Jackie Lomax

The Beatles regarded Jackie Lomax as a natural candidate to join the ranks of Liverpool's native rock and roll talents, and both George Harrison and Paul McCartney showed enough confidence in his abilities to support him at different times as producers and label executives during a decisive phase in their own careers. On the strength of his skills alone he deserved a level of recognition and achievement at least matching that attained by Long John Baldry, yet the decisive breaks never arrived.

Born in Liverpool in 1944, Lomax reached adulthood during England's rock and roll surge and began performing in 1961 as rhythm guitarist for Dee & the Dynamites, a Wallasey ensemble. Late that year the Dynamites' drummer, Warren "Bugs" Pemberton, a close friend, moved to the rival Wallasey group the Undertakers; Lomax soon learned that the Undertakers' bassist, Mushy Cooper, had departed for Faron's Flamingos. He joined the Undertakers on bass, an instrument new to him, and handled vocals, stepping into the lead-singer role after Jimmy McManus left amid bitter disputes to join the Renegades.

Lomax's entry into the lineup and assumption of frontman duties revitalized the band. The Undertakers traced their lineage through Bob Evans and the Five Shillings, widely regarded as Liverpool's first rock and roll group, and the Vegas Five. By 1962 they possessed a robust sound and striking stage presence, helped by their distinctive all-Gibson guitar setup and a potent amplification system that Undertakers saxophonist Brian Jones later described as the first in Liverpool to reach 100 watts. Alongside the Big Three and the Beatles, the Undertakers stood at the forefront of Liverpool bands; their own music was forceful, yet they were also skilled enough to accompany Merseyside soul singer Beryl Marsden and the all-Black Liverpool vocal group the Chants. Both the Undertakers and the Beatles backed the latter ensemble, and through these shared engagements as well as repeated encounters on the Liverpool and Hamburg circuits the two groups became acquainted.

Lomax became the band's focal point without any dispute over status. The group remained beyond criticism in live performance, but their recording career proved a series of disappointments. They recorded an unfinished sequence of singles for Pye, shortened their name to the Takers in an attempt to update their image, and then relocated to America. In 1964 and early 1965 the United States appeared to offer unlimited prospects for English bands, yet the musicians found themselves stranded in New York without work permits, cutting sides under assorted pseudonyms for budget albums and residing in their manager's Midtown studio. The group disbanded shortly afterward, after which Lomax and Pemberton began working with an R&B outfit that developed into the quartet Lomax Alliance.

It was with this group that Lomax received another opportunity when Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, signed them to British CBS in early 1967. Epstein secured a recording deal, and a short association with the label produced several tracks overseen by John Simon, then chiefly known for his work with the Epstein-managed Cyrkle. The quartet issued only one single, "Try as You May," in May 1967, but Epstein's death in late August of that year extinguished the label's remaining interest, and the Lomax Alliance dissolved before autumn ended. A Jackie Lomax single produced by Robert Stigwood, "Genuine Imitation Life" backed with "One Minute Woman"—the latter written by the newly arrived Bee Gees and included on their debut album the same year, making it one of the earliest covers of a Gibb brothers composition, predating Billy Fury's version by several months—was recorded in 1967 and released in October, yet it generated neither sales nor chart activity.

Opportunity returned in 1968 with the launch of Apple Records by the Beatles. George Harrison recalled the singer from their shared Liverpool days at the decade's start and, in March of that year, recorded Lomax on two songs, "Little Yellow Pills" and "Won't You Come Back." Satisfied with the results, Harrison brought Lomax back to cut a track he had written for him in India, "Sour Milk Sea," in what amounted to a Beatles session minus John Lennon, with Harrison and Lomax on rhythm guitars, Eric Clapton on lead, Paul McCartney on bass, Ringo Starr on drums, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. Released in August 1968 and backed by Lomax's "The Eagle Laughs at You," the single drew favorable reviews and strong radio play, raising hopes for Lomax's future. Harrison therefore cut three further songs with him in London during August and September and six additional tracks in Los Angeles in October, employing Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, and Joe Osborn as session musicians. The resulting album, Is This What You Want?, appeared in March 1969; although it failed to chart, positive word of mouth, the single's momentum, and the star-studded personnel ensured steady sales.

In March 1969 Paul McCartney assumed production duties for Lomax on a version of the Coasters' "Thumbin' a Ride" and Lomax's own "Going Back to Liverpool." The following month Lomax produced himself on his composition "New Day," which became the A-side of "Thumbin' a Ride." All these releases drew notice yet none reached the charts. After one final Harrison-produced single, "How the Web Was Woven," in October 1969, Lomax's association with Apple concluded.

Lomax managed to avoid the collapse of Apple that followed the Beatles' breakup. By then he had played in Heavy Jelly and Balls before returning to the United States. He signed with Warner Bros. for two albums in the early 1970s; neither the self-produced Home Is in My Head nor Three, produced by John Simon and featuring Rick Danko and Levon Helm of the Band, achieved commercial success. For a period he joined the Yes offshoot Badger, founded by Tony Kaye, and his arrival shifted the group from progressive rock toward an R&B foundation. After one album, the 1974 Allen Toussaint-produced White Lady, which included guitarist Jeff Beck as soloist on the title track, he departed. Lomax returned to America and signed with Capitol Records. Livin' for Lovin' (1976) was a strong white soul record that failed to chart, and his second Capitol album, Did You Ever Have That Feeling?, never appeared in the United States. Ironically, the latter proved the strongest of his 1970s releases and seemed to realize the promise his talent had long suggested.

Lomax eventually settled in Los Angeles, withdrew from the music industry at the close of the 1970s, and remained largely absent during the 1980s aside from occasional local guitar work. A later Undertakers CD compiling nearly all their recordings revived awareness of his early standing, while the 1991 CD reissue of Is This What You Want? gave listeners another opportunity to hear his Apple material. At the beginning of the new century EMI-Toshiba issued CD editions of his two Capitol albums. In 2001 he resurfaced with his first solo album in twenty-four years, The Ballad of Liverpool Slim. In 2010 RPM Retrodisc released the two-disc set Lost Soul: Lomax Alliance & Solo Singles & Demos 1966-1967, which gathered Lomax Alliance and solo Jackie Lomax recordings from 1966 and 1967 together with the aforementioned 1974 Badger album White Lady. Lomax died of cancer at age 69 in September 2013 on England's Wirral Peninsula; although he had been residing in California, he was reportedly visiting England to attend the wedding of one of his children.