Perhaps You Missed It: The Action - Rolled Gold

Originally I was planning on making the 'Perhaps You Missed It' post a regular feature on my blog, but there are just too many amazing new artists out there that I figured, why dwell on the past. That, and I'm lazy. However, I picked up an absolute gem of an album a couple of weeks ago that I just gotta tell you about.

The Action were a mod band from the mid 60's that caught the eye of George Martin (y'know, The Beatles guy.) He signed them to Parlophone Records, and released their first single, which was a version of Chris Kenner's Land Of 1000 Dances. Although it failed to make much of an impact, the band continued to release some great quality beat singles, my favorites being I'll Keep On Holding On and Shadows and Reflections. The were also commercial failures for reasons that I simply cannot figure out since they were easily as good as or better than any of their contemporaries. Sadly, as we all know, there are many more factors to success than simply being very talented, and after a few lineup changes and variations in style, by 1969, the band had decided to call it a day.

I forgot exactly what it was that caused me to go out and inquire about The Action, but that's how I managed to find some of those great early singles. But a few weeks ago I stopped into Soundscapes and inquired about the band again. The guy behind the counter highly recommended Rolled Gold. A few songs in, and I remembered what the term 'lost classic' is all about.

Rolled Gold is the album that should've been, but sadly never was. It's a collection of songs that the band recorded in the final years prior to their demise, but never got around to releasing. The album finally saw the light of day in 2002 and upon further research, I've found out that it has influenced everyone from Matthew Sweet to Beachwood Sparks to Paul Weller, and Phil Collins has said that they are actually his favorite band if all time. I personally hear a lot of Guided By Voices in these songs, and I've got to believe that Sloan has also looked to these Brits for inspiration. (That latter assumption is more greatly fueled by the cover of Sloan's latest album Parallel Play. I present you with exhibit A:

Coincidence? I think not.)

It's been quite a while since I've heard an album so worthy of imitation. It opens with Come Around, an example of power pop that sounds like it could've been recorded yesterday, and wouldn't have been out of place on the Elephant 6 label. Something To Say is the best song Big Star never recorded. It's a highly melodic guitar driven pop song with a terrific hook in its proudly repetitive chorus. Love Is All is a sweet blend of all things psychedelic, made all the more complete with its 'product of its time' flute playing. If I listen to Icarus and Brain a billion more times and they still affect me the same way that they do right now, then they're going to be a couple of my favorite songs of all time. Matthew Sweet says in the liner notes that those tunes make him jump around like a teenager and served as warm up tunes while on tour. I love Alan King's fuzzed out guitar in Strange Roads, the 'I wish I wrote that' melody of Things You Cannot See and Reg King's insane vocals in Look At The View. These are only the first 8 songs that I've mentioned. The album contains 6 more and I assure you that each one just keeps getting better than the one before.

I'll admit that there's nothing finer than discovering a future classic, but there's a lot to be said for discovering that hidden gem from the past too. It's unfortunate that The Action couldn't get arrested in '68, but I'm sure glad that someone had the mindset to make these songs available.
It simply adds to my theory that the greatest band of all time is most likely a band that I've never heard before. But darn it, I'm certainly working hard to find them, aren't I?

Stream: Something To Say


Stream: Brain


Stream: Strange Roads