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The Action - Rolled Gold (2002)

Posted By: Designol
The Action - Rolled Gold (2002)

The Action - Rolled Gold (2002)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 222 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 132 Mb
Label: Reaction | # REACT-CD-001 | Time: 00:51:10 | Scans included
Rock, Mod, British Invasion, Psychedelic, Garage

The term "lost classic" is applied liberally and often erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom of hype. However, for the forgotten mod rock also-rans the Action, the term is not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. On par with such classics of the era as The Who Sell Out or Ogden's Nut Gone Flake but more focused than either, the Action's Rolled Gold goes beyond "lost classic" – it is the influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. Despite being signed to Beatles producer George Martin's AIR label and benefiting from a strong club following, the Action never scored a chart hit. By the time they recorded these demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod scene, which was on its last legs. Guitarist Pete Watson had been replaced by Martin Stone, and the band had developed a more mature sound, one only hinted at on such previous cuts as "Twenty-Fourth Hour." Prefiguring the coming psychedelic movement, the songs were epic, heartfelt, melodic socks to the gut that hinged on vocalist Reggie King's sanguine blue-eyed soul voice and Alan King's slabs of guitar harmony – think The Who's Tommy meets The Byrds' Fifth Dimension. Unbelievably, EMI – AIR's distributor – was not interested, and the tracks were shelved. Subsequently, Reggie left the band to work on a solo album, and the rest of the group struggled on, eventually morphing into the short-lived hippie band Mighty Baby. Rather than bemoan what could have been though, you are left with what is. Playing like the brilliant missing link between mod and psychedelic rock, Rolled Gold is experimental without being silly or twee and emotionally mature without being pompous and boring. It is the type of album that reveals its brilliance within seconds of hearing the first track and builds momentum from there. Tracks such as "Something to Say" and especially "Brain" with Reggie pleading for immortality over a hugely anthemic chord progression are as good, if not better, than anything that charted during the late '60s and sound less dated than many of the Action's contemporaries' efforts. It's as if Paul Weller time-traveled back to 1967 and wrote the best songs of his career. Every track is a fully realized melodic and lyrical statement. While there is a roughness to the demo-quality recording, it only magnifies the raw emotions the Action were able to translate into timeless music – music that deserved much better than it got.

Review by Matt Collar, Allmusic.com

If The Action were so great, why haven't you heard of them? If only it were that simple. Famed Beatles producer George Martin signed this British mod outfit to his AIR Productions in the mid-60s and helped them produce a few psych-pop singles (including 1967's "Shadows and Reflections", featured on the Nuggets II box) to no popular avail. Their sound was more refined than The Small Faces, punchier than The Zombies, yet they were hardly would-be contenders. The Action's failure to chart a single during their brief existence is one of the mystifying anti-climaxes in rock history, as most of their songs have aged remarkably well.

The band formed in the early 60s as The Boys, and cut one single for Pye before changing their name to The Action. The principal players were vocalist Reg King (possessing a powerful, debonair croon), guitarists Alan King and Pete Watson (later replaced by Martin Stone), bassist Mike Evans, and drummer Roger Powell (a tighter, funkier Ringo-esque stylist). Their early singles on Parlophone (courtesy of Martin) were comprised of highly respectable R&B; covers ("Land of 1000 Dances") and freakbeat. By 1967, their sound had developed similarly to many of their peers into an eclectic mix of folk-rock (probably Byrds-influenced) and even psychedelia. Eventually, this group would disband, later forming an even better pure psych group called Mighty Baby, but Rolled Gold captures their final demo recordings in 1967-68.

The music on this collection offers evidence that The Action were a truly wronged band. The hooks are bright, the playing rough but assured, and the songwriting on par with anything The Who or Zombies were producing. However, the sub-par demo-quality of the recordings (this material was laid down hastily in hopes of landing a new record deal) robs more than a little power from the music– for that reason, you'll need some imagination to draw parallels between this record and Odessey and Oracle. Nevertheless, there are moments of brilliance any lover of late-60s British rock will want to hear.

The opener "Come Around" was planned to open a pending (but never recorded) proper LP, and it's a lively slice of proto-power-pop, with that dash of quaint melodicism only the English bands could pull off convincingly. The descending bassline and Reg King's stately boom practically define the Mod sound in 1967, as does the flowery white soul of "Something to Say". Even better is the show-stopping, Austin Powers-destroying frill of "In My Dream". The chorus is the ultimate crossbreeding of mod-cool, Bond sheen and garage splinter, and I can only imagine the splash they'd have made had this ever been given the professional veneer it deserved (though George Martin's minimal touches are ace).

The highlight of the compilation– one that transforms Rolled Gold from an interesting curio into a near must-have– is the transcendent, rock-splendor of "Brain". Reg King shouts, barely able to contain himself, "Take your brain/ It's time to go/ You don't have long to go!" over a wah-wah fueled pound that would make Thunderclap Newman proud. Brent Rademaker of Beachwood Sparks contributes some liner notes to this collection, and gives his awed respects to this song– rightly so, as "Brain" alone dwarfs most neo-psych bands entire catalogs. Classic.

Of course, not every song is a winner, and the lack of production keeps me from determining just how this stuff would have worked as a coherent experience (singles are a blast, but surely The Action deserved an entry in the concept LP sweepstakes of their day). A collection of their released material titled Action Packed is also available, and any serious evaluation of their sound begins there. However, there's something magical about this stuff, too, and I'd guess anyone sufficiently into the scene might eventually work their way through to it.

Review by Dominique Leone, Pitchfork.com

The Action - Rolled Gold (2002)



Tracklist:

01. Come Around (02:49)
02. Something to Say (03:17)
03. Love Is All (03:43)
04. Icarus (02:55)
05. Strange Roads (03:40)
06. Things You Cannot See (02:49)
07. Brain (03:00)
08. Look at the View (04:00)
09. Climbing Up the Wall (03:27)
10. Really Doesn't Matter (03:07)
11. I'm a Stranger (02:46)
12. Little Boy (04:16)
13. Follow Me (02:58)
14. In My Dream (03:22)
15. In My Dream [Demo] (04:54)


Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 11. September 2015, 19:16

The Action / Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]

Used drive : LITE-ON CD-ROM LTN-4891S Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:49.13 | 0 | 12687
2 | 2:49.13 | 3:17.09 | 12688 | 27471
3 | 6:06.22 | 3:43.57 | 27472 | 44253
4 | 9:50.04 | 2:55.19 | 44254 | 57397
5 | 12:45.23 | 3:40.06 | 57398 | 73903
6 | 16:25.29 | 2:49.51 | 73904 | 86629
7 | 19:15.05 | 3:00.41 | 86630 | 100170
8 | 22:15.46 | 4:00.55 | 100171 | 118225
9 | 26:16.26 | 3:27.12 | 118226 | 133762
10 | 29:43.38 | 3:07.67 | 133763 | 147854
11 | 32:51.30 | 2:46.70 | 147855 | 160374
12 | 35:38.25 | 4:16.06 | 160375 | 179580
13 | 39:54.31 | 2:58.27 | 179581 | 192957
14 | 42:52.58 | 3:22.17 | 192958 | 208124
15 | 46:15.00 | 4:54.60 | 208125 | 230234


Track 1

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Extraction speed 2.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 56C6D43C
Copy CRC 56C6D43C
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [9C15ADC6] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\02 - Something to Say.wav

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Extraction speed 2.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 50CE5FDD
Copy CRC 50CE5FDD
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [610B0C38] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\03 - Love Is All.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 521C1E54
Copy CRC 521C1E54
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [B37232D4] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\04 - Icarus.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 1.8 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 5AAE99CB
Copy CRC 5AAE99CB
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [7965F85A] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\05 - Strange Roads.wav

Peak level 98.9 %
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Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 68959863
Copy CRC 68959863
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [7F697C54] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\06 - Things You Cannot See.wav

Peak level 98.9 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7A130012
Copy CRC 7A130012
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [C26D95EC] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\07 - Brain.wav

Peak level 98.9 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 498F7EFB
Copy CRC 498F7EFB
Accurately ripped (confidence 5) [1C74246C] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\08 - Look at the View.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4BE45F0D
Copy CRC 4BE45F0D
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [E1C041E3] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\09 - Climbing Up the Wall.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 1.8 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 1090E971
Copy CRC 1090E971
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [B83CCD37] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\10 - Really Doesn't Matter.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 1.8 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC F32A84CF
Copy CRC F32A84CF
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [2F9D2407] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\11 - I'm a Stranger.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5EBA7C9A
Copy CRC 5EBA7C9A
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [41373C0E] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 12

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\12 - Little Boy.wav

Peak level 84.1 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C1686553
Copy CRC C1686553
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [E5C6038F] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 13

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\13 - Follow Me.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B2D301B6
Copy CRC B2D301B6
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [7164E540] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 14

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\14 - In My Dream.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A2105CC8
Copy CRC A2105CC8
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [A319EE72] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 15

Filename C:\Action - Rolled Gold [2002 Reaction Recordings Remaster]\15 - In My Dream [Demo].wav

Peak level 98.9 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC E3860720
Copy CRC E3860720
Accurately ripped (confidence 7) [47652689] (AR v2)
Copy OK


All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

==== Log checksum F39B3A36A74B0FDF224FF849189B5FFBB4039ADEA90FDC72933816F0C05CE203 ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-02-14 16:35:57

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: The Action / Rolled Gold
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR7 0.00 dB -8.33 dB 2:49 01-Come Around
DR7 0.00 dB -8.36 dB 3:17 02-Something to Say
DR7 0.00 dB -8.36 dB 3:44 03-Love Is All
DR8 0.00 dB -9.34 dB 2:55 04-Icarus
DR6 -0.10 dB -7.61 dB 3:40 05-Strange Roads
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.55 dB 2:50 06-Things You Cannot See
DR8 -0.10 dB -10.20 dB 3:01 07-Brain
DR7 0.00 dB -9.04 dB 4:01 08-Look at the View
DR7 0.00 dB -8.47 dB 3:27 09-Climbing Up the Wall
DR5 0.00 dB -7.08 dB 3:08 10-Really Doesn't Matter
DR9 0.00 dB -9.79 dB 2:47 11-I'm a Stranger
DR6 -1.50 dB -8.46 dB 4:16 12-Little Boy
DR8 0.00 dB -9.10 dB 2:58 13-Follow Me
DR6 0.00 dB -8.04 dB 3:22 14-In My Dream
DR7 -0.09 dB -8.41 dB 4:55 15-In My Dream [Demo]
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 15
Official DR value: DR7

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 519 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

The Action - Rolled Gold (2002)

The Action - Rolled Gold (2002)

All thanks to original releaser

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