Jason Crest: A British (Commercial) Failure

More litter from the dust bins, folks. The ‘60s, much like today, sported way too many bands for the market place to support. Although, there was a frenzy of major label deals in which unwitting freaks received some corporate support in order to dash off some psych rock tracks, so many of these singles and albums were half conceived and constituted only day dreams of some instead of musical talent.

Jason Crest (no, it’s not a dude, but a group of dudes) isn’t necessarily one of the ensembles that simply cobbled together some songs and released a few singles – although, there are undoubtedly some that would describe the band in those terms. Comprised of Terry Clarke (vox), Terry Dobson (guitar), Derek Smallcombe (guitar), Ron Fowler or John Selley (on bass) and Roger Siggery (drums), the band was signed to Phillips towards the latter portion of ’67.

Psych was in full swing as was its record buying public by this point. And with ’68 ostensibly functioning as the end to the proper revolt that the decade was intended to bring, waiting until then to release a single might have been part of the problem that Jason Crest encountered. Unloosing five singles in just around two years doesn’t seem like an unmanageable feat. And considering the fact that those tracks would constitute a full length disc, the work load that Jason Crest undertook wasn’t grueling enough to figure that the ensemble had run out of gas.

Beginning with “Turquoise Tandem Cycle” b/w “Good Life” the band announced its take on melodic, organ driven rock stuffs. It’s all palatable and pop related. The a-side even sports a familiar melody sung out by the organ. The b-side was something in-between the Beatles and the Kinks, but still couldn’t capture the ears of British music fans. It wasn’t enough to find market place success, though.

Following that initial release, were a few other stabs at pop success. None really worked and it can’t be said that Jason Crest was all that original when compared to its cohort from the time. Its last single – “A Place in the Sun” b/w “Black Mass” – even found the a-side maintaining a relatively positive, if not just hopeful, outlook despite the fact that with completion of its Phillips contract Jason Crest would cease to function any longer.

By contrast, the b-side of that last single was a pretty enormous departure from what had preceded it. The pacing of “Black Mass” isn’t detached from other songs that Jason Crest turned in, but there’s an amped up production presence not found elsewhere in the group’s scant recorded output. Moreover, the song isn’t all sunshine and hippies playing in fields. Instead, as the title should suggest, Jason Crest gets into some bad ju-ju and mentions desecrating the holy trinity. Terry Clarke’s yelping is unique here as well. But beyond all of that, this final recording might just have been a band calling out its demons to confront them while there was still a little bit of spotlight to still be had.