Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes – Janice Long Session 11.11.86

Precious Recordings of London

Since 2021, former horse racing journalist Nick Godfrey has been the music archivist’s answer to Dr Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap, moving backwards and forwards through his own music-loving lifespan, righting the wrongs of choice and curious BBC radio sessions not previously being given an official release to the world at large — beyond fuzzy home tapings uploaded to YouTube or elsewhere – with the self-built Precious Recordings of London label.

This has meant time-hopping vault extractions from post-punk pioneers (Essential Logic), C86-adjacent indie-pop practitioners (The Bodines, The Jasmine Minks, The Weather Prophets), members of the extended early-‘90s Sarah Records family (Heavenly, The Orchids, Boyracer, Blueboy) and the more open-ended post-mid-‘90s music world (The Flaming Stars, Bis, Standard Fare, The Aislers Set, Cuban Boys).

Not just fixated on the John Peel tape reels — although such historic commissions have understandably dominated the discography thus far – the Precious-facilitated restorations have also taken in recordings originally booked-in for Janice Long, Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Riley & Coe for the enterprise’s distinctively designed double-7” and – latterly – 10” EPs, replete with period photography, sleeve notes and other extras.

The latest four-tracker brought to us via the conduit of Godfrey’s basement flat HQ flips back to the aforementioned sprawling C86 scene, which continues to fascinate Discogs hunter-gatherers, for the sole BBC session from Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes, a band that dispensed a handful of singles / EPs across the late-‘80s and one album in 1990.

The Edinburgh-born six-piece — named after Elvis Presley’s stillborn twin brother and a line from The Young Ones — who once rubbed shoulders with more successful peers like The Shop Assistants, are represented on this expanded-player with four raw but rousing cuts, produced – in breach of then BBC protocols – by The Jesus And Mary Chain’s Douglas Hart.

Hence, the opening “Laughing, Smiling And Falling Again” springs from the speakers with lead vocalist Fran Schoppler gutsily surfing atop a joyous wave of thickly-layered jangling. The ensuing “Leave You Behind” goes for a more winsome psych-folk-rock presentation, underpinned by rumbling Phil Spector-ish drums, that is equally as effective.

Over on the flipside, whilst bookended by a spoken-word ‘you-had-to-be-there’ in-joke regarding erstwhile children’s TV staple Brian Cant, “Up On The Big Wheel” swoons and careens along with a gleeful Caledonian charm.

The most abrasive moment is saved for the EP’s epilogue — “Hank Williams Is Dead” — in which Hart’s studio stewardship is felt most noticeably, as the group’s giddiness is gradually minced into a near-wall-of-noise, through densely orchestrated feedback. It’s a sonic shift that almost doesn’t quite work, but ultimately any qualms are quashed as the group’s infectious melodicism still bleeds through the din.

Although clocking in at a mere ten minutes in total, there is a visceral beauty to be found in the brevity here. Moreover, this is an EP that quickly acquires ear-warming familiarity, through the repeated spins required to aurally absorb such a fleeting time capsule.

A strong dual introduction then, for late-comers to the under-the-radar realms of both Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes and Precious Recordings.

-Adrian-