The Action

The Action - ActionPacked

from allmusic.com

After the Beatles, the Action were the most impressive band signed to EMI by George Martin during the mid-'60s. That they never managed to chart a single in the space of two years with the label, even as lesser bands sold tens of thousands of records with seemingly no effort, is one of those great ironies of mid-'60s English rock & roll.

The band started out in North London during 1963 as quartet called the Boys, and cut one single as a backing band for Sandra Barry before getting their own shot at immortality on the Pye label with a single "It Ain't Fair." The Boys went out of existence in 1964, but didn't split up, instead reconfiguring themselves as a five-piece. The original lineup, Alan "Bam" King (guitar), Reg King (vocals), Mike Evans (bass), and Roger Powell (drums) added Pete Watson...

Tracks:

01. Land of 1000 Dances
02. In My Lonely Room
03. Harlem Shuffle
04. I Love You (Yeah)
05. I'll Keep on Holding On
06. Hey Sha-Lo-Ney
07. Just Once in My Life
08. Wasn't It You?
09. Baby You've Got It
10. Since I Lost My Baby
11. Never Ever
12. Twenty-Fourth Hour
13. Place
14. Come on, Come With Me
15. Cissy
16. Something Has Hit Me
17. Shadows and Reflections

The Action - Action Packed


The Action - Rolled Gold

Reviewed by Jeffrey Jotz "You'll know him when you find him" (Rahway, NJ USA), from amazon.com

The earlier stuff by the Action -- who achieved notoriety through the support of Beatles' producer George Martin -- was your standard collection of guitar-driven, English mid-60s interpretations of American R&B tunes, but in 1968, the world was changing, and the Action changed along with it.

Like their contemporaties the Who and the Small Faces, the Action began to move away from traditional mod melodies like "I'll Keep Holding On" to more expansive pieces like "Come Around," "Brain" and "Strange Roads."

What results is not a full "mod" or "psychedelic" collection, but a fantastic collage of great British pop that can hold its own with the big stars of the era (Beatles, Kinks, etc). Each song gets better after each listen.

The songs on Rolled Gold were recorded as demos for an upcoming album but never released. Thankfully, they were remastered and repackaged as a CD with liner notes from band members and modern-day popsters like Matthew Sweet and Brent Rademaker of Beechwood Sparks.

In fact, listening to this disc immediately draws parallels to many indie pop icons of the present day, most notably Robert Pollard and his Guided by Voices. I don't even know if these artists intentionally drew their work from that of the Action's Rolled Gold days, but the parallels are striking.

Placing this CD in my player with the Kinks "Arthur" and the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" will complete your fun trip through edgy psychedelic pop of a time long gone.

Tracks:

01. Come Around
02. Something to Say
03. Love is All
04. Icarus
05. Strange Roads
06. Things You Cannot See
07. Brain
08. Look at the View
09. Climbing Up the Wall
10. Really Doesn't Matter
11. I'm a Stranger
12. Little Boy
13. Follow Me
14. In My Dream

The Action - Rolled Gold

Apesar desse post não ser meu, dedico os dois álbuns ao Tin, um ilustre visitante de Brasília ou Patos de Minas, ou de onde quer que ele nos acesse. ;)