Jimmy Bell's Still In Town by 15-60-75

Press Quotes:

"15-60-75 are one of the few outfits to have stamped generic R&B with an original seal. Leader Robert Kidney has performed with The Golden Palominos but, since 1969, The Numbers have been his primary concern. On this debut-- a live recording from 1975-- the musicians include longtime sidekicks Jack Kidney (mouth harp and sax) and Terry Hynde (Chrissie's brother!). At moments one catches strains of Santana and The Doors in their polyrhythmic blues effusions-- but there is also a deeper, more esoteric imagination at work. Kidney is a Van Vliet on the distaff side, or a less hung up David Byrne. His heady, poetic, lyrical marinades are spiced with harmonica from Southside heaven-- and horns which can't quite decide whether they're playing a Stax revue or a free jazz freak-out. You will not be disappointed." - Joe Cushley, Mojo

"A Forgotten Classic: This is not musicians playing, it's madness kept barely under control. Saxophone players Tim Maglione and Terry Hynde blow mesmerizing wild lines. Jack Kidney punishes his harmonica with a potion of dirty, feverish blues. And truly inescapable is the performance of Robert Kidney. The singer/ guitarist works up his band like a high priest at a ritual gathering. His presence cuts the room like a knife - a knife that does not need sharpening. In spite of the crowded playing, the music seemingly follows a slow euphoric groove, which amazes more with every extra spin. And when finally, the euphoric playing and the razorsharp knife have closed their pact, all words become superfluous. Even after 25 years." - Harry Prenger, Heaven, Jan/Feb 2001

"Genuine Rhythm 'n' Blues and a large potion of free jazz by ex- Golden Palomino Robert Kidney, featuring slightly Captain Beefheart-like eccentricity. Frighteningly intense... This is one of those records that will probably never sell, but will secretly carry its genius among all those other CD's that were overlooked by the public. Except if you take this review seriously of course. A timeless statement." - RV, Platomania, December 2000

"Don't know about the NME but by God, they frightened me. You have to go to a small city in America to see a band with this much intensity and this much professionalism: 20 years in the same bar needing to keep a regular public's attention - intimacy with the material; an unfakeable elision of reality and entertainment. - Chris Cutler, Recommended

"The blues have me by the throat, and the fingers are a man's who lives in a cemetery. That's Robert Kidney's bio in the notes of Jimmy Bell's Still in Town by "The Numbers" (a/k/a 15-60-75), the chap's band. It's a come-on that hooks me - Chris Youlden of Savoy Brown, for example, was claimed to live near a graveyard. And it's been the experience that musos who actually profess to live in shacks on the grounds of the dead pack more grave-ity than many of their modern colleagues who dress like ghouls. The Numbers' recording is live, restored from the '70s, the record of a relentless jam band taking cues from Kidney's hip-man vocals. The band is tight, turns on a dime, and sounds like the J. Geils Band if J. and everyone else eighty-sixed Peter Wolf and went off into King Crimson-land circa Earthbound. (And that ain't prog - it was the Crimson album in which Boz and the drummer had Fripp doing rancid-buttered r&b.) The Numbers, one gathers, were the very definition of unpopular but committed; liner notes allege that one sissy girl, a Bob Marley fan, felt they hurt her ears. The Ohio group dress natty, and while much of their story could be mythology, it's a great one when backed up by their funky saxes-and-guitars sound." - George Smith, Village Voice, 7/6/4

Release Notes:
For 30 years, in a small town 40 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio, The Numbers have kept the blues alive. Where the guardians of the form starved it of innovation, 15-60-75 nurtured abstract evolution. Where the priests of Budweiser Blues droned old catechisms by rote, 15-60-75 aspired to vision. They play blues reimbued with meaning, purged and purified by flame, shorn of every superfluous moment, sound or word. Because their songs are compiled across a series of markers - words, sounds, phrases and pauses-- they don't count measures and can't outline the structure of their own songs to an outsider. For the blues, a form routinely approached as a compendium of formulas, this is startling, and it means that any change of personnel necessitates months of not just relearning but rewriting every song. It is a methodology from another planet - Don Van Vliet and Sun Ra come to mind. It is form dedicated to vision.

Pere Ubu's David Thomas re-released the album in September 2000 on his Hearpen label to celebrate the group's debut in England. The German label Glitterhouse immediately fell madly and deeply in love with it and arranged to license the release in Europe and the UK. (Bomba released it in Japan and Hearpen handles the distribution in Benelux).

Glitterhouse's press release reads as follows,

"This album is different. Way different from everything you'd expect from being released on Glitterhouse, but as well as from any other label: "The only good album ever recorded by anyone" says David Thomas and he knows what hes talking about. The "Numbers Band" (as they called themselves) perform at the highest, most energetic level. It's urban Blues on Amphetamines, it's groovy to the max and on the spot as well. Recorded live in 1975, this group consisted of two guitars, bass, drums, percussions, vocals and three (!) saxophones. Kicks ass as if Defunkt would jam with Cpt. Beefheart, War and MC5. A storm.

Recorded live at the Agora, Cleveland OH, June 16 1975 by John Nebe, Agency Recording Studio.
Originally released on Water Brothers Records in 1976.
Digitally transferred & mastered by Paul Hamann, Suma.
Original artwork: Lance Karkruff
Package design by John Thompson/idrome
Liner notes by David Thomas

Band:
Drake Gleason - bass
Terry Hynde - alto & baritone sax, maracas
Jack Kidney - harmonica, tenor sax, organ, conga
Robert Kidney - guitar, vocals
Tim Maglione - tenor & baritone sax, conga
David Robinson - drums
Michael Stacey - guitar

Release History:
Water Brothers Records (1976) lp.
Hearpen Records HR112 (Benelux) 9/00 cd.

Jimmy Bell's Still In Town15-60-75

Jimmy Bell's Still In Town
15-60-75