In 1973 you had the weenie/y-bop craze uniting the kids of the island kingdom (of England) thanks to Radio One rotation and, at its root (canal), little Michael Jackson and the two Osmond’s, Jimmy and Donny. The tween scene was in full sequined and whinestone bling riding the glitter rainbow laid by a hairy Gary and, in the case of The James Boys, a bespectacled Larry. On one hand you have EMI executive Colin Burn’s pre-teen son Darren Burn recording hit sides on the dip side at Abbey Road; on the other hand you have ex-pop-idol-turned-Zappo Marty Wilde’s son Ricky unleashing a “Teen Wave” babe rave. In between are the children of the village of the damned – I mean, The James Boys – rolling into the rink on their ubiquitous roller skates, decked in their Evil Knievel suspenders, Rolling Stones “Cocksucker Blues”-era patch overalls, and sportin’ haircuts most every child of the seventies’ moms gave us until we tuned nine or so. While Jonathan King was managing to produce the short career and quick burnout of Ricky Wilde ( ... and ew!!), Larry Page was doing the same for The James Boys and likely cut this doozy with a bunch of backing session musicians down at his Page One studio in Andover. I’m not entirely sure which came first in ‘73, “Hello, Hello, I’m Back Again” by the very-much-a-git-er Glitter or “Hello Hello” by the JBs … sadly, somebody swiped my George Tremlett penned The Osmond Story sequel The Gary Glitter Story so I can’t proof edit that fun-whacked factoid. (As I patiently await the bio's return, I also patiently await the re-release of the ’73 BBC film documentary on this whole debacle, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which will undoubtedly clarify the innumerable Day of the Weenie/y-Boppers loose ends.) The A-side featured here was suppose to be about the boys’ crush on some same-age school girl, but takes a turn in the second verse to reveal that the grown up that wrote it was using these poor saps to sing about his stalking somebody else’s mom. So let's add it up ... Great glam beat? Check! Great lyrics? Yup! Totally fun stuff with a creepy twin twist? Why, hello hello!! The boys went on to pump out a relatively massive amount of single sides which were then compiled on the '74 Introducing The James Boys LP and the bang-for-the-buck posthumous ’75 LP Here Comes The James Boys. The results of which put the UK in a trance-like sleep waiting for the never-to-be-released sequel of the sequel.
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