This is the short final chapter in my attempt to reconstruct Vinnie Bell's path in the recorded music industry before his first single and debut album were released in 1960.
Previous posts have featured "Silently b/w Barracuda", a 1958 single by The Gallahads (...available here), and "Smoke Rings b/w Hawaiian Haze" by The Overtones, another 7" record released in 1959 (...here).
Now is time to take care about the elusive The Spacemen and their "Jersey Bounce b/w Blast Off", which was also released in 1959.
The center labels of this release include the line "with Vinnie Gambella, guitar" on both sides, and Bell is also credited for the co-writing of "Blast Off" on Side B.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any information about The Spacemen, except the fact that they released another single the same year... It would be great if someone out there could shed some light on this group, thanks for your help as usual!
For a detailed biography of Vinnie Bell, I suggest that you read this other post of mine.
Here's the track list for this 7" single:
01. Jersey Bounce (2:36)
02. Blast Off (2:46)
Both tracks were remastered from vinyl in November 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.
Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.
"Jersey Bounce b/w Blast Off" was released by Felsted Records US with catalogue number 45-8578-V sometimes during the summer of 1959.
All the websites that offer information about this record usually present "Blast Off" as Side A and "Jersey Bounce" as Side B. In my opinion this is incorrect because matrix numbers and the other reference numbers on the labels suggest the contrary: they are respectively ZTSP 60857-1 and FD 286 for "Jersey Bounce" and ZTSP 60858-3 and FD 287 for "Blast Off".
The copy in my possession comes in a plain white sleeve, but I guess that at the time of release it was probably offered in a company sleeve. I searched the web but I couldn't find any Felsted sleeves... I speculate that, being operated from London Records in New York, records in the Felsted catalogue may have been released with a London company sleeve similar to those that you can see here.
The record was reviewed in the August 30, 1959, issue of Billboard and - although confined in the 'Moderate Sales Potential' column of the 'New Pop 7" Records' section - Bell's guitar work was praised. Here's a transcription for "Jersey Bounce": «Effective guitar solo treatment of the catchy oldie. Good juke wax.» and "Blast Off": «Solid guitar solo work on haunting instrumental theme. Spinnable.»
Vinnie Bell in the early '60s
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy!
More information about The Spacemen and Vinnie Bell is available here:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/3245624-The-Spacemen-9
http://www.vinniebell.com/
http://www.spaceagepop.com/bell.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Bell
https://www.discogs.com/artist/353572-Vinnie-Bell
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
