Jason Crest - Collected Works (1967-68/1998)

Jason Crest were one of many, many British groups who got to record a few psychedelic rock tracks in the late '60s without having much sales or renown to show for it. In large part because several of their recordings have shown up on numerous collector-oriented reissue compilations, the band has garnered a modest cult reputation. While not nearly as good or special as top-flight British psych bands like Procol Harum, whom they occasionally resembled, they were one of the better acts among the little-known U.K. psych groups who recorded a few rare releases. In Jason Crest's case, these were limited to five non-hit singles, released on Philips in 1968 and 1969. (Incidentally, there was no one named Jason Crest in the group.)

Part of Jason Crest's problems commercially might have been that their style wasn't easy to describe, nor especially well-suited to the singles market of the time. While it had much in common with the storytelling/fairytale whimsy of late-'60s British pop-psychedelia, it was moodier and more meditative than most such music, and often put hymnal organ to the fore. At the lightest end of their repertoire, they covered the Move's "(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree" and offered a jolly Small Faces-type original ("Good Life"). At their heaviest, their final single, "Black Mass," had quasi-demonic vocals and lyrics that anticipated metal bands of the '70s that dovetailed with Satanic imagery. They also did a pop tune, "Waterloo Road," that made number one in France when French singer Joe Dassin covered it under the title "Au Champs Elysees," although the band themselves disliked the song. Jason Crest broke up around the end of the 1960s, shortly after their contract with Philips expired. Much of their material has shown up on reissues, embellished by several unissued acetates.