A year ago, LOL MASON, of CITY BOY and THE MAISONETTES passed on. No better tribute could be offered than this, from LOL's great friend and CITY BOY co-conspirator, Steve Broughton (Fat Legs and Dwafe refer to their prickly hilarious habit of insulting each other with new made-up nicknames):
LOL MASON July 4, 1950 - July 30, 2019
Tomorrow will be one year since my best friend passed away. I still can’t believe it, and I still haven’t forgiven the old bastard. Hardly a day passes without him entering my head with some silly song invented, some practical joke played, some nonsense catch phrase made up, some loving insult thrown around, some memory jogged. I’m not sure I can express myself any better than I did in the memorial I wrote 5 days after he left this mortal coil a poorer place. So I’m posting it again below.
Hope you’re still sleeping easy, Fat Legs.
Miss you,
Dwafe
REST IN PEACE, LOL MASON
On the morning of July 30, 2019, I lost my best friend, school mate, teammate, band mate, co-conspirator, and soul brother, to a fatal heart attack. To say that my own heart broke at the same time as his did, would be an understatement. He’d waited what seemed like an eternity for a new kidney. He received one on July 6th, two days after his birthday, four days after mine. He was recovering at home. He was in a happy and sunny place when his heart broke.
We played on the same football teams at school, met our first girlfriends together, and double dated when I met my wife-to-be on our first trip to America. We wrote our first songs together, formed our first band together, celebrated its success and mourned its dissolution, and went on to have independently successful and creatively satisfying careers - he as a Maisonette and later as a screenwriter, and me as a songwriter and then as a record company executive. We stubbornly refused to talk for a few years, then reunited as if those dark times had never existed, and celebrated with childish giggles like the wee 7 year olds we were when we first met. We never ceased calling each other by the derogatory nicknames we gave each other at school, and we never forgot that our friendship was special.
I can count on one hand the things in life I consider to be irreplaceable. I now need one less finger.
Many keep asking, "Isn't there more? Just a little MORE to be found on Lol Mason or City Boy?" Like what, some bonus tracks? With piracy being what it is, there are almost NO re-issue labels still in operation. They couldn't make a profit between licensing fees and jerks "sharing" everything in FLAC.
One disappointment is that years ago, when CITY BOY was treated to a pair of budget "two-for" CD re-issues of their 4 Mercury albums, there were no bonus tracks added. No, fans were lucky enough that one of the smaller re-issue labels had taken a chance at all. No, no bonus tracks from FM radio concerts, and not...."TURN ON TO JESUS."
The imperfect dupe-of-a-dupe version below was all fans could circulate among themselves. (Another re-issue label, appropriately called Lemon, finally added "Turn on to Jesus" which was released briefly as a single, and "Medicine," a b-side) to THEIR re-issues but...it's too little too late, and despite all the hype of pretending something has been "remastered," few fall for it. Either they are too old to hear any difference, or too cynical about one or two bonus tracks being worth the price of re-buying the same stuff over again ).
On casual listen "Turn On to Jesus" by City Boy is oddly ungodly. On the wrong side of the border, a city boy finds a house full of "ladies of the night." But what thrills are they into? One of them cries out, "HEY MAN! Turn on to JESUS!"
The inspiration? Lol Mason and Steve Broughton, the band's lead vocalists, were touring America and got stuck right in the middle of the country. Broughton:
"Lol and I spent time in a dry area of Kansas. There’s no bars, the only place you can get a drink is one of these ‘religious’ clubs, with topless waitresses with dollar bills stuffed in their G-strings, and out of the jukebox is blaring this ‘Jesus is the Saviour’-music. It was bizarre – I mean, that kind of thing just doesn’t happen in Birmingham."
Birmingham, England, not Alabama.
"Turn On to Jesus" was nixed by the band's record label, over worries that the song could be interpreted as profane. By the time "Book Early" was released, new lyrics were written. The result was "5-7-0-5," the band's only hit single. God moves in mysterious ways.
In another twist, the lead vocal was not from Lol or Steve, but Roy Ward, who had been brought in by the band's producer Mutt Lange (yes, of later Shania Twain infamy) who wanted a better drummer and perhaps a new sound as well, since the band's harmonizing had been accused of sounding too much like Queen.
You'll find the "obit with music" on the great Lol Mason from last year right here:
And down below, a Mega link (listen or download) for the lost gem "TURN ON TO JESUS."
This post is of course, dedicated to the memory of LOL MASON, and also offered for all the friends and family of CITY BOY. The tribute from Steve comes from his post for the CITY BOY fan group on FACEBOOK. Join and find some vintage photos and memories. Like this picture of Lol and Steve.
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