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Rather than battle against the confusion and disinterest brought about by the Beatles' break-up and Allen Klein's shake-up of Apple, Jackie Lomax joined the almost-fictitious Heavy Jelly in late 1969.
The name 'Heavy Jelly' was first used in an 1968 spoof review in London and raised sufficient interest for two different labels to issue singles by two different line-ups using the same name. In 1969, I Keep Singing The Same Old Song / Blue was released by Island Records and even featured on the NICE ENOUGH TO EAT sampler LP whilst Time Out Chewn In / The Long Wait appeared on the Head label. Neither of those bands featured Jackie Lomax.
THE NEW ROCK RECORD (Hounsome & Chambre) says '…the Heavy Jelly on NICE ENOUGH TO EAT was really the band Skip Bifferty…'
During 1969, the Head incarnation of Heavy Jelly, at one time or another, included members of the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation and even Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi of Traffic, before evolving into the Jackie Lomax version.
JACKIE LOMAX says '...Heavy Jelly was somewhere to go after I left Apple. It was fun….'
N.M.E. (6 December 1969) says '…Lomax Joins Heavy Jelly : Jackie Lomax and former Animals drummer Barry Jenkins have joined new group Heavy Jelly. The line-up also includes Alex Dmochowski and lead guitarist John Morshead from the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, which has now split up. Jelly is now cutting an album for mid-January release by Head, and hopes to commence live dates at about the same time………'
The album recorded by that line-up (with contributions from other musicians) was mastered and pressed but only promotional copies were issued. It was a Head release but the catalogue number is often listed as ISLAND HELP 4. Entitled HEAVY JELLY, the album never received a full release.
KNIGHTS IN BLUE DENIM WEBSITE says '…my sister and I were lucky enough to find this edition of Heavy Jelly on stage one evening at The Lyceum, May 17 1970. Strong vocals, good material, top notch players. I knew that Morshead was good, but Lomax floored me, squeezing excellent wah-wah tones from a gaily painted Gibson SG… This band could have become truly big…'
By mid-1970, Heavy Jelly consisted of Jackie Lomax on vocals and guitar, John Morshead on guitar, Bruce Rowland on drums and Steve Thompson on bass. A rumoured BBC radio session is almost certainly a reference to a 1970 session by Skip Bifferty.
By the end of 1970, Jackie Lomax had returned to America to live in Woodstock, and resumed his solo career by signing to Warner Brothers.
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