A new Jess Roden Youtube Channel went online yesterday with some lyric videos of tracks from the “lost” album that Jess made under the guise of “Seven Windows”. The album came out originally in the mid 80’s but was restored and remastered a few years ago & issued on CD earlier this year. Theres a gorgeous “new” bonus track “NYC” from the original sessions that was never finished in the 80’s & it sounds great. The YouTube playlist link is attached. Love this guy’s voice so much and its great to get something “new” from him.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyiEKRwWclLdCpXCYIP_rg_8E-nuVWQ6i&si=IBmx3rPJo84bvvsz
This album is my personal re-issue of the year. Thanks for the heads up about the YT channel.
Me too – it was wonderful for it to finally see the light of day again – I managed to get hold of a copy of the original many many years ago on vinyl & then CD … the new version is beautifully restored and remastered – sounds fab doesn’t it – and I love NYC – not often that you get bonus tracks that are this good 🙂
Best, J
Great news. I know that Jess is really happy with the reissue.
I think this album has some of his loveliest songs – great that he’s happy with it … he was very involved with the development of the lyric videos too & supplied some of the images 🙂
J
This post exemplifies the value of this place.
I would never have found the YouTube channel nor know about the Seven Windows reissue.
Thank you @J_C, it’s an early Xmas present.
I will catch up with the YT stuff later, but I am listening to a stream of the the album now and have a physical copy on order.
It’s 13 years since Hidden Masters was released. Where does the time go?
Hi Carl … glad to have been of service !! … and glad you found a copy to order – they were hoping to get UK/Europe distribution for it earlier this year but hopefully that will happen in ’26, so its still coming via the US at the moment … hopefully you got the new expanded version with NYC on – such a lovely track.
Have a great Christmas, J
He’s still alive? I remember seeing him at Balls Park College in Hertford round about 1974. Too much of a US rock sound for my tastes to be honest.
Are you thinking of the right singer?
Jess definitely had a soul sound.
totally – a soul/blues voice … also a great chilled jazz style which is evident on the “Seven Windows” tracks 🙂
Hi – I’m happy to say we are still sharing this planet with Jess – he moved into graphic design in the mid 1980’s, occasionally guesting on albums – in the 90’s Jim Capaldi persuaded him to work on an album and there was a short lived band called The Humans … he was actively involved in the development of a career spanning Anthology in 2013 which was largely crowd-funded and limited to a run of 950 (a lavish 6CD bookset with about half of it previously unreleased from the Island Records vaults) … he has been closely involved with the 2025 “Seven Windows” remaster and the accompanying lyric videos … lovely guy & his voice is still awesome … going back to your point – in 74 yeah he would have been treading a more rock/soul direction – the era of Bad Company and Island Records were persuading the Jess Roden Band to adopt a more rocky sound – the Anthology contains much from the aborted original JRB album which has far more of a soul / early Average White Band feel to it – and imho contained at least 2 tracks that could have provided the much elusive breakthrough single … lovely guy too 🙂
I liked Jess a lot BITD. His JRB Live album was excellent – “The ballad of Big Sally” still rings. The Butts Band was a good album too – great cover and they’d obviously been listening to Little Feat which is always a good move. Sadly I only had it on tape.