One Eyed Jacks (album)

One Eyed Jacks
Studio album by Spear of Destiny
Released 1984
Genre Rock
Label Burning Rome Records
Producer Nick Tauber
Spear of Destiny chronology

Grapes of Wrath
(1983)
One Eyed Jacks
(1984)
World Service
(1985)

One Eyed Jacks is the second studio album by Spear of Destiny, released by Burning Rome Records in 1984.

Track listing

All songs written by Kirk Brandon.

  1. "Rainmaker" - 2:55
  2. "Young Men" - 3:13
  3. "Everything You Ever Wanted" - 4:36
  4. "Don't Turn Away" - 3:38
  5. "Liberator" - 3:39
  6. "Prisoner of Love" - 3:36
  7. "Playground of the Rich" - 4:45
  8. "Forbidden Planet" - 3:14
  9. "Attica" - 2:34
  10. "These Days Are Gone" - 5:41

Personnel

Recording

With the exception of These Days Are Gone, Playground of the Rich, and Prisoner of Love, all songs had been performed live by the original Spear of Destiny line up for nearly a year prior to the recording of One Eyed Jacks. Everything You Ever Wanted, Attica, Rainmaker, Young Men, Forbidden Planet, and Don't Turn Away were introduced to live sets in March 1983, with Young Men going by the title of "Remembrance (Every Other Day)". Liberator was introduced to live shows in the early summer of 1983. The final live performance of the original line up of Spear of Destiny took place on June 9 of 1983, followed by a television studio performance on July 8.

August saw Spear of Destiny return to the stage, this time with the introduction of Dolphin Taylor on drums, Neil Pyzer on saxophone, piano, and organ, and John Lennard on saxophone. The new line up featured a dramatic reworking of the songs that were to eventually become One Eyed Jacks, along with the introduction of Playground of the Rich and Rosie, a song that would later be featured as the b-side to the line up's first recorded out put, the single Prisoner of Love. A tour in November premiered The Last Card. Although it proceeded the release of One Eyed Jacks by six months, The Last Card would not be featured on a studio recording until the release of the All My Love (Ask Nothing) single in 1985.

Prisoner of Love was added to the live set in December 1983 and would be released as the first single for the record in January 1984. By this time, John Lennard had left the band, replaced by Mickey Donnelly. The band also added Alan St. Clair as a second guitar. Alan St. Clair had previously worked for Kirk Brandon as a guitar technician.