South African band, Four Jacks and A Jill had an international hit with "Master Jack", in 1968 which reached number eight in the USA and number one in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. The song was even covered by Rita Chao! Here is the B Side to that hit single.
Four Jacks and A Jill - I Looked Back
A really super band fansite, with lots of pictures here.
Four Jacks and A Jill discography, and album sleeve art here.
An interesting article on the band, here.
History of South African pop music, here.
a great find just in time before I go on vacation, thanks a lot!
ReplyDeleteMichael Vee
I can remember the opening line:
ReplyDelete"It's a strange strage world we're living Master Jack".
'I looked back to see if you looked back / And you looked back to see if I looked back to see if you looked back to see if I looked back / etc'
ReplyDeleteNever before has pop been so... Möbius strip-like.
I love «Four Jacks and a Jill» since i knew them from Mozambique. «Master Jack» is wonderfoul, some people says it is a racist song but i think they are wrong.
ReplyDeleteI like «Thimoty», «Jimmy came lately» «One other love» and «Pretty Belinda» (Chris Andrews version) etc
I haven't heard those other songs by the group, but I'm sure they must sound great. I like their fresh-faced image. I don't think Master Jack sounds racist, but maybe I don't know the full context of the song.
ReplyDeleteI saw a black and white short film of the group. Does anyone know the title of the film?
ReplyDeleteIt was in the late 60's / 70's.
If u help I will provide lots of other info on the group as I collected their elpees.
Email : r151825@yahoo.com
Really effective data, thank you for the article.
ReplyDelete