Lord Large

‘The Lord’s First XI’

 

 

 

Label: Acid Jazz

Cat # AJXlp182

 

 

 It is difficult to know where to begin a story with a character as enigmatic as Lord Large. Transported from a time long ago into the 21st century, this debonair devotee of sartorial elegance and musical vignettes will whisk you into a whimsical world that is long forgotten. He has crafted exquisitely elegant songs, lavishly laced them with strings, pianos and organ breaks, and peppered them all with performances from the finest of handpicked singing legends.

 

Yet, despite the fact that no one seems to quite know who Lord Large is, where (or indeed when) he is from, he has nevertheless been able to elicit the help of some major talent for the completion of his first foray into the popular music genre. So let us unravel the mystery that is Lord Large…

 

Large was the keyboard-player in the Electric Soft Parade, a band who won a Q award and a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2002, as well as supporting Oasis, The Who & David Bowie to name a few. More recently he has recorded and been on tour with The Ordinary Boys, The Dualers, and plays organ on Graham Coxon’s latest album. He has also managed to fit in recording and touring the two post-Squeeze solo albums of Glenn Tilbrook.  Numerous TV appearances have included keyboard surfing on TOTP with the E.S.P., duetting with Glenn Tilbrook on Later with Jools, and swinging with Rod Stewart on Paul O’Grady.

 

However, no modern day hero is without a right hand man. Like a Sergeant Wilson to Captain Mainwaring, permanently by Large’s side is chairman, Andrew J. Jones, the real brains behind the organization. Andrew’s music will already be familiar to you as he has written & produced over a dozen TV themes as well as incidental music for numerous TV series, documentaries and he wrote music for the film Fakers and Saving Grace.  Mr. Jones has also gigged and recorded with Morcheeba for the ‘Big Calm’ album, and co-produced the recently released album ‘The Debt Collector’ from The Shortwave Set, that was one of the hottest, critically acclaimed albums of last year.

 

Together, they created the formidable but short-lived unit Koot. Signed to Warners for a fee well over £1m they achieved considerable success touring with the likes of Cypress Hill, the Alabama 3 and Moby. Koot’s music featured in the film Saving Grace, as well as on TV - their track “Lay My Brother Down” particularly popular with football programs for features on foul play.

 

However it was whilst performing at their Sunday Sermon night in London that the idea for Lord Large was conceived. Playing weekly over a four year period to crowds of 400 or more with an eight-piece band, the idea was hatched to produce an album of classic original songs with appearances from the crème de la crème of the musicians at the Sermon.

 

The list of musicians and some of the acts they’ve played with reads like a roll of honours:

 

Steve Walters, bass player for Lulu, Jimmy Cliff & George Michael; Dave Temple, saxophonist for Spiritualized & Amy Winehouse; Luke Bullen, drummer for Joe Strummer & KT Tunstall; Lucy Shaw, bassist for Paul McCartney, Michael Stipe & Primal Scream.

 

Teaming up with Acid Jazz they were given carte blanche to work with a plethora of esoteric talent drawn from all walks of life. Thus, debut album ‘The Lord’s First X1’ yields a diverse collection of vocal performances including Clem Curtis (The Foundations), Roy Phillips (The Peddlers), who was tracked down living in New Zealand where they recorded his vocal, and a stunning performance from Robert Bradley, a blind busker they found on the streets of Detroit (and recorded there and then).

 

Add to that British soul goddess Linda Lewis, jazz-trombone maestro Ashley Slater (Freakpower), ex-Squeeze frontman Glenn Tilbrook, and new star on the Dance scene, Andrea Britton.

 

The last-minute “super-sub” for the Lord’s team was Dean Parrish, who was selected by mod legend Paul Weller to sing a song he had written when he was just 15-years-old, and which has never been released until now.

 

With talent like this on offer and a purpose built studio using vintage equipment, success is a racing certainty. Theirs is a total vision of sound and production, matched with songs of the highest order.

 

“This is f**cking great man. The boys have done a fantastic job.” – Paul Weller

 

“It just hooked me immediately. What a great a great record! …They just get it so right” – Mark Lamarr

 

“The best ever attempt to reproduce the 60’s soul sound” – Soul Sam, Manifesto Magazine

 

“The live session from Lord Large was just spine tingling…absolutely joyous” – Robert Elms

 

“One of those records you simply don’t want to end” – Gary Crowley

 

“That performance on Later With Jules was absolutely brilliant” – Janice Long

 

“This is the one we’ve all been waiting for” – Phill Jupitas

 

“It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, alright?” – Glen Tilbrook

 

Mojo magazine ****

Echoes ****

Blues & Soul ****

Record Collector ****

 

 

1. Sun In The Sands

2. Stuck In A Wind Up

3. Closer

4. What Did I Do?

5. Work It Out

6. Julianna

7. Heath Robinson

8. The Auctioneer

9. Way To Go

10. Fading Light

11. Left Right & Centre

12th Man. Don't Stick Around Too Long

Condition: New and unplayed.

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