Nearly 50 years on from its initial release, the Scottish jazz/rock outfit Head’s knotty, dexterous 1977 album Blackpool Cool is getting the reissue treatment, courtesy of Toronto’s ever-eclectic label We Are Busy Bodies. Initially released in a small run on the band’s own boutique record label and long out of print, the new pressing is freshly remastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel and is ready to introduce Head’s expansive fusion compositions to a contemporary audience. It arrives in stores on March 20, 2026.
Head formed in late-sixties Glasgow, initially a trio comprising drummer Bill Kyle, bassist Graham Robb, and trumpet/flugel player John Davis. Kyle, a mature computing student at Strathclyde University, was the impresario, recruiting Robb, a double-bass student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, and their friend Davis to round out his ensemble. After a handful of local gigs, Kyle expanded the lineup, adding Howard Copeland on alto sax and Charlie Alexander on guitar. The band were initially inspired by the classic Miles Davis Quintet, but upon the replacement of Copeland and Alexander by Gordon Cruickshank (on soprano/tenor rather than alto) and Lachlan MacColl, the band turned to a more rock-oriented sound, more in the style of In a Silent Way or Bitches Brew than ‘Round About Midnight.
Blackpool Cool is Head’s third and final album. In contrast to their debut GTF – recorded by the quintet featuring Copeland and Alexander – both Cool and its predecessor, 1975’s Red Dwarf, were performed by the final, definitive Head lineup. Across nine compositions featuring intricate drum patterns, rippling basslines, octave-jumping saxophone licks, wah-wahed electric guitar stabs and virtuosic electric piano/trumpet double-duty by Davis, the record is both a cohesive mission statement and their swan song.