Jason And The Scorchers

Somewhere along the line last month of all the happenings going on, little did the major music mags ever mentioned of the passing of Perry Baggs, the longtime drummer holding the backbeat to one of the earliest cowpunk bands of the 1980s Jason And The Scorchers who died at age 50 from diabetes I think and a frail body that simply wore out over the years of hard rocking.  But Baggs also was instrumental into playing gospel at the local church and was in the process of recording a gospel album before his death.  Anyway here's a blog that celebrates more about Baggs than I can give.  http://tim-ghianni.blogspot.com/2012/07/please-bang-drum-slowly-for-jesus-and.html

Jason And The Scorchers were way ahead of the times and like their more country counterpart Rank And File gave the world the start of what was called cowpunk.  Sounding more like an amped up Hank Williams, they roar out of Nashville with a 1982 independent album called Reckless Country Soul, which the world has never heard of.  Who are they to desecrate Hank Williams by speeding the songs up to wreckless abandon?  Word and interest got around and they managed to score a contract with EMI America to issue another EP, Frevor to which they had a alternative hit with a cover of Absolute Sweet Marie.  I didn't jump on board till I heard White Lies, their single off Lost And Found to which they worked with Terry Manning, combining originals with some lost country honky tonk hits of long ago and far away, Lost Highway and I Really Don't Want To Know.  Lost And Found actually made my list of the top ten albums of 1983 and it sold well enough for a second album Still Standing to which Tom Werman produced.  While some claimed that Werman may have smooth out all the rough edges, I found this album to have aged quite well, whereas Lost And Found may have been done in by the booming drums mix of Terry Manning.  Still Standing also focused more on the original songs, the only cover was the Rolling Stones 19th Nervous Breakdown.  The record didn't sell very well and they left for A & M for the underrated Thunder And Fire (Produced by Barry Beckett), Jason was co writing with some of Nashville's best songwriters at that time (Tim Krekel, Steve Earle, Dan Schlitz). In some ways Thunder & Fire remains their best in terms of songs flowing from one to another.  When I first heard the album I didn't think much of it but I recall playing When The Angels Cry a lot in the late 80s and early 90s.  It's the only album that Andy York compliments Warren Hodges on guitar, York would eventually move on to John Mellencamps band and Hearts And Minds

Thunder And Fire also flopped and Jason decided to call it a day and disband the Scorchers.  He made a 1992 album One Foot In The Honky Tonk for Liberty  but in 1995 they decided to give it a go again.  This time signing with a more sympathetic label in Mammoth and recording A Blazing Grace with Jeff Johnson back in tow.  Atlantic picked them up for Clear Impetuous Morning and then returned them back to Mammoth for the live Midnight Roads And Stages Seen.  But Mammoth folded and Jason return to a solo career and the band splintered apart.

In the time since then, The Scorchers have reunited from time to time but by the time they got around to do Halcyon Times, Perry Baggs was too sick to continue.  Still the fire and gasoline that is Jason and Warren Hodges  delivered one of their best albums ever, even with the new guys in tow (Al Collins and Pontus). It was one of that those albums that you had to get from the band themselves for that time they decided the hell with majors and do it themselves.

Being a big fan of theirs I am very biased in terms of what to look for or what to get.  You're better off with Both Sides Of The Line, a EMI comp that puts Fervor and Lost And Found Together but that is out of print as well as Essential Jason And The Scorchers Volume 1: Are You Ready For The Country which adds the title track to the EP and LP mentioned above as well as a couple old live cuts.  Still Standing was issued by Capitol and adds three bonus cuts to the original EMI album (also issued on CD years ago but also out of print).  Reckless Country Soul was reissued as a full album by Praxis/Mammoth in 1996 and is the best indicator of the early years on just how punky and great they were back then although the sound quality isn't that great.  The Mammoth albums also have a fine quality of their own although this was a more mature Scorchers but still intense when they want to be.

In short, nothing before or after was quite like Jason & The Scorchers who made rock and roll fun, and made converts of those who wanted to hear something different than the new wave keyboard dominated crap of the 1980s.  They didn't sell many records but God almighty they rocked harder than any band of the 80's.

RIP Perry Baggs

Dedicated to the memory of Jack Emerson who left us too soon (Manager of the band). 


Albums:

Reckless Country Soul 1982 (later reissued with more bonus tracks 1996) Mammoth A-
Fervor EP (EMI America 1982) A-
Lost And Found (EMI America 1983) A-
Still Standing (EMI America 1986) B+
Thunder And Fire (A&M 1989) B+
A Blazing Grace (Mammoth 1995) B+
Clear Impetuous Morning (Mammoth/Atlantic 1996) A-
Midnight Roads And Stages Seen (Mammoth/Hollywood 1998) B
Halycon Times (Courageous Chicken 2010) A

Compilations:
Are You Ready For The Country (EMI 1993) A-
Both Sides Of The Line (EMI 1995) A-
Still Standing (Bonus tracks) (Capitol 2002) A-

Jason: Too Long In The Honky Tonk (Liberty 1992) B