Jeremy Morris - 1977 - Invitation

(73:54; Jam Records [2017 Edition] )

When I returned home recently, I was surprised to receive an envelope containing a large number of discs from my old friend Jeremy Morris, so many that I knew I would never be able to do them all justice if I reviewed them all at once, so have spread them across my reviewing lists, two at a time, in the sequence they were released. This means the first one on my player is 2017’s ‘Invitation’. However, this is actually a reissue of a cassette which was released in 1993 and I originally reviewed just four years later. But even then, the date is wrong, as what we have here is a collection of demos and material recorded by Jeremy when his father first purchased a 4-track tape recorder in the mid Seventies, and all of these date between 1975 and 1979. Looking at my review from 1997 I see I said that Jeremy was doing himself something of an injustice by saying this was for collectors only, and all these years later I do feel the same way.

Anyone who has followed his career knows that Jeremy is a musical magpie who is never content staying in just one genre, and while he has released progressive rock albums, he has also released plenty of pop, psychedelia and Worship albums, and some may heavily feature keyboards, others acoustic 12-string, or yet more being rock based. Even as a teenager he is demonstrating much of what was to come, and it certainly does not sound as if these were recorded mostly in his bedroom, with plenty of vocal harmonies and multi-tracking. There is even a live recording, from his High School talent show, and while he did not win the person who finished second that night tried to give Jeremy her trophy as she felt he was far more worthy. They married three years later.

I have no idea how many albums Jeremy Morris has been involved with, but I do remember years ago a special reissue of one to celebrate his fiftieth, so it would not surprise me if he were now reaching towards 100, but it all started with a teenager recording songs in his bedroom. Often Beatle-esque, and also with a heavy focus on psychedelia and pop, this is a fresh and enjoyable album which is worth discovering for its own right, not just for the rarity of the material it includes.

Kev Rowland, September 2023

Links:
https://www.jamrecordings.com/