THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: The Way It Is: 25 Years Of Solo Adventures is the first-ever collection of solo works by Edgar Jones, leader of Liverpool cult heroes The Stairs. On this three-CD retrospective, the versatile Jones mixes jazz, R&B, soul, blues, rock and ska into his musical gumbo.
It features rarities by Jones’ garage bands The Isrites and The Big Kids — including songs which were previously released on a CD limited to just 50 copies. The Big Kids included drummer Sean Payne, bassist Russ Pritchard (who later formed The Zutons), and guitarist Howie Payne (who started The Stands). It also Includes tracks from the Mercury Prize-nominated albums Soothing Music For Stray Cats (2005) and The Masked Marauder (2008) as well as Gettin’ A Little Help… From “The Joneses” (2007), The Edgar Jones Free Peace Thing (2011), Sense Of Harmony (2012), Morphic Fields (2013) and The Song Of Day And Night (2017).
Soothing Music For Stray Cats was an innovative blend of jazz, soul, R&B and rock ’n’ roll recorded on an eight-track cassette portastudio donated to Jones by legendary former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Noel Gallagher said of the album: “It bent my head, man. It’s probably one of the best records I have ever heard…” His heavy blues rock project The Edgar Jones Free Peace Thing were hand-picked by Noel Gallagher to support Oasis on their 2009 European tour. Jones has also played bass for Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, St. Etienne And The La’s.
The collection was compiled and annotated by Edgar Jones and Lois Wilson. The booklet features their notes alongside rare photos and gig flyers.”
