morgan

Those Scott Morgan Band/Scots Pirates re-issues on Easy Action are imminent. The UK label is taking pre-orders for "Revolutionary Action", a two CD compilation of Morgan's first three solo band albums. It's due out on October 20.

Pre-orders are here. Here's the refreshed film clip for the "Detroit" 45 which has been re-issued as an iTunes single. 

Tracking the post-Sonic’s Rendezvous Band career of Detroit’s rocking rhythm and blues man, Scott Morgan, gets a little easier next month with the release of three of his solo band albums on a double CD.

UK label Easy Action (who else?) will release the “Scots Pirates”, “Revolutionary Means” and “Rock Action” LPs in re-mastered form as “Revolutionary Action” on October 20.

The 38-song collection will be encased in the usual top-shelf packaging with a bonus cut, the hard-to-find cover version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Can You See Me?”

What do you think we’d say? Sonic’s Rendezvous Band was truly The One That Got Away. It’s a crime they weren’t signed, recorded and backed to the hilt by a major label and elevated to a household name, but rock and roll is seldom fair. That’s why you need to hear everything you can of this great lost band.

Never heard outside a small circle of alumni and fans, this short but sweet five-song set comes from the January 14,1978 show, on the undercard to the Ramones and the Runaways at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. Maybe.

The opening act was un-billed and surviving band members (that would be Gary and Scott) can’t agree that they played it. All but one song (“City Slang”) has remained in the vaults and the label thought it had issued the gig as part of its splendid box set. But that disc wasn’t even from one entire show, if that makes sense.

Long spoken of and heard by few, this batch of tapes documenting the short but worthy lifespan of Scott Morgan’s post Rationals band Guardian Angel (later known as Lightnin’) has seen the light of day at last. It’s a righteous addition to a starry back catalogue.

The last non-sellout in a line of powerful, soulful, R&B-influenced rock singers from the '60s, Scott Morgan's had a lot of notoriety the last few years, since the world of Rockdom at large belatedly discovered the joys of Sonic's Rendezvous Band, the late-seventies Dee-troit "supergroup" that he fronted in tandem with (and later in opposition to) ex-MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith.

In which the complete recorded works of the 1980s and ‘90s are compiled on one double CD set, spanning 38 tracks.

You have to give it to Easy Action. They know how to package a legacy. And Scott Morgan, of course, has had lots of legacy to restore.

Michigan’s Best Kept Musical Secret had been around the metaphorical block a few times by the time the ‘80s rolled around, but up until that point his bands hadn’t produced many recordings. If he hadn’t invented blue-eyed soul, Morgan played a big part in its arrival in the '60s when front-man for Ann Arbor’s Rationals who took a detour into soulful, pastoral-flecked psych before running out of steam. 

The legendary Scott Morgan (The Rationals, Sonics Rendezvous Band, Hydromatics) continues his return to the stage in stunning form and will play another gig with The Sights in Michigan in November.

Pre-orders have opened for his latest re-issue on Easy Action. 

After serious ill-health, Detroit rock and soul legend Scott Morgan (The Rationals, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band) is returning to regular live shows with a new album in the throes of being written.

Morgan fell ill with liver disease a couple of years ago but has undergone extensive treatment. He still needs to manage his health but has bounced back this year to play a couple of shows with the well regarded soulful rockers The Sights as his backing band.

Detroit rock and soul legend Scott Morgan (Sonic's Rendezvous Band, The Rationals, The Hydromatics, The Solution, Scots Pirates, Scott Morgan Band, Guardian Angel, Dodge Main) has returned to live singing just two years after being disagnosed with liver disease.

Scott joined The Sights at their special Christmas show at The Magic Stick on December 21. Here's his story:

There’s a benefit show for Gary Quackenbush of The SRC on September 6 at Club 54 in Sterling Heights in Detroit. The guitarist has been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. 

The SRC were formed by Scott Richardson after singing with the Chosen Few, an Ann Arbor band that also had Ron Asheton and James Williamson (later of the Stooges) as members at various times. The SRC ranks included Glenn Quackenbush, Gary Quackenbush and E.G. Clawson. Jeep Holland, manager of The Rationals, became their manager and suggested Richardson as lead singer. Bass player Robin Dale was added later.

The SRC was one of Michigan’s finest psych bands of the ‘60s and  contemporaries of the Stooges, the MC5 and The Up.

Capacity at the benefit gig is limited to 400 and doors open 6pm.  The bill includes The Reefermen, Frijid Pink and an after-jam with Ray Goodman (SRC) and the Essentials featuring Tosha Owens. Scott Morgan will be the guest MC and will also be performing.

Yeah, it's obvious that this has been a long time coming. Compiler and Real O Mind Records chief Geoff Ginsberg toyed with the idea of a Scott Morgan box set and put a version together - as a one-off for friends - many years ago. But now the real deal's here, with the involvement of Ginsberg as compiler and UK label Easy Action honcho Carlton Sandercock as issuer, and you'd be a fool to miss it.