The Ragged School

Nikki Sudden’s & Dave Kusworth’s Jacobites first found themselves in the American spotlight in 1986, when Paul Westerberg of the Replacements turned his then label Twin/Tone onto the Jacobites’ first two albums JACOBITES and ROBESPIERRE’S VELVET BASEMENT. Twin/Tone in turn expressed their enthusiasm by introducing the American masses to Sudden & Kusworth with THE RAGGED SCHOOL — those who weren’t already turned onto the ex-Swell Maps frontman’s work through the British press and import shops, that is. That now classic collection of songs (taken from those first two albums as well as their debut EP) met wide fanfare in the press and among fans, but due to a lack of touring in the States and the fact that the Jacobites did not deliver a follow-up for over a decade, the band – and the albums – slipped away from the public’s memory. Now, almost 20 years later, this classic collection is made available again in expanded form with 10 bonus tracks which make the Jacobites ’80s collection complete (with these extra b-sides and compilation tracks, every single Jacobites song released during the decade has been made available on the Secretly Canadian reissues).

Original release dates: THE RAGGED SCHOOL LP (Twin/Tone, 1986)