It Should’ve Been Me – ZOOT MONEY’S BIG ROLL BAND***

I’ll Go Crazy/Jump Back/Along Came John/Back Door Blues/It Should’ve Been Me/Sweet Little Rock & Roller/My Wife Can’t Cook/Rags & Old Iron/The Cat/Feelin’ Sad/Bright Lights Big City/Fina

Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band were an established fixture on the British R & B scene during the mid sixties but they never achieved a commercial breakthrough. Their first album It Should’ve Been Me is notable for the debut of Andy Summers who went on to international fame with The Police in the late seventies.

“Zoot Money’s debut LP, released on EMI's Columbia label in 1965, represents a side of the British Invasion that never quite took hold on US shores, steeped in American R & B but offering a sextet's attack on saxes and organ. There wasn't enough of a guitar oriented sound to get a fair hearing in the US.”

“This is superb R & B regardless of its point of origin, and might even turn a head or two. The big surprise, however, may be the gently swinging reinterpretation of Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Rock & Roller, which manages to successfully straddle a couple of major music stylistic eras. And Rags & Old Iron is a dark, brilliant blues showcase for saxman Clive Burrows and Money’s organ, as well as Paul Williams' vocals.”

“Led by Zoot Money, a soulful singer and gifted Hammond organist, and bolstered by a raunchy, gutbucket sax horn section, not to mention the guitar skills of a young Andy Summers, The Big Roll Band was an explosive club attraction in Britain during the 1960s, blasting powerful versions of American soul and R & B sides from the bandstand, in an extroverted whirl of energy. Not surprisingly, that raw kinetic force proved difficult to capture in the recording studio.”

“That The Big Roll Band never really broke big is a shame, and as the 1960s rolled on the group seemed dated and out of step in the eyes of the trend-following public. That must have been a big disappointment, since in live performances they could blow most of their contemporaries clean off the stage.”

“I experienced Zoot Money and his band live and even now I can remember it as one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Collectively they were brilliant.”