Rock On! 7Ts Reissues David Essex's First Three Albums

7Ts Records - Cherry Red's imprint dedicated to all things seventies, returned late last year to the catalogue of one of its favorite artists, David Essex, for a trio of album reissues. The stage and screen star's first three solo albums - Rock On, David Essex, and All the Fun of the Fair - are all newly available from 7Ts, with the latter two in slightly expanded form.

David Essex, OBE, was born David Albert Cook in 1947. Since making his record debut on the Fontana label in 1965, he has scored nineteen Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom (including two No. 1s), and sixteen Top 40 albums. Following a stage appearance as Jesus in the 1971 original London cast of Godspell alongside other future notables like Jeremy Irons, Marti Webb and Julie Covington, Essex took to the big screen to star in 1973's That'll Be the Day. That same year, he earned a hit in the form of his self-written "Rock On," crossing international shores with the song. The tune appeared only in the American cut of the film (playing over the end credits) but was included on the That'll Be the Day soundtrack, and lent its title to Essex's debut LP.

Rock On was issued on the CBS label in November 1973, following the single releases of "Rock On" b/w "On and On" and "Lamplight" b/w "We All Insane" (all of which would be featured on the album). Julie Covington joined her Godspell co-star on background vocals, and familiar studio vets like bassist Herbie Flowers and percussionist Ray Cooper played on the album produced by the future War of the Worlds author-composer, Jeff Wayne. Essex and Wayne didn't exclusively concentrate on the classic rock-and-roll milieu of That'll Be the Day; instead, the album drew on a variety of pop styles. Essex composed most of the album's tracks, though he found room for covers from the pens of Paul Simon ("For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her"), Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman ("Turn Me Loose"), Travis Pritchett ("Tell Him No") and producer Wayne ("Bring in the Sun"). The single "Rock On" reached No. 5 in the U.S. and received a Grammy nomination; it topped the charts in Canada and made No. 3 in his native United Kingdom.

In April 1974, Essex previewed the release of his upcoming self-titled album with the single "America" b/w "Dance Little Girl." Though it couldn't crack the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. (peaking at No. 101!) it performed respectably in the U.K. (No. 32) and elsewhere in Europe (No. 5 France/No. 16 Italy/No. 8 Norway). David Essex arrived in September, featuring 10 songs all written by the artist. Jeff Wayne returned as producer-arranger-conductor, and Julie Covington, Herbie Flowers, Ray Cooper, and drummer Barry DeSouza all returned from Rock On. Guitarist Chris Spedding dropped in, as did a cappella group The Persuasions. Though "America" wasn't a blockbuster, the album's second A-side "Gonna Make You a Star" certainly was, reaching No. 1 in the U.K. as well as Ireland. The closing track on David Essex, "Stardust," introduced the theme to the artist's next motion picture. In November, "Stardust" was issued on 45 RPM, and earned Essex another U.K. Top 10 hit. David Essex peaked at No. 2 in December on the U.K. album chart. 7Ts has expanded the album with the seven-inch single version of "Stardust."

7Ts' trilogy concludes with 1975's All the Fun of the Fair, a U.K. No. 3 success for Essex. Following tradition, he gave listeners a taste of the September release with a prior single drawn from the upcoming LP: "Rolling Stone" b/w "Coconut Ice." It was another Top 5 success but an even bigger hit was to come. All the Fun welcomed back DeSouza and Spedding, and also featured Mike Garson on keyboards as well as the band The Real Thing on background vocals. (Essex worked with them as a producer.) The album's fairground theme - illustrated on its artwork and in its songs - would figure prominently into his stage shows of the period. In September, the same month of the album's release, Essex issued "Hold Me Close" b/w a 1974 live recording of "Good Ol' Rock and Roll" as a single. Within three weeks, "Hold Me Close" reached pole position on the pop chart. Two months later, "If I Could" (b/w "Funfair") became another Top 10 hit for the unstoppable singer. All the Fun of Fair would much later, in 2008, inspire a stage musical of the same name featuring many of Essex's greatest hits and spawn three different cast recordings! 7Ts' expanded edition of the original album adds two bonus tracks: the single versions of "Rolling Stone" and "If I Could."