I've enjoyed Bill Graham's article on Ray Jackson and his mandolin solo in Rod Stewart's Maggie May -- he's a player I have a lot of time for. I would, however, bridle a little bit at the sentiment that Ray Jackson is an obscure name, and bridle a lot at the sentiment that Lindisfarne were an obscure band in 1971. That may be true in the US, but in the UK, Lindisfarne were a very popular band in the early 1970s, and are still widely known to mainstream listeneners mostly through the association of their 1971 song "Fog On The Tyne" with the band's home city Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Indeed, one could even argue that when he went into the studio in 1971 to record the Maggie May lick, Ray Jackson was a higher-profile musician than Rod Stewart himself -- Stewart had two previous solo albums, the first of which failed to chart and the second (Gasoline Alley) reached No. 62 in the UK charts, and one album with the Faces, peaking at No. 45. None of his solo or band singles had charted at all. By comparison, Lindisfarne's 1970 debut album "Nicely Out Of Tune" had reached No. 8, and Jackson was joint front man/lead singer of that band (along with Alan Hull).
It was Maggie May itself (and the album it came from) that made Rod Stewart an international superstar in 1971, but even then his fame didn't necessarily outshine Ray Jackson's during that year: Lindisfarne's second album "Fog On The Tyne", released a few months later, reached No. 1 in the charts, and they had two major hit singles in 71/72: "Meet Me On the Corner" (No. 5 in the UK singles charts) had lead vocals by Jackson and "Lady Eleanor" (No. 3) had a very tasty mandolin riff by him.
Both of those first two Lindisfarne albums are highly recommended for fans of good folk/rock, and Lady Eleanor in particular is a truly great song with a truly great mandolin part.
A few Lindisfarne/Ray Jackson links:
Lindisfarne Wikipedia page
Lady Eleanor on Youtube, recorded in 1978, lead vocals by Alan Hull with Jackson playing what looks like a Harmony Batwing mando.
Meet Me On The Corner on Youtube, recorded in 1971, with Jackson on lead vocals and harmonic (no mando).
Lady Eleanor, recorded in 2007 by The Gathering, with Jackson on both mando and lead vocals (still that Batwing -- he has now switched to an Ovation). Also note Jerry Donahue on lead guitar; one of my favourite musicians!
Martin
PS: That Columbus acoustic/electric mando mentioned in Bill's article as being the Maggie May mando can also be seen on Youtube here, on "Fog On The Tyne" recorded in 1971. However, it's being played by Simon Cowe rather than Ray Jackson -- Jackson just sings and plays harmonica.
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