Initially published separately on two Trojan’s labels, BIGSHOT & EXPLOSION, in 1969. Since then, John Jones has been repressed on 7’ vinyl single only once - for the limited Trojan’s Monkey Business 7” vinyl box set which has sold out a few years ago.
Today, John Jones is more than ever in demand with over a quarter of million view on Youtube and 1300 “want” with prices over 200 pounds for a mint copy on Discogs.
On the B side the much in demand “Bombshell” by The Crystalites, a very special instrumental and an awesome cover.
"Produced and apparently co-written by Derrick Harriott, 'John Jones' was released in 1968 on the Big shot label. With its unstoppable rhythm and its aggressive lyrics 'John Jones' was a major hit among the Skinhead subculture in the UK, its release on the popular Tighten Up series certainly helped the song becoming a cult track then and now. The Crystalites were Harriott's studio band and included very famous 60s Jamaican musicians e.g. Bongo Herman, Bongo Les, Boris Gardiner, Gladstone Anderson, Karl Bryan, Winston Wright among others. They were extremely productive between 1968 and 1974 recording four albums and countless singles. More specifically, they recorded many wild and awesome 'versions' of hit songs of that time e.g. 'John Jones', making 'Bombshell' easily the best choice for the B Side as it is indeed a special instrumental and an awesome cover." Hard too find a clean copy on 7" single, now's your limited chance..A Stone Cold Classic!!
