDS!

THIS IS A BRAND NEW UNUSED, UNPLAYED AUDIO CD ON DEMAND IN A STANDARD BLACK TRAY JEWEL CASE.

We have 100% feed back, please see feed back comments.  No quible refund on any item which you are not 100% happy with.

 

UK domestic Postage is free via Royal Mail second class packet post.

 

International postage is via Royal Mail International service. 

 

 POSTAGE AND PACKING INCLUDING MULTIPLE WIN DISCOUNTS FOR 7” SINGLES & EPs AND LPs

 

PLEASE NOTE, IMPORTANT:: We are more than happy to offer postage discounts for multiple wins, after all, it’s the postage that deflates collector’s enthusiasm for buying ‘on line’, however, as a seller on eBay we have to cover my costs.  For this reason it is vital that you wait for your invoice before paying for multiple items.  Once you have paid for an item, we package and post immediately, so if you pay for one, then pay for another one two hours later, there’s a good chance that the first one will already be packed and labelled, ready to post (if not already posted, in fact), in which case, we will be unable to offer postage discounts.  We are happy to delay the invoice for up to 5 working days if you are bidding on multiple items, beyond that, please send us a message to extend, so that we know what’s going on.  Items offered 'postage free' are sent out Royal Mail second class only, for which we ALWAYS obtain a proof of postage certificate, which fulfils our free postage obligation.  Should you require a signed for service, which guarantees the delivery of your item, the post and packing charges are offered at cost as an additional option when you check out.

 

We enclose all LP records in a self seal poly sleeve to protect against oil / solvent / fuel contamination as well as water deposits in transit and secure them between two stiffeners before sealing up the outer mailer to ensure maximum 'double pack' protection.  We mention this because we have received goods from 'free postage' vendors, who make no effort whatsoever to pack goods safely.

 

 

  Are those used by ‘Record Collector’ magazine and ‘The Rare Record Price Guide’ (otherwise known as RRPG), both of which I contribute to by way of articles on rare records, updated guide prices and images for the RRPG web site .  If you subscribe to this web site, you will recognise images I have submitted from the small ‘Blue Jay’ bird in the bottom right (sometimes left) hand corner of the image.  If you do not subscribe, then I recommend that you do if you are a serious collector.  Click on the link above to sign up for a free trail. 

 

We try to play grade as many records as possible, but it is not always possible to do this, so if you feel that any record you have purchased is not graded accurately, please let us know.  We offer a ‘no quibble’ refund on any item if you are not 100% happy with it, provided you have not left negative feed back before contacting us.  Records which have been ‘play graded’ have been done so in our studio on broadcast quality equipment at a comfortable listening volume.  All equipment is professional grade and includes EMT turntables, Alice (BBC spec. mixing desk), Denon (professional) amplifier and Bose 802 (installation) monitor speakers.  You may have a more or less sensitive HiFi system than this, but we believe that it provides a fair ‘industry reference’ quality grading.  Of course grading will always be subjective to some extent, which is why we offer a ‘no quibble’ refund as outlined above, should you not agree with our grading.  By way of clarification, the RRPG grading descriptions are listed below:  We will on occasions use + and – signs to indicate a grading which falls between the following descriptions in order to give a more accurate idea of condition.

 

E.G. M- (near mint), EX+, EX-, VG+, VG-, G+.

 

M – Mint - Description: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

 

EX – Excellent - Description: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packag­ing might have slight wear and/or creasing.

 

VG – Very Good - Description: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable sur­face marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

 

G – Good - Description: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration, etc.

 

F – Fair - Description: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for prop­erly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and/or defaced.

 

P – Poor - Description: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

 

B – Bad -  Description: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection-filler.

 

MORE GREAT ITEMS FROM BLUE JAY RECORDS

Blue Jay Records has just opened up shop on Amazon UK, why not?  E-Bay is trying to be more like Amazon with every day that passes, sucking the fun out of trading second hand goods. 

We are currently uploading loads of vinyl every day, so to get first option just type in BLUEJAYRECORDS (all one word) into the search engine box at the Amazon home page and see a list of our most recently listed records.