Week of March 23, 2003
Personnel:
Steve Edge - Guitar
Bob Jenkins - Drums
Jane Kevern - Vocals
Roy Putt - Bass
Chris Williams - Guitar
John Hutcheson - Keyboards
Album:
Pre-Flight (Deram SML 1073) 1970
Reissued on CD in Korea (Si-Wan SRMC 0043)
Responsible for another extremely rare one-off album on Deram, Room offers progressive rock with strong bluesy overtones and even some excursions into jazzy territory, without ever leaving their rock foundations. A host of instruments, both strings and brass enliven the music, though at times it tends to get a bit too brassy. Jane Kevern sings well, but without much ability for different moods. Luckily the guitar parts are good too, so although more diversity in atmosphere would have made the record excellent, it is now not more than plain good. The arrangement of the final track,
"Cemetery Junction", with its unexpected foray into late 19th century symphonical, lifts this cut above the rest. This, in fact, refers to the major traffic crossroads in central Bournemouth (where the band were resident at the time).
A Blandford Forum band, they won an NME 'Beat Contest'. Shortly after "Pre-Flight" was released John Hutcheson, who'd been in Ginger Man with drummer Bob Jenkins, joined the band on organ.
(Marcel Koopman)
Taken from The Tapestry of
Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B,
Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson
ISBN 1 899855 04 1