Saturday, September 07, 2013

Mose Jones raises $8,150 for the release of his unreleased 1980 album (with the original version of "Alien")

Link to Kickstarter
Mose Jones stuff on Skydog's Elysum:
Mose Jones - Mose Knows (1974)

Mose Jones - Get Right (1974)
Mose Jones - Blackbird (1978)

Jimmy O'Neill - Popular Car (1984)


Bryan Cole interviews for Bands Of Dixie:
First interview
Second interview
 
Steve McRay : "The moment Fate and Purpose walked into my life was towards the end of 2012...long time friend and Mose Jones alumni Bryan Cole passed, and went on to join Randy Lewis and Jimmy O'Neill onstage in the next life. While the feelings of losing my good friend were fresh, the master recordings of the 4th Mose Jones album, which had recently found their way into my hands, came forward to finally be released...these were the final and last recordings of Mose Jones! And with them, the fruition and legacy of our Southern Rock band Mose Jones.

I instinctively knew that this privilege had fallen on me and I called on Mose Jones alumni Marvin Taylor. It is our honor to dedicate the "Lost / Found" project in memory of Randy Lewis, Jimmy O'Neill, and Bryan Cole (friends and original members of Mose Jones) and Tad Bush (friend, engineer extraordinaire and co-producer on the Blackbird LP plus "Lost /Found"), and Chuck Fowler (our friend and stage tech).

It is now our pleasure to offer these once lost and now found recordings of the 4 men who were known as "Mose Jones" 1977 to 1980...and help us fulfill the undeniable Mose Jones legacy while solidifying our place in the history of Southern Rock bands.

I know that we had many devoted friends and fans that bought and listened to our first RCA album BLACKBIRD - and we still have many friends and fans that would love to hear these final Mose Jones recordings, especially since many heard us play these songs live before we broke up in 1980.

The "Lost / Found" album will take you back to a time when Mose Jones was serving up their signature brand of Southern Rock, and adding their own spicy flavors and funk to the organic rock songs of the day - a CD to share with friends who never heard of us before...you know, and maybe make some new friends and turn on some new listeners along the way.

WHAT IS ON THIS FINAL MOSE JONES RECORDING? 
Listen to one of our songs that will be on the LOST / FOUND CD. Randy Lewis on lead vocal (this is Randy doing what he used to do, belting out a song!!) "Dead End Street" (Buie/Lewis/McRay)

Mose Jones features Marvin Taylor (Guitar), Randy Lewis (RIP) (Vocals/Bass), Steve McRay (Vocals/Keyboards), and Chris Seymour (Drums). The album was produced by Buddy Buie, engineered and co-produced by Tad Bush (RIP) and Mose Jones. All songs written by Buddy Buie, Randy Lewis, and Steve McRay as well as Marvin Taylor and Chris Seymour. The album was recorded in analog at famed Studio One in Doraville, GA, where Atlanta Rhythm Section, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special, Journey, Joe South, Alicia Bridges, Stillwater, Crusados, and many more artists recorded; except for the Muscle Shoals Horns, which were recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound, Muscle Shoals, AL.

Eight songs plus one or two bonus tracks
Alien
Darlin' Come Back
Slip Away
Dead End Street
I'd Rather Live On The Moon
Working Girl
Coming Back For More
Instrumental Interlude

Plus, we have 8 bonus songs, all recorded in the same time period and for this project. Some of these bonus songs are original and some are cover songs. We will have these bonus tracks mixed and mastered, and have them available in our REWARDS incentives area.

The songs reflect that 70's/80's time - infectious bass and drums grooves with rock, disco, funk, and r & b style - fantastic guitar solos, keyboards with Fender Rhodes and Hammond B3, and topping off with soul inspired vocals and harmony laden choruses. Another bonus; we had the Muscle Shoals Horns add their awesome horns on a few of the tracks - plus, we called in our friend Randall Bramblett to play soprano sax on one of our songs, "Darlin' Come Back"!

Rock history is filled with stories of recording executive's blunders. No one knows what would have happened had fate taken a different turn...RCA choose not to release Mose Jones' final album, aka "Lost / Found". To their ears, there wasn't a top 40 "single" on the album. In 1981, the Atlanta Rhythm Section proved the recording executives wrong when they recorded our song "Alien" (with our enthusiastic blessing) for their Quinella album (Columbia). Alien was released as a 45 single and made it's way to a top-40 hit, climbing to #29 on the Top-40 Billboard charts and sending the song to #16 in Adult Contemporary Billboard charts http://www.billboard.com/artist/280161/atlanta-rhythm-section/chart.

We've always been very grateful to the Atlanta Rhythm Section for coming to us and taking our song to the top 40. Now, we'd like for you to hear it the way we played it!