Rockasteria: Jonathan Kelly - Jonathan Kelly (1969-70 ireland, amazing folk psych rock, 2017 korean remaster)

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Jonathan Kelly - Jonathan Kelly (1969-70 ireland, amazing folk psych rock, 2017 korean remaster)

In late sixties Jonathan was becoming more and more popular in his native Ireland, but he knew that England was where the music was really at, The Beatles, Carnaby Street etc. Jonathan's last two singles had been released in Britain and so he decided that it was a case of "England here I come"

Britain was awash with talent in the late sixties and even some one of Jonathan's immense talent and fame in his native Ireland was not assured success and he made several trips across the Irish Sea and played many small gigs in and around London before he got his break. One night in 1969 he was playing in a restaurant when in walked Colin Petersen who was formally a member of the Bee Gees said "I knew when I saw and heard him that this was a talent which should be encouraged and developed". Colin became his Record Producer and Colin's wife Joanne became his personal manager. He released another single this time called 'Denver' but again this single failed to get into the top ten. A follow up single was released in 1970 called 'Make a stranger your friend' another antiwar song. This song had a catchy chorus and Jonathan's talents were recognised by many people in show business if not yet by the record buying public at large. A choir was formed to sing the chorus amongst those who turned up to join in were, Mick Taylor from the Rolling Stones, Klaus Voorman, Madeleine Bell, Carl Wayne and Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, surely with a cast like this it would be a massive hit...but it wasn't.

Two more singles followed and 1970 was to be a good year for Jonathan, though by the end of it the success he so richly deserved would still not be his. The first of these singles was 'Don't you believe it' this is a very sought after single because Eric Clapton was invited to play slide guitar on the track, even Slowhand's presence wasn't enough to get it into the top ten though. The next single wasn't released under Jonathan's name but instead under the name of 'Humpy Bong' the song 'Don't you be too long' was backed with 'We're allright till then' both excellent songs. Jonathan was the writer of both tracks and played guitar on the single but this time the vocal duties were taken by Tim Staffell. Humpy Bong were short lived and never played any concerts although there was one appearance on Top Of The Pops. 1970 also saw the release of Jonathan's first album, simply titled 'Jonathan Kelly' This album included many of his singles as well as other unreleased songs, it is now a hard to find item and is the rarest of all Jonathan's albums.

by Gerald Sables