UPP -

UPP was an English jazz-funk band that released two albums on Epic during 1975 and 1976, the first produced by Jeff Beck. Drummer Jimmy Copley hailed from rustic-rockers Spreadeagle; he later did session work for Ann Lewis, The Quick, Go West, and Killing Joke. Keyboardist Andy Clark recorded three 1969–71 albums as part of the jam-rock duo Clark Hutchinson, the second featuring future UPP bassist Stephen Amazing (aka Stephen Fields). Clark is not to be confused with the namesake Be-Bop Deluxe keyboardist.

Members: Stephen Amazing (bass), Andy Clark (keyboards, vocals), Jimmy Copley (drums), David Bunce (guitar)

Background

They formed as 3 UPP when keyboardist Andy Clark and bassist Stephen “Amazing” Fields teamed with drummer Jim Copley.

Clark played in an early lineup of psych-rockers Sam Gopal with guitarist Mick Hutchinson. The two formed the splinter duo Clark Hutchinson, which released the 1969–71 albums A = MH², Retribution, and Gestalt. Fields played in a series of sixties beat groups (The Kinetics, The Abstracts) and served as a third-wheel on Retribution, which features five fractious blues jams. Copley was fresh out of Spreadeagle, which cut the 1972 album The Piece of Paper on Charisma Records.

UPP formed as American funk influences took hold in the UK, where the band rehearsed daily for three months, inspired by Otis Redding, Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, and Donny Hathaway. In mid-1973, guitarist Jeff Beck heard their jam session through a wall at a London studio. He entered and voiced his appreciation at their choice in material (James Brown).

On January 26, 1974, UPP opened for Beck, Bogert & Appice at London’s Rainbow Theatre. On September 1, UPP backed Beck on the BBC broadcast Five Faces of the Guitar, which featured an interview with presenter Mike Harding and two songs: the UPP original “Get Down In the Dirt” and Beck’s arrangement of “She’s a Woman,” a 1964 Beatles chestnut.

UPP

UPP released their self-titled debut album in 1975 on Epic. It features six group-written songs and one (“Jeff’s One”) co-written by Clark and producer Jeff Beck, who plays uncredited guitar on the album.

Clark’s arsenal consists of Fender Rhodes electric piano, Minimoog synthesizer, Mellotron, and Hohner clavinet D6.

A1. “Bad Stuff” (7:19)
A2. “Friendly Street” (3:26)
A3. “It’s a Mystery” (3:54)
A4. “Get Down In the Dirt” (4:49)

B1. “Give It to You” (7:09)
B2. “Jeff’s One” (5:20)
B3. “Count to Ten” (5:36)

Sessions took place at Escape Studios in Kent, where Beck produced UPP amid work on his own 1975 release Blow By Blow, his first of two instrumental jazz-rock albums. “Give It to You” later achieved ubiquity as a breakbeat sample.

This Way

UPP released their second album, This Way, in 1976 on Epic.

The album contains nine originals group-written by Andy Clark, James Copley, Stephen Amazing. They welcomed a fourth member, David Bunce, the album’s guitarist apart from “Dance Your Troubles Away” and “I Don’t Want Nothing (To Change),” which features guitar solos by Jeff Beck.

This Way features guest appearances by saxophonist Tom Scott, vibraphonist Gary Coleman, and backing vocals by Jeanie Arnold and Christy Thompson, a onetime member of Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies.

A1. “Never Turn My Back On You” (8:25)
A2. “Groovin’ Mood” (3:20)
A3. “Say Goodbye” (5:00)

B1. “Dance Your Troubles Away” (3:40)
B2. “I Don’t Want Nothing (To Change)” (3:25)
B3. “There’s Still Hope” (4:00)
B4. “Nitto” (3:50)
B5. “Get To The Bottom” (3:25)

Sessions occurred at studios in London (CBS) and Hollywood (Sound Labs, Western Recorders) with producer/arranger Christopher Bond, a onetime member of the psychedelic powertrio Thunder and Roses. He recently entered sound work on Beck’s concurrent Wired and the 1975/76 Hall & Oates albums Daryl Hall & John Oates (silver) and Bigger Than Both of Us.

This Way was engineered by CBS’s Dick “Tom-Toms” Palmer (Sailor, Robert Wyatt), Western’s Matt Hyde (Jimmy Jackson, The Section), and Sound Lab’s Armen Steiner, a prior Harriet Schock soundman who worked on This Way and Bigger Than Both of Us in tandem with X, the eighth studio album by Chicago.

Christy and Jeanie voices also appear on “I Go to Rio,” a 1976 Australian No. 1 by Peter Allen. Coleman played on more than forty albums that year, including titles by Al Kooper, American Flyer, Brian Cadd, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kathe Green, Leon Ware, Margie Joseph, Marvin Gaye, Melissa Manchester, Patti Dahlstrom, Steely Dan, The Supremes, and Tata Vega.