Graham Dee – ‘Mr. Super Cool’ (Vinyl LP) [Pre-Order
£23.00
*Pre-Order / Releases 4 April*
Long-lost 1973 album from unsung hero and fixture of the ‘60s London sessions scene, and later prolific songwriter and producer. Released on vinyl for the first time.
Graham Dee was a prominent guitarist for hire throughout the 1960s, moving alongside the likes Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck with his skills as a session player. After beginning his career playing on the Small Faces first single, 1964’s Wha’cha Gonna Do About It, stints followed playing for John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Jerry Butler (ex-The Impressions), Them, The Walker Brothers and Carl Perkins. Thereafter, Dee was picked up as an in-house producer for Atlantic Records in the UK. As their producer, he worked with The Fleur De Lys, Sharon Tandy, Mike Berry and The Fantastics and developed a unique ‘British Soul sound’. In the ‘70s Dee relocated to the States, where he combined successful songwriting sessions with Prince Phillip Mitchell and work at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound studio in Alabama, moonlighted with The Allman Brothers Band and even spent time as a snake wrangler.
Fast forward to 2019, and Dee approached Acid Jazz’s Eddie Piller with a solitary and rather battered acetate. It was ‘Side One’ of an album Graham had recorded in 1973, which had never been released, and he hadn’t heard it since. Unfortunately, the master was in a state and Piller figured, at best, only two tracks would be salavageable.
This is where events took a weird turn… Around the same time, a record dealer contacted Piller after coming into possession of 15 masters tapes in a house which had once belonged to Gerry Shury, who, coincidentally, had once worked with Dee. Some of the ¼-inch masters tapes were marked ‘Graham Dee’, but even then there was no indication of what they featured. At least five of the ‘Graham Dee’ tapes were blank and another three were outtakes. There were only three or four tapes that were any good, which were sent away to be transferred. Remarkably, what came back were both sides of the original lost album!
An ecstatic Graham Dee informed Piller that what he had discovered was Mr. Super Cool, an album arranged by Gerry Shury and engineered by Gary Lyons, recorded in 1973 at Sarm Studios, East London. It featured the talents of guitarist Colin Pincott (Eric Burdon, Joan Armatrading), bassist Phil Chen (Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart), drummers Barry de Souza (Lou Reed, Labi Siffre, Kate Bush) and Henry Spinetti (Bob Dylan, George Harrison).
Mr. Super Cool sounds like some long-lost film soundtrack. Highly evocative of its time, it offers a fascinating insight into early ‘70s record-making and is a reminder of Graham’s unique talent, and the joys of serendipity.
Tracklist:
- Mr. Super Cool
- You’re a Dream Maker
- Cold Harbour Lane
- Turn and Look Behind You
- Corner of the World
- Answer Man
- Don’t Let the Music Get You Down
- You’re My Lady (It’s Been a Long Time)
- Life’s Roundabout
- So Much I Want To
