Much has been written lately about the deluxe re-release of The Numbers Band's 1976 debut LP Jimmy Bell's Still in Town but not a lot has been written about what actually went into the making of the original album. Before the deluxe re-release came out I was asked to research the actual history of the making of the record and I found all kinds of interesting information and archival materials that detailed this uphill process. This is not the complete history of the recording but this is the most complete I could put together from all of the available primary sourced materials I could dig up. Much of what is detailed below hasn't been seen in over 35 years.
Bob Kidney out front with 15-60-75 at the Cleveland Agora
circa 1975. Also David Robinson on drums and Terry Hynde on sax.
circa 1975. Also David Robinson on drums and Terry Hynde on sax.
Three attempts were made at recording this album as the chosen location would be the Cleveland Agora under the auspices of Hank LoConti where Agency Recording Studios would capture a single live performance in front of an audience. The first attempt was January 20, 1975 but that show was cancelled at the very last minute due to an illness in the band.
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| Blurb from January 1975 Scene Magazine promoting the first (and eventually aborted) scheduled recording for what would become 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. |
The second attempt was made on March 10, 1975 and from accounts by the band, the audience and a write-up in Scene Magazine the performance was powerful to the point of chaos.
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| Cleveland Agora ad from a 1975 Scene Magazine promoting the second scheduled recording of what would become 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. Ad says the show and recording will take place Tuesday, March 11, 1975 though this was soon to be changed to the day before, Monday, March 10, 1975. |
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| Blurb from March 1975 Scene Magazine promoting the second scheduled recording for what would become 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. |
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| Cleveland Agora ad from a 1975 Scene Magazine promoting the second
scheduled recording of what would become 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still in Town on Monday, March 10, 1975 . |
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| Original Scene magazine review of 15-60-75's March 10, 1975 performance at the Cleveland Agora. |
"For our second attempt to make this record the engineer broke the recording down to live to 2-track before we could even mix the 16-track recording. We'd had the WMMS push and we had it all before that second show. We had our crowd there to hear us and experience us making history but the recording from that night didn't get released. We now had to schedule a third recording date because the engineer took it upon himself to mix us. Another example of when you start to throw people between you and your audience. When you put these people in the middle there's always a conflict."
Recording of "Money" and "Keep a Knockin" from a 1975 Cleveland Agora recording
that is believed to be from the rejected "impossible to mix" unused March 10, 1975 2-track tapes.
that is believed to be from the rejected "impossible to mix" unused March 10, 1975 2-track tapes.
Against serious resistance a third and final attempt to record the album was allowed on June 16, 1975 opening for Bob Marley and The Wailers. For this third attempt all of the variables worked in everyone's favor.
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| Blurb from 1975 Scene Magazine promoting 15-60-75 opening for Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Cleveland Agora on June 16, 1975. This show would be the third and final scheduled recording for what would become 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. |
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| Original ad from a 1975 Scene Magazine promoting 15-60-75 opening for Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Cleveland Agora on June 16, 1975. This show would be the third and final scheduled recording for what would become 15-60-75's Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. |
Jack Kidney recalled this from the night of the actual recording of the album:
"I remember that I never got a word in with Bob Marley. I did not say hello to him and he did not say hello to me. I did see him backstage though. Back then the Agora had separate dressing rooms; one for the opener and one for the headliner. Sometimes we got the headliner dressing room, sometimes we got the opener dressing room and there was no difference between them other than one room was a little more private. But I saw him backstage because he and the Wailers had to come through our dressing room to get to the stage.
"Bob Marley went on to play and I was just mesmerized. I remember while he was playing I was thinking that there was a fire somewhere and these people were taking me to this really mysterious wonderful place.
"I don't remember much about our performance. I remember being there and I remember playing the Hammond organ and playing the congas with David. I always enjoy doing that but I don't have any real specific things that I can go to about what I remember about the performance other than the crowd just wanted us to be done and there was some tension because we'd already had two shots at making this record."
15-60-75 mastermind/frontman Bob Kidney had this recollection about the night of the actual recording:
"I remember we were there at the Agora all day and that night that we recorded what became Jimmy Bell's Still in Town we were opening for Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was a very tense situation. There was a lot on the line and some of the fellows in the band were aware of who Bob Marley was though I wasn't. I had heard about this fellow and reggae music but it was all very new to me. But we were there all day and had some minor interaction with Marley's band though they didn't want to have anything to do with us.
"I never did actually meet Bob Marley. That's pretty true though about most opening act situations. Ya know they were from Jamaica, they didn't know who we were or why we were there. They were suspicious of us. I remember I asked them if they wanted some pot and thy looked at me and said 'where did you get it?' And I told them that I got it from some guy down where I lived and then they responded 'you mean you don't know where it came from?' ya know acting like I might do something to fuck them up. But that's ok. I didn't have a problem with that. They were probably being smart. There was a lot of bad reefer going around. Weed with animal tranquillizers mixed in and the likes.
"I remember I watched Bob Marley's soundcheck and I remember that he was authoritarian about his music. Especially with the women singers. He wanted things exactly right. He was no high loose guy. He was 100 percent on the money professional like fucking Frank Sinatra. That's the way that went down. It had to be right. As I look back on that night, that's an aspect I find interesting.
"My most distinct memory of the night is that when we walked out onto the stage there was very little response from the audience because they weren't there to see us though we did have some fans in the audience. But I remember standing on stage and plugging my guitar in and my horn player Tim Maglione came up the stairs and then walked by me and looked at me and said 'I did our star charts before this job and the stars are against us tonight' and then I said to him 'So we're going against the stars aren't we? That's what we're going to do.'
"I remember that during the performance I was trying to play my guitar in such a manner that was with complete abandon. I was trying to stretch my ability and come up with things and create solos and whatnot that were in the moment only. While we were playing I remember thinking 'I don't care what this sounds like, I'm playing this, this is what I am going to do. This is tonight, this is what we are going to have.' I remember thinking that. When you listen to it now though the playing isn't really that bizarre (laughs.) But in the moment I was pushing myself as much as I could. I also remember that I liked playing 'About Leaving' I thought that was pretty incredible. It was great. And there were some other moments but really I was in the process of working and doing--it was just like one mindset. I wasn't paying attention to anything but creating this performance.
Longtime 15-60-75 saxophonist Terry Hynde had this to say about the night of the recording:
"The night the Jimmy Bell album was recorded we opened for Bob Marley and the Wailers. I remember when we got out on stage I could see the crowd was mostly African American and they weren't there to see us. When we started playing they weren't moving but then about halfway through the set I could see a little bit of movement and then pretty soon people were getting into it. That was really fun. We won them over in one set.
"I really don't have any idea why people still talk about this album. Ya know--I mean--it's good. I think there was a mistake in it someplace where Dave Robinson missed some drum part though nobody even knows where that is on the album. But he always hated the album because of this one mistake but it's like nothing."
Long circulated bootleg recording of Bob Marley and the Wailers
labeled as being from June 16, 1975 at the Cleveland Agora.
labeled as being from June 16, 1975 at the Cleveland Agora.
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| Original Scene magazine review of 15-60-75's June 16, 1975 performance opening for Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Cleveland Agora. Note the poor review given to the band's performance. |
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| December 1975 blurb from Scene magazine promoting four 15-60-75 performances at JB's in Kent, Ohio. While the blurb states that their new album which would eventually be titled Jimmy Bell's Still in Town will be released in three to four weeks it would in fact be another full year before the LP would come out. |
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| January 1976 Scene Magazine preview article for 15-60-75's then forthcoming LP Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. The LP still would not be released for another year. By the time Jimmy Bell's Still in Town was released in late 1976 the band had put almost 2 years worth of work into what amounted to just under 38 minutes of music. |
"Jimmy Bell's Still in Town" from the LP
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| January 1977 Scene Magazine review for 15-60-75's newly released LP Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. |
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| 1977 Scene Magazine advertisement for shows at JB's and for the LP Jimmy Bell's Still in Town. |
In the years that followed, the LP made its way to Europe where the title track "Jimmy Bell" became a disco hit in Holland and then disappeared into obscurity.
15-60-75 performing "Jimmy Bell's Still in Town" in The Kiva at Kent State University
circa 1977. Note Chris Butler, later of The Waitresses on bass.
"The Animal Speaks" from the original Jimmy Bell's Still in Town LP
Johnny Rotten vocals on "The Animal Speaks" as done by
The Golden Palominos on their 1985 LP Visions of Excess.
Jack Bruce vocals on "The Animal Speaks" as done by
The Golden Palominos for a 1985 single release.
12inch single sleeve for the 1985 release of The Golden Palominos'
"The Animal Speaks" with John Lydon on vocals.
In December of 2013 Exit Stencil Records re-released the Jimmy Bell's Still in Town album as a deluxe 2-LP set with brand new liner notes from Rolling Stone Magazine senior editor David Fricke and David Giffels co-author of Are We Not Men?
Thirty-nine years on and forty-four years since they formed, The Numbers Band (15-60-75) still play shows and I would advise all that read this blog to go and see them as the performances are as ferocious as they have ever been. And if you'd like to purchase the deluxe LP re-release of Jimmy Bell's Still in Town you can find it for sale here.
Also check out The Numbers Band's PATREON. Hundreds of shows archived in audio and video from their entire career.
-Dr. Rock & Roll Jason Prufer
