What can I say about
The Jetset? They were as good at self-promotion as they were at singing and songwriting. A rare, and fortunate, combination. If you've heard them you already know what a fantastic band they truly were, and if you haven't then, well, you've been missing out.
"Much has been written about the self-fabricated fourseome, but with so much part and parcel of the Hetset myth, it has become difficult to decipher fact from fiction. In the beginning, the whole point of The Jetset was that people were really supposed to believe that here was a group they should have heard of -- and if they hadn't then they weren't "up" on pop music. The Jetset marketed themselves as a band who were ever bit as famous as any other pop group: they had countelss hit singles, starred in their own TV series, and were never out of the public eye. In fact, The Jetset were more than a band, they were an ideal, and the most important thing to them was keeping the dream alive. From their first stage performace to their final magnificent album, The Jetset were packaged in such a way as to make teh audience believe that this band really and truly were a pop legend." -- Chris Hunt, from the liner notes for Tangerine Records 1992 CD release, The Best of The Jetset. -- Chris Hunt, from the liner notes for Tangerine
Records 1992 CD release, The Best of The Jetset.
The band was started by power pop genius (I'm not exagerating)
Paul Bevoir and Melvyn J, in 1981. Right away they were opening for mod acts like Secret Affair and Squire, and quickly became scene favorites. The promotional gimmicks didn't hurt. Their first release was The Best of the Jetset (an EP, not the later CD which truly was a best of compilation) and the buzz was all about their faux TV Show, the Jetsetmobile, and other fun stuff that was very reminiscent of The Monkees. And so was the band's sound at times. Bevoir and company crafted fantastic pop songs, all with a heavy sixties vibe. The tracks were some times more soulful and at others somewhat psychadelic, but always based on power pop. Trying to select just one song to highlight is impossible, but I finally chose one of the band's earliest recordings,
Count The Beating Hearts. I encourage you to
pick up the Tangerine release ASAP if you haven't already done so.
The Jetset-- Count The Beating Hearts
What can I say about The Jetset? They were as good at self-promotion as they were at singing and songwriting. A rare, and fortunate, combination. If you've heard them you already know what a fantastic band they truly were, and if you haven't then, well, you've been missing out.