No Introduction Necessary is a 1968 studio album conceived as the debut album for singer Keith David de Groot, but released with equal credit given to the session musicians who had backed his vocals. De Groot had previously released a few cover versions of rock and roll songs as singles under the name Gerry Temple. The album tracks were mostly rock and roll covers as well, with a few originals written by De Groot and Nicky Hopkins. Reg Tracey, the producer who discovered De Groot, decided that the musicians had outshone his vocals on the recordings, so the album credited them all equally, and has since been described as a "super session" album, featuring a supergroup of session musicians. The original release sold poorly and was soon deleted. There have subsequently been reissues in various markets under different titles, some with alternative track order or bonus tracks.
The recording sessions were at Olympic Studios in London in 1967. The first nine songs had Albert Lee and Big Jim Sullivan on guitars, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on keyboards, Chris Hughes on saxophone and Clem Cattini on drums. When neither Lee nor Sullivan were going to be able to take part in next booked session, Tracey called Jimmy Page (who had already worked on "Beck's Bolero" with Jones and Hopkins) for the last round of recordings. Page's participation likely took place in either September or December 1967 during breaks from touring with the Yardbirds.
Subsequent reissues include:
The following tracks are from another album featuring Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins â Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends:
Tracks were reordered on this vinyl edition with bonus CD. Tracks 1 to 6 (side A of vinyl) feature Jimmy Page, and tracks 7 to 14 (side B of vinyl) feature Albert Lee and Big Jim Sullivan on guitar.
For bonus tracks 15âÂÂ20 see Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends