Jack & The Mods consisted of three Townsend brothers
Jack, Ricky, and Jake and their two cousins from Chuckatuck, VA. They were
discovered by Alvin Mount who overheard them practicing in a run down shack
after his car had broken down nearby. The eldest brother Jack took the lead billing but it was young Jake on lead vocals (some sources claim 9 and another 11
years old which would seem more plausible).
Blount got them into the studio and were joined by two more brothers (James
Lawrence Jr. (trumpet) and Bobby Elford (drums), there were eleven siblings
in total, six brothers and five sisters) to cut their first record which was
this song "One Is Enough for One" credited to Al Blount, along with a sped up cover of The Isley Brothers
"It's Your Thing" which was the official A side. The label was called Hamtown which I
believe is a nickname for the nearby town of Smithfield which is famed for the curing and production of Smithfield ham.
Curiously, their only other listed recording is on Bamtown and has the
same catalogue no. (i.e. 50115) and is also listed for 1972 "The Jack Mod Kick" / "Don't Wake Me Up". It was reissued by Germany's Tramp label in 2019. However, it is a
1972 recording (the label states Recorded at Brockington & Guess
Studio, Norfolk, VA, 1972) but was first released in 2006, which may
explain the similarities to the Hamtown label.
The A side is an early 70s funk tune with the B side sounding very
familiar which I'm pretty sure is a retitled cover of
Bart Jackson's (aka George Jackson) 1968 outing on Decca, "Wonderful Dream", which I've included below for you to decide. The song was also
recorded in 1972 by Art Gentry on Abet which even got a UK release
on Mojo.
Story has it that Blount arranged performances in the region and also one
at Harlem's famous Apollo Theatre but the group got lost on their way and missed that
opportunity. Blount, who was in the military, was posted outside of
Virginia and the group were then managed by a friend who then passed them
onto another friend who died. When Blount returned three years later the
group had disintegrated.
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
| Rating: | 8.4 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Sweet Soul / Reissue |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | Numero Group |
| Cat No: | NUM5807 |
| Date: | 13/12/2022 |
| Key/BPM: | 7A/85 |
| Price: | £1 |
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