Reg King was one of the icons of the mod scene with his band the Action, then evolved into a singer/songwriter in the organic, back-to-basics mode many artists discovered as the psychedelic era came to a close in the early 70's. In the Action, his pleading, insistent vocals were the focal point whether he was strutting through "Land of a Thousand Dances" or tearfully delivering ballads like "In My Lonely Room." Songs he co-wrote like "Never Ever" and "Come On, Come with Me" showed that the band learned a great deal from all the covers they did, and when they took on psychedelia later in the decade, their lost demos (finally released decades later as Rolled Gold) were revealed as one of the true hidden treasures on the 60's. His self-titled 1971 solo album focused on his own songs and showed he was able to roll with the tide, slotting in quite nicely next to work by Traffic. His time as a performer was relatively short, but the mark his voice and songs made was lasting. King started off his musical career singing in a group named the Boys in 1963. The teenager was joined by guitarist Alan "Bam" King and bassist Mike Evans. The band backed vocalist Sandra Barry on a 1964 single, then released their own single "It Isn't Fair" on the Pye label. They soon took on the name the Action and shifted their repertoire to include more Motown and soul numbers. They became a popular live attraction while becoming one of the leading bands in the burgeoning mod scene in the process. Beatles producer George Martin signed the group to his production company AIR and facilitated a deal with Parlophone. The group released five Abbey Road-recorded singles over the two-year span of 1966 and 1967 that featured King's increasingly soulful vocals. Though their singles were of undeniable quality, they were unable to break out of the scene and were eventually dropped by both Martin and the label. By this time, the group were beginning to imbibe the heady sounds of psychedelia and included more spacy jamming in their live sets. King grew increasingly unhappy with this, as he felt relegated to a supporting role. They did manage to record a selection of mainly King-penned tracks as a demo in late 1967 and early 1968 that saw the band threading the needle between their energetic mod attack and a more considered psych-pop approach. No label was interested, and, disenchanted by the band's live sets and inability to score a deal, King departed in mid-1968. (When he left, he took the demos with him, and though they were bootlegged many times under the titles Brain: The Lost Recordings 1967/1968 and Rolled Gold, they weren't officially released until 2002.) After leaving the band, King stayed friendly with his ex-bandmates, and they backed him on a series of demos recorded in 1969. That same year, he produced an album by singer Gary Farr (Take Something with You) that also featured the Action as sidemen. When King received an offer to record a solo album, he naturally asked his ex-bandmates (who were now making music under the name Mighty Baby) to help out. Also part of the core band were guitarist Brian Godding and bassist Brian Belshaw of the Blossom Toes' offshoot band B.B. Blunder. They crafted a sound that had all the tunefulness of King's best songs with the Action while adding plenty of jamming and an overall looser sound. The quality of the guests on the album showed the kind of regard King had garnered among his fellow musicians: Steve Winwood played organ on a song, as did Brian Auger, while Doris Troy provided backing vocals, and Mick Taylor jumped on board to add guitar to a track. The self-titled album was issued by United Artists in 1971 and failed to chart. King didn't have the label backing to do more than a few gigs in support, and his next move was to join his friends in B.B. Blunder. His musical career was cut short when suffered a head injury and, due to the aftereffects, subsequently retired from the business. The Action's music was rediscovered during the '80s mod revival, with the Jam's Paul Weller involved in the release of 1980's The Ultimate Action. King took to the stage a few more times when the Action reformed in 1998 to play some shows, including the Isle of Wight Festival, then in 2005 he went back into the studio to record vocals for a couple of songs on Andy Lewis' Billion Pound Project album. This was to be his last venture into the world of music before his death in 2010. His music lived on however, as the Action were given the full reissue treatment with 2018's Shadows and Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968, then in 2023, King's solo album plus a couple discs of rarities -- most of which had been issued over the years on other collections -- came out on Strawberry Records. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi