tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32398721831899107572024-03-05T11:32:48.747-08:00FROM BETWEEN THE CRACKS...you sometimes find goldMat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-78519517876905476652023-11-30T15:11:00.000-08:002023-12-02T12:08:32.266-08:00SCOTT WALKER - Scott 0<p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmpxa0ETIB8Wsa2zttEBDdAfoyPsZEHjGEO9XUshyjKvLgaxIqZtjC5_f6U1GR9CaFv3G5ocTvh5hhYiMc5GyvS2XtQ7mKIphoaeT3NMG_pjaATRWnBzXobb4PkXZX8GBSOr2w1ln5if9K0QiU5oJhA-e_q0bpxuFz8Smzb2eWF6-wZIZ7VTqKBZO8JFY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="620" height="594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmpxa0ETIB8Wsa2zttEBDdAfoyPsZEHjGEO9XUshyjKvLgaxIqZtjC5_f6U1GR9CaFv3G5ocTvh5hhYiMc5GyvS2XtQ7mKIphoaeT3NMG_pjaATRWnBzXobb4PkXZX8GBSOr2w1ln5if9K0QiU5oJhA-e_q0bpxuFz8Smzb2eWF6-wZIZ7VTqKBZO8JFY=w640-h594" width="640" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9NGyahgyAOHuhGRcTqCgkPkaz-4MpRfc4vkfmUV77ILiaMFsYP0cK8zJav5yThQhuxDypV45t91asVK1YaZBJRjKmBTGiKbLDWdmyyT-UN1wtWsgf8p3sSoY3gq-0XB16j1XeteF85hpdp8krItQpq4RghgkH_dhsEpAcDcnowdLAHHYpzZaiBCOAGW8/s1776/Scottzero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1762" data-original-width="1776" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9NGyahgyAOHuhGRcTqCgkPkaz-4MpRfc4vkfmUV77ILiaMFsYP0cK8zJav5yThQhuxDypV45t91asVK1YaZBJRjKmBTGiKbLDWdmyyT-UN1wtWsgf8p3sSoY3gq-0XB16j1XeteF85hpdp8krItQpq4RghgkH_dhsEpAcDcnowdLAHHYpzZaiBCOAGW8/w640-h634/Scottzero.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-62387030719660362142023-04-12T06:31:00.069-07:002023-09-25T14:24:10.726-07:00JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - Volunteers, Dick Cavett and Hampstead Heath<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">(MS)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Oh the after-tram-ride quiet, when we heard a mile
beyond,</span></i></div><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">
Silver music from the bandstand, barking dogs by Highgate Pond </span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><b>"Parliament Fields" JOHN BETJEMAN</b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">I had a strange moment on the lavatory recently. I was absent-mindedly
surfing the net on my phone when I discovered an old fan review of a gig by the
Jefferson Airplane that had taken place in London back in 1968. On a wet
Wednesday the Airplane supported by the Sandy Denny line-up of Fairport
Convention, played to 200-odd people for Camden Council’s first free festival
on the slopes of Parliament Hill. </span><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJQvIn9YKeLE-io_Txz4zARaIJYBoXBYX2-_zHF8cJAJtMIxVO02c_W7vCCWDf5ohypunKvvooh7whxzm__82fk16Iytz5zz-y7mFn7Gbzc0MJf1F0blHM8bkK-ggOzUhjTj3_c-zlP_ckjrRv_5raadEHx9o_cL1MIjvQnLi9ePwUMW9GOTGdIPu/s4160/IMG_20230321_181626_947.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJQvIn9YKeLE-io_Txz4zARaIJYBoXBYX2-_zHF8cJAJtMIxVO02c_W7vCCWDf5ohypunKvvooh7whxzm__82fk16Iytz5zz-y7mFn7Gbzc0MJf1F0blHM8bkK-ggOzUhjTj3_c-zlP_ckjrRv_5raadEHx9o_cL1MIjvQnLi9ePwUMW9GOTGdIPu/w400-h300/IMG_20230321_181626_947.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Playing dare with the blinds that largely
protect my modesty from the dog walkers and joggers traipsing down this very
Hill, I considered this as I rose to flush. “Wow what a line-up!”, I enthused to
myself. Then peering out through the window towards the mist </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">gathering round
the distant bandstand, I realised - like a thunderbolt -that the account of the
gig I was reading about… had actually taken place right in front of my field of
vision. </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Trousers hastily gathered around my mid-rift I urgently ventured out into
the drizzle and mud, driven by a need to pay immediate homage to this event. </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">As
I stood under the bandstand in Grace Slick’s very footsteps, listening to the
rain drumming against the roof, I smiled to myself about the band’s reported plea
to the crowd to go home because of the shit weather.</span></span><div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">A year later The Airplane were the featured guests on the Dick
Cavett Show, a day after they had played a much larger free gig to 400,000
people at the Woodstock festival. Everyone’s seen the famous concert movie,
Richie Havens strumming away, Joe Cocker, “The Star-Spangled Banner”...the freaks, the bad acid...all
that. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIcAzUk73ZMGZAJuFZTXXCMPDP7Jq93DFGoJ-u4UqgUnxaFkQWlepNGs1fx7_6_qFxbxSCLacAPxuGL2blDEQs206X-oekIGhguy2bPXZtyX-3RdIdjA2_Sf88qAMo9Eu4GdcA-8kMV45BznoWf40M-bWauSk7P_UEDDNBl_P6xaVEcNEDp5BmZUAS/s396/Soylent_green.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="251" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIcAzUk73ZMGZAJuFZTXXCMPDP7Jq93DFGoJ-u4UqgUnxaFkQWlepNGs1fx7_6_qFxbxSCLacAPxuGL2blDEQs206X-oekIGhguy2bPXZtyX-3RdIdjA2_Sf88qAMo9Eu4GdcA-8kMV45BznoWf40M-bWauSk7P_UEDDNBl_P6xaVEcNEDp5BmZUAS/w254-h400/Soylent_green.jpg" width="254" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Even Charlton Heston saw it, chilling in his own personal theatre during
mutant-slaughter downtime in “The Omega Man”. Forming part of a future-shock triptych </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">with </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">"Soylent Green" and </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">"Beneath the Planet of the Apes", t</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">he scene was added to the narrative to illustrate the
symbolical yearning for a recent time when the earth was FREE. The film was
made in 1971 and if they were fondly looking back to 1969 I guess they were
basically saying the apocalypse came down just after Woodstock. This runs through
my mind when I watch this TV Show.</span></span></div><div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Beneath the genial hip-uncle bit, Cavett’s ringmaster seems
to be straining to fill this ABC showcase with the freak-show that you <i>just knew</i>
middle America was craving for. As a crash course in the counter-culture there’s
a bit too much traffic colliding here; there’s anarchy in the air but it’s
oddly stage managed with all the participants pursuing their own unacknowledged
agenda, The knowing discarded neckerchief schtick in the intro, shorn like a Woolworths
“genuine hippy wig”, signifies something REAL is coming but the temperature
never really rises beyond the petulant kick Paul Kantner aims at one of the
fireside poufs.<o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVroulQmCVhBoyILO3WUt2d05ydniwgARSJzO-0wa1INbVOfEJJgNbs2cCWWODED8rFvW3x-47IvuuU0-QIj52CorLFslZPhW9v_arLITscnZLB_uKJeAAwBsidD-bmP-lN6Ub8GhpRGd1NS3dyA1UcNk3Vclypcu2TTsVvrnioA3dHk2KfkSmSRA7/s900/phf-airplane-68-brian.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZAyCSeTS7mPr0ewaAgmX1MSRaxMBwIMF6Yus5mxmQT11Stoeh3gsuvh9BG1n4-KXq_LAIF33rgVOGsboJHeQ3L6SUECWMNAELwgIX85nGYeO68Yt251npu5lX51RdXbjBof7ll8T5vfIxsYE-OOKKnSVzLZrRbCzh01bsRpkCbD-sDkfKeAdt_yW/s2000/124.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1292" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZAyCSeTS7mPr0ewaAgmX1MSRaxMBwIMF6Yus5mxmQT11Stoeh3gsuvh9BG1n4-KXq_LAIF33rgVOGsboJHeQ3L6SUECWMNAELwgIX85nGYeO68Yt251npu5lX51RdXbjBof7ll8T5vfIxsYE-OOKKnSVzLZrRbCzh01bsRpkCbD-sDkfKeAdt_yW/w414-h640/124.jpg" width="414" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Noted critc Robert Cristgau prematurely dismissed the Jefferson</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Airplane’s first recordings as an “electrified Peter, Paul & Mary”, but the
progression through folk-rock into full blown psychedelia established them as
the highest grossing West Coast act, with a RCA record contract that guaranteed
expansive studio time and a lavish communal mansion </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">in San Francisco. With the
recent addition of session man star Nicky Hopkins, their contemporary
“Volunteers” album also featured some of the most successful studio work of
their entire career with political and sci-fi themes rubbing shoulders with fearsome song-jams like “Eskimo Blue Day”
and “Hey Frederick”. The title track is worth comparing to the song “St Stephen”
by fellow travellers The Grateful Dead to get a sense of the difference between
these two West Coast giants. Both songs appropriate the same old bluegrass reel
for the opening guitar riff, but where the Airplane sound is tightly driven
with propulsive bursts of guitar, the Dead meander their way across the
soundscape with semi-audible lyrics over a largely acoustic backing. The studio
version appearing on the Dead’s “Aoxomoxoa” LP, a definitive study in acid-folk
and one in sharp contrast to the way Jefferson Airplane sounded in 1969.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ppDhWyVaSA" width="320" youtube-src-id="6ppDhWyVaSA"></iframe></div><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Thus the most immediately shocking aspect of this TV show may
be the ragged opening song from the Airplane who were then at their musical
apex. Days before, their 8am set at Woodstock had been one of their very best
with the preceding energy of The Who pushing the band to a wonderfully wild hour
and a half blow-out. It is alleged they only missed out appearing in the original
movie due to Slick’s misgivings about her stage outfit. But this opening salvo
does them no favours. It reminds us that as a live act, beneath the thunderous
bass and urgent acid guitar lines there was always a lot of risk-taking in
their combined and disparate talent that threatened to crash them. The
competitive antagonism between Grace Slick and Marty Balin did not help the
“harmony” of their massed vocals, with the latter’s exposed histrionics at
times verging on the caterwauling. Here they seem cold in the lights and so self-consciously
focused on getting over their message that they forget to “get it together”,
which is somewhat ironic as the song performed is “We Can Be Together”. The
lyrics of this anthem boast the first expletives ever aired on live US TV no
less, which was probably less a random shock tactic and more a pre-determined act
of symbolic subversion designed to aid all assembled parties. Cavett in fact
underlines this point, helpfully alluding to the song’s impending controversy
to his audience who in truth may have missed the “Motherfucker” amidst all the
noise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bA7nfaeYWWB4ICMboGm7icE9CMSXbojjMvas-TOQRjjcawJkR2DhpzZ56rC-oynGx0QUaBCglnaRHf_fy-mjLJUTGgsLcLla0E1_NiROnmUB5kbs3A1Dt5-QlkB8lv8e8CVFYrsWNHYD_Akmf50LBsr8uzhvFMqRwapeUTXIJmRufW3GTdZErAyv/s619/slickmag042915_465_619_int.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="465" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bA7nfaeYWWB4ICMboGm7icE9CMSXbojjMvas-TOQRjjcawJkR2DhpzZ56rC-oynGx0QUaBCglnaRHf_fy-mjLJUTGgsLcLla0E1_NiROnmUB5kbs3A1Dt5-QlkB8lv8e8CVFYrsWNHYD_Akmf50LBsr8uzhvFMqRwapeUTXIJmRufW3GTdZErAyv/w300-h400/slickmag042915_465_619_int.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">The band had been pushing for a while. Take a step back to December
’68 and the Airplane’s appearance on CBS rivals The Smothers Brothers Comedy
Hour. It’s unclear exactly why, as she has since claimed she simply took
advantage of the extensive backstage make-up, but Grace Slick appears in
blackface for the band’s musical segment. At the climax of “Crown of Creation”
she throws in a Black Power salute and hey presto! An obscure political
statement is preserved. (In case you missed it she followed it up with a
magazine cover a little later-LEFT). The incident contributed to the growing concern
in the carpeted exec suite at CBS towers that the show’s increasingly
subversive direction was heading the corporation into dangerous waters. This culminated
in the cancellation of the show in mid-run during April 1969. In light of this it
may well be that CBS’s loss became ABC’s gain, with the Woodstock special
designed to exploit <i>the times</i> to the widest audience imaginable.</span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Cavett was a genuinely engaging interrogator too, as easy with a
Truman Capote as he was with a Janis Joplin but here he assembles his guests
like a School panto with the photogenic girls sat either side of him and the
hairy boys sat with their back to the parents. The deeply-tanned and <i>dangerously
knowing</i> Slick is counter-balanced by the pale and sweet Joni Mitchell, whose
exposure on this show was so important to her management she wasn’t actually
allowed to attend Woodstock. She delivers a couple of faultless songs, preaches
“Trudeaumania” and basically sits smiling with the hope that no one thinks she’s
the one smelling of Acapulco Gold. Then on comes Stephen Stills, like a ponchoed
Daniel Craig impersonator looking for a dentist and Mitchell’s old <i>amour</i>
David Crosby. “Don’t you think he looks like a Lion?” she tweets. Yeah like the
cat in the Wizard of Oz that’s been laying out in the Wicked Witches
poppy-field a little too long. It is impolite to speak ill of the recently
deceased but on this showing Crosby must have been insufferable to be around for
too long. Sensing the fakery of the occasion he rushes in to steal every
awkward moment, filling the vacuum with the inane, masquerading as the
profound. (Or is it the profound masquerading as the inane?) Even Slick looks
baffled at times, perhaps more comfortable with the flirtatious Cavett who
teases her about her life at an elite finishing School. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQxQqJBpJBXuGb_AnZwmhk7tNaEOREHi4MSRYUQniuiGlxIPnFEJBDdZPjg6Zpltc4VUGEtzYK_jcH3OiHHseUOykoDn5wfRdXYbCMRNwTctUfB3Az0jZ0Y-JowYXQj0P-DPSE6gk-q9JhwaKBphu2-JHpxgA0fF4OmGTCmypsrDlrkovltdfM0tH/s645/hoffman%20slick.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQxQqJBpJBXuGb_AnZwmhk7tNaEOREHi4MSRYUQniuiGlxIPnFEJBDdZPjg6Zpltc4VUGEtzYK_jcH3OiHHseUOykoDn5wfRdXYbCMRNwTctUfB3Az0jZ0Y-JowYXQj0P-DPSE6gk-q9JhwaKBphu2-JHpxgA0fF4OmGTCmypsrDlrkovltdfM0tH/s320/hoffman%20slick.jpg" width="248" /></a></div></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">So elite in fact
Patricia Nixon attended her year group and invited her to a White House
gathering the following year. Slick took along Abbie Hoffman to ensure she was
barred entry and made sure the cameras captured it for posterity. </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">A little
later she appeared on stage at the Fillmore East in New York hamming it up as Adolf
Hitler next to actor Rip Torn as Richard Nixon. By the end of the 70’s she was
sacked from the band for berating a hostile Hamburg audience with a volley of “Hey
remember who won the fucking war!”</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Slick may have had the biggest balls of them all, but the
advert breaks display the truth about where America really saw where it’s female
population was at. I think the ads have been retrospectively compiled for
effect here but it serves as a delicious counterpoint to the studio proceedings
(Watch out for Max Bialystock’s Swedish “toy” in the first one). Thankfully the
band finish strongly with the rhythm section dominating versions of “Somebody
to Love” and an unnamed signature jaaaaam. The latter prompting much control room
confusion and an outbreak of freak dancing from some break-out straights. Look
at the moves from the hip stockbroker at 41.48 and 43.33. He’s pushing 60 at
35. The camera settles in on the light show and the final shot is of a cop nervously
appearing from behind a curtain, tapping his feet in time with Jack Cassady’s monstrous
deep bass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rzq8LZKdilQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="Rzq8LZKdilQ"></iframe></div><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">The band ended the year at the Altamont concert with Marty
Balin being punched out by Hell’s Angels ("It doesn't seem right man") and Slick being forced to attempt
crowd control in the only way possible with the immortal plea, </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">”You’ve got
to keep your bodies off each other unless you intend LOVE”</span><span style="color: white;">.</span></i></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Back in London the Camden Council free festivals continued with
the likes of Pink Floyd, Roy Harper, Procol Harum, Soft Machine, Pete Brown and
John Fahey all gracing that bandstand. By the end of the decade the gigs had
moved indoors to The Roundhouse. The last hurrah came when a bunch of skinheads
ran down the Hill and disrupted a Fleetwood Mac concert. Mick Fleetwood was hit
by a beer bottle and Peter Green’s dad released the following statement to the
music press:</span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">" My son travels all over the country playing to
different </span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">audiences</span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;"> </span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">practically every night and last Friday was one of his
nights off. </span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">But instead of taking advantage and resting, he offered his
services to play for free at an open-air concert along with other artists. Everything
would have gone off fine , when along came a small group of hoodlums - not I
may add , long haired freaks , </span></span></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EKYHKkOAGYoa0XvOIXXxcjHleObKTXJ4qyYqJPPFZFGDEZ5MSwlfQkrhMTx1Q-RSj3sjWiX_Yz3EI9Y3uu_DOdQANYBuVtHC6vxFZ0TYWPK1vsQNqDqgRoeu1FMfP-hyz3au3k6W4odPmNVCkoqFxPdRwunxnWdlm7dT9nJQ_xU0EOeQ9SF-8H3T/s1158/Parl-Hill-edit-cleaned.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EKYHKkOAGYoa0XvOIXXxcjHleObKTXJ4qyYqJPPFZFGDEZ5MSwlfQkrhMTx1Q-RSj3sjWiX_Yz3EI9Y3uu_DOdQANYBuVtHC6vxFZ0TYWPK1vsQNqDqgRoeu1FMfP-hyz3au3k6W4odPmNVCkoqFxPdRwunxnWdlm7dT9nJQ_xU0EOeQ9SF-8H3T/w442-h640/Parl-Hill-edit-cleaned.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">as is their usual description -but a gang of
crew-cut young thugs who seemed to delight in spoiling a night out for the vast
majority of people who were there to enjoy themselves. After many nasty
incidents the concert had to be abandoned, much to the disgust of the
organizers who went to a great deal of trouble to arrange it. It is time
sterner measures were taken by the law and stiffer sentences imposed on these
so-called citizens of the future. "<br /></span></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span class="xcontentpasted0"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Although my knowledge
of Dick Cavett is limited, I think I kind of like the cut of his jib. He seemed
completely at ease with whichever guest he had on the show and seemed to
straddle generations with his wide range of interviewees, from establishment
pillars to counter-culture weirdos. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xcontentpasted0"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJP428PdZMHKTHC-KBCaZVdmHJv5tsZYgPJ41OpQ4JUzFwvfeAHEilkiZ8Iygfnu3oEN0J9EMkNwY5ewuHsMwkyImR3Sz9kkMOufukUfv4jnh_GBa_vmiMxzfJzWMh8sBJMGz33fvgVStYrW9IsUX2HCGupfPjhAafcPQhGO5JUmIhYYUlWszqBzu/s667/jefferson-airplane-crown-of-creation.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="626" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJP428PdZMHKTHC-KBCaZVdmHJv5tsZYgPJ41OpQ4JUzFwvfeAHEilkiZ8Iygfnu3oEN0J9EMkNwY5ewuHsMwkyImR3Sz9kkMOufukUfv4jnh_GBa_vmiMxzfJzWMh8sBJMGz33fvgVStYrW9IsUX2HCGupfPjhAafcPQhGO5JUmIhYYUlWszqBzu/w375-h400/jefferson-airplane-crown-of-creation.jpg" width="375" /></a></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">That he devoted an entire programme to a bunch of
smelly hippies who had come straight from Woodstock - I’m guessing there wasn’t
much time to shower on the way to the studio - and indulge them for who knows
how long (the extended jam that played out the last 5 minutes of the show was
heavily edited and may’ve actually gone on for several days), shows how much
empathy and affection he held for the youth movement of the time. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">Even so, I loved Grace Slick’s wariness of Cavett’s
genuine compliment, “You were wonderful”, and the cod eye she subsequently
gives him – maybe she was still coming down from a trip, certainly sleep
deprived - but I can’t help thinking that her default response to any praise
received from a guy in straight clothes should be that of suspicion, such was
the fierce divide between youth and establishment at the time. </span></span><p></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span class="xcontentpasted0"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">I also loved the adverts, brilliantly left in by the
uploader, which speak volumes about where social mores were at the time in
Amerika: men should essentially be James Bond and women should bend over backwards
in their efforts to be attractive to them, if they’re not serving them coffee
or cleaning up after them at that precise moment, that is. Subtle, not so
much. </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xcontentpasted0"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">From a musical point of view, the driving force of the
show for me is the Airplane drummer, Spencer Dryden. Joni Mitchell was a drippy
pain in the arse and tolerated far too much for my liking; Stephen
Stills’s <i>4+20</i> was decent enough; but for sheer power,
tightness and visceral energy the Airplane really were streets ahead here. This
was a band at the peak of their powers, and Dryden was the behatted heartbeat
at the centre of it all, cigarette permanently pinched between his lips,
looking like Lee Van Cleef’s harder brother. </span></span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w25xghugIdg" width="320" youtube-src-id="w25xghugIdg"></iframe></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FjnAHyFeWT-Hnc-9uZnz__Rq6-VMuDCF41eFBz9o0rpF-rZfbbJgY4ezXtSiZwRi1OZ6Rs_LokoEGo45uFgYg_2uo0i0t-a0EeV5pJsCK219xXzAYfdG01JUMKfawDTU1jx9EehOFSYOBTgSNSQXOMiStOFmO3y2DPOqtcCjUsmydGgMXeJke18N/s667/jefferson-airplane-crown-of-creation.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span class="xcontentpasted0"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Bonus sweary points must go to Slick, who managed to
get her “Up against the wall, motherfuckers” line in <i>We Can Be Together</i> in
uncut, even if it’s not quite as prominent as, say, the MC5’s <i>Kick Out
The Jams</i> (edited on subsequent re-releases of the LP to “Kick out the
jams, <i>Brothers and Sisters!</i>”). </span></span></span></p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">The opening two songs both signpost the rising
tensions between<br /> generations and it’s a brave call from Cavett to allow these
to open the show. Following on from their doom-laden <i>Crown of Creation</i> the
previous year, (complete with cover photo of the band in front of the Hiroshima
mushroom cloud and sleeve credits reading “courtesy USAF”, nicely done) the
Airplane had just recorded their angriest and most cynical LP <i>Volunteers</i>,
which would be released a few months later in the November of 69. I think that
‘tude comes across loud and clear in their commanding performance on this show,
they really look like they mean it. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">A month after the LP’s release, the sixties died (both
literally and figuratively) along with Meredith Hunter at Altamont and both
Dryden and Marty Balin soon quit the band; the seventies would turn out to be
no less tumultuous for the US than the previous decade. </span></span></span><p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLWhRDkJSWE" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZLWhRDkJSWE"></iframe></span><o:p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><i style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"></i></p></div></div></div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-44684740627089428572022-11-11T09:30:00.003-08:002022-11-11T09:30:28.070-08:00VIV STANSHALL & SEAN HEAD SHOWBAND -Labio-Dental Fricative <span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0yRA8hiWkZAX_smnAh6hLieu76fbSiYe0545QPABH31f1Hf-qjxesT8BR6wU7kEM70OygLD56tfcpWhGlqjP58cUbXkF85iFSU-WsSlWLsrzJHn1N0mlpUjJHt_5Se2gKS7IPlVmhqeoVJXK6-Ij39uSHKnENfvk5tRAJbOVLE3mmdXUhPqAfM95/s236/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="213" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0yRA8hiWkZAX_smnAh6hLieu76fbSiYe0545QPABH31f1Hf-qjxesT8BR6wU7kEM70OygLD56tfcpWhGlqjP58cUbXkF85iFSU-WsSlWLsrzJHn1N0mlpUjJHt_5Se2gKS7IPlVmhqeoVJXK6-Ij39uSHKnENfvk5tRAJbOVLE3mmdXUhPqAfM95/w289-h320/3.jpg" width="289" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">(PS)</span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Much has already been written elsewhere about the bizarre and unpredictable career of Viv Stanshall, with good reason. His best-known work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was, if never really ground-breaking, frequently interesting and highly amusing; especially with belters like Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? which brilliantly skewered the late 60s British blues boom, or the Noel Harrison-esque Canyons of Your Mind which took that poetic imagery one step further from the ridiculous to the sublime.
During a Bonzo’s hiatus, his short-lived bIG Grunt project was one of the oddest things ever broadcast on TV and went to prove that Stanshall wasn’t pretending to be a loon, or hamming it up for effect: he really was that odd to his very core. <br /></span></span><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Released in February of 1970 Labio-dental Fricative came shortly before the bIG Grunt episode and I love it because, much like Stanshall himself, it doesn’t really fit anywhere. It sort of has one foot in either decade, straddling the 60s and 70s; perched on some sort of fence separating them like Mr Slater’s Parrot, bobbing its head between the two. Also Stanshall and Clapton weren’t exactly natural bedfellows, how the hell did that collaboration come about? </span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjCal-DGMZG1fv-YcthrFiXioxateI4nfy8sYtKjDmaISpVzX26f9CXf-Hd8tAURG_sKnCNFxsb-Euut-vanCT6XhRjg8oJ2oA_vtM9267lQhI2iLl5Jdy85xCK_-simH8PvieLUus_0tvt3Qvfi0GkwdI-W9LqZRyo7p70B645tyRTZ6vAMEzO9mI/s272/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="185" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjCal-DGMZG1fv-YcthrFiXioxateI4nfy8sYtKjDmaISpVzX26f9CXf-Hd8tAURG_sKnCNFxsb-Euut-vanCT6XhRjg8oJ2oA_vtM9267lQhI2iLl5Jdy85xCK_-simH8PvieLUus_0tvt3Qvfi0GkwdI-W9LqZRyo7p70B645tyRTZ6vAMEzO9mI/s1600/2.jpg" width="185" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">The song has the hallmark of Stanshall’s irreverent Bonzo lyrics, with the alliterative tongue twisters tripping along like an Edward Lear poem, but still rooted in the 60s with lines like “Big fat Fred sticks fur to his head, cos he thinks fur makes him freaky”. Silly, but great fun. The line “I got up at eight, it was half-past two” is also perhaps a window into Stanshall’s personal situation – I mean, we’ve all been there after a heavy night out, but you get the sense it was more a way of life for him. And when was the last time Max Bygraves got a namecheck in a pop song?
Over the other side of the fence and there’s a vague sense of the nascent 70s vibe coming through as well, with the Willie and the Hand Jive-type chucka-chucka sound that became all too familiar with Clapton’s early-mid 70s records; but there’s that middle eight right next to it that absolutely reeks of the late 60s with its dream-like lyrics, leading into a solo that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the Blind Faith LP from the previous year (by the way, those who say that album was a failure couldn’t be more wrong, it’s a masterpiece).</span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiunZ0teR31Ukr59TY8NIub5Q_w3pkGsSmEea4JH3UlkP0B9kdw6qyRjElUTuMn_HEKW6K1YdvzQ_Fy8_RmbIBKI-3fKQS-9_AN7LTvSQFUd0xAT13qbn64qFsfakKnCp7u-bdro3pbjCCb7ODMmhRjZI7vwZ9IRs910Du8Iy8la4lQvCFjF5hDip0/s265/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="190" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiunZ0teR31Ukr59TY8NIub5Q_w3pkGsSmEea4JH3UlkP0B9kdw6qyRjElUTuMn_HEKW6K1YdvzQ_Fy8_RmbIBKI-3fKQS-9_AN7LTvSQFUd0xAT13qbn64qFsfakKnCp7u-bdro3pbjCCb7ODMmhRjZI7vwZ9IRs910Du8Iy8la4lQvCFjF5hDip0/w229-h320/4.jpg" width="229" /></span></a></div></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Incidentally some may see this as sacrilegious but I regard this as one of Clapton’s last decent recordings, released some months before his first solo LP and Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Evidently hitting the hard stuff during his time with Derek & the Dominos and his subsequent crippling coke & booze addictions took their toll in terms of quality output. People may argue he released material worth listening to after 1970, but again, they’re largely wrong.
Anyway, back to the single: of course, it didn’t trouble the charts; the record-buying public’s mind was elsewhere. Perhaps it was asking for trouble being released on Friday 13th, but it was nowhere near the zeitgeist of the period; for comparison, Black Sabbath’s debut album was released the same day and it's hard to find an LP that better sums up the mood of 1970 than that one.
I don’t care though, I love it – it’s joyous, silly, fun and makes me grin from ear to ear whenever it comes on (ok, whenever I put it on). There’s not enough genuine eccentricity in music for my money, everyone seems to be engaged in some sort of vain popularity contest. And when did that turn up anything interesting?</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pil_OYHxLjQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="Pil_OYHxLjQ"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">(MS)</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">And here's an excerpt from " Frank and The Captain's Big Night Out" with Terry-Thomas on vocals!!</span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M0l1hXdp5Zk" width="320" youtube-src-id="M0l1hXdp5Zk"></iframe></div><br /><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-43574626574691857562022-06-12T08:58:00.019-07:002022-06-15T14:26:25.937-07:00THE SPECIALS - I Can't Stand It<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In the summer of ’81, we had a
family holiday on the Broadwater Farm Estate in north London. The previous summer Jerry
Dammers had filled that big gap in his smile with this delightful swing into
Muzak; a song that somehow manages to be both genuinely affecting and wilfully ironic. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N_49AzErO48" width="320" youtube-src-id="N_49AzErO48"></iframe></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">A highlight of the More Specials LP it commenced the exploratory direction he
would soon be sending his re-imagined Special AKA Orkestra and at Wood Green
Shopping City I first heard it via a Twofer Double-play cassette that combined
it with the band’s eponymous first LP. Guest vocalist Rhoda Dakar sings this in
a pastiche call and response </span><span style="color: #ffa400;">(ED: not really)</span><span style="color: white;"> like a shell-shocked bar maid who’s just been
asked to fill-in 'cos the singer's not feeling very well, but she carries it off with un-tutored aplomb. For years I
thought she was the girl ambling about the Leamington Spa canteen pictured on
the LP sleeve but it’s not her. That slight warble in her throat gives a foretaste
to the unspeakable horrors so graphically outlined in the following year’s “The
Boiler”, one of the more unlikely singles to grace the top 40 and </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 18.6667px;">not </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">one I’d
recommend listening to late at night. At the other end of the duet is Terry Hall
the monotone-faced blank expression of the whole Coventry scene. A Fun Boy One grimly
drifting on towards the terrible revelations he would later reveal about a valium-numbed
childhood induced by abuse at the hands of an international paedophile ring. Bookended
by the dark lounge of “Stereotypes” and “International Jet Set” the song is best
heard as part of the bigger concept of the LP, which like all the best things
can be viewed as having if not an all embracing theme…at least an all-embracing
mood. But in isolation there is much to enjoy in those Pearl & Dean backing
vocals, Jimmy Smith organ stabs and the verdant and intoxicating jungle ambience
of the exotica rhythm track. I often reflect that a few years later all the Twofer Double-play
cassettes got looted from Wood Green Shopping City.</span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Anyway thanks for this one Rhoda.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTe57D-WPk7YZPRRi0PtMbkSLHyB2Aho_-r08b4xDt2fDkI2ZnBmzpteTv72gHHOUzE5SVLF5xPIg9nG0-OBtMoGjqZjczAz1YPyVGbhjjbr-zEu3Kpcru3GFb8E88Xk-TWXJeIdDkngFDrAHIJ2xww6eiRJsYpnedKscCY2g8gTxIyBku5YQ-f9O/s6808/DKX8EJDaehLAnhvtb.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6808" data-original-width="4688" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTe57D-WPk7YZPRRi0PtMbkSLHyB2Aho_-r08b4xDt2fDkI2ZnBmzpteTv72gHHOUzE5SVLF5xPIg9nG0-OBtMoGjqZjczAz1YPyVGbhjjbr-zEu3Kpcru3GFb8E88Xk-TWXJeIdDkngFDrAHIJ2xww6eiRJsYpnedKscCY2g8gTxIyBku5YQ-f9O/w275-h400/DKX8EJDaehLAnhvtb.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JF)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">As usual from The Specials a great
sound full of energy and you can understand why they remain a popular live act
to this day. It can be no coincidence that the group had several black British
members and it is interesting to reflect on the musicality and politics of the
personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without them I suspect it
might be the case that the social consciousness of the sound would be reduced
to a rant, reducing the band to more of a cult sound. The songs are delivered
in the usual sardonic fashion associated with the band and I think this in
itself is part of The Specials mass appeal and longevity<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Hmmmm...
This came at me out of left field somewhat, so I’ve had to quickly scrabble
into the late 70s/early 80s section of my vinyl and give it a dust off. Finding
only the first Specials LP there, I gave that a couple of spins and then
followed it up with an introduction to the second LP online… and at this stage,
I remain unconvinced. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">When I
think about what defines The Specials for me, it’s those earlier tracks that
spring to mind (<i>Rudy, TMTY </i>– although definitely the live version
over the album one), with the addition of the non-LP single <i>Ghost Town</i>…
those were great, memorable songs that get your toes tapping and fingers popping
even 40 years on. <i>More Specials</i> had less of those for me,
possibly because of the new musical directions the band took after their
debut. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I get
why a band would want to do something different on their second LP, in fact
that should be widely applauded – but I do feel that some of the tangents taken
on <i>More… </i>were less successful than others, and <i>I Can’t
Stand It </i>is one of those lesser ones to my ears. Firstly, it seems
like a couple of different songs stitched together: I like the opening bass
riff and drum pattern, but after it all goes a bit bossa nova it stops working
for me. Also the structure of the song is a bit sprawling, with the vocal lines
and harmonies getting lost at times. The melody isn’t catchy enough and the
whole thing seems neither here nor there, ending on a bit of a whimper with the
goodnights from Rhoda and Terry… maybe that’s the point of the song, but it
just felt a bit ‘meh’ to me. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Where I
think the new directions on the LP do work, songs like <i>Rat Race, Sock
it To ‘Em JB </i>and <i>Pearl’s Café </i>– by the way, the
latter’s refrain of “It’s all a load of bollocks” could’ve been written &
sung by our very own GV – there’s a kind of South London vibe flowing through
them that gives it them a real charm. <i>Enjoy Yourself</i> would’ve
been a highlight too, if Jools Holland hadn’t permanently ruined it for me – I
can hardly blame that on the band, but still. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I’m
afraid that the easy listening sound just didn’t do it for me though.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> </span><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EJtd9HRT4Q0" width="320" youtube-src-id="EJtd9HRT4Q0"></iframe></div><br /><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-82418759528492612892021-09-24T12:40:00.017-07:002022-06-18T04:31:28.629-07:00HUMBLE PIE - As Safe As Yesterday Is <p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">(MS)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">… I'm not quite done with the Small Faces yet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I'd argue the band peaked a little before “Ogden’s” with the
barnstorming <i>Tin Soldier</i> 45 and that LP however brilliant, has a fair bit
of recycling going on. The oozing title track is a psyched-up instrumental of
their crunching early release <i>I’ve Got Mine</i> and there amidst the
whimsical carnage of side two, <i>Mad John</i> is a folk'd up arrangement of <i>Call
It Something Nice</i>, a song later released posthumously on the Autumn
Stone/In Memoriam comps. (And reworked again as <i>Silver Tongue</i> on Humble
Pie’s "Town and Country" LP).</span></span></p><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2G9HS5RrSG33rBLnWVY5y6rYt2AniYA_E1ykkUVdi4y04orUwlDNVBBsORegHnQr6zHGnQYcdAa-v9D6brAhS-r_J0coZ0PJBrZMA0spw0QBaASeaseOoVpBW2__NTeZKO5V4mO5wS5E/s480/hqdefault.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2G9HS5RrSG33rBLnWVY5y6rYt2AniYA_E1ykkUVdi4y04orUwlDNVBBsORegHnQr6zHGnQYcdAa-v9D6brAhS-r_J0coZ0PJBrZMA0spw0QBaASeaseOoVpBW2__NTeZKO5V4mO5wS5E/w400-h300/hqdefault.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Those two Immediate fire-sale comps gathered a number of SF odds
and sods that some believe formed the basis of an “Ogden’s” follow up LP called
“1862”. Type that into Google and you'll get sundry efforts to replicate its
running order. They’re all pretty dodgy too inserting choice Humble Pie and
Faces tracks into a <i>what if they'd all stayed together Frankenstein's
Cockney-type effort</i>. There's no need to do this as you can (just about) compile
a very nice 33 minute LP from the existing SF strays, kicking off with Marriott’s
parting <i>Jugband Blueish </i>busk-duet with his dog: That dog by the way
found its way onto a Pink Floyd record a little later on:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">The
Universal<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Donkey
Rides Penny a Glass<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Wide
Eyed Girl on The Wall<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Call
It Something Nice<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Red
Balloon<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: #ffa400;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">The
Autumn Stone<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Collibosher<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Wham
Bam Thank You Man<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Wrist
Job Fred<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">Every
Little Bit Hurts</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I’ve used poetic license with the title of the Procol-esque <i>Wrist
Job Fred</i> which was originally titled <i>Fred</i> on the Olympic tapes but with
a vocal ended up as the majestic <i>Wrist Job</i> on Humble Pies's first 45. I LOVE
the gently mocking soul chorus backing on this, in harmony with the clashing sentiment
of the words and …err… knocked-out title. Anyway this is a better title than
the <i>The Pigs Trotters</i> which Charly records used a few years ago,
confusing the issue immeasurably. (Which I don't think I've done incidentally). This definitive “1862” is probably short of one whole song actually so I’d like
to see the group version of <i>If You Think You’re Groovy</i> come out of the
vaults please. These Albums That Weren’t Never Made But Should Have Been type
guys clearly didn't have the stomach to include two more bonafide tunes from
the final death throes of the SF namely the sessions with Monsieur Johnny
Hallyday, that spawned early versions of the “As Safe As Yesterday Is” tracks, <i>What
You Will</i> and <i>Bang</i>. The latter giving the Pie version a run for their
money. I can understand why they didn't but then again these are a real bridge
to Humble Pie featuring Peter Frampton on guitar as they do. But the true
birth of this band to me is <i>Wham Bam Thank You Man</i> the song that broke The
Small Faces. This in itself was previously recorded as <i>Me, You and Us Too</i>
with different lyrics but then ramped up into the full groupie metal shouter it
ended up. It’s a full rehearsal for things to come and the lyrics – with more
Don Arden bile - a forewarning to changing times;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Our lives are run by ego freaks</span></i></span></p><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">A walking book of rules who seek</span></span></i></span></p><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">To keep you in your pigeon hole</span></span></i></span></p><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #fcff01;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bash you if your soul steps out of line</span></span></span></i></span></p><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #fcff01;"></span></span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span style="color: #fcff01;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0XQOzyZCU8E" width="320" youtube-src-id="0XQOzyZCU8E"></iframe></span></i></span></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">And so we get to the “As Safe as Yesterday Is” album. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I should say I’m not a big fan of Humble Pie or The <i>Rod Stewart</i>
Faces for that matter. In my view both bands released a lot of product that
failed to create too much as <i>memorable</i> as The Small Faces small but
perfectly formed oeuvre. It’s the difference between hunger and excess of
course. Between a frightening gangster standing over you and a lot of coke and
free time in Richmond on Thames. But then I'm a very biased and jaundiced
listener too. And as I get older even more so. I increasingly resent Rod
Stewart’s schtick, as I replay in my mind the terrible torment he inflicted
upon my innocent youth. You see shows like Lift Off With Ayshea and Top of The
Pops were so much FUN in those days, Mud, Sailor, Slade, Roy Wood, Alvin
Stardust, Roy Wood again (we wanted him every week) and all those visiting soul
singers with bad teeth, bad hair and utterly wasted … <i>emotion</i>. Music was
just another form of escapist stimulation like those crap Harry Harryhausen
dinosaur films we gorged ourselves on. TOTP with it’s necrophiliac presenters was
like a visual circus extension that signified <i>something</i> of the mythical Beatles
tapes our Dad got for us from Oldham Library. Yes there was melody, yes there was
some toe tapping going on but ’73-75 just wasn’t serious music and we knew it. Even
at 7 years old we recognised we’d been robbed of the 60’s and so we watched
this freakshow in the full knowledge it was all we had left and we made damn
sure we enjoyed it in some sort of giddy Tizer-flavoured post-modern frenzy. It
was a phoney war to the impending apocalypse that would become punk, a conflict
brooding with even greater intensity behind my brother’s bedroom door, with all
his Moody Yes and Palmer records. It was like Edwardian Britain before the slaughter
of the trenches, it was like Weimar before the rise of Hitler, it was like Charlie
Parker as the skies filled with the cancerous radioactive waste of the drifting
atomic test clouds. And in 1975 it finally came our way through our TV sets
like something out of <i>Videodrome</i>, We watched Rod Stewart - thankfully - Sailing
off on a very grey looking ship in a very primitive video, but…but… he kept
coming back, again and again, week after fucking week after week. He seemed to
be at Number 1 throughout my entire transition from Airfix tanks to grabbing
Ruth Thomas’ xxx’s. It all changed round about then. It really did. Music
stopped being FUN!! God in retrospect I realise Steve Marriott was just as
grotty in this period, round about the time he grew a moustache. Sorry where
was I?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXPOyvoP_wv0Hwu0crpx0C-v4c5ilnZuHWf5SGT9yvQx9VlBfqNj-Bac2PYYbrlSvEHDVYV0V28SG3ObzLOf_wFKKC3L8cG5xttbB1PULDm3TNTcgUqErV1yGZ0ftJ4semG00sU1g8zkU/s225/download.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXPOyvoP_wv0Hwu0crpx0C-v4c5ilnZuHWf5SGT9yvQx9VlBfqNj-Bac2PYYbrlSvEHDVYV0V28SG3ObzLOf_wFKKC3L8cG5xttbB1PULDm3TNTcgUqErV1yGZ0ftJ4semG00sU1g8zkU/w320-h320/download.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And so we get to the wonderfully titled “As Safe as Yesterday Is”
album. The four key songs all seemingly about the process of stepping off the
precipice into the wilds of an uncertain future. Very apt for a new rock band leaving
behind the relative security of the pop treadmill. The title track recounts the
weird dreams brought on by a troubled state of mind. “Desperation” a study in mental
turmoil. “I’ll Go Alone” a Rimbaudian walk out into the unknown. And “What You
Will” a naive meditation on life by young men turning into adults: </span><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Seems
to me the only way to be is like a businessman<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">And
have bad colours round my head<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Getting
drunk to find some peace of mind and consolation<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01;">But
there’s still the problem of what happens when I’m dead</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Lyrics, songs even, are secondary to the real appeal of this
record. The Producer- Andy rather than Glyn Johns this time -captures the sound
of young musicians really clicking. You can hear the glorious release to let
rip and the hunger to impress with imaginative and dense instrumental passages
that get better with repeat listening. The Small Faces did a lot of fade outs
with in-vogue slight returns and it seems Marriott and co deliberately progressed
this to memorable instrumental coda’s. There are 4 on here. The song <i>As Safe
As Yesterday Is</i> has a very satisfying and primitive riff that when it erupts,
blasts away the artful imagery of the song it leaves behind. In truth the
medieval mid-section of this Frampton composition could’ve gone very Spinal Tap
but it holds itself together nicely. The coda has a memorable acoustic guitar
strum accompanying the primal riff and the whole thing fades out to bubbling Stephen
Stills <i>Bluebird</i> style guitar. <i>Alabama 69</i> is the one dud on the LP,
with the black Americana taken to ridiculous extremes. Towards the end it drags
out a “<i>When will I be free”</i> chorus and as we ask the question ourselves a
most unexpected segue arrives in the form of a dreamy sitar blues jam. All is
forgiven. <i>Nifty Little Number Like You</i> is an ordinary song with an
extraordinary coda, which repeats the riff from the title track coda (a coda
repeating a coda?) and adds a stereo-shifting drum solo from teenage Jerry Shirley,
a drummer very well served by the production of this LP. <i>What You Will</i>
adds a dramatic drum riff rise and fall after the final lyric which drops away into
its mournful sunset-chasing conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprJc1vf7fNLmEzyU6xYERQpH2n__zKtn19WdMhyrXKjTppfke_sXU0f-ExkUmxtL7Ww2dt-VYg2mZE-moDw00MuvngF6CuaNfBg2EFV3bvEA48t4VlJ6Gm0cCzGlcvjDxcN5yeUYjmbo/s1280/B8oDn9SsusLDJuY2VaXu8e.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprJc1vf7fNLmEzyU6xYERQpH2n__zKtn19WdMhyrXKjTppfke_sXU0f-ExkUmxtL7Ww2dt-VYg2mZE-moDw00MuvngF6CuaNfBg2EFV3bvEA48t4VlJ6Gm0cCzGlcvjDxcN5yeUYjmbo/w640-h360/B8oDn9SsusLDJuY2VaXu8e.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div><br /></div><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Anyway I would recommend the other 69 album “Town and Country”.
They apparently recorded it at the same time in a splurge of inspiration whilst
The Small Faces contract was winding down. It’s mostly acoustic replicating
their live gigs at the time which started with an unplugged set. There is some
good stuff on it, mainly the Frampton songs like <i>Home and Away</i> which is very
Crosby Stills and Nash inspired. But after this Humble Pie lost it in my
opinion.</span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In the early 1990’s on the dole I criss-crossed the North of
England searching for records. I remember being conned into buying a copy of
the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream” in a shop on Ashton Road in Clayton.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">“<i>It looks a big worn”,</i> I said to the girl.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I remember her dad had a Humble Pie “Rockin’ the Fillmore “ t-shirt
on. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">“Just turn up the treble, it’ll be alright”,</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> he
said through a mouth full of chips.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I mean I’m not basing my opinion of this record on this one experience,
I’m not that jaundiced. But this record has to be heard to be believed. My god
about 40 minutes are given over to two songs<i>, Rollin Stone</i> and <i>Walk
on Gilded Splinters</i>. It’s absolutely exhausting. And yes in a bad way. In
fact it’s just been re -released as a 4 gig set with the exact same running
order so that’s 160 minutes of those two same, rotten songs. It seems as though
Americans love this album and this period of the band. And it seems this is what Humble Pie wanted. It didn't end too well for them all. I dunno. Anyway I’ve run
our of room to even talk about Peter Frampton’s pre-Pie band The Herd. In a future piece
I'll elaborate on the sub-genre of Pansy-Pop of which they were
stalwarts. And one year later his new band recorded this!!</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sE41PzpKFYo" width="320" youtube-src-id="sE41PzpKFYo"></iframe></div><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The career of Steve Marriott was a curious
one: from child musical actor, to East End mod, to white soul/cock rock god, to
relative obscurity and eventual middle aged death in a house fire. That he had
an extraordinary voice, not least in proportion to his physical size, is
undeniable; and one wonders what Led Zeppelin might’ve been, had he joined that
band instead of Robert Plant as was rumoured at the time. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I think it’s also fair to say that,
although he created some timeless classics in both The Small Faces and Humble
Pie, he should’ve achieved more; and that the pinnacle of his career was
arguably in 1969 leaves a sense of unfulfilled promise lingering behind. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">After the psych excellence that was <i>Ogden’s
Nut Gone Flake</i>, Marriott disbanded the Small Faces to form Humble Pie and
release their debut LP <i>As Safe As Yesterday Is</i> the following
year; it’s a bona fide classic, combining heavy rock guitars with strident
keyboards and taut, characterful drumming (from an unbelievably young Jerry
Shirley) and of course, <i>that</i> voice. The opener <i>Desperation</i> is
one of the finest cover versions ever in my opinion, and easily in the select
group of those far better than the original; Steppenwolf’s version was fine,
but Pie’s was monumental… and definitive. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Even the more crass songs (<i>Nifty Little
Number, Buttermilk Boy</i>) are great fun and I love the fact that there are
errors on the LP which are left in (Greg Ridley’s bum bass notes on the
epic <i>I’ll Go Alone</i>, and someone evidently leaning on the tape reel
on the wistful <i>What You Will</i>). There’s genuine charm in the title
track with talk of naked troubadours and minstrels of the night; and the Ian
MacLagan penned <i>Growing Closer</i> sounds like Traffic
playing </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The Old Grey Whistle Test theme tune (absolutely not a criticism,
by the way)</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">. Also the decision to leave off the hit
single <i>Natural Born Bugie</i> on the UK release was a good one,
although it probably affected album sales in the long run. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">And then the Law of Diminishing Returns
kicks in. The difficult 2<sup>nd</sup> album <i>Town & Country</i> was
ok, but as a sort of watered-down version of <i>Safe</i>, it’s just
that…ok… not particularly memorable, apart from the rocker <i>Down Home
Again</i>. 1970’s <i>Humble Pie</i> (also known as the Aubrey
Beardsley album due to the racey art deco cover) also had its moments, but
already something of the original sound had been lost and they were becoming a
somewhat standard rock band as they evidently made a concerted effort to chase
the Yankee dollar. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Rockin’ The Fillmore had a huge sound and
tracks like <i>Four Day Creep</i> went some way to conveying the
excitement of a live Pie experience, it really did ROCK. The extended version
of <i>Walk on Gilded Splinters</i> was ambitious and actually went
places, but there were irritations on this LP for me too: Marriott’s white soul
boy schtick really pisses on my chips, especially on the intro to <i>I’m
Ready</i> when he’s part singing/part talking to the PEOPLE - IN THE BACK
- OF THE HA-AWWWL… you’re from Newham mate, give it a rest. Some of the
extended boogies on this and later live recordings also tested the patience far
too much, they just weren’t <i>interesting</i> enough – and that’s
criminal. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">As it turned out, the move to A&M
records signalled the beginning of the end: it seemed that they were no longer
a British band trying to make it big in the US (which they undeniably did, the
1971/2 period was by far their most commercially successful) but they now
seemed to be a British band <u>trying to be</u> a US band. Keeping
the same company as Led Zep and the Stones is one thing, but ending up sounding
like a Grand Funk Railroad facsimile is something rather different; and way,
way less interesting. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">So Marriott found his modest pot of gold,
but lost all the charm and personality of the band in doing so (and evidently
spent all the gold too). The band struggled on with various replacement
members, making the whole thing feel a bit like Trigger’s broom, with each
incarnation being further removed from what made the whole thing sound so fresh
and… well, <i>Immediate</i> on that first album. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It started so well for Humble Pie, we
really should’ve had better from them after that… but at least we have <i>As
Safe As Yesterday Is</i> to remind us what a great band they started out
as. </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #454545; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALylPnyiHDJEjhzgryggqlHENqWKlmnYaMtU4mGLKDwfg3E_JHPcMbX7GfRcNNv9VxM6t18ae7pXjz1u1v1JfOMDK_yOwKnw80jTVjRAgUHatg0G0v1dV3D-nN7IQgSSh4PEG3bTLxLM/s1000/IMG_2987.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALylPnyiHDJEjhzgryggqlHENqWKlmnYaMtU4mGLKDwfg3E_JHPcMbX7GfRcNNv9VxM6t18ae7pXjz1u1v1JfOMDK_yOwKnw80jTVjRAgUHatg0G0v1dV3D-nN7IQgSSh4PEG3bTLxLM/w640-h640/IMG_2987.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-28332443882890785342021-08-28T06:21:00.042-07:002021-08-30T03:29:03.016-07:00THE SMALL FACES - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake <p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">As I
see it there seem to be two distinct versions of the Small Faces, principally
defined by the drugs on the scene at the time: the first was of the
pill-popping mods, all sharp suits and punchy, tight 3 minute maximum singles;
the second being the more acid-tinged psych rockers with their rather more
adventurous outings, culminating in their 1968 magnum opus, <i>Ogden’s Nut
Gone Flake</i>.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5nQrZqnJTwzaqhoHgsw_SMxH96MoSUJzg27bs37fAoZkR487GKE5Agy8aJTdjBW6qO9TKcDyqLxZxaB7Vck7lfu48zpaDE55QVY3ooAPGd84wprvejwdLA84Xywn787iaVMjs3MDmXKQ/s1500/smallfaces_gettyimages-85226089_web.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="1500" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5nQrZqnJTwzaqhoHgsw_SMxH96MoSUJzg27bs37fAoZkR487GKE5Agy8aJTdjBW6qO9TKcDyqLxZxaB7Vck7lfu48zpaDE55QVY3ooAPGd84wprvejwdLA84Xywn787iaVMjs3MDmXKQ/w640-h160/smallfaces_gettyimages-85226089_web.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Along
with the Stones’s <i>At Their Satanic Majesty’s Request</i>, <i>Ogden’s</i> was
one of the LPs most obviously directly influenced by Sgt. Pepper, moving away
from the hamster wheel of the singles production line and taking time in the
studio to create an LP that was more than just a collection of hits, B-sides
and fillers, rather a cohesive work in its own right. In fact for me, this LP
has much more in common with the Beatles’s trailblazer than <i>Satanic
Majesty</i>, and it’s a much stronger album because of that, despite its
failings. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">From
the instant the needle is dropped on the opening title track, we’re in business:
the wonderful flanged organ sounds incredible, the lush strings add warmth and
tone without dominating or softening the groove set by Kenney Jones’s rolling
drumming and Marriott’s psych fuzz guitar. Once that overture is finished,
we’re presented with one of the finest Small Faces songs in Afterglow; and
Mac’s Hammond is as much the star of this as Marriotts’ incredible voice:
soulful, driving, spine-tingling stuff. My only gripe here is that they ditched
the fade out/return of the alternate version in favour of the abrupt edit
point, but kept it on the following track Long Agos and Worlds Apart. It’s
awesome on the former and rather superfluous on the latter. But I’m nit picking
here, what a song. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Unfortunately
with Rene and Lazy Sunday we hit the principal weakness of the LP, as with Sgt.
Pepper: the music hall gubbins. Whereas <i>When I’m 64</i> and <i>Mr
Kite!</i> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">were vaudeville, these are pure Lionel Bart, with Marriott back in
his Artful Dodger persona, complete with East-aaah End-aaah thumbs-in-weskit
urchin posturing-aaaah. What a shame that Lazy Sunday should be the hit from
the LP… As Mac put it once in interview, it’s “rootie tootie too, oh what a
load of bollocks”. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Luckily there’s a bone fide gem
tucked in between the tracks that close side 1, the magnificent <i>Song of
a Baker</i>. It’s huge, strident, funky and one of my favourite songs of all
time. The guitar gets a little lost in the mix at times, but my God – what a
belter. Who’d’ve thought you could rock out that much to water, flour and salt?
I also love that on the (mimed) <i>Colour Me Pop</i> TV appearance,
Marriott wipes his mouth mid-solo. He’s SLAVERING, goddam it… and with good
reason, so am I. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8jYgctXpajs" width="320" youtube-src-id="8jYgctXpajs"></iframe></span></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Side
two is the more ‘out there’ concept work, with Stanley Unwin providing some
utterly charming Lear-like nonsense/hippy narration. There’s a childlike charm
to the story, but it’s underpinned by a heavy sound as in the second part
of <i>Happiness Stan</i>, and the out-and-out rocker <i>Rollin’ Over</i>:
Richie Blackmore spent many years ripping off that riff with Deep Purple, he
should pay them royalties. <i>The Hungry Intruder</i> might’ve been
written by Pete Townsend; at times <i>The Journey</i> sounds like an
ancestor of 90s Madchester; and <i>Mad John</i> has a weird folkie
feel, mixed with early Bowie (if you can imagine him singing “eye-diddly-eye-dye”). <i>Happy
Days Toy Town</i> reprises the music hall sound, but this grates less than
before as it works better as the conclusion to the fairytale, and Unwin wraps
it up beautifully with a bit of Huckleberryfickleticklemyfinglode.
Glorious. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Ogden’s</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> is
a genuine psych masterpiece and we must forgive its few minor faults; it’s 3/4
of the band’s finest hour (Marriott’s would arguably come the following year,
with Humble Pie’s magnificent debut) and the real mystery is that Marriott
dissolved the band in order to work on more “serious” music, when evidently he
himself was responsible for the album’s more frivolous moments. Figure that one
out… anyway, we should be thankful that this exists. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Oh, for
a niblode of some mincey meaty! Stay cool, won’t you? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">(GC)</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">With this album you jump into the past and have a nice break from
your routine :) it’s simultaneously relaxing and exciting. An album that could
have definitely been played at Woodstock, or maybe it was?! <i>“Ogden’s
Nut Gone Flake”</i> is excellent, it nourishes my old soul! But not difficult
to listen to at all. It’s a mix of rock and psychedelic style, and also very
romantic :) Now I know where the ‘Holy Drug Couple’ band was inspired from :)</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The lights drop, the projector whirs and the space fills with the
booming bass and phased organ of <i>Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake</i>.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvSVqV-hHhNxWhrI0ohmX1ahAANz6YHBG6NXQUi2o29CrO5fgcFbneiY_M3rc3J8Md_6RsMTBvXM_2_9uOYdFsQJa67vIAmXQXPeXajClIrOAV9BctNn8KdeZkcE-DUt0KNZpqF_Pamo/s1000/mills.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvSVqV-hHhNxWhrI0ohmX1ahAANz6YHBG6NXQUi2o29CrO5fgcFbneiY_M3rc3J8Md_6RsMTBvXM_2_9uOYdFsQJa67vIAmXQXPeXajClIrOAV9BctNn8KdeZkcE-DUt0KNZpqF_Pamo/w320-h213/mills.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">On screen we’re at Oldham Athletic’s Boundary Park football ground
where small faces press hard against the car windows, creaking from the weight
of the roof slowly caving in. From inside The Small Faces pop group stare back in
horror, beneath them wheels spinning impotently, sinking deeper and deeper into
the boggy turf. Fighting their way out, four silhouettes bolt past the corner
flag and out into the brick terraced streets racing headlong into a panorama of
factory chimneys. A publicity stunt gone awfully wrong, dreamed up by awful men.
But as The Small Faces wound their way back to London in 1966 they were escaping
more than just the clutches of manager Don Arden and Oldham Chairman Ken Bates.</span></span><p></p><p></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotI8DMRSGSTOSc1Y1oiZjDUTj8Y5O_yt_DLCgLbrkcNvvnYAw1GKeluzqhDYmFbYmjQX0MlG1Uqz8UojhvUi4BLYCRdt8n6F1oDD19EOcri0kebUYW65kg3OAXnk4wddMtVM-TeaAKA4/s499/9991404HurVwL._SX314_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotI8DMRSGSTOSc1Y1oiZjDUTj8Y5O_yt_DLCgLbrkcNvvnYAw1GKeluzqhDYmFbYmjQX0MlG1Uqz8UojhvUi4BLYCRdt8n6F1oDD19EOcri0kebUYW65kg3OAXnk4wddMtVM-TeaAKA4/s320/9991404HurVwL._SX314_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="203" /></a></span></div><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Soon The Beatles manager was dropping into their communal flat in
Pimlico proferring sugar cubes dipped in acid. <i>“It’s all too bootiful</i>”
they sang, stuffing the “bennies” away in a bottom draw like worn-out toys. By
the time the manager of the Bee Gees was dissuaded from persuing his interest in
them…round about the time he found himself dangling from a 5<sup>th</sup> floor
Cavendish Square window…the band was already committed to new horizons. And as
though stepping out of the black and white world so they broke with the
thuggish Arden and the Decca factory for the brash technicolour charms of the
newly created Immediate Records where for a spell everything was possible. On Carnaby
St. today there is a small plaque above a sports shop immortalising where Arden
and the Small Faces "worked"' together. On either side are plaques to
the famed John Stephen and Lord John boutiques, where the band had charge accounts
where they were "paid" in lieu of wages. One can only wonder how handy
all those three button candy stripe jackets came in 10 years later as singer Steve
Marriott struggled with alcohol and mental illness and bassist Ronnie Lane battled
with the early onset of multiple sclerosis. Across the road is a megastore
dedicated to selling product by their friends and rivals The Rolling Stones.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Immediate
was the brainchild of the Stones former manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who hustled
in his own particular way taking The Small Faces on as a virtual house band for
a grandiose project which attempted to replicate the magic dust of Phil Spector
<i>and</i> Brian Wilson on New Oxford Street. The band’s reward this time <i>in
lieu of wages</i> being the provision of copious studio time at the state of
the art Olympic studios in Barnes. If you listen to recordings from this time
you can hear Steve Marriott’s throaty voice as though leaking though the walls
into other people’s records. The Stones “In Another Land”, Traffic’s “Berkshire
Poppies”, Chris Farlowe’s “My Way of Giving”, Billy Nicholls “Would You Believe”,
The Easybeats, The Herd… At one early morning session Hendrix dropped in from
next door, enthusing Marriott to wake up the engineer under the guise that a
Small Faces session was evolving. After driving through the night he was not
impressed to find a stoned Marriott surrounded by sundry roadies jamming incoherently<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjky38JmQaCf9ZFAzr6sYBM4Zs5k7h_MrQAKP-IkQQs904pwr70QejeOr-bjYD-zFECUzgcA4W12nk4VYxXNvNIIlEeZ0oe1v0ncdh-TmPqYt3Jk4lj2vBWGds2PZzF7phiNyAVlddyXk8/s474/41C1YVBZ8QL._SX309_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjky38JmQaCf9ZFAzr6sYBM4Zs5k7h_MrQAKP-IkQQs904pwr70QejeOr-bjYD-zFECUzgcA4W12nk4VYxXNvNIIlEeZ0oe1v0ncdh-TmPqYt3Jk4lj2vBWGds2PZzF7phiNyAVlddyXk8/s320/41C1YVBZ8QL._SX309_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div></span></span><br /><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Their sound changed as a result of this move with much of the
power of their furious super charged Booker T mod-soul diluted into rather understated
stoned pop which whilst uniformly good is a little thin in its sound. But there
is a lot to like not least <i>Here Comes the Nice</i> the most explicit drug
song by anyone at the time to ever gain a commercial release and <i>I'm Only Dreaming</i>
with its wistfulness erupting into passages of soul shouting frenzy. Marriott
had this in him in spades. The stereo version of <i>I Feel Much Better</i> is a
curious schizo-wonder with its chipmunk do-waddy-daddy chorus suddenly ripping
into monophonic proto-heavy metal towards the fade. In truth Marriott’s throaty
soulful voice was far more suited to the rock than the pastoral where the intensity
was given over to acoustic guitars, flutes and Georgie Fame’s brass section of Eddie
<i>Tan Tan</i> Thornton and Harry Beckett. The difference is particularly noted
when they did rock out, such as the ramped up raves <i>Don’t Burst My Bubble</i>,
<i>Wham Baam Thank You Maam</i> and the grandstanding <i>Tin Soldier</i>. When The
Small faces play in this style you hear a bridge between Ray Charles and Led Zeppelin
and it serves as a reminder that this is the same band that delivered the
seriously heavy <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>records they made in
65-66. It's a little too simplistic to view their Decca period as mono and Immediate
as stereo, indeed caution should be observed when listening to the music of
most bands in 1967 as stereo took hold. But the fact is The Small Faces sound
so much more complete in mono...until that is their ambitious album release <i>Ogden’s
Nut Gone Flake</i> (yes we finally get there). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">This album is a stereo delight in particular the first three songs
where the instruments pan around the ears with skilled engineering from Glyn
Johns who’d soon helm the Olympic records made by The Stones when they realised
what they were and a little later The Who when they finally realised Who they
were. The instrumental interchange in the <i>Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake</i> title
track sets things alight, with the modest dabs of fuzz guitar giving way to strings,
one part David Axelrod, one part Jean Claude Vannier, before drifting into George
Martinesque Blue Meanie orientalisms. <i>Afterglow of Your Love</i> follows
with its teasing club singer croon, shocking abruptly into proggy organ
progressions that bounce around between the ears. If the first track was a mini
symphony for heavy bass and drums then this is a full blown duet for organ and vocal.
<i>PS</i>- PS A little rudimentary Audacity use enables a grafting of the mono
single fade onto this superior stereo mix. <i>Long Ago’s and World’s Apart</i> is
background colour, almost programme music to revisit the innocent Itchycoo hash
dream drift. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKxPdCbo0gUg7qUSOInR8r0KU1YQur5j554qmB5CncmnKMwio-mJQtMCZxGrhK-0saB7PKpPVkpKcZsoueJ6eRC0wym-w2amNwaL5epOkQi4jG49tAxYRXkwQGufP0XuHvHyM2zJzTFDM/s256/images.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="180" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKxPdCbo0gUg7qUSOInR8r0KU1YQur5j554qmB5CncmnKMwio-mJQtMCZxGrhK-0saB7PKpPVkpKcZsoueJ6eRC0wym-w2amNwaL5epOkQi4jG49tAxYRXkwQGufP0XuHvHyM2zJzTFDM/s0/images.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">As the teenage Steve Marriott elbowed out other hopefuls to appear
as The Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart’s first staging of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Oliver</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">, his dad was
running a pie and mash stall in Poplar, whilst mum worked at the monster Tate
and Lyle plant on the Thames. With its syrup tin logo of a rotting lion
consumed by bees, the factory was pilloried as something of a knocking shop due
to it being the best paid centre of female employment for the East London dockside
community. All these things and none may explain the germination of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Rene</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">
which is essentially the end of a long line of SF tunes that hang together as Ian
McLaglan keyboard wig outs. I like this song far more that I should and I think
it stems from my Northern aloofness that regards cockneys as being far more
hilarious than they can ever hope to realise. Even now I occasionally plant my 'arris
on a no. 30 to 'ackney Wick whilst ruminating that Chas and Dave really were
more than just the sum of their parts. In </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Rene</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> Marriott delivers a
number of fruity couplets about the said waif, including her illegitimate
offspring residing “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">in coal sheds double locked”</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">. Double locked? And
then she’s “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Groping with a stoker from the coast of Kuala Lumpur”</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">, and we
listen to an extended knee trembler against the dock wall, with the oohs and
ahhs coitus, interrupted by passing liners booming their horns from rumbling distorted
guitars. It’s an extended dirge into the heart of darkness going nowhere, a
wonderous anti- climax spent upon the fallow ground.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UZffjK0VB6YfigdT7Z8uZHgbJxpp8HU9XtLxJTa4llbyDyoiJPSyhL1obQ2XWFm8ataqvKqsTKDSZ9jCljmg1GTyVqdEkqTJZgtEiCpU8L9FQy5rG9G8DilDMRWcXgZYz_G2-lsGZRg/s923/kinks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UZffjK0VB6YfigdT7Z8uZHgbJxpp8HU9XtLxJTa4llbyDyoiJPSyhL1obQ2XWFm8ataqvKqsTKDSZ9jCljmg1GTyVqdEkqTJZgtEiCpU8L9FQy5rG9G8DilDMRWcXgZYz_G2-lsGZRg/s320/kinks.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In North London only the Kinks come close to this with their 7
minute long<br /> <i>Australia</i> epic. Setting sail with chirpy mickey mouse voices
extolling the virtues of post war emigration the song breaks down as boredom
and doubt set in via a malingering (trad) jazz-rock freak-out over the duck
pond of the Indian Ocean. These songs come from the uncharted backwaters of
British psychedelia in all its multi layered forms and distinctions. They are
what make this strain so peculiar and interesting. Reaction to parental post
war obsessions, a playful rebellion with class, the appropriation of old musical
forms and a mind-bending aural approximation of what happens when a thought
extends long beyond reason. But behind it all playful unpredictability.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">1968 suddenly allowed the more pop conscious groups to stretch out
nurturing a maturing culture of musicianship based on competition and shared bonhomie.
Around nocturnal sessions at after-hours clubs Beatles and Yardbirds rum and
coked it with other Animals cross-fertilising their influences. It’s there in
the <i>Hey Joe</i> bass-line of <i>Song of a Baker</i>, a very 1968 rocker with
lyrics reflecting Ronnie Lane’s new found interest in mysticism, an interest shared
with Who guitarist Pete Townsend that would lead them to collaborate through
the 1970s on devotional projects to guru Meher Baba. For Townsend the irony of the
<i>nothing is everything</i> mantra would be his inspiration for the mother
lode of <i>Tommy</i>, yet both bands sat on the precipice in this period. For The
Who Tommy would make them, for The Small Faces <i>Ogden’s</i> would <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>break them, the single <i>Lazy Sunday</i> acting
as their swan song. Structurally it's a far better song than its over familiarity
has made it and I particularly love the way Marriott reverts to a straight
delivery after the <i>dumdidumdidoo dumdidumdidoo</i> section and the in-joke
soul chorus snatch of <i>Satisfaction</i>. The Who actually tried to mirror
this unlikely hit with their White City anthem <i>Dogs</i> and that year saw the
bands touring together both home and abroad. This is immortalised in their joint
appearance that November in a Paris TV studio miming away to a group of Paco Rabanne
models. Against the playback Keith Moon is captured air drumming behind his Who
successor Kenny Jones beneath a caption retitled <i>Not Gone Flake</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Not yet</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BgLrwd2FemE" width="320" youtube-src-id="BgLrwd2FemE"></iframe></div><p></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Perhaps side two’s fusion with gobbledygook is a remnant of the
still born <i>Carry On Psych-Out </i>project sired by Sir George Martin during
the Beatles in Rishikesh downtime. A studio extravaganza that would feature a
number of archaic guest artists from the world of light entertainment it was to
employ the little known Felius Andromeda (of <i>Cheadle Heath Delusions / Meditations</i>
fame) as backing band but their contribution only extended as far as Harry H
Corbett’s <i>Flower Power Fred</i>. Roy Hudd delivered <i>Sir Rhubarb Tansey</i>,
whilst Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were given a 7-minute slot re-working the <i>L.S.
Bumble Bee</i> into a segue with <i>Bedazzled</i>. The album reached the sleeve
design stage but Sid James unfortunately only got so far as putting on the
outfit. </span></span></p><p class="xp1"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzexDtWJOj8Eym9jWeglYjWYiyYCkPouOKUBIsB_G7SemPwdv91jXQAaoDbzOnszqQTL9Pjs55LBeqanSM5esiGWZpz7eg5cwg3jFYaKf5jdpEPnmVaH9L1MtYFsr1qcsqDFCvY3xYOYg/s502/10.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="502" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzexDtWJOj8Eym9jWeglYjWYiyYCkPouOKUBIsB_G7SemPwdv91jXQAaoDbzOnszqQTL9Pjs55LBeqanSM5esiGWZpz7eg5cwg3jFYaKf5jdpEPnmVaH9L1MtYFsr1qcsqDFCvY3xYOYg/w400-h395/10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Some stellar names dropped out and ended up being replaced by youngbloods
Rodney Bewes and Bill Oddie who plugged the gap with <i>Meter Maid</i> and <i>Harry
Krishna</i> respectively. But ultimately it was Lance Perciful who brought the
whole thing to a close when tapes were leaked of his after hours session coaxing
out a b-side for <i>The Maharaja of Brum</i>. Even Spike Milligan found it’s
racial satire more than a little beyond the pale. It certainly makes his own acid
dream <i>Purple Aeroplane</i> a somewhat limp affair in contrast. As things
went pear shaped Stanley Unwin was drafted in to ad-lib the night away until
the plug was well and truly pulled. But at Olympic Steve Marriott was listening
behind those paper thin walls.<o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">No this is not true I don’t think (but the songs are). It’s all gone
a bit hazy here. Please listen to side two and make up your own mind about <i>Ogdens
Beano Pigtail.</i> Does anyone have any jaffa cakes?</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I dedicate this piece to the late Tim Brooke-Tayor who I last heard on Sorry I Havn't a Clue where the panel were invited to do rude things with Pop group names. His contribution being "The Small <i>Faeces</i>" </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="color: white;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JF)<o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKt6ZOKoEKgk2KgWC4hEgTvPl4khEPN91tRE5HFjSgYdwuBhgM3qP2xFfHzqfJgwJvq6yMNmwyp4Z2S7bto9j4_CNCHRbWmR-zRGev2mynqGzNzjz6Es3On5Z7iVrg5u4zaht0G3ZGOu4/s500/1100065470_PREVIEW.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKt6ZOKoEKgk2KgWC4hEgTvPl4khEPN91tRE5HFjSgYdwuBhgM3qP2xFfHzqfJgwJvq6yMNmwyp4Z2S7bto9j4_CNCHRbWmR-zRGev2mynqGzNzjz6Es3On5Z7iVrg5u4zaht0G3ZGOu4/s320/1100065470_PREVIEW.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">Musicians
individually and collectively at the top of their game. A great sound, a great
listen</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">I didn’t like the Stanley
Unwin thing and think it was a bad idea for such talented musicians to give
over so much time to it. Never really understood psychedelia but when I listen
to this record I get two things – the influence from rock and roll of the past and
the future influence this album seems to hold – e.g Paul Weller’s early solo
albums like <i>Wildwood</i>. B</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">ut what it
ultimately leaves me with is Englishness. This is very evident throughout the
record in the writing if not the musicianship, which has an up tempo bluesy
feel particularly with the prominent organ sound</span></p><br /><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Ogden's Nut Gone Flake <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Nice woozy mellotron /bass
heavy instrumental.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Afterglow <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Sputtering verse with majestic
over the top chorus. Placed together they are effective and passionately
delivered, but after the music stops I can’t remember the tune. A bit over
blown. Perhaps a good example of how the music doesn’t quite capture the mood
of the subject matter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Long Agos And Worlds
Apart <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Musicians they definitely are,
and as such they are chasing both a form and sound but their lyrics and
delivery don’t seem to be as much a part of the process. This song reminded me
of another song, and I couldn’t think what it was called until I re listening
to <i>Afterglow</i>. Has a a trick ending where it pretends to fade out then comes
back for another minute of wig out.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQAxfqVImYx1q5alfkoHyjY7Mb6ck49zcBqiW76r2uHaT8tFgh4x3_2iTmAD1VdGLErqZouXA6dL59PbfhIDr1qRcQx97GUlGvFGWNz8phj9Sp_NH5N-iexPe-35paej6Zz6SVWhy6Ig/s806/il_570xN.2618656378_ojm5.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="570" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQAxfqVImYx1q5alfkoHyjY7Mb6ck49zcBqiW76r2uHaT8tFgh4x3_2iTmAD1VdGLErqZouXA6dL59PbfhIDr1qRcQx97GUlGvFGWNz8phj9Sp_NH5N-iexPe-35paej6Zz6SVWhy6Ig/s320/il_570xN.2618656378_ojm5.jpg" width="226" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Rene <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Comedy girl focused narrative
sung in the style of Chas and Dave, with a bit of a hint of the <i>Pink Panther Theme</i>. Another song straining to ditch the lyrical content for the mellotron
instrumental break with added harmonica.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Song Of A Baker <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Troggs-esque intro that
settles down to a narrative verse which is flattened by an over blown chorus.
Much more guitar driven, which in its day must have sounded charming but the
solo sounds a bit pedestrian today. Maybe im going deaf from hammering out
viking coins at the mock forge but the vocal mix sounds too thin and needs
warming up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Lazy Sunday <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">An obvious influence on Blur’s <i>Park Life</i>. A splendid period piece. I haven’t done my detailed bio check on the
band but they sound like posh boys pretending to be working class, </span><span style="color: #cfe2f3;">(ED. Wrong, wrong, wrong)</span><span style="color: white;"> just like
Blur, but their complex musicality defeats this charming ruse, with the skilled
tempo and key change at the end which is pure McCartney.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Happiness Stan <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Huzzah for Stanley Unwin,(</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> but was he also operating the vocal processing for the recording?) </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bfe4RwkNB5I" width="320" youtube-src-id="Bfe4RwkNB5I"></iframe></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">These boys
are clearly classically trained musicians slumming in the sub-culture and
casting out into early prog for a new direction, because they want to be The
Who. Tin can production values.</span></span><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Rollin' Over <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">A guitar/piano driven stomper <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The Hungry Intruder <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">A flower child song, sounds a
bit like a pastiche, but its the real deal, lots of pixie flute and complex
strings. But again impressive as it is can I remember the tune? Adults
pretending to be children.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The Journey <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">My ear drobes haven’t quite
recovered before this mellotron pantomime began. Sounds like a piece of
background music as Austen Powers runs down a street in Amsterdam not wishing
to stare but unable to help himself. Lyrical element ends to long instrumental
wig out. But the Austen Powers image hasn’t completely vanished. This doesn’t
sound like flying on the back of a giant talking fly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Mad John <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Guitar folkesque song with a
bit of mandolin in the style of early Jethro Tull/Fairport, narrative but with
not enough conviction, it sorts of gives up on itself. Stanley Unwin is getting
a bit irritating and my dangly wants to kick his ass until he shuts up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Happydaystoytown <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">An early version of look on the
bright side of life. A reprise of<i> Lazy Sunday</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiudTgbfCkAD7tXZkGBLdaJGVkx8xICXwEVDltQ5FNaNvMBf7A8H-u5p_Lbtx1c7_hfGXTzzN-xhQwaqlM7dHxmYoQl9pCqK3WWIDFQhSkBjC8emyxMUCst2uSL_mHc__4EDc6DkGYol5I/s300/_1760044_unwin300.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiudTgbfCkAD7tXZkGBLdaJGVkx8xICXwEVDltQ5FNaNvMBf7A8H-u5p_Lbtx1c7_hfGXTzzN-xhQwaqlM7dHxmYoQl9pCqK3WWIDFQhSkBjC8emyxMUCst2uSL_mHc__4EDc6DkGYol5I/w640-h384/_1760044_unwin300.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Overall this was released in
May 1968 and shows a band fragmenting, throwing everything they”ve got into the
melting pot in the hope something will stick. Months later King Crimson
released <i>In the Court of the Crimson King</i>. Both albums feature musicians first
with lyrical content tagged on as an afterthought. Both albums indulge the
audiences with long instrumental sections. Both albums are composed around a
variety of styles by virtuoso musicians. The Small Faces album has been trapped
in its own aspic, it attempts to be a ground breaking mind expanding album, but
its roots and influences as clearly visible in its construction. As genre has
shifted it has trapped the efforts into a period piece. The Crimson effort on
the other hand still sounds fresh, because it remains a pioneer in its sonic
voyage of discovery. Its not really a fair comparison but I hope it explains
the difficulty I had rendering a fair opinion of this piece. I heard it, I
Listened to it but Iv’e almost completely forgotten it, with the exception <i>The Hungry Intruder</i>. That song’s danglies have stayed </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">with me</span><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-6066006894018473692021-04-18T12:57:00.028-07:002021-04-18T23:53:26.651-07:00CAN - Paperhouse<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPjF4ZHuIko" width="320" youtube-src-id="LPjF4ZHuIko"></iframe></div><p></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">(GV)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">When I first started watching
this it took me back to the early 90s when I would attend gigs in crappy pubs
or clubs and watch a line-up of bands featuring 'friends' of friends who were
'really cool', usually judged by the length of the lead singer's hair. Back
then, within ten minutes I would invariably be asking myself why I'd had so
much FOMO and bothered coming before swiftly reverting to the trusty strategy
of getting absolutely shit faced to the point of not being able to stand, talk
or hear anything anymore.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">
However, this performance was different. Had I been lucky enough to know people
who knew people who could pull off a live performance like CAN I would have
remained standing throughout and then creepily rushed up to the band afterwards
to tell them how good they were (they needed my endorsement of course),
probably avoiding the bassist and his stare. I would probably still be talking
about the experience today too. I love how this progresses from what sounds
like a warm up and a drummer in need of better cymbals to a fairly standard
woe-is-me progression, before quickly turning into a belter of an
instrumental. Sounds and looks very Doors-y and I loved the jazz influence.
Brilliant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">A few
years ago I spent a summer delving into krautrock, immersing myself in the
other-worldly sounds of Can, Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Amon Düül II and the like,
and I found there was something unsettling yet compelling about the genre; once
I was sucked in I found it hard to climb out again for quite a while. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">For me
it’s the way the music is so sparsely produced: desert-dry with no frills
whatsoever to fill the gaps between the notes; your ears take a while to adjust
to the economy of sound, so cosseted in endless overdubs and reverb as we are
now. It all sort of hangs together in a way that suggests it’s about to fall
apart like a house of cards at any moment, but of course it never does; and the
opening track of the trance-like masterpiece Tago Mago from 1971 is no
exception.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">In the
opening bars </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Holger Czukay </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">doesn’t
play a standard bassline, he’s almost acting like a second lead guitar, playing
arpeggios which hint at a harmonic foundation – but it does mean that Damo
Suzuki is very exposed with his gentle opening vocals, and it makes for a
rather shaky, uncertain start to the song; but it’s after a minute or two when
the pace picks up, Czukay’s role becomes more traditional alongside </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Jaki
Liebezeit’s expressive drumming </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">and </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Michael
Karoli can rock out in front with some soloing which is halfway between
structured and improvised. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">For me, Suzuki’s vocals are far
more suited to the rockier sound, so when he screams out “YOU JUST CAN’T GIVE
BACK NO MORE!” it really has an impact and brings the song to a satisfying,
expressionist climax. Fraught, melodramatic, but always somehow in control...
this is great stuff. I can see myself getting sucked in again for another
summer.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiw7s9tCOjyWZcM3CQ7-XEoqJpiDVX_hRGJ9_ge-pXfuQfsd-UuItkJdGuuXl1axl61obZFR8r2LE4L8DoeipogrNPgMmFAmH6ejfe1U2-gzleGoW7DxZJkqWnHxK7YkrfLsxgH9y-lRc/s425/can131.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="425" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiw7s9tCOjyWZcM3CQ7-XEoqJpiDVX_hRGJ9_ge-pXfuQfsd-UuItkJdGuuXl1axl61obZFR8r2LE4L8DoeipogrNPgMmFAmH6ejfe1U2-gzleGoW7DxZJkqWnHxK7YkrfLsxgH9y-lRc/w640-h394/can131.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 18.6667px;">(MS)</span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">For what seemed like years I
used to humour a friend of mine who would regularly rant about the impossibly
brilliant music created by Can. At a certain time in the night he would put
down his pint and elucidate at length about the <i>devastating</i> contribution
made by each exotically named band member. In truth his words never moved me to
actually want to listen to the music though I always liked to listen to his overbown fervour, even though he repeated it in Clapham, Bow, Kilburn or wherever else
our nocturnal ramblings might take us. Many years later I still find myself wandering
the nooks and crannies of the city, only now I do it to a soundtrack of actual music, acting
out my own personal movie. And in the last month this soundtrack has been exclusively
scored by Can. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Paperhouse</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">
is the opening section of one of a compelling quartet of startling quasi-rock
LPs that sound quite unlike anything else being recorded in the early 70’s. The
band started out mixing Stockhausen with a shot of Velvet Underground then
started to shake it all up with James Brown-like funk and jazzy-rock noodling. The
music lent itself well to ambient atmospherics and they soon found themselves
treading the same landscape as pre-Dark Side Floyd, scoring soundtracks to
obscure art-house Euro-films. I’ve seen a couple. One of them “Deadlock” is a contempoary
western shot in the disputed Israeli territories during a lull in fighting
between the 6-Day and Yom Kippur Wars. The other “Deep End”, an erotic
tragi-comedy with the flame-haired Jane Asher set in an East End Swimming baths
filmed in Munich. It’s ideal music for background colour, leaving any number of
actors to wander around vacantly whether on film or in the flesh, like me wandering
up and down Earls Court Road in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4F95TVtCoT-RqO29LMH5z2NqYELmEVibJ5MO7WbOzIfOT6QdVzvaTbPAcLiMS4srKNYLpYl9wiYx5TlpIlkb9XpNTwB19miOKfe4Ng2P1ADPdv_qzcuUPLrXhX0rx9ROIN0sR5PHPA8/s300/this+one.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4F95TVtCoT-RqO29LMH5z2NqYELmEVibJ5MO7WbOzIfOT6QdVzvaTbPAcLiMS4srKNYLpYl9wiYx5TlpIlkb9XpNTwB19miOKfe4Ng2P1ADPdv_qzcuUPLrXhX0rx9ROIN0sR5PHPA8/s0/this+one.jpg" /></a></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">Their albums were assembled
from miles of tape and then edited down like Miles Davis’ </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">stuff into what we might
describe as suites of sound, so in the midst of the seriously funky </span><i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">Hallehuwah</i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">
we get a mini section where a helicopter seems to arrive to play a little jazz
thing on the keyboard before giving up to take off again. A listen to this one
and </span><i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">Pinch</i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;"> always make me think of The Stone Roses, another band with a
semi-articulate vocalist. I’ve often explained to people that a band can prosper without a great vocalist as long as they
are compensated by having a </span><i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">great</i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;"> drummer. A fact proven that in reverse
it doesn’t matter how talented the singer is, the band will always fail with an
agricultural, if enthusiastic tom-tom basher. Can are a case in point.</span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">When you listen to their stuff
like the live bootleg taped at Hatfield Poly in 1975, it becomes evident how
true this is. For a good, continuous 40 minutes or so the band lock themselves
into a groove peppered with guitar riffs and cascading washes of keyboard,
punctured now and then by thunderous bass notes booming in and out. Way up
front, disciplined in his funky metronome, the drums of Jaki Liebezeit lead a
sonic assault clattering and throbbing across the soundscape. The band take off
in the directions he dictates and you feel that if the rest of the band fell
off the stage it wouldn’t matter too much, he’d just keep on going, holding it
all together; like a grooving Hannibal mountaineering pachyderms over the alps,
scattering troops asunder, lumbering on over hill and dale. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In the mix the vocalist fills
in spaces in the sound, almost jazz scatting in his rambling abstraction,
bluesy and wordless at times, painting sound patterns, occasionally
strangulating barely decipherable grunts. At about 25 minutes-in during a brief
lull in play the vocals are suddenly exposed and a lone voice from the crowd
lets out a cry of “Rubbish!” with the timing if not impact, of Morecambe to
Previn on the 1971 Xmas Special. It provokes a sole wolf whistle in the crowd
and a temporary restlessness that dissipates with the band dedicating the
remaining 12 minutes of the gig to an entirely instrumental improvisation. I’d
like to think that this was the moment the singer retreated into the street and
launched a TV set through a car wind-screen but I understand he did that later
in the month outside Drury Lane. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 18.6667px;">But then Tim Hardin was forever awash with his demons.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkg6r6pkXKbTsOIUR9Xtqs4B0se_mL2LKrS5YVkU4IQhQ5X0basasb6GY5TndX7JOCw8o9fIOOcnLDLf4E6U31KADO4ZVYRIKJTfMalvVNvJNr-2v8_QGb8_oPda41PwUHQSaJ0lXkCmo/s244/images.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkg6r6pkXKbTsOIUR9Xtqs4B0se_mL2LKrS5YVkU4IQhQ5X0basasb6GY5TndX7JOCw8o9fIOOcnLDLf4E6U31KADO4ZVYRIKJTfMalvVNvJNr-2v8_QGb8_oPda41PwUHQSaJ0lXkCmo/s0/images.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Yes Tim <i>“If I Were a Carpenter”</i> Hardin. This was the third phase
of Can as they began to unravel, filling that space in the sound with whoever
might fit. Hardin was briefly passing through, having re-located to the UK to
register for methadone on the NHS. His time with the band wouldn’t take him
into 1976, or indeed anywhere else after an overdose in 1980. Someone
needs to write a book about him. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I digress. The Can peak years between
1970 and 73 are full of mystery and well worth the investment of
multiple-listens. But it is telling if you listen to the mountains of
retrospectively released un-edited stuff from Miles Davis’ “In a Silent Way/
Bitches Brew” period, to discover there was good reason why jam material is edited down and it’s the same with Can. Various lost un-edited tapes have surfaced
over the years that give us much more than we need diminishing their magic through
interminable impro-ramblings that veer a little too close to the “Ummagumma”
end of pre-Dark Side Floyd. This TV performance with the magical presenter zooming our way is frankly a bit sloppy too compared to the studio version (at the bottom). But when Can were good they were spell-binding. Give
the albums Soundtracks, Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi and Future Days a spin. Whether
walking around W12 or</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> not.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I first encountered Holger Czukay as a guest star in Canadian avant- garde science fiction comics by Matt Howarth. He was always outside the main plot twist, fiddling with tapes or waiting for the drums to start. He didn’t really play a role but the cartoonist always presented him in a universe of his own. <i>Paperhouse</i> is from Can’s golden period. It appears to be a jazzy improvisation with a shirtless man shouting over the top of it. A brief exploration of the literature credits Can as being one of the most influential bands ever. So what’s the fuss about?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Forget that Can spawned Krautrock. Forget that Holger Czukay studied under Stockhausen. Forget the influence of the late sixties German free jazz movement. Forget the undeniable gravity of American prog rock and the significant lures of Mammon. The music of Can defies categorisation. Most music is produced to act like an arrow from a bow, its tone, rhythm and lyrical foreshadowing are directed at you to evoke a particular feeling by the musician. The musician whether low or high culture, aims to evoke a feeling in their audience that encourages a commercial response to their creation. It has created a sprawling industry of multi-facet genres, and subsidiary trades.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv30-We0DUupTUnciq_HRQNJp8CD9hzxjJQU5TUV3zukH4fd5KdjkzrKjLA8SOcbEm6vFrziFCftcF2w94jwNM4eAMmk5mY7UpkZvFKV1cz_HSX0at2HYTdhpl3zT1Tp-vyUMd8HBfAT0/s600/pp%252C504x498-pad%252C600x600%252Cf8f8f8.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv30-We0DUupTUnciq_HRQNJp8CD9hzxjJQU5TUV3zukH4fd5KdjkzrKjLA8SOcbEm6vFrziFCftcF2w94jwNM4eAMmk5mY7UpkZvFKV1cz_HSX0at2HYTdhpl3zT1Tp-vyUMd8HBfAT0/s320/pp%252C504x498-pad%252C600x600%252Cf8f8f8.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Compared to the structure of most music Can can read as less structured. Compared to most music using lyrics to support their communication bandwidth Can’s lyrical contents make their music more ambiguous. Compared to most traditional popular musical 3 minute song structures, the music of Can relies on a much looser structure, facilitating greater individual musical improvisation, which in turn leads to greater song length. So what do we have then, highly drum and bass driven explorations of conflicting scales, avant-garde titles, structured musical improvisation, ambiguous lyrical content, very early use of sampled and mangled tape effects and a demand that their audience listen. The drum and bass form the overarching structure of the piece and the guitar and keyboard and other noises join in and have a conversation. Its sounds improvised and free form, but the ardent student quickly learns the improvisation is highly structured and form is developed from hours of recorded improvisation. And as the cherry on the cake the vocalist starts speaking in tongues over the top of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I've tried to like Can for years, and even though there would be no My Bloody Valentine without them, they create the illusion of music with no form or shape other than that the audience projects onto it. It’s very highly structured and would in my opinion benefit from a less is more approach. Its conception is too dense, and I fear that even <i>Paperhouse </i>is probably more fun to listen to than play. Going back to my original analogy of the musician being an archer. I don’t care if the musicians bow is made of the rarest sandalwood. I don’t care if they can get 5G reception twenty years before 5G is invented. I don’t care if they are making music no one has heard ever before. It’s important that I believe that they are thinking of me, and what they are trying to say to me, because my needs in the musical equation matter too. I need to know I am some kind of target, even if they miss. When I listen to Taylor Swift or the Sleaford Mods or Fiona Apple or Joanna Newsom (obviously not on the same playlist) their cast is more focussed on winning my acclaim, to the extent I can convince myself they care about me. Whilst I’m never going to the prom and get some cowboy to marry me, I can sort of understand what Taylor swift is singing about. It transports me for an instant into fantasy romance land, the transition is easy. With Can this is so much harder. They don’t give a shit about me, they exist in an intricate prison, endlessly talking to each other in a language I can’t even glimpse, never mind understand.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m5SyBIoMwsM" width="320" youtube-src-id="m5SyBIoMwsM"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: white;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #454545; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-82020528960810862152021-03-31T09:32:00.146-07:002022-11-11T09:55:31.699-08:00THE KINKS - Rich Man Poor Man <p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhU7I7N1pQRjk5eOGSKNwDiKv3iQdCg19ZReW5neN3DV2-1JmyZ4XjP0PSitwlt6NaaQS9wy8dzP43JH3v9RmhNCjKCx3GE87miXaQ5YJmbBLn6wJ0XSYbwNtID3_b61T3Nfcf8RE3Mao/s920/34+%25283%2529.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="920" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhU7I7N1pQRjk5eOGSKNwDiKv3iQdCg19ZReW5neN3DV2-1JmyZ4XjP0PSitwlt6NaaQS9wy8dzP43JH3v9RmhNCjKCx3GE87miXaQ5YJmbBLn6wJ0XSYbwNtID3_b61T3Nfcf8RE3Mao/w400-h400/34+%25283%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Pop
music has a terrible inbuilt weakness of destroying itself through over-familiarity. The constant and cynical repackaging of music served up as random
compilations to recoup the investment of record companies, is a particular curse
of the industry. Exposed to constant replay, individual songs lose meaning in
their contextual association with inappropriate company. In short it loses it's power. Yet when done right, a collection of songs carefully sequenced to aid an overarching theme can occasionally rival good fiction or film. The medium is relentless and in a concentrated 40 minute
sitting, there can be fewer more intense artistic experiences to achieve so
much whilst demanding so little effort. At it's best it <i>envelop</i>s us.</span></span><div><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><div><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">This stereo double album compilation by The Kinks, may or may not
have been prepared for foreign territory release in the mid '70s.
Either way the oil crisis and copyright problems with the sleeve design
sidelined it until this copy with hebrew text on the
label surfaced at the end of last year. Had it been widely distributed it would have
joined a multitude of other such releases to seemingly milk the band's 60's
heyday. Y</span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">et look again and you can see it is so much more.</span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9txzkMImNF-Mv98sbiQq5RlIzxagbh8R0zPkO-UKRG_W6QvxXSOm9OJwWitaoGOkyCzaIFWB_5T5ZyFP7PZ7S0dvzJ5_LaSWjH_ykfL1ELMtNUANEmhhTVDzJsGRJ1AKXMxKHwopfsV8/s1640/35.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1640" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9txzkMImNF-Mv98sbiQq5RlIzxagbh8R0zPkO-UKRG_W6QvxXSOm9OJwWitaoGOkyCzaIFWB_5T5ZyFP7PZ7S0dvzJ5_LaSWjH_ykfL1ELMtNUANEmhhTVDzJsGRJ1AKXMxKHwopfsV8/w640-h317/35.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><b style="background-color: transparent;">Rich Man Poor Man</b> appears to have had it's source in an original and previously
lost <i>all embracing theme</i> that pre-figures the arc of concept albums The Kinks released from the late 60's onwards. </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 18.6667px;">The period was marked by relentless touring that took a physical and mental toll on the band. Poor management by upper class chancers with severe cash-flow problems exacerbated </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">the pressure on the band to deliver hit after hit and Ray Davies found his visionary ambitions frustrated with each song either rush-released as a self-serving single, b-side or album filler. </span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">The songs reflect what he was witnessing close at hand. The class inequalities were bursting through the veneer of swinging London and we can clearly see why he would return again and again to the recurring theme of innocents abroad. The Kinks like many other bands were regarded as no more than walking pound signs created to keep a small army of users fed and clothed. As the years passed Davies would become more explict in calling this out, but in 1966-67 this anger was largely supressed behind a facade of elaborate metaphor and satire. </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">I would argue that had this record been
released at the time it would have greatly altered our perception of The Kinks and
seen them ranked on an equal footing with the progressive long-play output of
their Beatle and Beach Boy peers. As such it's a remarkable discovery. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qSdbBRysZUQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="qSdbBRysZUQ"></iframe></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">RECORD ONE (36 mins)- a sharp tongued
pantomine set to music hall rhythms mocking the rise and fall of old money from
school, office and discotheque. The fortunes of the protagonist collapsing
through a conspiracy of govt. policy and poor English weather, leaving
him adrift from both family and class.</span></i></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"></p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The first side follows the fortunes of a single character, a
certain </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">David Watts</span></b><i><span style="color: white;">, </span><span style="color: #fcff01;">"head-boy at the School, ...captain of
the team"</span><span style="color: white;"> </span></i><span style="color: white;">whose</span><i style="color: white;"> </i><span style="color: white;"><u>immense</u></span><span style="color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8EKHNCJGmL5QarNycBNxctivGxMtc4QRbWTZYx_WGQ9tSkwalix2OPeulrmQQvHX2LzrqdOH06NTReiMXdKQINF1r1ECcg3T1ubb4dhbA6pfArYI4FBBf1PLeScwD_o7s-ijwvWzEblU/s852/villiers.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="622" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8EKHNCJGmL5QarNycBNxctivGxMtc4QRbWTZYx_WGQ9tSkwalix2OPeulrmQQvHX2LzrqdOH06NTReiMXdKQINF1r1ECcg3T1ubb4dhbA6pfArYI4FBBf1PLeScwD_o7s-ijwvWzEblU/w146-h200/villiers.jpg" width="146" /></a></div>superiority is recounted in
detached third person by a narrator we imagine machine-gunning from the School
roof in Lindsay Anderson's "If...". </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"He is so gay and
fancy free.."</span></i><i style="color: white;"> </i><span style="color: white;">he spits</span><i style="color: white;"> "</i><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">... and I wish all his
money, belonged to ME". </span></i><span style="color: white;">But the old money stays with the old money, as
made evident in the summer '65 song </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">A Well Respected
Man</span></b><span style="color: white;"> which acts as a touchstone for the whole concept. This was the first
song released by The Kinks to reveal the inner sardonic mind of Davies who
affects a sneering vocal to the following priceless couplet, </span><i style="color: white;">"</i><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">And he plays the
stocks and shares and he goes to the Regatta, he adores the girl next door,
cause he's dying to get at her".</span></i><i style="color: white;"> </i><span style="color: white;">And on this record, as though it was always meant to be, the final strummed
chord miraculously segues into the opening strummed chord of an
alternate </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Dedicated Follower of Fashion</span></b><span style="color: white;">, breathing new life into Davies
great misappropriated anti-swinging London anthem (see my <b>RAY DAVIES-Spring 1966</b> entry</span><span><i style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">). </span></span></i><span style="color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwj8-2F2555__EfSxk6emEyxNbwwMmUPqo_TEluDAlRUniidR3tjSdsC-Q0ZpDcVaILuLgPSGAnV94HnCGCDwGx8G0-ZNpGS2r0RkYAKteECdyUblTcZBSLnZr2wzh8sZmBkbE5wG0dA/s1180/asher.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="1180" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwj8-2F2555__EfSxk6emEyxNbwwMmUPqo_TEluDAlRUniidR3tjSdsC-Q0ZpDcVaILuLgPSGAnV94HnCGCDwGx8G0-ZNpGS2r0RkYAKteECdyUblTcZBSLnZr2wzh8sZmBkbE5wG0dA/w200-h154/asher.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Then amongst the subterranean-set, the drums poundng like an impending coronary, our narrator
encounters the cast-off </span></span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Little Miss Queen of Darkness</span></b><span style="color: white;">, a waif like Jane Asher in "Alfie", burnt-out </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"cause the only boy she
had, went and cooly stepped aside"</span></i><i style="color: white;"> </i><span style="color: white;"> by... a now far too
randy </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Dandy</span></b><span style="color: white;"> rampaging across the Mayfair nightlife. Here the
underside of the swinging City is laid bare in all it's debauched futility.
Our privileged toff dragged over the coals in the accusatory rave-up, </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">House in the
Country</span></b><span style="color: white;"> ,</span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"Well he got his job when drunken Daddy tumbled down the
stairs, from that very day this boy has more than had his share."</span></i><span style="color: white;"><i> </i>It e</span><span style="color: white;">nds side one with a sense of hubris...for those whom the God's would destroy. And,</span><i style="color: white;"> </i><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"One
of these days I'm gonna knock him off his throne"</span></i><i style="color: white;">, </i><span style="color: white;">sings his old
classmate. It's like a promise. </span></span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The guitar reverses into Side Two like the beginning of the
end because </span><span style="color: #fcff01;">"</span><span style="color: #fcff01; font-style: italic;">He went and spent all the money that he had, because
he had a heart and not a head”. </span><span style="color: white;">T</span><span style="color: white;">he net result, his </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Most
Exclusive Residence for Sale</span></b><span style="color: white;">. An alternate version of </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Afternoon Tea</span></b><span style="color: white;"> follows the
downward spiral, switching the narrative to first person. It's references to an
absent tea-room tryst under starry skies, signalling a delusional descent in
both ambition and libido. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigopeL6dWnFzuMux6VeLn8vTEFw0vQ27R-ynb01UzRL3s4Ix5uXTiMznG7DikWNomMLNVR9aPm2ImxwCVEBxCmRK4qXuOHluYjSNcRFxs8IVM8Gbezuvv8WG5RNoBmEhnmAEl7-69-nt0/s843/wilson.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="792" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigopeL6dWnFzuMux6VeLn8vTEFw0vQ27R-ynb01UzRL3s4Ix5uXTiMznG7DikWNomMLNVR9aPm2ImxwCVEBxCmRK4qXuOHluYjSNcRFxs8IVM8Gbezuvv8WG5RNoBmEhnmAEl7-69-nt0/w188-h200/wilson.jpg" width="188" /></a></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"The taxman's taken all my
dough"</span></i><span style="color: white;"> sums it all up, </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Sunny Afternoon</span></b><span style="color: white;"> or not, with his property
loss ill-compensated by forced inertia 'neath changeable sunny skies, the future is bleak. </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Lazy Old
Sun</span></b><span style="color: white;"> is like that chilly moment as we watch the cloud cover the ground before us
and we wait for it's inexorable shadow to roll over our spot. The song is a woozy nod
to the downer brought on by too much excess whether material, chemical, sunshine or
...booze. An inspired shift back into Pop, the third person </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Mr Pleasant</span></b><span style="color: white;"> though arrives like an unwelcome guest. The chirpy upbeat mood clashes with the bleak truths like something out of Dickens. And even Mrs Pleasant has gone. </span><span style="color: #fcff01;"><i>"Wintertime is
coming, all the sky is grey, summer birds aren't singing since you went away" </i></span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">closes the </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">End of The Season</span></b><span style="color: white;"> curtain like an
old show tune at the end of a rain-lashed pier. </span></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">"I just can't
mix in all the clubs I know”</span></i><i style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: 14pt;">he moans</span><i style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">, </i><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">“Now Labour's in, I have no place
to go"</span></i><i style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">. </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: 14pt;">And so part one ends. The swinging snapshot of the Capital
city now forced to look into itself. </span></span><p></p><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">RECORD TWO (35 mins)- a parallel world
on the other side of town under the same grey skies where the stakes
are so much higher. Characters break free and fall under the City's wheels,
before blissful redemption awakens them to the life-affirming realisation of
the wonders they've always had. Even if it's not that much.</span></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Side three opens with studio chat into a short instrumental run-through of </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Waterloo Sunset</span></b><span style="color: white;"> that drifts straight into the
profound </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Autumn Almanac</span></b><span style="color: white;">. </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"This is my street and I'm never gonna
leave it and I'm always gonna stay here.."</span></i><span style="color: white;"> sings a proud everyman until the mysterious inner workings of the mind are revealed like an actor's split-second expression, </span><span style="color: #fcff01;">"<i>because
the people I meet seem to come from my street and I can't get away... the
street is calling me. Come on home!. Hear it calling me, Come on home!"</i></span><span style="color: white;">. </span></span></p><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicudU1M9fm3Gyti2z1cjsKxoWPU9-wysDtuEXIUCntrWlU9SqRZUVHtw1dS3g5b7ffNkP8YGacuy1qrhMGMM6suBS_udy8zCfhBWJhJ64h7SU7Y2QDtD-l0ZqnA-XRJwPd-v_Xf06HBSU/s1512/christie.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1512" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicudU1M9fm3Gyti2z1cjsKxoWPU9-wysDtuEXIUCntrWlU9SqRZUVHtw1dS3g5b7ffNkP8YGacuy1qrhMGMM6suBS_udy8zCfhBWJhJ64h7SU7Y2QDtD-l0ZqnA-XRJwPd-v_Xf06HBSU/w200-h121/christie.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">And Billy Liar is left at the train station as Julie heads off for the
streets of gold. The London bells introduce us to the </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Big Black Smoke</span></b><span style="color: white;"> and
immediately we consider her fate, as told by a bristling stentorian voice, </span><span style="color: #fcff01;">"<i>Well
she slept in caffs and coffee bars and bowling alleys and every penny she ha-a-a-d,
was spent on purple hearts and cigarettes"</i></span><i style="color: white;">. </i><span style="color: white;">The words </span><i style="color: white;">bowling
alleys</i><span style="color: white;"> spat like a blasphemous rebuke from the pulpit. </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Rosy Won't You
Please Come Home</span></b><span style="color: white;"> follows the lament of her abandoned mother, whilst </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Too Much on
My Mind</span></b><span style="color: white;"> may be the song of them all. A study in mental anguish where to these people, human choice and happiness are forever at the mercy of chance. But smile, smile, smile as long as you've a lucifer to light your </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Harry Rag</span></b><span style="color: white;"> eveything's ok. And at the beginning </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">"</span></i><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">Susie
and Johnny were happy... earned enough to pay the rent" </span></i><span style="color: white;">but these
new characters are introduced to bring us back into the circling kitchen sink of it all. It's Davies most Marxist scenario. The </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Situation Vacant</span></b><span style="color: white;"> reading like a death notice for Johnny's broken dreams,</span><span style="color: #fcff01; font-style: italic;">“Susie’s
separated living with her Ma" </span><span style="color: white;">and</span><span style="color: #fcff01; font-style: italic;"> "little Mama’s satisfied”. </span><span style="color: white;">The fourth song on the side to contemplate the happiness or otherwise of a Mother.</span><span style="color: white; font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FfFAsjawANE" width="320" youtube-src-id="FfFAsjawANE"></iframe></i></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Inevitably
side Four finds us in Ken Loach territority on the aptly named </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Dead End Street.</span></b><span style="color: white;"> A trad jazz coda plays over the fade
like a New Orleans funeral parade, before a thunder crash empties the streets with
apocalyptic portent. </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">“The reckoning was beckoning, they’re living to their doom,
there is no hope, no reasoning, this</span></i><span style="color: white;"> </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Rainy Day in June</span></b><span style="color: #fcff01;">”</span><span style="color: white;">. And </span><span style="color: #fcff01;">“…<i>everybody
felt the rain</i>”.</span><span style="color: white;"> Everybody, Johnny, Joe, Tom and </span><span style="color: white;">Susie, like Rosy before her, free from Mama again but in the mire. Like a miracle </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Susannah’s Still Alive</span></b><span style="color: white;">, but only because we see her breathing
and its all too true that it </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">“Doesn’t matter what she does, she knows that
she can’t win”</span></i><i style="color: white;">. </i><span style="color: white;">T</span><span style="color: white;">he harpsichord waltz of the </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-weight: bold;">Two Sisters, </span><span style="color: white;">which</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: white;">Davies wrote about himself and his brother, introduces two more characters to the mix, </span><i><span style="color: #fcff01;">“Sybilla looked into the mirror, Priscilla looked into the
washing machine”</span></i><i style="color: white;"> </i><span style="color: white;">but through an</span><span style="color: white;"> unexpected moment of grace (in the maisonette), the mood is transformed<i>,</i></span><span style="color: white;"> </span><span style="color: #fcff01;">“<i>Priscilla saw her little children and then decided
she was better off than the wayward lass that her sister had been”</i></span><span style="color: white;">. And that's all it took to return to the beginning and <i>this is my street</i> and </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-weight: bold;">This is Where I Belong. </span><span style="color: white;">It's</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: white;">a blissful mini anthem</span><span style="color: white;"> of hope and it seems to circle back to Record One and the </span><span style="color: #fcff01;"><i>"house upon a hill"</i></span><span style="color: white;"> character, now </span><span style="color: #fcff01;"><i>"with no place to go</i></span><span><b><span style="color: #fcff01;"><i>"</i></span><span style="color: white;">.</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: white;">And at the end of it
all we are made to understand that the bright London lights shine with illusion and as they recede back into the darkness, a glorious </span><b><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Waterloo Sunset</span></b><span style="color: white;"> lights up Terry and our Julie, who we leave to their life of simple pleasures.</span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VMLrSrVD_beDj7UP1YOPLZcSdhRly3jfuttv4q7lINedPH5AynlDAGMwlTT2rUSQ1amnbr-S_ALFlzCXsUMDAhvMmqq5L8GaH4O2QQIhwxki2rkRH-gYyPmnX1T7QCix572daSTgjhk/s1852/36+%25283%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1838" data-original-width="1852" height="637" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VMLrSrVD_beDj7UP1YOPLZcSdhRly3jfuttv4q7lINedPH5AynlDAGMwlTT2rUSQ1amnbr-S_ALFlzCXsUMDAhvMmqq5L8GaH4O2QQIhwxki2rkRH-gYyPmnX1T7QCix572daSTgjhk/w640-h637/36+%25283%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">On reflection the whole thing is a synthesis of the 60's cinematic working class dream, re-channelled by a writer in the thick of it. It's tuneful, simplistic and at times quite moving. It also breathes new life into songs you thought you knew. Try and track down a copy (or make your own). It's a great <i>enveloping</i> listen.</span></span></span></p></div></div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-89705427578273795702021-03-07T11:29:00.007-08:002021-03-07T11:34:12.280-08:00JOHN MARTYN - Run Honey Run<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Well I wish I could think of some cliche to
mouth<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">To make our parting seem less sad<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">But if I told you lies or promised you the
moon<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">The truth would come trickling from my eyes<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">So run honey run, and hide in the wind<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">And never stop to look inside your mind<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Well I wish I could wash all my weeping blues
away<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">And watch them disappear on morning tide<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Oh, but I seek after sword, after sounds of
the sea<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">A charm forever round my mind<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">And I wish I could fly like a bat from a cave<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Through the darkness of my ignorance to light<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">I'd forever live on the echoes of our love<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">And die like some star burning bright</span></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Run Honey Run</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> is the last track on side A of
Martyn’s debut album, produced at island for an allegedly measly sum of 158
pounds. It’s folk in its conception, the songs are guitar driven and
accompanied by Martyn’s thin voice. Musically the songs are simple. This song
features a progression of C F D, but what made Martyn special was this ability
to improvise and extemporise around a simple structure and breathe life into
his conception. Its alarming in the context of the ravages drink and drugs
would have on his reputation and future contributions to culture, that the song
is about warning off his partner. That said this recording represents a pure
moment when a new voice joined the choir of culture, and in joining, enriched
the sound of the times. Exquisite guitar, exquisite vocal, just the right
amount of both.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLRqrQQYEmXsh9fmc9fiYGuctAEP_eCanGR95AC64SxCCUzUgSi8DVwsu-gvjQblyM9PQZaZNtY_aiXTb7JfKbyxiB9m9rgGa7a3ng7std25J8-r0fi2eYr5NhmvGGBowcsm1SithE8w/s500/5623dfe89074d599a9d89fd9897f08ae.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLRqrQQYEmXsh9fmc9fiYGuctAEP_eCanGR95AC64SxCCUzUgSi8DVwsu-gvjQblyM9PQZaZNtY_aiXTb7JfKbyxiB9m9rgGa7a3ng7std25J8-r0fi2eYr5NhmvGGBowcsm1SithE8w/w400-h400/5623dfe89074d599a9d89fd9897f08ae.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">There is a modern problem with cultural
revisionism in that as well as appreciated the art the artist produces, we also
are bidden to seek approval of the person producing the art. Martyn presents an
alarming problem for such sentimentalisation. He was an aggressive, wife
beating, family abandoning, egotistical drug addict who was a guitar maverick.
We can infantilise the historical record or attempt to excuse him, or try to
contextualise his behaviour by describing his life in a culturally hermitically
clinical way. In 1974 in an interview with ZIGZAG magazine Martyn’s describes
his youth, the moments that his crystallises into the lyric and structure
of this song thus,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">“Kick a few heads in or get looked upon as a
pansy … You don’t have any choice up there, either you’re violent or you’re a
weed. And I haven’t got the capacity for being trodden on. I’m a natural born
coward just like everybody else, but I don’t like being taken advantage of. I’m
probably still the same now. But at the time it was just either eat or be eaten
… There were fights in school all the time and knives were bandied about.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(Excerpt From: John Neil Munro. “Some People
are Crazy”. Apple Books.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It should have ended better, but it didn’t<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Island
Was the Finest Record Label on the Planet From 1967 to 1974, Prove Me Wrong”</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> is a sign I’m going to
get painted to attach to a table, so I can sit outside US college buildings
with a mug of tea and debate with differently-minded (i.e. wrong) people until they
slink away with tails between legs and tattered opinions dragging behind them.
Its remit wasn’t a particular style of music, or even anything commercially
viable: acts just had to be new and interesting. That they took a punt on an
unknown folkie in 1967 and basically recorded his live act in around 4 days is
a testament to this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">John
Martyn’s style sets him apart from many other singer/songwriters. His songs
aren’t about having a catchy hook or even that many chord changes: it’s a vibe
you settle into, the repetition of uncomplicated ideas with a percussive thumb
being the metronome to make the song tick along. The nearest comparison I would
draw from the same era would be that of Bert Jansch: one man and his guitar
against the world, with attitude, style and technique to set him apart from the
mainstream.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Run
Honey Run</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">
is played in DADDAD open tuning which features on a number of Martyn’s earlier
songs: it’s a stripped-down tonality which helps to keep the song structure
itself very simple. The vocal melody feels like a pentatonic scale, which again
keeps complexity to a minimum, almost harking back to early polyphonic music.
There’s also a hint of the swinging style that Martyn himself said was a
characteristic of his sound, albeit one that would become more pronounced in
later recordings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">This
is a case of ‘less is more’: a simple song with very slight ornamentation,
played beautifully with one instrument and a voice, lasting under three
minutes. The emotion in the voice isn’t overwrought, despite the charged lyrics
depicting a harrowing breakup; it’s almost a matter-of-fact delivery, like this
is familiar ground which he knows will be re-trod soon enough. Lovely stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zLf-jLIbQ2g" width="320" youtube-src-id="zLf-jLIbQ2g"></iframe></div><p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">In the early 1960s folk music had a prominent position in the
contemporary music scene in the United Kingdom, being a mish mash of elements
ranging from a rather fey model of the troubadour to a potentially subversive
voice. This subversive voice often reflected the views of the marginalised,
especially noticeable in Scottish and Irish contemporary folk where historical
memory was drawn upon to challenge and question the centralised domination of
the London Metropole as the seat of government (some things change not a jot). In
the USA the widespread success of Bob Dylan, and earlier pioneers such as Arlo
Guthrie, in the folk scene fuelled London record companies to produce a range
of folk troubadours, most notably Donovan but also John Martyn, Nick Drake and
others (along with groups such as the Humblebums who had Billy Connolly in
their ranks and represented the more subversive edge of the marginalised). Dylan’s
famous move to electric guitars and other instruments in 1965/6 heralded the
subsidence of record company interest in the purist folk scene in the UK and an
interest in crossover performers who followed the path of Bob Dylan. John
Martyn was a prominent exponent of this mixture where often blues inspired
arrangements were topped off with a mournful singing tone that nodded towards
Dylan and especially Leonard Cohen.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Run Honey Run follows Dylan’s example of rejecting tightly
composed and orchestrated lyrics executed within the three minute limit, or
thereabouts, that were de rigour in the late fifties and early sixties pop
music for a broader and more flexible creative canvas. However for the most
part in the United Kingdom the epic canvases that Dylan and other American
performers created was exchanged for a very English apolitical sensibility that
chimed with class values of middle England. Further the radical changes in the
pop landscape epitomised by the Beatles with their celebrated releases in the
1960s, culminating in the creative experimentation of Sgt. Peppers Lonely
Hearts Club Band, was ignored as sullying the purity of this genre’s folk roots.
Needless to say, this was quite the opposite of the creative mix happening in
the states where to the horror of older generations of country and western aficionados
musicians, such as Gram Parsons and The Byrds, were melding elements of rock
with country and western. For me, the
difficulty with this song of John Martyn is inherent to this troubadour genre. The
<i>Run Honey Run</i> lyric’s invigorating first line hook dissipates soon
after, while the guitar work with its rather knowing blues influenced underpinnings
sits uneasily with the sub-Leonard Cohen lyric and delivery. This is one for
the John Martyn fans exclusively.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">(CH)</span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">I
like folk music and often listen to The Folk Show with Mark Ratcliffe on BBC
Radio 2. Overall, I quite enjoyed this song. It had a nice rhythmic and melodic
feel to it, though I never did figure out why Honey needed to run.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">(GV)</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Run Honey Run</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> instantly
pulls me in with its strong alternating bassline and dancing, wistful melody.
The style of the acoustic guitar very much reminds me of Bert Jansch's version
of Nottamun Town, but the lyrics and Martyn's tone add a ladle full of melancholy,
more in line with the Jean Ritchie version.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The echo and soft tone of the vocals gives a
feeling of distance which contrasts the unvarnished intimacy of the guitar,
probably an intentional representation of the bitter-sweet story of the song.
The instruction for his lover to run and never think back is an expression of
raw, loving selflessness, given with the full knowledge that his grief will
last a near eternity - devastatingly sad, selfless and worldly, especially so
when considering the age at which Martyn penned this incredible song.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">(MS)</span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Run Honey Run</span></i></span><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> is a fairly routine acoustic ballad in a
folk-blues style detailing a familiar my-girl-done-gone-and-left-me type thing.
It enters and exits the cranium in fairly swift order vaguely hinting at the
promise of more substantial things to come. But a full listen to the accompanying
album proves to be a rather underwhelming experience leaving us with little to focus
on other than the chimneys on the sleeve-photo taken on the roof of Island
Records boss Chris Blackwell’s flat on Cromwell Road. This “London
Conversation” was the first departure for that label in terms of the blue-eyed
folk-blues bandwagon, but this is less a conversation and more a few naïve
tune-ups thrown like remarks into a furious debate then being conducted in the
cellars at Benjies and Les Cousins. In the red corner Bert Jansch, in the blue
corner Davey Graham.</span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbF66-M-cwKK2b_vQqMSpckq-rDkLZSCtZ8r1pXmpwSXqfXWoslgCGpZ1wrNKRrFhnMcYrotkQwT6X-sV79Tl2oXnkkUo8ErqUtuMdu6OeR6HfjeUDEYfbuL4vx3GAlQPmd6pSuYJYaU/s600/Stormbringer-Back.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbF66-M-cwKK2b_vQqMSpckq-rDkLZSCtZ8r1pXmpwSXqfXWoslgCGpZ1wrNKRrFhnMcYrotkQwT6X-sV79Tl2oXnkkUo8ErqUtuMdu6OeR6HfjeUDEYfbuL4vx3GAlQPmd6pSuYJYaU/w400-h400/Stormbringer-Back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">To be fair John Martyn came to the party quite
late, he was young when he recorded this. <i>Back to Stay</i> is quite pretty
in a <i>Girl From the North Country</i> way and <i>Rolling Home</i> has some
diverting if kitsch sitar work. But there’s a passe Dylan cover and things
didn’t noticeably improve on the similarly bland second album that followed a
year later. Produced by Paul Simon’s former flat-mate Al Stewart, the latter’s
1969 LP “Love Chronicles” would demonstrate what could be achieved when folkies
managed to break free from slavishly diluted Dylanisms. And as we find time and
time again, it’s the way the artists of this period responded to the
progressive changes around them that make this such a fertile and interesting
period. </span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">After this the Island Records machine put
their full weight behind John Martyn and they packed him off to Woodstock to
make an album with new wife Beverley Kutner, famed producer Joe Boyd and
members of The Band. This resulted in the excellent “Stormbringer” and a
further LP “Road to Ruin”, where the supporting cast were also providing
backing to Hampstead neighbour Nick Drake’s contemporaneous “Bryter Layter”
opus. Both albums are good and due to Martyn’s later popularity (and infamy) more
than a little overlooked.</span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNAVmx9f1FMbenEhq_lFr66rU5Ce2ZNrGSoP07TB5YopDRdYuKqCdvmpGEAE6100DXRfjosF_lFsM_NF-3R_nz9WIw4js88xTbwNfvvH4MvmRTyhYRfPVR9w-uKt9a6DiFMUNztgWaB4c/s300/R-8139071-1455885620-8652.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNAVmx9f1FMbenEhq_lFr66rU5Ce2ZNrGSoP07TB5YopDRdYuKqCdvmpGEAE6100DXRfjosF_lFsM_NF-3R_nz9WIw4js88xTbwNfvvH4MvmRTyhYRfPVR9w-uKt9a6DiFMUNztgWaB4c/s0/R-8139071-1455885620-8652.jpeg.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Beverley had already released a few folk-pop
solo singles and after “decorating” the product of her boyfriends, appearing on
a Bert Jansch LP sleeve and delivering a spoken line on the Simon and Garfunkel
“Bookends” LP, she secured a slot on the opening night at the Monterey Pop
Festival. How they were pushed together as a collaborative couple on these LPs
may be linked to some concern by Island over what to do with Martyn. The albums
were unusual in that they seemed to downplay his guitar playing and shy away
from explicit duets. He did a song, then she did a song and in many cases her
stuff is the more memorable (check out <i>Can’t Get the One I Want</i> on the 1<sup>st</sup>
and <i>Auntie Aviator </i>on the 2nd). </span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">So in retrospect it’s no surprise that he
should emerge a little later with a completely different style, with his voice
buried in an incoherent mumble beneath kaleidoscopic guitar and bass duels. No
need to hear the lyrics when an overarching mood of instrumental dexterity
became the selling point from “Solid Air” onwards. Perhaps it’s me or perhaps
it’s the fact he was of a younger generation, only finding his style as it
expanded into the no man’s land of the mid- 70’s, but it’s music that I’ve
never warmed to. I’ve long suspected
that his inadequacies were skilfully covered up in both production and a macho
mystic attitude with a little stretched out a <i>long</i> way. In more recent
years his connection to Nick Drake as both friend and rival have overshadowed his
own work, building up a narrative which portrays Martyn as a malevolent
presence around the fragile canonised Drake. That may be a bit too much too. </span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></p>
<span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">So
the song here is a youthful sketch but no more than that. Check out those two
LP’s he made with Beverley for his most interesting stuff. Continue after that
with caution.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OUMtGAaA4sg" width="320" youtube-src-id="OUMtGAaA4sg"></iframe></div><br /></span></span></span>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-87673007237325838622021-02-16T02:22:00.021-08:002021-02-16T05:15:57.489-08:00LINDA HOYLE - Black Crow<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">(PS)</span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Hoyle
initially came to limited public recognition in 1970 as the lead singer of
prog/jazz band Affinity, with the eponymous LP released on the Phillips Vertigo
label. It had its high points (<i>I Am and So Are You, Three Sisters</i>) and
low points (the flimsily suggestive <i>Mr Joy</i> and the
not-nearly-as-good-as-Jimi’s version of <i>All Along the Watchtower</i>) but
deserved much more attention than it received.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8sLy88WOPejANXFn5QWalSUpeoEQ5elSi0yzT1Yz2LJY9UbR-ZKJLqZ7nNz4qBYdSg1kWOWEtaej8vYtwU9ufGuP7HURYmadX_nx12wjnXupLQf1XAqExRtmooTob_fL8y41RdXJVn0/s300/4697911-3442.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8sLy88WOPejANXFn5QWalSUpeoEQ5elSi0yzT1Yz2LJY9UbR-ZKJLqZ7nNz4qBYdSg1kWOWEtaej8vYtwU9ufGuP7HURYmadX_nx12wjnXupLQf1XAqExRtmooTob_fL8y41RdXJVn0/s0/4697911-3442.jpeg" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"> Her full-throated delivery drew
comparisons with Grace Slick, but she could also mix it up with a more delicate
softer sound, as demonstrated on the excellent Night Flight, also from that
LP.</span><p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">A few
bills paid from advertising Shredded Wheat (and a subsequent Parkinson
appearance) and she was recording her maiden solo LP in 1971, Pieces of Me with
most of jazz rock afficionados Nucleus as her backing band. Also on the Vertigo
label, but ridiculously only given a pressing run of 300 copies, it pretty much
sank without trace and so original copies of the LP now change hands for well
over £1,000. Highlights for me on this LP are the bombastic title track
(despite Chris Spedding’s wild, presumably first take solo) and <i>Black Crow</i>. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Melodically,
Hoyle doesn’t actually have to do much in the song at all: most of her delivery
is directly on middle C, occasionally veering a few semitones either way and
then back again. The band pretty much carry all of the melodic interest
underneath her, including chromatic runs up and down the octave which keep the
driving feel of the song – aided by John Marshall’s urgent snare, ushering them
along. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQTSD5n_DO4" width="320" youtube-src-id="qQTSD5n_DO4"></iframe></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Where
her delivery is so effective though, is in its rhythm: the dark, scabrous
lines about the underbelly of city life are delivered like machine gun fire and
it complements the unsettling feel of the environment we’re presented with. It
almost feels like we’re in the back of a yellow cab, darting through New York
as it used to be before it cleaned up and got a suit and tie, glimpsing low
lifes on every street corner through a half-open window. But it also seems
like the song’s character belongs there and revels in the dirt and the madness
– that’s why we ‘<i>hurry on down to the centre of town’</i> with her to
witness it all. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">After
all, who doesn’t need their fix of grime and sleaze every now and then? </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">A refugee from the critically acclaimed but commercially ‘not
quite’ Affinity. Linda’s earlier life is featured in this lovely clip showing
the Bohemian posh casing fame and fortunes</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7wvry4hKspo" width="320" youtube-src-id="7wvry4hKspo"></iframe></span></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Linda retired her psychedelic jazz folk voice until she was
persuaded by Ronnie Scott to record with Karl Jenkins (the man who broke the
original Soft Machine and introduced guitars.) Jenkins and Hoyle assembled an
interesting presentation with a different direction for every track. Prominent
on each were Jenkins distinctive keyboards and saxophone and Hoyle’s vocals, over
processed and buried to an extent in the mix. Hoyle has a strong Jazz/Blues
voice, which whilst limited in range, has the strength to rise above the over
layered orchestrations of Jenkins and his session chums. More alto than Sandy
Denny, more growly than Maddy Prior. This song is bedded on a fast tempo
rising and descending scale with some decanted fills and vocal overdubs. On
this song an interesting counter vocal is buried into obscurity in the mix. Its
pleasant enough to hear but is an excellent example of the necessity for a good
producer to suppress the keyboard virtuoso and clean up the vocal presentation.
In this instance Linda’s showcase became Karl’s instead and Art Therapy’s gain
was music’s loss when she left the music business for a new life in Canada. </span></span></p><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Her collaborator Karl Jenkins is showcased in this clip.</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-BpgO1feW-c" width="320" youtube-src-id="-BpgO1feW-c"></iframe></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Enough said.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">This Linda Hoyle track is in
keeping with the material she cut with her previous band whose output has been
considerably fleshed-out over the last few years charting their student evolution
from modern jazzers and beat-pop copyists to the summit of Zombies-stye psychedelia
(the magical band Ice no less) and thence to the biggish time with the frankly less
successful Brian Auger and the Trinity-type outfit, Affinity where Linda did
the Julie Driscoll bit. A very strong vocalist with a touch of Norma Winstone
in her ballad style, in around 1969 she over strained her vocal cords and the
band took up an instrumental residence at manager Ronnie Scott’s club. At the
end of a Brian Auger arrangement of “A Day in the Life”, Ronnie took to the
stage in his droll way and instructed the punters<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">“We’d like to remind you that
we are open until three in the morning and you are invited to eat and drink until
then and we very much hope that you do ...<b>for christ’s sake</b>”</span><span style="color: white;">.</span></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I’d
like to think regulars Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and John le Mesurier were
there to catch that one.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlo5ulHvqjZus3_yPlwr0N-XuAhPduZbDsGqREDAJfDO_vgNHpckAJeabHiivMceZmx41oM7BR4XZZwFzryHLUV9RCfTfBGSlEHzhtzxhtDQE0SYgWdhGrAe7y-MSSaDgwfzlv7g9WiOc/s1000/GettyImages-90317601.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlo5ulHvqjZus3_yPlwr0N-XuAhPduZbDsGqREDAJfDO_vgNHpckAJeabHiivMceZmx41oM7BR4XZZwFzryHLUV9RCfTfBGSlEHzhtzxhtDQE0SYgWdhGrAe7y-MSSaDgwfzlv7g9WiOc/s320/GettyImages-90317601.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Yes Affinity had Ronnie’s patronage
but the fringes of the British jazz movement only equated to the fringes of destitution
and by the mid-70’s many a Brit-jazzer had swapped Frith Street for the Mount
Pleasant Sorting office. By the time Hoyle quit it was clear she didn’t know
where to go next. The album “Pieces of Me” is like an elaborate promo album to tout
her versatility for the next move. It brings in American style singer-songwriter
material with a strong Laura Nyro influence throughout and self-penned versions
of the same such as the gorgeous Carole King style <i>Paper Tulips</i>, sitting
amongst Bessie Smith/Nina Simone standards and a clutch of progressive
jazz-rock-pop hydrids. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Black Crow</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">
is in the latter category, not so much a song as a riff that could have been carved
from a Nucleus jam, most of whom provide the back-up here. <i>Black Crow </i>stands
out as a short funky ride into the dark 1970’s with energetic backing from John
Marshall’s drums driving it on.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqVhj-4z2CYiqJgznKUm52ZcLbkkdWpjt-_lDbX8tnEswbITs5rYjDU7QdS_r398FVpxiKJlSyfjaLjz1VQL1rKfJoEDwS5wIewOnQevx5a6NzGcZoBDTOxthc34mjDemkfareBCtZk4/s1400/LINDA-HOYLE.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqVhj-4z2CYiqJgznKUm52ZcLbkkdWpjt-_lDbX8tnEswbITs5rYjDU7QdS_r398FVpxiKJlSyfjaLjz1VQL1rKfJoEDwS5wIewOnQevx5a6NzGcZoBDTOxthc34mjDemkfareBCtZk4/w400-h400/LINDA-HOYLE.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /></span></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Note -if you hear any jazz on a
British rock album in this period you’ll find it is supplied by players from a
small National house band. John Marshall is a case in point, a ubiquitous side-man
appearing on most of the classic jazz-rock albums of the period, Michael Gibbs,
Mike Westbrook, Neil Ardley, Jack Bruce, Graham Collier et al. Many of them supplemented
their jazz roots with these gigs so when the rock dried up so did the jazz.
Though it should be noted Marshall kept going into the 70’s Soft Machine with Karl
Jenkins who acted as music director for much of this album. Ultimately it would
be the latter who escaped the 70’s slump carving out a sustained career in music,
writing choral chants for crappy TV adverts flogging banks. Ronnie ploughed on until a fateful appointment with the dentist brought
things to a tragic end.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-23710806957136877102021-01-31T08:49:00.030-08:002021-01-31T09:10:42.658-08:00KAREN BETH - Nothing Lasts<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 18.6667px;">(MS)</span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">In Andrew Wyeth's 1948 painting "Christina's World", his
subject is settled on the prairie peering longingly towards a homestead in the
near distance. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="xs1" style="background-color: black;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5CkL8LXFdjlx31fHi9c8hLW24g4uKwV9W4UpLR-PzFMKe_B3DYC2x3eZ77o3Swa93kLCaejvN9tSzC7_gUcocYZ4eolniU8BDzPz_gvmN0NaHFIGxKMWB2WZBgS8qR9BTEpxyWi1Jb8/s395/Christinasworld.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5CkL8LXFdjlx31fHi9c8hLW24g4uKwV9W4UpLR-PzFMKe_B3DYC2x3eZ77o3Swa93kLCaejvN9tSzC7_gUcocYZ4eolniU8BDzPz_gvmN0NaHFIGxKMWB2WZBgS8qR9BTEpxyWi1Jb8/s320/Christinasworld.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">A disconnected barn signals isolated farm-life, the great
outdoors and a world hidden from the grinding cogs of men. There is a heavy
atmosphere of entrapment and … something unsettling in the air. And the subject
of the painting and clue to the title reveals all, for the woman was crippled
with a muscular problem and preferred to crawl than use a wheelchair. The portrait
literally frames the frontiers of her world, physically endured through the palms
of calloused hands and legs, dragged torturously over needles of sheared corn. Years
later the subtle tragedy of the image was gloriously defiled by the makers of
the <i>Texas Chain Saw Massacre</i> in an eye-catching poster that explicitly
connected the otherworldliness of backwoods life with schlock horror.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> </span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">And such is the dark continental interior of gothic Americana.</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p style="background-color: black;"> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYV_s4FOwvFLf_cA2iTMt4uj0NFbqnlxo40C3DJI0-HFnT5M07wZqC_zvO6YCngQ9pIl5M0XCM4MM-RlaK514l6xB2JWCqO64uJaZkzuhzbDn69pVRin1g6X5e7q9nVhilNYpMIdYQMNQ/s228/download_2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img border="0" data-original-height="221" data-original-width="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYV_s4FOwvFLf_cA2iTMt4uj0NFbqnlxo40C3DJI0-HFnT5M07wZqC_zvO6YCngQ9pIl5M0XCM4MM-RlaK514l6xB2JWCqO64uJaZkzuhzbDn69pVRin1g6X5e7q9nVhilNYpMIdYQMNQ/s0/download_2.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">This all comes to mind as I find myself immersed in a listening
cycle of late 60s female singer songwriters of whom the mysterious Karen Beth
was one. The mystery is not so much the performer, she was recording well into
the 1980’s, but more where this recording came from. We have an early record
sleeve where she comes over as a girl who may have sang harmonies in a church harmony
group that got a slot on the Pat Boone Show and who was then pushed into the
studio to try a folk-pop song when everybody was desperate for another <i>Sound
of Silence</i>. And then we have her first LP “The Joys of Life” with her
standing in a tree, kinda blurry, her features enmeshed in the branches, the
camera a strange distance away from her face. It’s almost as if she didn't
really want to be recognised. And scoring the LP was a veteran of Peter, Paul
and Mary sessions, suggesting a middle of the road conservatism gently letting
loose. </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">And finally there is her voice. It doesn’t sound like a voice that spent
time honing these songs in smoke-filled city folk-cellars. Its reticent,
repressed almost. There is something being held back in her delivery which enhances
the mystery.</span><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwuzRnO9kMHmLR-PqG0E91cbVVPAdR4kyX20bBZ9OOT8EE_02RGfFAIEMXXNPdj71Dsgtr8MNpmZloWbYtLsk5SrM916ZB1oL3AC73CH8-i285DiD2mYzo7OEG-zDOOakDvqHcLT2n7A/s226/download-_1__1.jpg" style="background-color: black; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="223" data-original-width="226" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwuzRnO9kMHmLR-PqG0E91cbVVPAdR4kyX20bBZ9OOT8EE_02RGfFAIEMXXNPdj71Dsgtr8MNpmZloWbYtLsk5SrM916ZB1oL3AC73CH8-i285DiD2mYzo7OEG-zDOOakDvqHcLT2n7A/w400-h395/download-_1__1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">In
an act of sublime sequencing (the much neglected root of auteur album construction)
the song <i>Nothing Lasts</i> is preceded by an acapella piece of Xian-folk <i>Shepherd
of the Mountain</i> where she invites the afore-mentioned to spiritually enter her
body.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> In the context of the
preceding sweet yet mournful songs it lands like a celestial visitation and echoing
as from a cave, heavily sets up the blissful Sermon from the Mount that
follows. <i>Nothing Lasts</i> oozes into the ears with sweetly strummed acoustic
guitars and an amplified upright bass bubbling around the soundscape. The piano
seems to be deliberately underplayed dancing like spiders on velvet drapes and
half-way through delivers the most minimal and devastating eight note solo
ever heard. The lyric is wise and impressive, “Forget the past, nothing lasts”
repeats throughout, each time seemingly delivered with an ever so slightly enhanced
fervour. It’s all things must pass-forever changes mantra is both life
affirming and humbling. During the recording George C Scott was filming
“Patton” with its famous line “</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">For over a thousand years Roman
conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honour of triumph…</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown,
and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting”. It could have
been used on billboards to promote this record. It should be used on billboards
now. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">Some wish.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p style="background-color: black;"> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YXHs6KNoI6o" width="320" youtube-src-id="YXHs6KNoI6o"></iframe></span></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p style="background-color: black;"> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">The penultimate
track of singer songwriter’s Karen Beth’s debut. A saddish song accompanied
with a mixture of folk and electric guitar, with a voice that’s not quite as
strong as the material demands. This essential mismatch is the foundation of
the artist's appeal. Strong musical arrangements, sad detectable, but ambiguous
lyrics, not ambiguous enough to be universal, but appearing to detail some
personal romantic tarmac, but recorded in a sufficiently diffuse style to
negate voyeurism. But the voice is a church voice, not a rock voice, she evokes
emotion but not necessarily empathy. This is one of the sadder songs on the
collection <i>The Joys of Life</i>, and is presumably intended as some kind of
counterpoint to the happier themes explored in the other songs presented.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p style="background-color: black;"> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-line-height-alt: 11.75pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">After a few listens of Karen Beth I
can’t quite make up my mind whether I rather like her or find her faintly
irritating. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-line-height-alt: 11.75pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">On the one hand, there’s something
about her music which makes me think of one of my folk heroes, Nick Drake: the
gentle caressing feel of the nylon strung acoustic guitar; the all-too-subtle
double bass softly bobbing around (actually this echoed Astral Weeks for me a
bit too); the simple piano chiming which made me think of One of These Things
First from Bryter Layter; the wistful lyrics which suggest melancholia and
optimism in equal measure… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-line-height-alt: 11.75pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDaDT8GmjjPOKghzhKSugsgV-OnNIgxIP2tcezYKjMS6G1d_FOszzHpXFQt03WW_wVFjkBHOeOqiRAMIt9b0fH64DQja9-Y67gRYMOATFV1AgcglpSO_iiRpNYVXWXToEh813OR4mxyE/s275/download-_3__1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDaDT8GmjjPOKghzhKSugsgV-OnNIgxIP2tcezYKjMS6G1d_FOszzHpXFQt03WW_wVFjkBHOeOqiRAMIt9b0fH64DQja9-Y67gRYMOATFV1AgcglpSO_iiRpNYVXWXToEh813OR4mxyE/s0/download-_3__1.jpg" /></a></span>And then there’s the marmite voice,
which reminded me of a friend from years ago who couldn’t abide Drake because
of his singing style – something I could never understand – but I do get a
sense of that here. At times the melody seems to get stuck in a recess of
Beth’s throat, then it almost sounds like someone attempting a feeble Bee Gees
impression. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-line-height-alt: 11.75pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">There’s nothing particularly
remarkable about the song structure, with its simple strummed chords; although
the chromatic arpeggios on the piano halfway through add drama and
interest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-line-height-alt: 11.75pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">I may well find myself changing my
mind after further listens and this could turn out to be a bit of a grower; but
at the moment I can’t quite get past that voice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-82438113132027761352021-01-03T05:18:00.008-08:002021-01-04T03:48:59.908-08:00WIRE - Heartbeat<p> </p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">(</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">My entry into the world of popular music was not an arrow hitting
a target, it was more of a nervous meandering, a rejection of that that was old
and a desire to be kissed by something new. In 1979, golden age prog was dead (“The
Wall”), rock gods Zeppelin floored by the death of their drummer and my brain
was going somewhere else. Flushed with too many hormones I was assaulted by the
Clash, the Talking Heads and Joy Division, whilst I consciously turned my back
on Queen, Bowie and Rainbow, bands like The B52s, Magazine, Gang of Four, XTC,
Public Image genuinely captured my musical attention by actively trying
something new. Aided by Oldham record library, the cassette/walkman revolution
and the Old Grey Whistle Test my horizons were tested almost daily with
something new. </span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjQpQC7STWAM2IOFhyFPy-c2HVUkj4bO12B7m8WXVgeffmJdwKSMLNLmgTGg1QYuFpmqjQK9X_dHf5W0SM6bRMu141WEOeHmV5PhpuYyUP2UFzBIHHwpwu5SBhiD5Hb8e5vBMY6e8Ui4/s640/s-l640.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="448" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjQpQC7STWAM2IOFhyFPy-c2HVUkj4bO12B7m8WXVgeffmJdwKSMLNLmgTGg1QYuFpmqjQK9X_dHf5W0SM6bRMu141WEOeHmV5PhpuYyUP2UFzBIHHwpwu5SBhiD5Hb8e5vBMY6e8Ui4/w280-h400/s-l640.jpg" width="280" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Wire came from a random pick based on the arty cover of “Chair’s
Missing”. It was taped and not listened to for months because the band appeared
to ignore the music publicity cycle. I caught a bleak performance of this song
where a dark stage unleashed a particularly starkly underlit, twitchy Colin
Newman on me. Earlier that evening I had been listening to <i>Shine on you Crazy
Diamond</i>, which by contrast seemed over done compared to the drama and
simplicity of <i>Heartbeat</i>. I particularly love the gentle crescendo as the
rest of the band join in and the gentle fall to the end of the song<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Lyrically the song is as ambiguous as it gets,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I feel icy<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I feel cold<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I feel old<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">Is there something here<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">behind me?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I'm sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I feel empty<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I feel dark<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I remark<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">I am mesmerized<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">By my own beat<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">Like a heartbeat<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">Like a heartbeat. </span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Its simple purity is what has made the song a comparison piece to
many future songs I have heard. Is this song better than Heartbeat? Some
have been, but to be honest not many.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-2cL_ps3MYQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="-2cL_ps3MYQ"></iframe></div><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">An intriguing post-punk song released on the progressive EMI
Harvest label, with a lo-fi DIY ethic alongside a healthy dose of that prog
inventiveness; especially when comparing it to the cover version by Big Black
from 9 years later which seems to miss the whole point of the song, cranking it
up way too much and losing all of the suspense.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Heartbeat is an atmospheric song which starts down low and draws
you in with the expectation of a huge climax, building and building - but then
holds back and dies back down like an aborted resuscitation. It's touted as a
love song, but it's surely unrequited (or at least unconsummated) if so. </span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It sounds like the missing link between Wreckless Eric and the
Cure and held my attention for way longer than a song with just two chords and
no chorus had any right to. There's also a flute in there somewhere
apparently, but it's so far down in the mix I can't pick it out. Maybe a
further spin on vinyl is required, but unless it's languishing in a bargain bin
I shan't shell out too much for it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It seems that by the time the
Wire finally made it to the party the only thing left in the <i>Aftermath</i>
was the rotting corpse of The Stones' monotonously chugging rave-up-wig-out
"Goin' Home". Carving off a slice from the mid-section, the song's
carnal grunts of sweaty expectation were eschewed for something altogether
colder and abstract and angular. It was all neon strips and breeze-block
brutalism, broody, teutonic. But not the exotica moonscape of Bowie's Berlin, this
is the sound of the Corbusier-inspired shopping plaza ennui of the
rain-drenched radial towns where shaven-headed men were purchasing pin-stripe
shirts from Burton's with irony. Behold the New Wave.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-26235118910529996812020-12-21T05:52:00.028-08:002020-12-28T04:06:26.603-08:00KEITH HUDSON - Michael Talbot Affair<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">(CG)</span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">As sound clashes developed in Jamaica in the
1970s, the dub plate, where the popular reggae tunes were stripped
down to rhythm and drums providing the sound systems with the space to lay down
their own sounds as well as the toasting and improvised toasting of the DJs that
were invited to perform against each other, took on
an energy of it's own. This intense competition between sound systems and the
need to deliver to exclusive versions to match and outplay the rival sound
systems led to an intensively creative period in Reggae music with the
reworking of tunes using the sound studio to weave or drop in musical and vocal
phrases over the drum and bass, often accented by dub or other effects before
fading out. Each sound system developed its own highly prized style to attract
large followings as well as outplay rivals in the musical duels as it revealed
new dub plates that offered original reworkings of tunes and innovative dub
sounds to dazzle. The originality of sound engineers meant that their studios
and output became as famous as the sound systems, musicians and vocalists,
singers and toasters. Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock and “Lee Scratch” Perry
were key to these developments and their fame spread far and wide, including
the UK where British sound systems in its metropoles, such as Sir Coxsone
Sounds (named after the famous Coxsone Dodd sound system in Jamaica), Jah Shaka
and Chanel One (a little later) in London as well as many others in London and
the UK, set up and imported the latest dub plates to acclaim.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLczzYs3S4apsZ5pOQUNo-YM6gfPEloYzbSlYpKzrC1aY0a0-TpmBE2eKKAS6pYINXDtE90BonfKLbnzb-pHhwT2bOKMAkAC0p2Jv7jsnwZOMFRHCi-ieoBsL56EclMz9OeG0-GtIDFak/s240/download.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="240" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLczzYs3S4apsZ5pOQUNo-YM6gfPEloYzbSlYpKzrC1aY0a0-TpmBE2eKKAS6pYINXDtE90BonfKLbnzb-pHhwT2bOKMAkAC0p2Jv7jsnwZOMFRHCi-ieoBsL56EclMz9OeG0-GtIDFak/w320-h280/download.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In the mid-1970s in central London the two
places to hit were Colombo’s where Sir Coxsone played and the Thursday night
reggae session at the 100 Club where virtually every single reggae artist played
when they passed through London, including Gregory Isaacs, Sugar Minot, Lone
Ranger, Cedric Myton and the Congos among a plethora of other great Jamaican
musicians. Daddy Kools sound system from the reggae vendor Daddy Kools in
Hanway Street off Tottenham Court Road played the sounds at the 100 club and
people would bring in the latest dub plate from Jamaica for them to play,
including one week in 1976 the classic King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown by
Augustus Pablo that had been circulating as an exclusive dub plate. The next
day I rushed round to Daddy Kools to buy a DJ white cover copy from their fast
diminishing stack of King Tubby’s which they had bought the previous night.
King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry, with his Dub Blackboard Jungle are perhaps the
two most recognised dub originators with many classic dub records to their
names but another who is much less well known as a dub originator is Keith
Hudson, whose song The Michael Talbot Affair was part of his dub album
Pick-a-Dub. This was the first thematic album in dub released in 1974 and was
the first dub album to be released in the UK.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">One of the truly great dub albums it presented
a seemingly austere focus on drum and bass but reworked classic tunes with
Aston and Carlton Barret (from Bob Marley and the Wailers) laying down bass and
drums that opens up to repeated hearings while Keith Hudson, Big Youth and
Horace Andy add vocal phrases. However the <i>Michael Talbot Affair </i>is for
me the apex of the album and I listen to it on a regular basis right up to the
present day. It has a complex interweaving of melody lines by a range of
instruments, including Augustus Pablo’s melodica, that shape the dub rhythm and
as it plays, its different interposed elements and phrases enrich each other
while the progression of both the rhythm and the melodies offer a satisfying
resolution by its end. It is a classic and truly great original cut that can
match any comparable example in other genres.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I have to admit, I’m a total novice with
regard to Dub. I’ve since done a small amount of reading up about it online,
and I can’t believe I never knew what a crucial role toasters played. I do
now. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I’ve always found it hard to get into the
laid-back groove of Dub though, always preferring the more upbeat stylings of
Ska; but this instrumental based on House of the Rising Sun had a bit more to
it for me. Being largely in a minor key it has a mournful feel to it, which
seems to tally with one youtube poster who says that it’s “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">In
memory of Michael Talbot from Bristol who lost his life in a racist incident in
the '70s”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The twinning of the guitar & sax after
the stripped down introduction works really well and the melodic lines merge
nicely: the guitar seeming to take Eric Burdon’s vocal line from the original
and the sax playing a variation alongside it; but the guitar is lower in the
mix so it’s not necessarily the first thing you hear. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The guitar repeats this melodic line
afterwards, with the sax comping alongside it – and that’s where the hook
became more obvious to me. Then the sax takes over for the last half of the
song, which reprises its earlier theme in a very unassuming, discreet fashion –
occasionally drifting out completely to allow subtle piano & organ to
quietly fill the gaps. The only thing which jarred ever so slightly was the
errant C in the fadeout, but it’s such a tasteful solo – and I rather like it
when the occasional bum note is left in. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Given the dedication mentioned above, this
song seems to me like a hugely dignified response to a tragic incident in a
racially charged period of our nation’s history, and I’m grateful that I’ve
been made aware of it now. </span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6LAmh0GI9OE" width="320" youtube-src-id="6LAmh0GI9OE"></iframe></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white;">I went looking for a coffee table the other day. A small
coffee table. I’d just moved flat and realised I’d reached the point where all
was in place except this, a place for my mug of tea. So with impending national
restrictions on my shopping options in the air I ventured out in search of said
item with headphones on bleeding the works of Keith Hudson into my ears. A cold
heavy rain set about the streets around Olympia where nearly a hundred years before
Oswald Mosely had entertained a monster gathering of British fascists and where
in December 1967 the psychedelic underground had its final fling with the <i>Christmas
on Earth Continued</i> event with Hendrix, Soft Machine, The Move, Pink Floyd, Traffic
et al elbowing each other out of the way on their mad dash for overground
success. I was heading south as Shepherd’s Bush had surprisingly offered
nothing at all in the shape of second-hand furniture. That seems odd doesn’t
it? Perhaps that’s what happens when the largest Shopping mall in Europe sets
itself down on a locale like some gleaming spaceship. “What is this thing called dub?” I thought
to myself, as I carefully stepped over puddles that I judged may engulf my <i>Jermaine
Genius</i>-style white sole trainers, recently repaired via stick-on-soles from
Timpsons. With it’s booming bass-lines and echo-treated drums it struck me it’s
just another colour on the great aural palette of mind-altering music intended
to achieve the Rimbaudian disordering of the senses. It also struck me that the
great Westfield shopping centre could possibly have been accommodated within
the confines of the Olympia exhibition hall, maybe leaving Shepherds Bush with more
space for crazy alleyways of bric-a-brac shops and…second hand furniture.
Wasn’t <i>Steptoe and Son</i> set in Shepherd’s Bush? I think a certain music
fan always reaches out for stuff that promises an other-worldly sensation.
Music as a drug perhaps for those of us who prefer a pint of beer than dangerous
meetings with shadowy figures in Camden doorways. When I was young in the late
70s and 80’s I can see the path had been pre-destined for me to term this sort
of musical quest as psychedelic; the dry vacuum of the 80’s could do nothing
but half-remember more colourful days. It was a catch-all phrase for the
way-out which I soon applied similarly to my enjoyment of jazz with it's
Pollock abstracts on the Ornette Coleman gatefold sleeves. The long soloing
passages of Coltrane clearly inspiring the improvisational efforts of the 60s
guitarists and keyboard virtuoso’s to come. I thought of this as I crossed
Gunterstone Road where Hendrix was first deposited from the newly christened Heathrow
Airport in 1966 and where he jammed with Andy Somers, later to find fame in The
Police, and from where he set about dismantling the London psychedelic movement.
Hendrix was fond of the echoed guitar sound drifting away into the background,
like his B52 bomber raid solo during the Star Spangled Banner. Interesting to
hear the same effects adopted by Jamaican studio freaks just a few years later.
Down North End Road I finally found a coffee table small enough to carry home.
I held it over my head to keep off the rain and darted down a side street maze
back home. The <i>Michael Talbot Affair</i> came on just as I turned down
Beaumont Crescent where I found a plaque to the home of Marcus Garvey’s Universal
Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. And speaking of
coincidences the last time Hendrix played it was at Ronnie Scott’s in the
company of Eric Burdon the vocalist on The House of the Rising Sun. I like the
way London can send my thoughts adrift in kaleidoscope patterns and this
thing called dub is a welcome addition to my palette.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">As instructed I’m going to ignore the monumental contribution this
recording offered to the music industry spawning the commerciality of remixing.
Creating the notion that everything that had ever been recorded could exist in
multiple commercial editions is perhaps the greatest contribution Dub made,
together with opening the door of aesthetic intellectual pretensions normally
reserved for the jazz set to descend to lesser technicians of the musical
fraternities. Dub also bestowed musicality status to the mixers and studio
engineers who had been silently building greater reputations in the industrial
production cycle of popular music.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The Michael Talbot Affair takes the Animals standard “House of the
rising sun”, strips the lyric about brothels from the piece. Drops the chord
structure down two tones to a G Sharp tuning, and speeds up the rhythm from 125
BPM to 143 BPM. The chords are Dbm / Ebm / Gb / Abm / Db / Bbm / Bd / Eb<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The mix favours the drum and bass end. Pleasing but the vocal is
missed, being too recognisable to the original.</span><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-77576589300373011272020-12-06T04:24:00.019-08:002020-12-28T04:07:10.629-08:00THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION - Flower Punk<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">(PS)</span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">It’s impossible to adequately characterize
the music of Frank Zappa: it’s rock, blues, jazz, classical, doo-wop,
vaudeville, satire, avant-garde and more, all rolled into one (and often, all
rolled into one song). I remember my first feeling of listening to Zappa:
through chunky old, industry standard headphones in a small booth in my uni
record library, I thought “this is incredible, what the fuck is it?”. 30 years
on and I still get a similar rush of discovery, even though the LPs are
familiar to me now. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">People at the time maybe saw Zappa as
counter-culture because he wrote weird music and had unkempt hair like all the
other freaks, but that’s only a bird’s eye view of the man and his work. Look
at the disdain he shows for the ‘institutionalized hippiedom’ (as High Fidelity
referred to it) and its burgeoning commercial appeal on We’re Only In It For
The Money and on Flower Punk in particular, and you’ll see him calling out all
the fakes and the Johnny-Come-Latelies: the ones jumping on the
corporate-approved bandwagon with the hope/expectation of making some coin and
getting laid. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7aGt1YabCv1lGPQTZxbMUS3u3dFiZ6lj8__e75x4VmmfBgKPJ242JxnASYG1oK3pWU-OomH56rSScjuIzEpeAdNZcI_r6qfxIDN6HBBVbEkheCnkZe7e1HQiWjeKtWKsFfqMRLiIFOA/s2048/Zappa67.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2032" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7aGt1YabCv1lGPQTZxbMUS3u3dFiZ6lj8__e75x4VmmfBgKPJ242JxnASYG1oK3pWU-OomH56rSScjuIzEpeAdNZcI_r6qfxIDN6HBBVbEkheCnkZe7e1HQiWjeKtWKsFfqMRLiIFOA/w408-h382/Zappa67.jpg" width="408" /></a></span></div><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Flower Punk sets the scene with the choice
of cover, ripping off the cliched standard Hey Joe (there was also a taste of
this on Absolutely Free, with the cack-handed opening chords of the already
hackneyed Louie Louie on Plastic People) but this time played in 7/8 to cock a
snook at the non-musos, and sped up twice as fast on Zappa’s Variable Speed
Oscillator. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The lyrics nail all the Scott McKenzie
stereotypes one by one: Hey punk, where you going with those beads around your
neck/ that button on your shirt/ that flower in your hand/ that hair on your
head – with the responses as shallow as the image drawn: </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I'm
goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band/ to the love-in to sit & play
my bongos in the dirt/ to the dance to get some action, then I'm goin' home to
bed. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">As he says calmly to the enraged punter
screaming at a “uniform” at the end of Little House I Used to Live In from
Burnt Weeny Sandwich: “Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don’t
kid yourself.” </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">For me, the real cynicism is in the spoken
musings of said Punk though: in the left channel, sped up, Zappa is talking
about how he’s just learnt the guitar, can strum some chords pretty well and
hopes a girl in the audience will notice him and hook up with him; in the right
channel, regular speed, he’s wondering what he’ll buy with all his imagined
future royalties – a bike, no - a car, no - a boat, no – real estate… and then
hopes that girl in the audience will notice him and hook up with him. Tellingly,
the song ends and both left and right channel voices have to ask the band if
it’s finished. Ouch. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Zappa deliberately made music that was
awkward, disjointed, askew, out of step with the regular beat; commercial or
critical acclaim weren’t even a consideration. Ironically, We’re Only In It For
The Money was Zappa’s most commercially successful LP of the early period.
Maybe the twisted Sgt Pepper parody cover - complete with alternative
celebrities on the inside gatefold and band members in drag on the outside -
helped gain some notoriety. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">His music is challenging, complex,
original, genuinely funny, indulgent, shocking, thought-provoking, infuriating
at times – but never compromised. Maybe the best way to categorise Zappa is
that he was exactly what everyone else wasn’t. If you don’t get it, that’s your
problem. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KoVpJDZPvms" width="320" youtube-src-id="KoVpJDZPvms"></iframe></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were always striking for
their versality in playing and often switching genres in mid-song on record and
in live performance. Their musicianship live was impressive if under the tight
control of Frank Zappa. Zappa himself was a gifted guitarist which was most
apparent in live performance as some You Tube recorded performances highlight.
For me his best albums were Cruisin with Ruben and the Jets (1968), Hot Rats
(1969)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Weasel Rip my Flesh (1970)
where his artful genre explorations appeared to veer between enjoyment of the
music. Thisis exemplified in Cruisin with Ruben and the Jets where he explored
and celebrated surfing music and the heritage of rock and roll which
contributed to it, such as bands like the Coasters with their consummate lyrics
written by Leiber and Stoller that documented (as did the songs of Chuck Berry,
“the poet Laureate of Rock and Roll”) teenage life in the 1950s. We Are Only in
It for the Money<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>where Flower Punk
featured was recorded in the same year as Cruisin with Ruben and the Jets in
1968. It along with Hot Rats and Weasel Rip my Flesh shift Zappa’s attention to
the explosion of rock as the emergent rebellious music of a new generation. As
an inventive composer Zappa always played with the genres he explored often
verging on parody and pastiche, if wittily done. He seemed caught between the
desire to have a major world wide hit in each genre he encapsulated and a
contrary desire to show his total mastery of a genre by outdoing songs that
were already highly successful. Such is the case with We Aare Only in it for
the Money whose cover parodied the Beatles innovative album cover for Sergeant
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band created by John Haworth and Peter Blake and
ridiculed the values of the psychedelic hippie movement with its emphasis on
all things free, including love, as response to the conservatism that had
preceded the early sixties as well as the ongoing power of the corporate
institutions to dictate the lives of its employees. Flower Punk parodies the
track Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix and for good measure to show Zappa’s mastery
throws in riffs from Wild Thing,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>while
ridiculing the flower power advocated by the hippie movement with its rejection
of the Vietnam war and the enforced draft of those without political
connections to evade its call up (such as ex president Trump). The lyric
mercilessly targets Scott Mckenzie’s popular if gentle hit If You Are Going to
San Francisco (Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair) as Haight Ashbury in
San Francisco was then regarded as the epi-centre of this emergent
counter-culture, if already in decline. Zappa visited London in 1971 to play at
the Rainbow Theatre and notoriously was pushed offstage by an irate fan,
breaking ribs and suffering other severe injuries. I saw him play on his next
visit to London where he seemed, for obvious reasons, wary of the audience. The
musicianship was impressive and Zappa’s skill with the electric guitar was of
the highest order but constant switches of genre in mid song became irritating
and the quality of musicianship lacked heart, rendering it for all its
sometimes bizarre yet impressive changes of tempo to this viewer an academic
exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">I can see a
teenage Zappa and the even stranger Beefheart sucking back on their root beers
at the Drive-in. Snickering in unison with feet on the dashboard, peeking through
their toe-gaps at the giant clicking ants in the cold war B movie flashing before
their eyes. A block away the looming antennae shapes casting shadows across the
walls of the Mojave Army installation where “Pop” Zappa earnestly mixed batches
of experimental mustard gas. Over the course of time perhaps the leaking chemical
clouds escaped over Suburb-a-ville into the school rooms and general store and maybe
mutating down at the Hop it sent the assembled straights writhing and frothing to
music that was an unholy mix of doo wop pap, Lenny Bruce rap and free jazz
scapings. But no it was just Zappa Jnrs deep-seated despair of the world around
him that created this music. A provocateur so frustrated and angry with
everything around him that he tore up the rule books from the start and tore
into the heart of a Great Society on its inevitable manifold destiny towards
Trumpism. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">On Sunset Strip
Zappa trooped in behind Brian Wilson, the only two genius' (other than Phil
Spector) allowed to <i>conduct</i> the Wrecking Crew. On his “Lumpy Gravy” composition
these long in the tooth paid by the hour Pro’s mocked him but once he'd made
them follow his sheet music it seems they kinda revered him. Zappa was a very
intelligent musician and writer.You can hear him thinking in the space of a
song, which was part of his problem. Maybe he was too clever. Where Wilson was a
doomed romantic so Zappa was prophetically nihilistic and in retrospect it
makes perfect sense why he and The Monkees were not so strange bedfellows.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVEQuQvQPC2JreEykSY7HR9c9nxaFwPkOdhOJRiaeb_30s-YNSNknilN2SgTxLb5ckz6N529AF6hBFk1F_1F_iBuC7qN61yKIgnl3GbHkbINdNnImaIJ7WvR28h1p_cz4w5w7rT2PHlw/s1592/2one.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1592" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVEQuQvQPC2JreEykSY7HR9c9nxaFwPkOdhOJRiaeb_30s-YNSNknilN2SgTxLb5ckz6N529AF6hBFk1F_1F_iBuC7qN61yKIgnl3GbHkbINdNnImaIJ7WvR28h1p_cz4w5w7rT2PHlw/w645-h341/2one.jpg" width="645" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;"><br /> <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">The Mothers Zappa
dragged out of this fault-line to play the music, had the genuine look of
recidivist sex-offenders discharged from a Peckinpah Bordello scene. Tex-Mex
scary hippies long before Manson made that idea a going concern. I mean they
looked like the only band that could have possibly recorded "Brown Shoes
Don't Make it". A song that to this day makes me feel very uncomfortable.
(“</span><i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">What would you do Daddy?”). </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">There was a conscious effort to surround
himself with freaks (Beefheart Wild Man Fischer, Flo and Eddie) it was part of
a grand surreal plot to jolt the normal world. I makes me think of Vic and Bob’s
employment of Uncle Peter et al. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-size: 14pt;">(ED.I note the one in the middle is currently incarcerated for sexual offences with minors) </span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">By the end of
the decade he'd already moved on, pushing his band towards jazz-rock breaking
point with long complex instrumental movements <span class="xapple-converted-space"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">which set the template for many
others to follow such as</span></span> the Soft Machine (listen to “King Kong”
and then Soft Machine II). Behind he left three complex pop oratorios that
matched Wilson's cut and paste “Smile” ambition in both scope and multi tracked
over-dubbed execution (and I mean over). <i>Freak-Out, Absolutely Free</i> and <i>We’re
Only in it for the Money</i> turned the flashlight on a riot torn racially
divided America, where teens idiotically fucked up on their way to becoming dad
whilst dad fucked up on his way to becoming dead. They're complex records
worthy of multiple re-play, crammed full of hidden movements and jokes and snatches
of ideas that most other bands would have milked a whole career out of.
'Flower-punk' gives a taste, inverting a garage staple into a gently humorous
satire of the Plastic Frisco-bound. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">If you’re so inclined,
try <i>Uncle Meat</i> next up to the end of '69's <i>Hot Rats</i>.<span class="xapple-converted-space"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> T</span></span>hen switch
back to Beefheart. Then stop.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">(JS)</span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I must confess I never really
ever got Frank Zappa. I have been aware of him. I have been told he’s worth listening
to. I think because I haven’t found my own way to his music I have an
appreciation block that I’ve never been able to shift. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIanPAtk_LpsfYPE5U9Q06kZ3yix87rPcJYVbXLbKtMSashYYVosC6jMIom_0iivBKyQPFIE-5P5NmuzfU3LoeBIv9vaU4N547FQ3E0SYPbYbwMqTSn33pFv4hjqtRqbEjPHFIKo82H4/s2000/IMG_2284.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="2000" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIanPAtk_LpsfYPE5U9Q06kZ3yix87rPcJYVbXLbKtMSashYYVosC6jMIom_0iivBKyQPFIE-5P5NmuzfU3LoeBIv9vaU4N547FQ3E0SYPbYbwMqTSn33pFv4hjqtRqbEjPHFIKo82H4/w400-h203/IMG_2284.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Flower Punk” is
described as a parodic reference to Hendrix’s Hey Joe that lampoons the hippy
movement, whilst at the same time deliberately exploiting it by encouraging the
counter culturals to consume it whilst explicitly dissing them. Zappa was a
jazz musician who evolved a formula to represent his less structured music as
mainstream. Musically I found the sped-up track with the tape speed variation
lyrics unimpressive in 2020. I have heard the same analogue experimentation
performed to greater effect and more obvious musical purpose. Culturally I
can see a musician defiantly trying to stay one foot in front of his marketeers
without losing access to the golden goose that feeds him. Maybe this was the
sound of the death knell of 1968, or at least a reverse echo filtered through
several valve based distortion units before being reverted to nonsense. The
moral of the story being don’t complain about being a cartoon if you want to be
a grand master. Be a grand master, even if the cartoon pays more. This is what
Zappa did in his later career, but at this stage he’s still fumbling around.</span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-80873075342284846692020-11-16T14:02:00.259-08:002021-02-01T14:40:33.913-08:00NIRVANA - Black Flower<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I think of the Black Flower as
some sort of benevolent mushroom cloud ballooning over the Kensington rooftops.
It’s purpose somewhat obscure. Like something out of a pulp Sci-fi novel, Aldiss and Ballard. <i>“Black Flower grow, easy, easy take it slow”</i>. The
scarlet chimney pots lined up like soldiers on parade amongst the spidery
branches of the trees in Holland Park all pointing upwards. Upwards like the skeletal
hand on the cover of the “Dedicated to Markos III” album sleeve, caressed by
the disembodied red finger-nailed hand. Something like an Amicus film poster,
something full of portent and gloss. Like the song. It’s beguiled me for thirty
years and it refuses to let go. I bloody love it.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ssa7TUeGkOBbZKaYNNNFwLUbikLCc3l7MitvjsYuY19GXRizuQ_YuKM7KeiXyNURTvIZSBoCMABn60UlXwUfDo3hMj2ow6bzZHfE2Q65Z0tIF4KFmNGO7eCr88r3uASQzGC9dzDiaVg/s600/R-3943182-1350039305-1776.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ssa7TUeGkOBbZKaYNNNFwLUbikLCc3l7MitvjsYuY19GXRizuQ_YuKM7KeiXyNURTvIZSBoCMABn60UlXwUfDo3hMj2ow6bzZHfE2Q65Z0tIF4KFmNGO7eCr88r3uASQzGC9dzDiaVg/s320/R-3943182-1350039305-1776.jpeg.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">It came from the back-streets
of those glorious 60’s. Hidden away in the rehearsal rooms, of songwriting teams
hammering away at pianos with scratch backing bands formed in the queue on the
stairs, waiting to pitch their weekly offering to the men with the golden ears.
A time when David Jones was studying Scott Walker and Freddie Bulsara, was doing the same with Barry Ryan and somewhere above Oxford Street Reg Dwight was practising on being everyone to anyone who'd listen. The collective
known as Nirvana were at their core an Irish rocker and an exotic Greek living la
vie Boheme along the length of the Uxbridge Road. If Pat Campbell-Lyons voice
was fey then Alex </span><a name="_Hlk56350640" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Spyropoulos</a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">’ was even feyer. (on this selection he's like
a lounge Donovan). Songwriters first and foremost they briefly
dallied as a baroque in-concert group assembled from the classical music
students they stalked hanging around outside the Royal College of Music. It was all kaftans
and harpsichords for a spell with a repertoire of ethereal morsels such as
“Pentecost Hotel”, “I Believe in Magic” and “Tiny Goddess”, the latter
memorably covered in French, German and Italian by the highly erotic Francoise Hardy. Incongruously
they became the first band signed to Island Records and hot on the heels, their
phased ”Rainbow Chaser” charted as a minor hit in the UK and a major one on
the continent. By 1968 it was almost over, they’d scaled down to a duo and were
promoting the record across Europe, clutching only their string charts and the assistance
of whoever the record company had arranged to meet them at the airport. But along the way they filled out the soundtrack to the bizarre “The Touchables” film and took a
trip to Rio to help launch the international singing career of Jimmy Cliff. There
was also a naked appearance in front of teenage girls on Belgian TV save for angels wings and underpants. And in Paris one memorable Sunday afternoon they appeared on a TV happening with Salvador Dali where a couple of
Bengal tigers prowled around a studio filled with paint pots and expensive chocolates.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">And the muse propelled them on and on and like the Black Flower it grew and grew …until inevitably Island Records rejected
the new album. The title sounded too much like “Black Power” and the music sounded
too much like <i>Un Homme et Une Femme</i> and not enough like "All Right Now".<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">But that’s just history, it was done and its with us now. Over 3 days
at Pye’s Marble Arch studios in the Spring of 1969 with a cavalcade of
arrangers clocking-in and out including Mike Hurst, Tony Visconti, Mike Vickers
and Johnny Scott, they gathered to score the new batch of euro-pop sounds.
There were songs about the blind and the beautiful, about Aline Cherie, about
Island boss Chris Blackwell, a duet with Lesley Duncan and a Webb-like western about Illinois (not Wichita).
And against <i>Skis on Sunday</i> strings they nailed the perfect anglo-chanson "The
World is Cold Without You" and capped it all off with the monumental "Black
Flower". </span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It starts like the opening of a movie with Spyropoulos softly enunciating obscure couplets …</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjD6RBC6dbqgFYJBkdb8wXPVp13vDP7TWnwp2Cl2Z5NgOL97vLqYTAk4zqUbl3AGCGE2X-XVut05LyZfCtbUoF-9BLFf7hliIc6KKPlzx5Wz35r8X8PwVdpBfoxC-ASwvPIiekFh9Nq4/s500/NIRVANA_%2528UK%2529_DEDICATED%252BTO%252BMARKOS%252BIII-652889b.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjD6RBC6dbqgFYJBkdb8wXPVp13vDP7TWnwp2Cl2Z5NgOL97vLqYTAk4zqUbl3AGCGE2X-XVut05LyZfCtbUoF-9BLFf7hliIc6KKPlzx5Wz35r8X8PwVdpBfoxC-ASwvPIiekFh9Nq4/s320/NIRVANA_%2528UK%2529_DEDICATED%252BTO%252BMARKOS%252BIII-652889b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Pick a black flower<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Girl in the supermart<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Holy man in the monastery<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">With all your mystery</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It's simplistic and strange and floats about in an ambience of easy strings that sit on the edge of a larger orchestra that promises something far more <i>disruptive</i>. And then it comes with the rush of a an unexpected wall
of sound chorus,<i>“Black Flower grow, easy easy take it slow…”</i> The skies darken - think Jean-Pierre-Ferland’s “Le Chat du Café
des Artistes”<i> (</i>c’mon you know the one) and then a press of the switch and the candelabra
is turned back on, the mood restored and all is well again. And back we go into this mysterious lyric that with closed eyes behind tinted specs could be coming en direct a L’Olympia ou Bobino:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Paradise found<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">The world is breaking up<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Now the devil can spread his wings<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">And everybody sings…</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The devil indeed.The ending is devastating. It
just breaks out into a long raucous multitracked guitar solo over jittery military drums that
stutter and collapse like grenadier guards tottering in the heat at Horse Guards Parade.
On it goes, on it goes like a curtain falling over the whole Nirvana project. The summit of their <i>blink and you'll miss it</i> moment in the sun. It could have ended the album. When I taped it in 1990 from Stoke-on-Trent Public Library it
was on a compilation that started with it and that really worked I have to say. Label stable-mates Spooky
Tooth were on the sessions for this album but I don’t <i>think</i> this is the work of Luther
Grosvenor. The other guitarist cited is Billy Bremner who went on to play
with Dave Edmunds Rockpile in the 70’s. So take a bow. I think. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 18.6667px;">Nirvana carried on in various guises and someone needs to do some intensive work gathering their 70's output together. It's a <i>very</i> mixed bag but chock full of interesting items taking in prog-rock, jazz-piano noodling, Xian-pop, odes to John Conteh, session work with Diana Dors offspring, songs for Demis Roussos and Frankie Vaughan and of course the theme tune to childrens TV's Cloppa Castle. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 18.6667px;">As I said "Black Flower" really was their towering glory. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">My first experience of Nirvana was in the
late 80s when as a teenager I bought the Back On The Road prog compilation,
including their most famous song, Rainbow Chaser. At the time the song was a
little too twee for my taste, it didn’t sate my hunger for loud guitars,
strident Hammond organs and nonstandard rhythms – a hunger which persists
today, albeit to a slightly lesser extent – but as a piece of pleasant psych
pop fluff (as I saw it then) it was still a worthy inclusion to the
collection. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">I’ve since tried to get more into their
sound and have been frustrated by the patchiness of their LPs. The Story of
Simon Simopath was interesting and had some great moments; All of Us likewise
had its high points, but both were let down by too many cutesy, childish tunes
and throwaway, overly-simplistic song ideas. To Markos III had a slightly
darker feel to it, but suffered from the same problem as the previous two LPs –
evidently enough for Chris Blackwell to call time on their Island tenure and
the album tip-toed out on Pye records instead, to little fanfare. It featured
the typical Nirvana setup of many hired hands to provide a heavily orchestrated
sound, fronted by regulars </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Campbell-Lyons and
Spyropoulos. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Black Flower is the best song on the album
by far, transitioning from easy listening to psych pop to freak out rock rather
well. After the dramatic intro, the listening is so easy it could’ve been
warbled by Charles Asnavour </span><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">(ED.That is criminally mispelt!)</span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"> on a Saturday afternoon variety show; very middle
of the road, nothing special at all (unless you happen to love Charles Aznavour ).</span><span style="color: #cfe2f3;">(ED.I managed to correct this one!) </span><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: white; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Then the psych chorus comes in and it all
gets much more interesting… I start getting hints of Donovan with the
melodramatic refrain “Black Flower, grow – easy, easy, take it slow!”, and the
chromatic descending chords lend a hint of threat and menace to disrupt the
tranquillity and calm of the verses. There’s a brief return to that calm, then
another dark chorus until a twittering-flute-and-staccato-strings palate
cleanser, which sounds like it’s going to resolve to an easy verse again to
fade but no… </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">POW! Searing twin tracked psych fuzz
guitars come in over the repeated descending chorus motif, and the effect is
mind blowing. It’s such a contrast to the easy listening verses, but because
the familiar chorus chord progression is kept, it absolutely works within the
structure of the song. Simultaneously sticking out like a sore thumb <u>and</u> blending
in with the structure is no mean feat… and it sounds fantastic. Freak out to
fade and I’m reaching for the repeat button before it can finish. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">In revisiting the Nirvana catalogue I’ve
also developed a new-found soft spot for the follow up LP Local Anaesthetic,
released on Vertigo a couple of years later – an album I had previously
dismissed as crap but evidently I was wrong, as a complete LP it might even be
their best (further listenings required to confirm this…) </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">But Black Flower deserves to sit alongside
Rainbow Chaser as an essential ‘in’ for new listeners, it’s a cracker. </span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MKsIpziO2L0" width="320" youtube-src-id="MKsIpziO2L0"></iframe></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">This song is the tombstone of the Nirvana project that lasted as a
musical collaboration between London-based songwriting partnership of Irish
musician Patrick Campbell-Lyons</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"> and Greek composer Alex
Spyropoulos. It formed the centrepiece of their third album, an album their
mentors at Island declined to release. The band were melodic, symphonic,
marked with lush productions, performed by an Asgardian selection of session
musicians. Campbell-Lyons has a distinctive strut to his voice, which despite
being slightly too thin for the material he is draping over Spyropoulos’
orchestrations, is pleasing from an aesthetic point of view, but it lacks the
passion shared by his contemporaries who sold better. This is the same year as Bolan’s
Unicorn, Fripp’s Court of the Crimson King, Townshend’s Tommy and Beefheart’s
Trout-Mask Replica who all score higher for cerebral conceptualisation not to
mention raw sexuality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(This song) has a lovely verse and a lovely chorus, it’s
beautifully orchestrated and confidently performed, but I don’t know who it was
for when it was made and I suspect that was the problem all along. I guess
calling your ex- boss Lucifer doesn’t help your long-term recording
relationship either, even in free and easy 1969.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;">Hats off for an esoteric
submission that I had never heard of. I have to state that this is not my type
of music, in part from having heard too many records in this style with lyrics
making a nod to Donovan (but not to Dylan, please note) and in the music
evoking a very English scenario of pleasant chord progressions souped up in the
production to show it has expanded horizons (but not to the psychedelia of
Hendrix or the acid of early Grateful Dead, please note). For me it evokes that
part of John Major’s famous quote that “Britain will still be the country of
long shadows on county [cricket] grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs
and dog lovers”, something that is perhaps less solid than it seems. This
record gives me the same ambivalence, especially to warm beer, and is not my
cup of tea</span></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #cfe2f3;">(ED. Here is a very interesing clip of the band around the time this song was recorded. We see PC-L attempting to hang up his coat, a very awkward interview and a great moment capuring the limited cuisine back then at La Giaconde on Denmark St (London's Tin-Pan Alley). </span></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z14bxIJuGIc" width="320" youtube-src-id="Z14bxIJuGIc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br /><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></span><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-35829770943417546482020-10-21T23:16:00.030-07:002020-10-24T08:09:39.273-07:00FRANCO & T.P.O.K. JAZZ - Salima<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">François Luambo Luanzo Makiadi and
his band TPOK Jazz released this song in 1975. This is from his mid period,
having started playing guitar in 1955 and continuing until 1989.
According to his biographer he produced over 80 albums and he is credited with
inventing the Congolese Rumba which this is a classic example. In the West music is structured around the pattern of the bass and drum parts, with guitar
offering rhythmic emphasis and melodic counterpoint. Rumba reverses this. The
guitars form the bed of generally a two part piece, a slower toast followed by
a faster section. Drum, brass and vocals are the leaves on the tree of the
trunk of the guitar. In the last section of the piece the guitar master
syncopates a surprise melody within the structure imposed by the companion
guitarist. I encountered Franco initially on the recommendation of Rise Kagona
of the Bhundu Boys who explained to me after a gig he had performed in Whalley
Bridge Civic Hall, that if a white man was ever going to understand African
Music I should seek out the music of Franco. I initially couldn’t get past my
colonialist processing and interpreted the music as backing music from a James
Bond Carribean adventure. Youtube allowed me to deepen my exposure. The song is about a woman called Salima but also a celebration of Franco poaching a rival guitarist from the band Afrisa who
were beginning to eat into Franco’s sales. This song was written by Michelino
Mavatiku Visi ( the one with the big Afro). He performs the first solo and
Franco performs the second. The three part vocal harmony is traditional and was
performed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josky_Kiambukuta" target="_blank">Josky Kiambukuta</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndombe_Opetum" target="_blank">Ndombe
Opetum</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuta_Mayi" target="_blank">Wuta Mayi</a>. The music is always i</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">nt</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">e</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">resting and the guitar
rhythm is difficult to imitate because it leads the song. Music should offer
the listener a familiar territory and a surprise and Congolese rumba reminds us it always important to listen to the end even if it is just to see who comes
to the party and we discover what wonders they bring.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CU-i8SvLJwY" width="320" youtube-src-id="CU-i8SvLJwY"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Africa speaks and I listen. This band hit a very intoxicating groove on this tune, which actually seems a lot shorter than it’s 9 mins or so. The repetitive guitar picking floods into the sub-conscious and the choral vocals immerse you trance-like. It’s a big band sound with trumpet fills familiar across the musical diaspora, I hear the Caribbean, I hear Gilberto Gil’s Bahia tropicalia, there’s a lot of Mexicana in those horns too, almost Herb Alpert tooting away on the Andy Williams Show at times. The little saxophone fills remind me of Sonny Rollins calypso “St Thomas”. Overall it’s a fairly easy listening experience (not a bad thing I hasten to add) but the guitar picking keeps it interesting. On the live version I love the descending riff at 8.05 which makes me think they’re about to tackle “Corn Rigs” from the opening Wicker Man credits. I admit I find it more exotic than essential and would need to study the genre a little more to really appreciate what I’m actually listening to. I mean is this a good example of this music or a very good example? Repeated listens reveal the layers and changes but ultimately my immersion into the ambience doesn’t pull too hard on my obsessively Western-centred thoughts.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Franco, or to give him his full name, François Luambo Makiadi, was
one of the giants of African music creating a brand of Zairean (the nation
known as Zaire between 1971-1997 but now known as the Democratic Republic of
the Congo) music which conquered the continent and then captivated the
remainder of the world. Franco, born in 1938, started out as a local musician
at 15 years old in what is now Kinshasa, the capital of the nation. In 1956 he
became part of the O K Orchestra, transforming into Franco and the OK orchestra
and then adding the additional initials T P Tout Puissant (all powerful) to the
O K as its profile massively expanded. It was one of a handful of new
innovative bands drawing on musical forms that had travelled to the new world
and back multiple times throughout the twentieth century. Rumba music with its
Afro Cuban roots had become very popular in the USA and South America from the
1930s onwards and this form was taken up as part of the insurgent modernism of
the Democratic Republic of Congo. This accompanied the approach of
decolonisation from the long and heavy history of Belgian occupation, firstly
as a fiefdom of Emperor Leopald II known as the Congo Free state and then in
1908 taken over by the Belgian nation state in order to mitigate, but not
desist, the massive and brutal extraction of resources, including rubber, from
the Free State. This extraction led to the genocide of local populations to such a scale that
even other European colonial governments considered the Free State of the Congo
to compromise the entire colonial project.</span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOVhJePkkn9_o-j13BzUi7y0CSYgH6J-tE1QNrlro24d7sVB2clapqntTtRSULg_RQ9E87qz4rCEFdHxQ_ZqQfg7yLKHBPkHI9foStirJRw2hDSytDaFMZ9TyZiyOVq9g6Jo3wHB0GFJ4/s276/download.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="276" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOVhJePkkn9_o-j13BzUi7y0CSYgH6J-tE1QNrlro24d7sVB2clapqntTtRSULg_RQ9E87qz4rCEFdHxQ_ZqQfg7yLKHBPkHI9foStirJRw2hDSytDaFMZ9TyZiyOVq9g6Jo3wHB0GFJ4/w400-h265/download.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Perhaps it is not surprising that the rumba as a joyous global
form that drew on Africa and the new world was taken up and developed within
Congo contexts as an innovative shift in urban music. Indeed it became a
popular musical form along the Atlantic coast of Africa from the Congo to
Senegal and articulated the new possibilities that the prospect of decolonisation
heralded. Moreover it moved away from the musical forms of French and British
domination as an alternative that chimed with the longstanding ideas of
Pan-Africanism and the Negritude movement (that emerged in Paris in the 1930s
onwards where African and Carribbean intellectuals and artists wrestled with the
shared commonalities of colonial domination, discrimination and racism). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The relatively tight melodic structure of the rumba was taken up
by Franco and other bands in the DRC but were stretched out, especially in live
performance to an appreciative audience in the clubs of Kinshasa. The tight
melodic patterns were repeated to generate rhythmic pulses that linked to local
traditions and modes of drumming and whose tempo could build up through a song.
Counterpoint rhythmic patterns could be woven in to finesse the tune while
layered horns added to the mix. As Franco’s profile developed in Kinshasa, they
were also sung in local languages with a resurgent confidence. </span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEsARiiZwgve_FLJN0ecfuIyEDzmEm7AdJeBtxvt0o-IufTuicp-iPo1XR8jP4kYQQaKkNUeMxLDa7Usy8CPEX3K0QIusH2S6FRiFH0yVlwW7IRyHq4lVy1OAtfr5SJLmbQCFkmKWDpPk/s1024/119593858.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEsARiiZwgve_FLJN0ecfuIyEDzmEm7AdJeBtxvt0o-IufTuicp-iPo1XR8jP4kYQQaKkNUeMxLDa7Usy8CPEX3K0QIusH2S6FRiFH0yVlwW7IRyHq4lVy1OAtfr5SJLmbQCFkmKWDpPk/s320/119593858.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It was a new music that heralded the modernity of postcolonial DRC
and Kinshasa, although the new nation state emerged with high costs such as the
usurpation of its first democratically elected prime minister Patrice Lumumba.
Mobutu Seko, commonly known as Mobutu, was the head of staff of the army who
took power after having Lumumba executed supported by an intervention by
Belgian troops and the UN who were responding to the dictates of the then cold
war between the USA and the Soviet Union and seeking to retain political
influence over the DRC and its mineral resources. Mobutu held power until 1997
as a dictator organising the DRC as kleptocracy for his personal benefit.
Franco as the celebrity musician, who dominated all others, had an ambiguous
relationship with Mobutu, offering occasional critiques but also paeans of
praise to him in his songs. However many commented on everyday life and its
difficulties and struggles for those trying to make a daily living. A
celebratory aspect of this was the attention paid in some songs to romance and
the joys of the clubs where music featured. Salima is one such classic song by
Franco which starts as a conventional rumba in the attention given to the
lyrics which seem to determine its progression at the outset. However this
transitions to a masterful interlocking of different elements underpinned by the
rhythmic melodic patterns of the guitars which play out counterpoints to the
main structure with the horns having the last say. A masterpiece!</span><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt;">(PS)</span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">A few bars into this beautiful song and I'm no
longer in a small Kent village on an overcast autumn day: I'm on a small boat
setting out from Cuba 20-odd years ago, going to a tiny nearby island for the
day. Part of our ticket includes fruit, free flowing Havana Club rum and a
small band of musicians who play rhumbas for us on the way there and back. It's
magical, the close harmony singing melts my heart (probably aided by the
copious amounts of rum) and my love for the music is cemented. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Here the vocals come in and the wonderful close harmonies are
there in perfect unison, but of course this being a Congolese rhumba
it's not Spanish - I assume it's Lingala? Forgive my ignorance if I'm
mistaken. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">There's another difference, the rhythm seems more fluid here:
although it's constant, there's less of an accent on the syncopated beat as
with the Cuban version, its more of a suggestion and you have to find your own
1,2,3&4. And vocals come in on the 4th or the 2-and-a-halfth beat, so the
effortless feel of a flowing current keeps you moving downstream... Left guitar
overlapping with right guitar, beautiful clean tones and rolling motifs with
the bass just bobbing along softly... </span></span></p><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Then the tempo seems to change from a strolling 4/4 to a much more
upbeat 2/4, although the bass hardly wavers - this feels to me more like a
Cuban rhumba for the rest of the song. Now it reminds me of the open air
nightclub we went to down the road from our hotel, where beautiful,
elastic-spined locals twirled each other with ease while we sunburnt stiffs
looked on in envy and soused our egos with endless rum. Glorious</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #454545; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-55270821213888734582020-10-07T15:42:00.023-07:002021-02-01T14:37:19.765-08:00GLORIA ANN TAYLOR - Love is a Hurtin' Thing<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">(CG)</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">For many years long after its
release in 1971 and subsequent mix in 1976 for the rare groove scene, this was
a tune coveted by many who paid highly to acquire it on vinyl. It was initially
the first release of the Selector label set up 1971 by Gloria Ann Taylor, her
producer husband Walter Whisenhunt, and her younger brother Leonard as vehicle
for Taylor’s songs. Love is a Hurtin’ Thing had been a hit for Lou Rawls but
the trio stamped a distinctive style on their version with a complex mix of
sounds from smouldering gospel R&B vocals to a Spector influenced layered
approach to tune-making, incorporating orchestral strings that echoed the
Philly soul sound and soul imbued psychedelic guitar work. However its
production was more complex and adventurous than this characterisation. As
Andrew Jervis points out in his liner notes for the recent release of the album
(Love is a Hurtin’Thing, Ubiquity Records 2015), Taylor and the band played
live, where encouraged by Whisenhunt, they would jam improvisations during the
performances. Extensive time was then spent in the studio with the musicians
brought together by Whisenhunt (who had worked with James Brown, Bootsy Collins
and notable Motown acts and other session musicians) often reworking the same
songs across a recording session and incorporating variations developed from
the live performances. These different cuts were dubbed together in creative
and original mixes to produce the final recording with the vocals layerd at the last moment.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nxUGgoXM_Gw" width="320" youtube-src-id="nxUGgoXM_Gw"></iframe></span></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Gloria Ann Taylor had grown up
in Toledo and sang in churches in the nineteen fifties from childhood onwards
along with her brother Leonard (who developed as a musician, song-writer and
producer) and performed with two gospel ensembles. In 1966 she left church
music to sing R&B in Toledo clubs where she garnered an enthusiastic local
following. It was here that she was introduced to Whisenhunt and they started
to collaborate musically. Among her early releases was You Gotta Pay the Price
which gained a Grammy nomination for Best Female </span><a name="_Hlk52913149" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">R&B
</a><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Vocal performance in 1970 and won that year by Aretha Franklin for Chain of
Fools which highlights Taylor’s vocal peers. In the 1970’s Columbia took her up
but did not promote her enough to advance her career and Whisenhunt ended the
contract prematurely. As the marriage fizzled out Whisenhunt released in 1976
the EP with three tracks Deep in Your Eyes, What’s Your World and Love is a
Hurtin’ Thing extended and remixed. Love is a Hurtin Thing in this extended
version has overdubbed drumming and mixes in, or perhaps more accurately blends
in, other Taylor tunes with panache and creative flair. This EP was released in
small quantities due to a lack of funds which reduced its impact but with time
became one of the stand-out rare groove records, celebrated both for its
musical originality and scarcity</span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFpWJQFMQPcAk6FP9wmhoks5BzT3vMkVhAHhrob-MYZx7i31W1KuVS9xzGwAtOV6ifo2s7CDD3cE83LyawrALUD9rE2GHMtn7L1syQlqqgbq0QNWl5htMcS5PYqFNrDMR2GOP9IKsrtw/s1140/GloriaAnnTaylorOLD-jpg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1140" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFpWJQFMQPcAk6FP9wmhoks5BzT3vMkVhAHhrob-MYZx7i31W1KuVS9xzGwAtOV6ifo2s7CDD3cE83LyawrALUD9rE2GHMtn7L1syQlqqgbq0QNWl5htMcS5PYqFNrDMR2GOP9IKsrtw/w400-h280/GloriaAnnTaylorOLD-jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Discouraged perhaps by the
initial nearness of success and then it’s recession by the mid nineteen
seventies, as well as the breakup of her marriage, Taylor withdrew from the
professional music scene to solely sing in church. But Love is a Hurtin’ Thing
and her other notable tunes, such as Deep Eyes, What’s Your World, and even a
cover version of Dolly Patton’s Jolene, compare favourably with far more famous
R&B and soul vocalists and her distinctive vocals underpinned by dynamic
tunes and innovative production have an originality and brio that asserts a
unique creative perspective, perhaps engendered by the collective collaboration
with her then husband and brother as well as participating musicians </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(Ed.That’s
a long sentence)</span><span style="color: white;">. Her records and Love is a Hurtin’ Thing in either version are
well worth a listen for soulful classic yet innovative takes on R&B that,
despite lack of recognition, has stood the test of time and stand out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Ref.Andrew Jervis, liner notes,
Love is a Hurtin’Thing, Ubiquity Records 2015</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">For every little kiss there's a little teardrop<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">For every single thrill there's another heartache<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The road is rough<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The going gets tough<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Love is a hurtin' thing<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Oh, love is a hurtin' thing<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">When you're in my arms I'm a king on a throne<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">But when we're apart I walk the streets alone<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">One day happiness<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The next day, loneliness<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">When love brings so much joy why must it bring such pain<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Guess it's a mystery that nobody can explain<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Maybe I'm a fool to keep on loving you<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">'Cause there may come a time you'll break my heart in two<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">But I want you so<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">I want you though I know that<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Love is a hurtin' thing<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Oh, love is a hurtin' thing</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Cover of soul standard by Gloria Anne Taylor and
Husband producer Walt Whisenhunt. Released in 1973 to a different audience.
Taylor, touted as another Aretha Franklin, clearly has strong gospel roots in
her lyrical delivery and singing style. Walt Whisenhunt clearly has other
influences. Having discovered Gloria, he proceeded to marry and move her to
California whereby her career stalled by 1977. The intrusive psych guitar wig
out which introduces the song is recorded at a louder level than the vocal. The
verse remains sweet, but the chorus gets buried in the mix and the song ends
with another guitar excursions to somewhere west coast. When compared to the
original the song doesn’t really make sense any more. The individual parts are all
there but they don’t belong together. Music’s loss was the Ohio chicken
industry’s gain. Taylor saw a brief revival in 2010 during the vinyl mining
boom.</span></span></p><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">This
is a stunner. It takes me back to those sweaty nights at “The Twisted WheeI”
that I never had and those long nights on the Piccadilly Station forecourt I
had far too often. Missing trains, eating chips, sleeping out. It kicks off like
Link Wray getting tangled up in his own strings, then almost immediately Eddie Hazell-like
stuff, fresh outta “Maggot Brain” comes bubbling in. In fact I believe Parliafunkster
Bootsy Collins is actually on this session. A great session, pretty lo-fi but
ambitious too. Was the orchestra in the bathroom and the horns in the wardrobe?
Rawls and Axelrod did the original back in 1966 and that’s good but this is
something else. </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(Ed*.Axelrod did a great version with David “Man From Uncle” McCallum
on French Horn at the same time.)</span><span style="color: white;"> Listen to those frenzied ejaculations at 1.13
and 1.38 where she lets riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. It’s 72-73 an interesting time for
black music – paradigms shifting – funk morphing towards something</span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_xN-m2-jvop3QxmeqsiU1zZKK44FRwXcwLOHNHc6ybYRfN9OuIKrwGLC9Nau_49plYpqgkgb_NGfMAm-woIY6S5UUhYJSCbyTiLSZt-JPNseXFw2v-uSi9VqMhsqCXfTi-XfngzAxOY/s320/mccallum.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_xN-m2-jvop3QxmeqsiU1zZKK44FRwXcwLOHNHc6ybYRfN9OuIKrwGLC9Nau_49plYpqgkgb_NGfMAm-woIY6S5UUhYJSCbyTiLSZt-JPNseXFw2v-uSi9VqMhsqCXfTi-XfngzAxOY/s0/mccallum.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;">else. Wobbly
strings suggesting a veneer of high-heel glitter ball sophistication,</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #454545; font-size: 14pt;">,
</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">the lank sweaty fringes of the fruggin’ mutton-chop Manc teens suggesting
something else. What an ending, with that long guitar coda picking itself </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">from South Central all the way down Great
Ancoats Street, carried home by a chip and curry sauce stagger, pissed and high.
There’s a longer 7minute session but for me the 3.23 version is the one. So
good it passes in a heartbeat.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #9fc5e8;">*(Ed. But I am the Ed)</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Hmmmmm. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I hadn't heard of Gloria Taylor before hearing this, and I can
sort of see why. A quick spin of her 1969 hit You Got to Pay the Price was
welcome - disciplined, catchy, memorable, if unspectacular - but this from a
few years later is frankly a bit of a mess. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It starts with a sprawling bit of sub-Jimi fuzz guitar which has
no apparent connection to the orchestration which comes directly after, and I
struggled to get a hook on the song at all. It's a bit like an over-complicated
soup and you can't work out which is the main ingredient. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">After a couple of minutes one of the singers (can't tell which
one) says "oooh can't you feel it?" and before I could answer
"not really", a lovely bit of echoey guitar came in to rescue it for
me - and then moments later, all the reverb suddenly drops off and it sounds
like he's moved out of the hall and into the control room - and I can't tell
why the producer would do that, it just detaches him from the rest of the
players. Dry guitar solo to fade, a bit more oooh-ing and that's that. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuECcwT4T23UxjvMCXDT_16lbiP0AsOh9JfTC-jaejaphMqzItYDxTGjxFpeoGqrNNhkx3Uq17EnrqVJ8WDhI-DQM5t7z0Zfc2T_VSXfZYi2SVzAe9nVNaUbHCPC6HcrJVdwHVaZ7kDe8/s550/taylor_glor_loveisahu_101b.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="550" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuECcwT4T23UxjvMCXDT_16lbiP0AsOh9JfTC-jaejaphMqzItYDxTGjxFpeoGqrNNhkx3Uq17EnrqVJ8WDhI-DQM5t7z0Zfc2T_VSXfZYi2SVzAe9nVNaUbHCPC6HcrJVdwHVaZ7kDe8/w266-h266/taylor_glor_loveisahu_101b.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">It's clearly recorded live in a massive room, with dozens of
musicians and no apparent overdubs - fair play there - but because the voice is
competing with strings, piano, backing vocals and guitar for the same part of
the stage, they all get mixed up in the same mush. You can let it all hang
loose with fewer people, but the more you bring in, the tighter the rein needs
to be. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Artist and producer should
be applauded for attempting to mix different styles together, but a more
disciplined and focused approach would have worked better than just chucking it
all in and hoping for the best</span></span>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-39882598231322503922020-09-26T14:17:00.024-07:002020-09-26T14:34:45.985-07:00PETE BROWN & PIBLOKTO! - Aeroplane Head Woman<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">(PS)</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVBGMh0ctAQTHGhKUBy-6tuyWTIrgT679Pyrv-ipGHWELQZ63B9PvnVhcn14nvEfquXgvGy-62WIbgoaydBF3yQAtbT9fbPK70Py0i7Up0UzZKwoPLPkguFLUY79Cu2xOTAT4Y48yMgU/s225/images.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVBGMh0ctAQTHGhKUBy-6tuyWTIrgT679Pyrv-ipGHWELQZ63B9PvnVhcn14nvEfquXgvGy-62WIbgoaydBF3yQAtbT9fbPK70Py0i7Up0UzZKwoPLPkguFLUY79Cu2xOTAT4Y48yMgU/s0/images.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I love Pete
Brown, but let’s get this straight right from the start: prodigious poet &
lyricist though he may be, he should never have been a front man. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In interview
he’s admitted that he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of singing his own
songs, and it was only Graham Bond who encouraged him to do so; even his 1987
anthology of the period between 1969-1977 was titled “Before Singing Lessons”.
His voice is wavering, often not strong enough to rise above the typically
excellent musicians under him and wholly unremarkable in tone or character.
Watching footage of Piblokto live on French TV in 1970/71, it is also apparent
that his on-stage presence was less Strutting Rock God, more Gnome Attacked by
Wasps. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xs7y9TH1HWw" width="320" youtube-src-id="Xs7y9TH1HWw"></iframe></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">But after his
sublime songwriting partnership with Jack Bruce – both with Cream and on
Bruce’s solo albums, including the exquisite Songs for a Tailor – there was a
sense that Brown had earned the right to do whatever he wanted (and evidently
had the moolah from the royalties to do just that). He formed the jazz/prog
band Pete Brown’s Battered Ornaments and released the experimental A Meal You
Can Shake Hands With in the Dark in 1969, and was then booted out before the
release of the subsequent Mantlepiece LP, his vocals scrapped and re-recorded </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(Ed. and abysmally)</span><span style="color: white;"> by guitarist Chris Spedding and band name changed to simply The Battered
Ornaments. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Undeterred,
Brown formed Pete Brown & Piblokto! and released two LPs in 1970: the jazzy
Things May Come and Things May Go… But the Art School Dance Goes On Forever in
April, and the somewhat rockier Thousands on a Raft some six months later.
Aeroplane Head Woman is the later LP’s opener, and what an opener it is. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxphi6y0ekdrQE-OlFkg7gLDw_mANWZ4klKNkK3UGfUwn7KU2y1JAn7fdobE21U7bx-LZT2PVVDD6dAnYPzUFdDFWsWC5UMvLIML3pHzP80kWQmtJscHtHA2N7H7VCJbVMLlrwnN3bkc/s500/91O-GYGsTiL._SS500_.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxphi6y0ekdrQE-OlFkg7gLDw_mANWZ4klKNkK3UGfUwn7KU2y1JAn7fdobE21U7bx-LZT2PVVDD6dAnYPzUFdDFWsWC5UMvLIML3pHzP80kWQmtJscHtHA2N7H7VCJbVMLlrwnN3bkc/w400-h400/91O-GYGsTiL._SS500_.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The riff that
opens the song and continues ostinato throughout is a belter: raucous, loud,
prickly, awkward, with a dropped beat halfway through to keep you on your toes.
The riff is played in unison by organ, guitar & bass and even manages to
survive being honked out by Brown himself for one of the repetitions. </span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The lyrics,
telling the story of a lovelorn woman missing her wartime pilot lost in action
some 30 years previous are poignant, aided by the recurring moments of soft
reflection in the music – until, POW! on the snare, back to the killer riff and
the volume is back up to 10 where it belongs. This loud/quiet/loud pattern also
repeats through the song, sometimes lulling you with a false ending, only to
shock you back to life like a defibrillator to the heart when it resumes. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Rob Tait’s
drums are lovely and taut, crisp sounding and Steve Glover’s bass walks nicely
around them throughout – but the two extended solos are the stars of the show
here: first, Jim Mullen’s clean-but-still-gritty guitar is rocky, bluesy but
precise and perfectly placed within the chord structure; then after a final
verse from Brown, Dave Thompson’s whirling organ storms in and provides a
fantastic climax, sometimes echoing parts of the riff, other times pinning you
against the wall with its force or providing a calm conclusion to the
proceedings. Magnificent stuff. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Piblokto didn’t
last long after Thousands on a Raft; Brown released a few LPs in subsequent
years – the most notable collaboration being with Graham Bond in 1972 – before
the safety pins of punk did for him in 1977 and he turned his back on music for
many years. There’s plenty to delve into with Brown’s various projects &
off-shoots if you have the time and patience, but this is perhaps the most
accessible place to start. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">A sub
Troggs (or Wild Ones) riff and vocals from the heyday of archaic rock. The
vocals are typical of this genre of British archaic rock, descending (and
rising) with male plaintive phrasings that are meant to signify meaningfulness,
a stylistic archness that heralded the pathway to supergroups and pomp rock.
The lyrics are less than engaging but seeking similarly to be meaningful in
that dire sub-sub Bob Dylan style that witters on. The guitar when left to get
on with it (which is not often) plays some lively melody sequences but all too
soon it is back to the power riffs that become exhausting to listen to. The
organ breaks in at certain points but seems to head in other directions to the
rest of the band. This is very much from a genre that the Harvest records had a
prediliction for that their white male A and R guys of a certain age went for.
Not a song I will ever listen to again.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(JS)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">“She sits in the city with wings
on her mind<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"> She waits for the birdman who left her behind<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"> He had to fly almost straight into hate<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"> There is only one though the race is run<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"> Pilot of her love feels him far above”</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm; min-height: 14px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dense,
lyrically ambiguous stomper with a distinctive riff that sounds like a Cream
coda and a lighter chorus section which prefigures Genesis. The riff spawns an
endless guitar solo from Jim Mullen. The organ work by Dave Thompson holds it
together. Brown’s vocal is gutsy but tonally minimalist, more of a lyricist
than a singer.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmV4y59c9iBkQK3Bg53bhnV9lHtHWkSTyAv7iL4S2FGZUX0Tio2AXogRRUZri0Q1V6a3GjdDFuhxEldLLkv0BbYdP3-XEoYJePAlNzjgVtTdb-d5uoekKWFbT9Npfiuyx8poUQLvbmfsE/s577/A-617888-1457444644-4844.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmV4y59c9iBkQK3Bg53bhnV9lHtHWkSTyAv7iL4S2FGZUX0Tio2AXogRRUZri0Q1V6a3GjdDFuhxEldLLkv0BbYdP3-XEoYJePAlNzjgVtTdb-d5uoekKWFbT9Npfiuyx8poUQLvbmfsE/s320/A-617888-1457444644-4844.jpeg.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">In
the back of “The Torrington” the band wiped themselves down with bar towels and
grabbed for cheese sandwiches laid out on a trestle-table. Round the corner the
night bus edged its way out. Three shapes slumped deep in their seats on the
upper deck.<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span>Behind them, Tally-Ho Corner
slipped back into its early morning meditative state. Paper blew across the wet
pavements, electrified in amber street-light, shining from the evening’s
incessant rain.</span></span><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Not
as good as his "Fire" stuff"</i>, said Big Barry, pulling at the
damp black curls hanging like a storm-raged thicket on his head.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"What
"Fire" stuff?"'</i> Replied Colin stiffly, his ears still ringing,
his head still bobbing, his chest inhaling the hand-rolled ciggie. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">"'Fire'.Y'know
with the fucking about with the ...fiery helmet shit"</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><i>"That
was Arthur Brown, Barry,"</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The
bus lurched on in silence, the gears crunching over the North Circular. Moments
passed like Centuries.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Well
who was that then?"</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Pete
Brown!"</i> snapped Colin in irritation, the riff from <i>"Aeroplane Head
Woman"</i> still rising and receding in his inner ear like sea tide shale washing
across a beach. <i>"And sit over there will you...you smell rank"</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">"What
did he do?"</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><i>"Can
you sit over there for fucks sake?"</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Rising
with a moan Barry slouched heavily into the pale blonde girl staring out the
window. <i>"Give us a fag Sue?"</i>, he asked.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Fumbling
in a Peruvian style woollen bag, the girl produced a crumpled box of Park
Drives and shaking, thrust it into Barry's hand. Lighting up with a
simultaneous drag and loud exhale, he spluttered on,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Come
on Coll what did he do?"</i>, he repeated.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Colin
carefully picked a flake of tobacco from his lip, <i>"He was in The
Cream". </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">In
his head he re-played the gig, from the riff-heavy opening, through “High
Flying Electric Bird” to Brown’s lengthy beat poetry reading of “Politician”. <i>“A
sum of his parts”</i> he nodded to himself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">The
silence cannoned down the length of the bus. Aeons passed.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Was
he the drummer?"</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><i>"Of
course he wasn't the fucking drummer Barry, he wrote the words. Politician, In The
White Room…Sunshine "</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Suddenly
Sue leaned forward. <i>"Gonna puke...gonna puke!"</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Barry
shot out of his seat banging his head on the roof. Moaning in pain he watched
in horror as a psychedelic waterfall of projectile orange filth spewed from
Sue's retching throat. Clearing her patterned dress it splattered Pollock-like across
the whole right side of Barry’s already soaked afghan coat.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Foookin’...Hell!
Foookin’...Hell!"</i>, moaned Barry in slow, pained resignation.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Sue
collapsed across the seat, breathing deeply, her teary eyes sparkling with
relief. <i>"I feel better"</i>, she cooed <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">quietly.</span></span></span><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Hands
rubbing his head, Barry looked down at himself with wild eyes, </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"Foookin’...Hell! </i></span></span><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>What
about me?"</i>, he shouted back.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Colin
pulled his scarf across his mouth and pulling his knees up to his chin mumbled
and pointed, <i>"Sit back there will you, you're stinking the place
out". </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Barry
shaking his head, stumbled to the back of the bus and started scraping the
vomit from his coat with a fist of discarded Golden Wonder packets. The tiny
crisps hung to his coat, giving it the look of a ceremonial gown. From his back
seat throne he surveyed his kingdom and boomed down the length of the bus,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><i>"I'm
soaking wet, I'm covered in sick, I've cracked me nut….I'm fucked off with all
this!"</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The
bus continued its journey creeping up Muswell Hill, then on reaching the
Broadway the three of them rose in stages. Colin lead the way, racing down the
stairs with the music still pounding in his ears. Sue followed, urgently dragging
a plastic comb across her hair. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">From
behind Big Barry shouted,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"I've
just paid 50p to watch someone I've never heard of who couldn't even SING!"</i>
Dragging himself heavily down the stairs, he shouted after them, </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;"><i>"I'm
not even pissed...! I’m not even pissed…! I could have had three pints for
that!"</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; padding: 0cm;">Behind
them the doors shut with a thud and the bus edged it's way on towards the Great
Metropolis. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xxp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<span class="xxs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Back in North Finchley Pete Brown and band silently loaded the Commer
van. A night in Torquay lay ahead. </span></span></span><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #454545;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="xxs1"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UEe6ebzYggw" width="320" youtube-src-id="UEe6ebzYggw"></iframe></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #454545; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></div></div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-80263314847370383152020-09-16T13:27:00.126-07:002022-06-18T05:08:31.503-07:00BOB LIND - Since There Were Circles <p> </p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">(MS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">The
brief acapella "I Love to Sing” serves as a chaser to possibly the most
profound, flop-house, “skunk-drunk”, song-cycle ever dedicated to the barflies of
the Sunset Strip. From the off the singer’s crazy and lost, bereft of a
companion who can't even condescend to be with him; “Sweet Harriet”’s already gone
and grey-faced drifter’s Doug Dillard and Gene Clark look on, serenading on furious
banjo and harmonica. </span></span></span><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Across the room Harry Dean Stanton from “Cisco Pike” sits
amongst the turkey-neck wrecks in dishevelled “Nudie” shirts, eyes propped open
with burnt motel matches. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It’s the Hollywood highs and low-down lows of the old
Los Angeles Downtown “City Scenes”.</span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">I imagine...</span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz69kKcItwIvIdK21joWOOGIuUsnxoe0tDAneSv2iHdzYegA3UWRQg2bWgXQdZkLCYx1vJtIcP0DL-9ixIzuytJrjjpzxrBjEAwlwMS4hgli1TIqiq2vrscCSuvUNybEqPr__tEaPL6z8/s500/47b35eb8749975e6cf17c52356809651.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="500" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz69kKcItwIvIdK21joWOOGIuUsnxoe0tDAneSv2iHdzYegA3UWRQg2bWgXQdZkLCYx1vJtIcP0DL-9ixIzuytJrjjpzxrBjEAwlwMS4hgli1TIqiq2vrscCSuvUNybEqPr__tEaPL6z8/w412-h290/47b35eb8749975e6cf17c52356809651.jpg" width="412" /></a></span></span></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"></span></span></span></p><div><i style="background-color: black; color: #ffd966;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;">"I
am caught up in the circle and I turn again</span></i><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Like
the seasons, like the moon</span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Like
the still and frozen moment in the beggars hand</span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">Love
is bargained for, much too soon"</span></span></i></span><i style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">10
years ago I allowed myself to be made redundant. Armed only with a good pair of
headphones and a lap-top groaning with obscure album rips, I drifted on a
circular bus journey round the US. At 2 am 2 months-in on a Greyhound somewhere
between Deadwood and Devil’s Tower I first heard this Bob Lind LP. It was a
crackly old rip which jumped halfway through the second track, "City Scenes".
The bass, the rolling piano, the world-weary voice… the lyrical re-immersion
into the circles of hell. It was enough to make up my mind there and then, to commit
to a thousand mile return trip back to LA to search for a new copy in the Amoeba
racks on Sunset Blvd. My bus disintegrated en-route and via Billings, Montana,
Salt Lake City and Vegas I found myself transported by ever smaller vehicles,
the last one a mini-bus that pulled our bags on a separate trailer all the way
in from Barstow. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">40
years earlier Bob Lind had been pulled back into Los Angeles on his own
circular quest, returning to the city of his fleeting triumph and lingering fall:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwNo5F1iKYoLXNX9ksHE1dAs9VSrhPpzj_B-dWAD2EQc5SsifAxVtEECAMt02Feh6r2I_7OJIcgdm4BZseRNpkSC4CVIn-GXeIk6MiW2qEdnBEMKbwdWfpRchnZCVvg_WfYYrlFulPX3c/s259/images.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwNo5F1iKYoLXNX9ksHE1dAs9VSrhPpzj_B-dWAD2EQc5SsifAxVtEECAMt02Feh6r2I_7OJIcgdm4BZseRNpkSC4CVIn-GXeIk6MiW2qEdnBEMKbwdWfpRchnZCVvg_WfYYrlFulPX3c/w355-h266/images.jpg" width="355" /></span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span><i style="background-color: black; color: #ffd966; text-align: right;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">"I've
been working on the railroad...</span></i></span><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">All
my lifelong life</span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">To
find the way to set the track</span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">To
run the train to take me back</span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: right;"><span class="xs1"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">To
take me back"</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Exiled
in Santa Fe, Lind had spent the latter part of the Aquarian age holed up with his
demons, binging on a diet of drink and drugs, his bridges in the LA jungle
burnt to a crisp by an industry reputation for "being difficult". Coaxed
back by Doug Weston, owner of the famed “Troubadour” folk-club, 1970’s “Since
There Were Circles” was to be the last shot, nurtured with favours cashed, in
the bosom of friends, well-wishers and crack session musicians. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p></div><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">By
all accounts he gave them hell in the process. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">“Love came in the early morning</span></span></i></div><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">And I was sleeping late that day</span></span></i></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">And I love to live the night life</span></span></i></div><span style="color: #ffd966;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">But what a heavy price to pay”</span></span></i></div></span></span></span></i><p></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“Love Came Riding” and left too
soon, like a Jacques Demy film playing with destiny, the characters circling
each other but constantly missing. Gone and forgotten and by afternoon rapping with
his newest best “Loser”, sucking on bottles of budget Ripple wine; the junkman’s
drink of choice. Think Mary Astor in "Act of Violence". By Sunset the blues walk in, accompanied by the woozy hired
horns from a nearby mariachi wedding. ”Not That I Would Want Her Back” he says,
pinballing the slurred euphoria of loneliness, bouncing thoughts back around
the brain. </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RLnd8DdQzFc" width="320" youtube-src-id="RLnd8DdQzFc"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">It drives you mad if you stay there but like a sermon the “Theme
from the Music Box” plays the moment out with the just-removed insight of
morning-after sobriety, a sepia vignette closing side one with a Tinseltown
string flourish. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #ffd966;">“They don't go by for nothing,
these moments<br />
They come to touch and carry you<br />
They come like thieves or saviours<br />
To all our streams and avenues”</span></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">It was a great side <i>and</i> side
two’s better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">In
the mid-60s his brief moment came via a slew of wordy pop-vignettes draped in Jack
Nitzsche strings, his Colorado drawl emoting Dylanesque put-downs and mystic
requiems to fragile love. The poppy “Elusive Butterfly” made money but the
career stalled whilst TV caught him un-photogenically strumming away behind
frugging Go-Go girls, desperately looking for a Monkee. The death knell was the
opportunistic release in 1966 of acoustic demos from the near and distant past,
smothered in inappropriate arrangements that frequently failed to stay in time.
From this, Lind opted to disappear for a while.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Sy9aSq_UTuVLJnIPSZ9-H86zb8JAbzPWZgTT2PKtrGkFUQkEA6-3ZM-_3DhdgbWynMcrK8Y8NpuUWdVhn-KwDElYdYUWo2a5b_egS1_vfwfBeB6QkiiehcvpI_57YWUbf2jMdVGZiZY/s500/bob-lind-since-there-were-circles-lp-180g-the-byrds-eagles-beach-boys-18_40386138.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="478" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Sy9aSq_UTuVLJnIPSZ9-H86zb8JAbzPWZgTT2PKtrGkFUQkEA6-3ZM-_3DhdgbWynMcrK8Y8NpuUWdVhn-KwDElYdYUWo2a5b_egS1_vfwfBeB6QkiiehcvpI_57YWUbf2jMdVGZiZY/w383-h400/bob-lind-since-there-were-circles-lp-180g-the-byrds-eagles-beach-boys-18_40386138.jpg" width="383" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; line-height: 107%; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">“Anymore” fills in the
mindset of those wilderness years, holed up in his desert place, where he spewed
out the songs on this album. On the cover he’s Moses on a Harley. On the back he
stares out like a Beat Roman Polanski. Beat at 28</span></span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">“I used
to be the apple in the hand of Eve</span></span></i><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I used to be the writing on the wall</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Sometimes I can almost make it back there</span><br />
</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">Sometimes I don't believe it's there at all”</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="xs1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">And
then a sudden shift elevates the mood, careering into a</span></span></span></span><span class="xs1" style="background-color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"> sublime double-hit of
hope,</span> <span style="color: #f9cb9c;">“</span></span></span><i style="background-color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #f9cb9c;">In the early evening hour</span></i><i style="background-color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"> w</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">hen the sun comes through the blinds”</span><span style="color: white;">, </span></span></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: white;">and a<i> </i>woman with love… uncontainable love… “Spilling
Over”… zig-zagging across the floor, sending everything over… chairs, drinks, hearts…
minds…The start of something, the start of a life.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">“…it's
insane, she never sees me when I'm strong</span></span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #ffd966;">” </span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“She Can Get
Along”. Two minutes fifty-three seconds of wonder. A single that barely made it
out of the Capitol pressing plant. A blissed-out anthem wrapped in wary words. The
one in charge is “She” made explicit by the breathless final gallop….</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">“If
you're gonna be around the girl you better know about her</span></span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #ffd966;"> - <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I can tell you she can get along and</span></span></span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #ffd966;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> don't you ever
doubt her</span> - m<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">aybe she'll be lookin' like
a lady needs a lover</span> - b<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">ut you know she's
just a loner workin' easy under cover </span>- <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">all
alone…”</span></span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">The clatter of
traffic, curtains pulled, a wipe of the eyes, “Up in the Morning Me” a little
link with those horns again blowing out the spittle and snot, setting things up
for the day’s big ending. Strummed guitar like the Fred Neil part of Tim
Buckley’s mind, “Since There Were Circles”, emerges …colossus-like… the only song
you ever want to busk on every street corner. Reverently and deep:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">“Beauty
breaking open over all of my solitude and pain</span></span></i></span><span style="background-color: black;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #ffd966;"><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I'm in your life stream like the desert drinking
in the rain</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And whenever I'm holding you I feel your heart
beat</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And it feels like the pulse of the world at my
feet</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">And oh, such wonders to discover</span><br />
</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">And oh, such peace to be your lover”</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: white;">In the late 70’s
Bob Lind was immortalised in the writings of Charles Bukowoski, then he became
a tabloid journalist and then a novelist and playwright and 20-odd years ago he
got the three R treatment with retrospective recognition and rediscovery. He’s
back singing now I think. I also think t</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">his may be one of my very favourite </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">LPs. I know this because I’ve realised in the last 3 weeks its only now I’ve </span><i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">really
</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">listened to it. For the last decade I seem to have tip-toed around it, fearful
of tarnishing it with familiarity. It covers a range of folk-pop styles, with
lyrics that embrace a lifetime of emotions and like getting to know someone
special I’ve found repeated listens just keep on giving with this album.</span></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">I dedicate this
review to Richie Unterberger because perhaps he doesn’t get <i>allmusic</i>.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vdtdxN6yhqo" width="320" youtube-src-id="vdtdxN6yhqo"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bob Lind is an enigmatic singer song writer whom I confess I had never heard of. He made three abums between 1966 and 1971 before angrily spurning the music industry until 2012. Prior to his recording career he was a Colorado based folk singer. Recorded in the Bob Dylan wave of commoditisation, Lind produced an eclectic mix of country/folk with an impeccable galaxy of session musicians and producers whom he fell out with. Admired by other artists as a songwriter and critics, he didn’t achieve market recognition until his Jarvis Cocker instigated revival. Personally I missed that one as well. Intelligent tuneful songs with interesting tempo and lush productions. His voice is strong but lacking in range, so the effort goes into the tunes, arrangements and lyrical content. The music is composed on guitar with slow build to increasing complexity, and where piano joins, it follows the structure dictated by the guitar. If Lind has a key characteristic it is the way he changes the tempo of the piece in the chorus and middle 8, this emphasises the lyrical content. Most of his songs are love songs, of a slightly frustrated, unattainable note, with a sad introspection. He presents his narrator as a difficult, intense everyman without the cathartic release of Springsteen’s fast car driving, or Dylan’s righteous anger or Gaye’s sexual physicality or Van Morrison’s wistful optimistic mysticism. The romance in Lind is shouty and awkward. The journey is always unexpected and I suspect has aged better than it was first received, when I suspect the initial reaction was WTF. Structurally the songs are good, the production is generous but they go nowhere, and the lyric doesn’t stick with his voice’s tonal restrictions. A better singer could carry these songs further.</span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEW1TRUcPwpqXcrIbX_DFcxHll7uZ7sCLdn8DbKY4Y3Jf5-GzNfx58zPN5lO1X0ZwHet5oqKs4RtCuSFK7-kXUzOmX-BGNYRy1Eto0qHIN6xV8PBI314OaX4BZJT4eMzsd25wGVMYLho/s600/R-5706662-1561572175-2225.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEW1TRUcPwpqXcrIbX_DFcxHll7uZ7sCLdn8DbKY4Y3Jf5-GzNfx58zPN5lO1X0ZwHet5oqKs4RtCuSFK7-kXUzOmX-BGNYRy1Eto0qHIN6xV8PBI314OaX4BZJT4eMzsd25wGVMYLho/s320/R-5706662-1561572175-2225.jpeg.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">I was only aware of Bob Lind previously
through his 1966 single Elusive Butterfly, when his voice was smooth and
optimistic sounding… country-tinged and a hint of wi</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">stful yearning, but
ultimately quite innocent and fresh, boyish almost. </span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">However this LP starts with an A Capella
folk blues overture which shows his voice had altogether changed in the
intervening 5 years, it’s much earthier and harsher than previous… maybe
something to do with the substances which plagued </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">his life during that time;
then it leads into a country infused Sweet Harriett, with a rustic blues harp
& banjo which makes me think of something by Area Code 615 a couple of
years earlier. So far, so Country Blues... then City Scenes starts and it’s
another style completely, like a slicker version of Bill Fay transplanted from
North London to Greenwich Village or San Francisco. </span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">Lind seems to have turned into the musical
equivalent of blotting paper on this LP, seemingly taking in influences from
all over the place – and evidently leaving their mark on other artists – as I
can hear echoes of other LPs all through this one. An obvious influence would
be Dylan, no surprise there – but I can also hear Arlo Guthrie and Richie
Havens tones throughout the r</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">ecord (evidently Lind & Guthrie were close
friends, and Lind’s favourite cover of his own songs was done by Havens, 2012’s
How the Nights Can Fly). </span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">For some reason, the next track Loser made
me think of The Band: maybe it was the laid-back tempo and the slight time
shuffle on the ‘a-holding back a-summer storm’ return to the main theme that
did it. The opening guitar of Love Came Riding instantly made me think of Flat
Baroque-era Roy Harper, and the occasional skipped beat kept that feel throughout
the song. </span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;"><br />Theme from the Music Box had a Phil Ochs
feel for me; Anymore might’ve been written by Jimmy </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">Webb, and the triplets in
Spilling Over sounded very like Neil Young to my ears (maybe that’s the Jack
Nitzsche connection between the two coming through). </span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">She Can Get Along was the only single from
the LP, but it didn’t trouble the US or UK charts – it was middle of the road
enough, but perhaps without the hook that would keep it in the front of your
mind for long. The jaunty Up In The Morning is a couple of fun minutes and the
most Arlo-like song on the LP, but it’s a trap – the closing title track is
reminiscent of early 70s Bowie with its 12 string suspended guitar chords, and
the darkly off-kilter lyrics remind you where the album’s heart is really
at. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonfmBpt4uet8huJfK_8iboHfZdf_GufoW3XwBvRI7L_5QOM_tp4VEMYolIK6po5h17U1xZx6mSvlf0aBNZPp62gDLFY4PK06D-4WmJ7YBeY2d7XXiYHlLfgWIwQfGRlz5FE6ujFps910/s300/R-3207464-1526295066-8315.jpeg.jpg" style="background-color: black; clear: right; float: right; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonfmBpt4uet8huJfK_8iboHfZdf_GufoW3XwBvRI7L_5QOM_tp4VEMYolIK6po5h17U1xZx6mSvlf0aBNZPp62gDLFY4PK06D-4WmJ7YBeY2d7XXiYHlLfgWIwQfGRlz5FE6ujFps910/s0/R-3207464-1526295066-8315.jpeg.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">The songs which work best for me on the LP
are the acoustic ones, but then I’ve always shied away from lush strings and
orchestral arrangements – so those were always going to grate slightly. It’s a
chameleon-lik</span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; color: white; padding: 0cm;">e album that changes colour with every song, most notably going
from sky blue to dark grey with the closing two songs. It also improves with
further listening, so don’t dismiss it out of hand if it doesn’t feel like your
bag first time around</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; color: white; padding: 0cm;">. </span></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 11.75pt; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">This 1971 album offers an interesting selection of tunes
and lyrics that explore different genres of folk as they intersect with rock
music following the path of Bob Dylan (to whom he was compared – probably the
kiss of death in terms of making it in the music industry in Dylan’s shadow) as
well as Gram Parsons and the Byrds. A prominent feature is how with each song he
re-articulates his vocals to shape the lyrics and add atmosphere. This
vocalisation borrows from various styles to which he has clearly paid close
attention and allows him to offer distinctive, if middle of the road, phrasings
that compare favourably with some of the notable American song book and rock
crooners of the period. On two or three tracks this stylistic device becomes
somewhat arch and fails to convince but for the most part there is a creative
enterprise that holds the listener’s attention. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyr2Fh56G_SLuhQ4qVwBuj3093HhdM7nyuAnjE4Pod-R_sHE6ASJS4H9mawf3MRdqlW41Imp_qkf6_40ROj-j1KTDZJ4uJAAp5mD6ix4RLwAU-vlB1_uNZzUv6AWJX3aNp87r6GEIWshA/s189/download.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="122" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyr2Fh56G_SLuhQ4qVwBuj3093HhdM7nyuAnjE4Pod-R_sHE6ASJS4H9mawf3MRdqlW41Imp_qkf6_40ROj-j1KTDZJ4uJAAp5mD6ix4RLwAU-vlB1_uNZzUv6AWJX3aNp87r6GEIWshA/w258-h400/download.jpg" width="258" /></a></span></div><o:p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">His songs have been taken up and covered by a wide range of bands and
singers such as Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Petula Clark, Nancy Sinatra,
Richie Havens, the Four Tops and Dolly Parton to name but a few. Moreover the
British band Pulp paid homage To Lind with the song Bob Lind (the Only Way is Down) which alludes
perhaps to his propensity for drink and other substances in the 1960s which
hindered his career at that time. Interestingly he was a friend of the writer
Charles Bukowski who referenced him in the character Dinky Summers in his 1978
novel. Becoming sober in 1977 he has had a productive career in a range of
mediums, writing 5 novels and a screenplay and working as a journalist before
taking up music again in 2004 at the behest of another notable friend the
musician Arlo Guthrie. Since then he has been touring and released new music in
2012 and 2016 which is worth a listen</span></span></o:p><p></p></div></div><div><o:p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></o:p></div><div><o:p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></o:p></div><div><o:p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></o:p></div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-75576746909412874712020-08-23T06:18:00.051-07:002022-06-18T05:10:58.048-07:00ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN - Ocean Rain <p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <b><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">(MS)</span></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The singer’s claim of
this being the best album ever and one made in 1984 no less, has had the curtains twitching in the
BETWEEN THE CRACKS camper van. We’ve gone mobile journeying into the forbidden
zone to the crossroads of time where the music of the 80’s actually began. Like
stalkers from a Tarkovsky film we’ve tramped through derelict FACtories, ankle
deep in oil skimmed pools, argued amongst ourselves and ended up with a few uncomfortable truths.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-O3L-lu_QdaYyTbx0RiOfDKJXh4OLIEzoH8Ary2f8v-bFUaEhIgGfP8mzi1U-irWVhyqXjB-PctR4yt1vH6GNRU2dAkcsINfIXrTF1bMwavSq6hIeAeYxmENNgC1AkDfJ7hn6VVVfJo/s2048/ATLAS-OF-PLACES-ANDREI-TARKOVSKY-STALKER-IMG-23.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1494" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-O3L-lu_QdaYyTbx0RiOfDKJXh4OLIEzoH8Ary2f8v-bFUaEhIgGfP8mzi1U-irWVhyqXjB-PctR4yt1vH6GNRU2dAkcsINfIXrTF1bMwavSq6hIeAeYxmENNgC1AkDfJ7hn6VVVfJo/s640/ATLAS-OF-PLACES-ANDREI-TARKOVSKY-STALKER-IMG-23.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />I admit I am out of
my depth with all this. I was unprepared for the journey. The sweet strings of
the perfect pop song “Silver” seduced me bringing back memories of “Top of The
Pops” on TV and my intense teen-age years. But on each listen I keep getting stuck
on that string hook and wondering where it comes from? My revivalist instincts
bother me that it was lifted from something I should know and I keep wanting to say
David Angel’s strings on Love’s “Forever Changes” but I don’t think it was.
It’ll hit me much later on and I’ll quietly go in and amend this post …under
the nose of Tamantha. But never the less it is a perfect pop single and a
perfect album opener. But it may be made even better by the dirge like second
song “Nocturnal Me” coming next. It sounds a bit like Julian Cope and Marc Almond's Scott Walker obesession but I like the sequencing contrast from one to the other and the long orchestrated coda and the singer’s tendency to suddenly lurch his vocal forward like David
Bowie or Jim Morrison did. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">In fact the band
later covered songs by the Doors with that band’s keyboardist actually joining
them at one point. But I musn’t keep referencing all that is good about this
album back to the 1960’s must I? But…the Byrdsy-guitar sound by the
Byrdsy-looking guitarist Will Sergeant is pure Byrds. On reflection The Byrds
were probably the most significant influence on a whole generation of mid-80’s
bands </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">all the way into the next recession. Jangly jangly guitars, ponchos and
tortuously blown-dry, bowl hair cuts. For mine I wore a very tight fitting woolly
hat for about an hour every morning to flatten down the curls which probably
made me look like a hip version of Benny from “Crossroads”. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkbBamio6v41-PmL1D-be1W5MRnWQh2nf7Ljt1u21KDX74rgEl-LYv5VoUSABfjbcSh9ePDxOlLiYz6lEwpgIBQ2xmDSmah-EL5G3vkG0qgU6bZO4W20EhahLsX7J915lwcK5A2vz2SM/s2048/Will_Sergeant_with_an_Eastwood_Saturn_%252763.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1730" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkbBamio6v41-PmL1D-be1W5MRnWQh2nf7Ljt1u21KDX74rgEl-LYv5VoUSABfjbcSh9ePDxOlLiYz6lEwpgIBQ2xmDSmah-EL5G3vkG0qgU6bZO4W20EhahLsX7J915lwcK5A2vz2SM/w277-h328/Will_Sergeant_with_an_Eastwood_Saturn_%252763.jpg" width="277" /></a></div>But this side of the
album takes a downturn after this track. The last three songs are an
unpalatable mix of generic jangle pop ("Crystal Days") and a couple of abstract abominations that seem to ape the robotic sound of New
Order with some grandiose mumblings a la
Nick Cave. The last track “Thorn of Crowns” is a particular shocker. It even
ends falsely, so just when you think you’re through it, it comes back again
to haunt you. It always seems to me that the real problem of this period is
that the poorer the material the more sensitive I am to the metallic drum
sound. It (and I) went this way about 1983 when something happened with the
studio technology or rather the access to enhanced (worse) studio technology. I
don’t know what…my mind was elsewhere really. I was busy lurking round the
dustbins round the back of the school yard desperately hustling warped Small
Faces records to the D-stream remedials who’d washed-up there in the break-time
between their extra R.E. lessons. As the bell sounded I watched them zig-zag
back to Mr Andrews portacabin, whilst Mr Aytack whipped their arses with low
twangs from the double braces of his garga</span><span style="color: white;">ntuan trousers.<o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Anyway the second
side plays out very well after that. The sequencing is good and again I fondly
remember the two melodic singles from those TOTP days. The previous year's "The Cutter" with it's faux Bollywood strings intro alerted me to Echo being a great singles band and they shone when they pushed for hits. Towards the end of "Ocean Rain" it gets
moodier and stringier but it wraps things up to a very satisfying end. “My Kingdom” is
a rousing peak and the album ends with a song that though it seems to think
its better than it is, is nevertheless a very effective closer with it’s salty
seaside portent. You can’t go wrong ending an album with ramblings and
rumblings about the sea. It’s poetic meat and two veg.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">So an album I tackled
with some reservations and one much more enjoyable than I imagined it would be.
Along the way there were some hairy moments, but it’s left me with tunes to
whistle and that’s not a bad thing for an ‘owd bugger like me and it’s also
quite nice because most of the stuff I heard in the mid-80s’was really quite
irritating and I’m pleased that my contemporaries were at least having some
fun. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">(CG)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I remember once accidentally seeing Echo and the Bunny Men on Top
of the Pops, the UK television programme that highlighted the upper echelons of
the then single chart that made or broke new bands. The programme was a mish
mash of predominantly kitsch popular tunes with the occasional golden nugget of
a serious musician such as Hendrix’s Hey Joe or Prince’s Purple Rain. In the
main it was programmed to appeal to a surburban audience of eleven to sixteen
year olds along with the occasional tune that had been promoted in the
specialist clubs where DJs had a profound grasp of music and its histories. If
one was lucky it was a soul or jazz funk classic that had irresistibly stormed
the clubs and spread beyond to the discos and wider single buying publics. Its
move up the singles charts allowed such records to force their way onto Top of
the Pops. However Top of the Pops was also shamelessly manipulated by the
record promoters so that endless novelty acts gained a ridiculous exposure that
massively boosted their sales (and therefore was played in the less discerning
clubs and discos where everyone was too drunk to care about what they were
listening to). One also has to note that the music was mimed and some musicians
purposely did not imitate playing their tune with sometimes hilarious results.
The only reason for watching the programme was when a serious musician or band
featured and highlighted the utter inanity of the rest of the programme -
including bizarre sequences of dancers moving totally out of sync with whichever
tune was being played and DJ’s whose enthusiastic prattle was clearly directed
at the lowest common denominator of inanity. At its best watching this
programme was a profoundly surreal experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4ryvUXihX-Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="4ryvUXihX-Q"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Back to Echo and the Bunny Men. I have to confess I did not
understand their music at the time and still don’t. Clearly on Ocean Rain the
producer and the orchestrator have played a key role in the making of its
sound(s). Moreover it is clear that their musical direction is directed at
making a commercial success that could feature on Top of Pops and sell to the
widest range of publics. To that end their tunes seem to select signature
clichés of successful pop records including some of the devices of the novelty
records to create a mish mash of effects without musical purpose. To my ears
they are unlistenable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">(JS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">There’s an anecdote that prevails
around bus-stops in the North West of England that observes that when the bus
finally does turn up it will be joined by two empty companions. So it was at
the end of the seventies/early eighties post-punk Northern musical
resurgence. Three bands spawned at roughly the same time and then spun in
different directions. Glasgow offered the art school Bohemia of Simple Minds,
Dublin launched the scrappy U2 and Liverpool offered the bewildering Echo and
The Bunnymen. The Bunnymen’s initial sound was introspective jangle
pre-shoe gaze. Songs of willful obscurity celebrating the banal and mundane as
moments of intense introspection, their first two albums ploughed a furrow as
idiosyncratic as the gulf between Liverpool and the Wirral. None of the key
players McCulloch, De Freitas, Sergeant or Pattinson ruined their brains with the
experience of higher education, instead they opted for a musical apprenticeship
at Eric’s music club which was in a basement on Matthew Street opposite the
more famous Cavern. Here the band mixed with future members of It’s immaterial,
Wah, Shack, The Christians, Julian Cope, the Teardrop Explodes, Elvis Costello,
Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Banshees, The Slits, Talking
Heads, Stranglers, Ultravox, XTC and OMD. Their first album ‘Crocodiles’ won
critical acclaim, their follow-up ‘Porcupine” earned them some commercial
impact. Their third album began experimenting with the raw Bunnymen sound to
expand the formula with string arrangements. After an extensive tour of obscure
venues - the Hebrides, Iceland, Buxton </span><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">(ED. Not the Iceland in Buxton</span><span style="color: white;">)</span></i><span style="color: white;"> the
band launched Ocean Rain. It was a record that retained the fierce
introspection of lyric with brighter melodies and lusher arrangements. The
album sold well and the band disintegrated citing that they couldn’t do any
better. Obviously they tried to another seven times, but nothing quite ever
recaptured the sad magic of Ocean Rain which is in a nutshell a collection of
songs which celebrate a simple life in Liverpool. McCulloch is quoted about his
work ethic in releasing Ocean Rain in 2008. He said <i>“It wasn’t to do with
conquering the world; it was to do with those lads, like me and Ian Curtis, who
liked the Silver Surfer and Bowie. It’s the greatest album ever made</i>” The music
is simple to play, but almost impossible to copy, because of the subtlety of
McCulloch’s vocal stylings. Sarges might be playing an E, G, F but he’s
playing it in a tuning you don’t recognise all over the fretboard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Silver <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The sky is blue<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">My hands untied<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A world that's true<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Through our clean eyes<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Just look at you<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">With burning lips<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">You're living proof<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">At my fingertips</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Great guitar hook on verse and
chorus, driving drum and bass, lush arrangements and McCulloch racing along
trying to keep up with lyrics that could be pushed into a romantic
interpretation by a jaded Cure or Joy Division fan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Noctural Me<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Oh take me internally</span></span></i></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Forever yours<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Nocturnal me<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Take me internally<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Forever yours<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Nocturnal me</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A brooder much more reminiscent
of the band’s early pre-poppy material, which eludes to a love hurts like
drugs. Its distinctive and enlivened to sub operatic by the arrangements. Not
all songs need to be happy but this is particularly dour.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Crystal days<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Where are you<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In shadows only I can see<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Looking for hope<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And you hope it's me<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Tattered and torn and born to be<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Building a world where we can<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Purify our misfit ways<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">And magnify our crystal days</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The jingle jangle of broken love
in Liverpool where the rain tastes bitter. The baseline holds this one
together, and the guitar is the cement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Yo-Yo Man<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Collecting the bones of my friend
tonight<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Sowing the seeds in a fruitless
land<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">You know when prayers all hit the
ground<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">There is no higher hand</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Another gloomster with a lovely
middle 8, saved by the extra band arrangements. Dramatic but an unlikely choice
to be whistled on your way to work, even if you work in Toxteth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Thorn of Crowns<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wait for me on the blue horizon<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Blue horizon for everyone<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wait for me on a new horizon<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">New horizons for everyone</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A vocal tribute to the Doors.
Again reminiscent of the bands earlier work, but with a little more shouting. I
saw this live in Reykjavik in an early form and I can say McCulloch toned down
his wig-out scat to the betterment of the song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Killing Moon<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Under Blue moon I saw you</span></span></i></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">So soon you'll
take me<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Up in your arms, too late to beg you</span></span></i></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Or cancel it though I know it must be</span></span></i></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The killing time</span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Unwillingly mine</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An unambiguously creepy song of great
atmosphere that is the band’s zeitgeist moment. Great structure, shape,
development, restraint and poise. Any band would have killed to have this song.
The Bunnymen almost didn’t include it, because it didn’t have the ocean theme.
Pattinson recalls: “<i>Me and Will had been in Russia for a holiday, and there
was this band playing balalaikas in a hotel foyer, real cheesy cabaret. But it
was so fantastic and we just started messing about and the next thing is we’ve
got a chorus for “The Killing Moon”. It was just brilliant”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Seven Seas<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Stab a sorry heart<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">With your favourite finger<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Paint the whole world blue<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And stop your tears from stinging<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Hear the cavemen singing<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Good news they're bringing</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A cheerful song about moving on.
Greatly lifted by the orchestrations, and the bells…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">My Kingdom<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">I</span><span style="color: #fcff01;"> chop and I change and the
mystery thickens<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There's blood on my hands and you
want me to listen<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">To brawn and to brain when the
truth's in the middle<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Born of the grain like all good
riddles<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">B-b-burn the skin off and climb
the roof top<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Thy will be done<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">B-b-bite the nose off and make it
the most of<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face=""><span style="color: #fcff01;">Your king- kingdom kingdom
kingdom</span></span></i><span face="" style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Sounds like its going to be a
gloomy one but instead the jangle ascends upwards to be probably the best song
on the album, all the elements in zen like balance<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Ocean Rain<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">All at sea again<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And now my hurricanes have
brought down this ocean rain<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">To bathe me again<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">My ship's a sail<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Can you hear its tender frame<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Screaming from beneath the waves<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Screaming from beneath the waves</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The big ballad, gentle start to
full orchestra, a lovely crescendo arrangement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">Angels and devils* (</span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">ED. This
wasn’t on my version of the album?)</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">So, so happy<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">When happiness spells miser<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And mister me hoping to be<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Where ugliness meets beauty<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Hope if you'll see<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The demon in you<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The angel in me<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The jesus in you<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">The devil in me</span><span style="color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">MOR stomper for the American
market that escaped them until Donnie Darko revived them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7qtJ8REkGXzq4r3LUofrErp9mhmfZ_aewYYhlwO5_gcTN7f7-Vuo0fy8z0LBEEQ6oi12V07Os4N4gNJ6UyDVXdpKADUsKfeN9pZND6i46jBvMomkU4T5js4w7w387Zo8SBCMtTrb3xzA/s300/Oceanrain.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7qtJ8REkGXzq4r3LUofrErp9mhmfZ_aewYYhlwO5_gcTN7f7-Vuo0fy8z0LBEEQ6oi12V07Os4N4gNJ6UyDVXdpKADUsKfeN9pZND6i46jBvMomkU4T5js4w7w387Zo8SBCMtTrb3xzA/w469-h469/Oceanrain.jpg" width="469" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Overall, it is not the best album
ever made, but it’s a very good one, and when listened to in its proper context
a special place is reserved for this record in my top 50. I think what I love
about it is its undeniable simplicity, disguising a lush complexity. Its ambiguous
lyrics well sung, and even though Ian Broudie’s production added a necessary
lightness to the mixture (for sales) the efforts don’t sound misplaced and the
band rise to the occasion. Whilst Simple Minds grew to dominate national
stadium venues and U2 went on to fill global stadia, the Bunny men blew their
assets chasing Ray Manzarek for their next album which didn’t perform as well.
Their intense parochialism is what kept them honest but not global. Patterson
illustrates this with his descriptions of the Paris phase of the recording of
Ocean Rain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“We were pissed every night and
working in a studio with two guys who hardly spoke any English and we produced
it ourselves. It only took three weeks and it was amazing, but for all that,
Mac couldn’t sing on it. He was either too washed out from partying or just
couldn’t get it together, so we ended up recording all his vocals in Kirby.
That was typical, and I don’t think it would have worked otherwise”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><i><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><b><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">(PS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I have a strange relationship with the 80s. On the one hand, most of my
bequiffed, stonewashed teens were spent in it; but when I then heard music from
the two previous decades, I soon buried myself in the second-hand racks, rather
than the new releases. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Echo & the Bunnymen largely passed me by, save one single Bring on
the Dancing Horses, released a year or two after Ocean Rain - and I think
that's still their best song. There are a few decent ones on this LP (two of
the singles, Seven Seas and The Killing Moon for example), but the rest -
pretty much all of side one, in fact - seem too much like filler to me. The
strings give warmth and depth to the sound when they're there, but when they're
not McCulloch's voice seems too prominent in the mix, and I don't think it's
strong enough to pull that off convincingly. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p>
<span face="" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I suspect this was a hugely
inspirational album for some - The Mission, to my ears, spring to mind - but it’s
not my cup of tea. </span></span><div><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span face="" style="background-color: black; line-height: 107%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mVTHTdTAHb4" width="320" youtube-src-id="mVTHTdTAHb4"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div></div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-43732563083213232062020-08-16T06:00:00.038-07:002022-06-18T05:05:57.033-07:00TIM HARDIN - If I Knew<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JFfIRxIqdjshtWgu0Lnx5xVAuKmS5BTCX8LykWW3_6oBdvw4o_MXKOXW7DutRSubJLxTJUL31FuosCJRo0jZSBevBkEyZ4-ug7XwcjELituSkDoKRLvlOmI43GvRWUfMy0Em5-yPbak/s400/hardin-bird%2528back%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JFfIRxIqdjshtWgu0Lnx5xVAuKmS5BTCX8LykWW3_6oBdvw4o_MXKOXW7DutRSubJLxTJUL31FuosCJRo0jZSBevBkEyZ4-ug7XwcjELituSkDoKRLvlOmI43GvRWUfMy0Em5-yPbak/w500-h500/hardin-bird%2528back%2529.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">I carry all ...all I need in a basket, o</span></span></i><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">f needless sorrow...sorrrow.</span></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Become heavy from a-waiting on, what seems always to come on...come on tomorrow. </span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first version sounds like no more than a sketch. A tune worked on
during those first album sessions in 1964 to serve whatever fragments of lyric
he had to hand. It's arrangement, sentiment and place probably taken by "Part of the
Wind" on the final LP. Tentative first steps ...baby steps ...away from the cocky Afro-American
blues he'd been previously pushing... towards the skeletal, fragile two-minute requiems that would forever define his
sound. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">He'd probably just met her. He came to steal her money take her rings and run, she gave him a reason to believe but from
the very off he was agonising how he could hang on to his dream. </span></span></span></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Has what i've been waiting on become further away.... </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Or almost gone ....out of reach for me.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A simple reverb
strum on a guitar with clickety-clack hi-hat for rhythm, a little too fast, the
imagery at odds with an end of session feel. A red balloon ready to be
popped in the studio rest-room. A song discarded like the needles and foil; the habit either picked up as an early opioid cure for physical pain or a souvenir
from a tour of Vietnam. It was hard to tell with Tim Hardin mythology. But it fuelled a continental
criss-crossing existence on the same circuit as Dylan, Neil, Van Ronk, Rush,
Ochs et al, A coffee house fantasy lived through Leadbelly, Guthrie and the delta blues. Hardin's path seemed particularly unsettled. Unstructured. Oregon, New
York, Boston, Los Angeles...Vietnam? In LA the songs changed after he met the TV
actress and model destined to occupy the most profound moments of his brief 39 years. Now the blues really began.</span></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Has the distance left to go become further away ... far too much for me to know. </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">A sea with no beach for me</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In 1968, two LP's under his belt, with Susan and child in tow (<i>"I haven't any time for
children although I've got a lot"</i>), a live recording captured the tension of
a typical Hardin gig. The hesitant at times soulful delivery of the song now slowed
down to a rambling semi-jam fiercely held together by jazz sideman used to
facilitating his "head arrangements '. It was ragged.Was it just the song or
was it him? In the summer at the Albert Hall he'd fall into a stupor on stage suggesting everything suffered on a bad night.
Doubled in length the song now evoked the lost at sea metaphor, drifting into the abyss but delivered as though his muse were dragging him to the depths. It was left off the live LP as released at the time, creeping out 40 years later in the post-modern afterglow of his still-born rediscovery. </span></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">If i'm on an ocean without an edge of sand....</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Is there any reason in trying.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A record company move to Columbia upped the stakes, but
attempts to capture him in the studio was proving difficult. A studio version
for an abandoned LP kept the length but sweetened the sound, with bubbling bass,
chiming guitars and up tempo drumming. The song now a Marie Celeste captained by LA executives in search of a cross-over folk-pop hit for the Canyon. Eventually the
studio moved into his home, the engineers and producers on call to capture him
when the mood infrequently took him. It's bizarre
title "Suite for Susan Moore and Damion, We are One, One, All in One"
and portrait sleeve photos suggest Columbia bankrolled the wedding and reception
too. </span></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">If you'd give me a thankful sight of land... your arms...</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">I believe ...I believe i could hold back my crying,</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It would have been a poignant last sweet moment if it wasn't so chaotic. Musically it WAS the relationship, </span>the muse had gone, <span style="font-family: inherit;">the family was broken, </span>sales were poor and <span style="font-family: inherit;">there was pressure for another album to deliver. What happened in
the decade after is text book tragic. Re-location to London to access NHS support for his habit, alienation of the media, badly
received recordings, psychological problems, physical deterioration, social withdrawal... O.D in a Los Angeles appartment block on the last day of 1980.</span></span></span></p><p><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">If you'd give me a thankful sight of land...</span></span></i></p><p><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I believe</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> I could hold back my crying...my crying</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">If I knew</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">But on that final Columbia LP he nailed it. The jazz musicians were still hanging on...waiting for the moment of inspiration.The budget now provided sympathetic though certainly overdubbed strings. The music was finally perfect for the lyrics. And time had passed long enough to make the lyrics transcend the junkie <i>woe is me</i> schtick. In 1970 with his family life in tatters, his addictions profound and his career in freefall the time had come...It's a bit like the end of a Fellini film.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sj1gkKeauIY" width="320" youtube-src-id="Sj1gkKeauIY"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-61029359699703639852020-08-08T08:27:00.149-07:002022-06-18T05:04:05.818-07:00FAIRPORT CONVENTION - Liege & Lief <p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">(CG)</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifeD4r-pHjK2pAM_q410NA2_C2SreeqJyZlvA543mhReN3Tw6GMHSQQBqitTbHYg3wGn8SdZ6WHn4nJLrhIN9QjV3U0uyuhyPwWgHH8y7-h4rCcMAfQ5NUqPuU3Y9acPhMttzA6PGzQO0/s227/download.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="227" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifeD4r-pHjK2pAM_q410NA2_C2SreeqJyZlvA543mhReN3Tw6GMHSQQBqitTbHYg3wGn8SdZ6WHn4nJLrhIN9QjV3U0uyuhyPwWgHH8y7-h4rCcMAfQ5NUqPuU3Y9acPhMttzA6PGzQO0/w285-h279/download.jpg" width="285" /></span></a><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The fourth album Liege and Leaf by Fairport Convention in 1969 featuring
Sandy Denny is perhaps the most successful of the fusions of rock music and
British folk traditions. It directly transposed songs from an English folk
tradition to a rock idiom to immediate acclaim. However in some ways its
successful fusion perhaps highlighted some of the major difficulties of this
British genre which made this a singular or one off phenomenon within rock
music.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">British folk music often invoked notions of middle class “Englishness”
often based on the academic propensities of folk musicologists seeking to
historicise its traditions while linking it to a selective range of historical
cultural texts that had recorded its oral forms. In contrast contemporary
Irish, and to a lesser extent Scottish, folk music were rooted in the politics
of inequalities and marginalisation that gave it an i</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">mmediacy that evoked
contemporary experience whether the shipyards of Glasgow or the troubles of
Northern Ireland. There were more radical traditions of music fostered by the
unions and working mens’ halls in England that championed the experience of
working people but their voices were muted or marginalised in the mass
consumption of folk music as it developed as an industry in the 1950s. This was
compounded by the ways in folk traditions were policed such that, for example,
Bob Dylan’s move from acoustic to electric met with fierce opposition from the
Newport festival fans in 1965. In England in 1966 there was a similar defining
of musical boundaries at the Manchester Free trade Hall where Dylan was
famously reviled as “Judas” by a disgruntled British folk music fan. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Seminal to the development of rock music was the utilisation of the
flexible 12 bar idiom derived from African American blues music, in its rural
and urban forms, mediated by the forms of rock and roll of Little Richard and
Chuck Berry that challenging the racialised distribution of music in the USA.
Inspired by Dylan’s shift to rock and the impetus he contributed drawn from other
musical genres such as the Oklahoma derived narratives of Woodie Guthrie that
challenged establishment hierarchies, British musicians looked to their own
folk traditions as a resource in the development of British rock. However many
of these rock musicians shaped by their middle class nostalgia of a lost rural
Britain rather than the impact of a hundred years of industrialisation were
constricted by the fashioning of musical tropes of an archaic England that sat
uneasily with the rebellion and the progressiveness of the nascent rock genre
at that historical moment. It often resulted in a fey or arch idiom with
antiquated musical forms that did not fit with the 12 bar blues structure,
although these works were consumed by some middle class audiences.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And yet…… Fairport Convention took this route consulting with the
archives of the British Folk Society by Regents Park but also harrowed by a car
crash that killed their drummer and a girlfriend. The shared trauma lends an
emotional edge of loss and poignancy that re-invigorated the lyrics while the
musical transpositions simplified and ruthlessly struck out the musical
archaisms to offer an emotional clarity that cut to the core. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BkEaZURyAm62WWyl6X8H5DcAARkm_9Vb83qAIrQheuE8mchnXXP54bbaqPREA7-uo9OdKriDPw0HEbSzlnbYgMma4xIp035SRabKRPyDKk3BKumDBleFF7kn41Je9ZTSxYRgSU-qONY/s500/unnamed.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="500" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BkEaZURyAm62WWyl6X8H5DcAARkm_9Vb83qAIrQheuE8mchnXXP54bbaqPREA7-uo9OdKriDPw0HEbSzlnbYgMma4xIp035SRabKRPyDKk3BKumDBleFF7kn41Je9ZTSxYRgSU-qONY/w320-h216/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">(PS)</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Do I get to
bang on about how amazing 1969 was again? Well if I must… Not content with
releasing one great album that year, Fairport released three. THREE! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><i>What
We Did on Our Holidays, </i>the wonderful <i>Unhalfbricking</i> and
the cornerstone of British folk rock that is <i>Liege and Lief</i>. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Replacing
original vocalist Judy Dyble, Sandy Denny gave Fairport power, a clear
direction and a sense of identity that was previously lacking. With a stronger
voice than Judy’s, she allowed the group to have a louder, rockier sound – and
thus British Folk Rock was properly born. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">What We Did on
Our Holidays</span></i><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> still had the tinges of the West Coast sound
played through an English filter… then The Band’s seminal Music from Big Pink
was released and made Fairport reassess their American leanings, as they
couldn't compete with that – they had to redefine themselves and record music
that was truer to their roots. Country fan Ian Matthews left to form Matthews
Southern Comfort and fiddle virtuoso Dave Swarbrick took more centre stage, particularly
in the traditional <i>A Sailor’s Tale</i> on <i>Unhalfbricking</i>;
the twin-pronged fiddle/guitar attack of Swarb and Richard Thomson had been
forged. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">After the
tragic loss of drummer Martin Lamble in the M1 crash in May 69, the survivors
collectively mourned their losses and found that they needed the band as
something to cling to, a way to deal with the situation. So they ‘got it
together in the country’ (Hampshire, actually) and the result was the
game-changing <i>Liege and Lief</i>, their first album totally dedicated
to British folk songs. None of your cable-sweatered, finger-in-the-ear, beardy
hey nonnying here though… this is the perfect mix of rock and folk music, with
beautifully searing, clear-as-a-bell vocals from Denny and lovely interplay
from Swarb and Thompson.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; font-family: arial; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; font-family: arial; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Id-uy--H8tQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="Id-uy--H8tQ"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">The LP’s
opener <i>Come All Ye</i> sets the electrified folk stage perfectly,
like a call to a sumptuous feast; but <i>Reynardine</i> is arguably
the standout track here, as hauntingly beautiful as the previous LP’s <i>Who
Knows Where the Time Goes</i>. Stunning. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">The traditional<i> Matty Groves</i> starts
out like a fairly standard folk number, until the mad proggish noodling comes
in and it’s an absolute blast after that. <i>Farewell, Farewell</i> closes
the side in more reflective mood with Thompson lyrics to a traditional melody.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif">The Deserter</span></i><span face="arial, sans-serif"> starts side 2 as a genteel waltz
until the protagonist’s court martial briefly makes it a more regimented 3/4;
then the Swarb tour de force that is <i>Medley</i> storms in, drinks
all your grog and breaks up the furniture in the melee; <i>Tam Lin</i> has
a nicely irregular 3, 3, 4, 3 time with Denny’s vocals flowing gracefully over
the top; <i>Crazy Man Michael</i> is an original composition, but
could easily be another traditional arrangement. </span></span></p><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">The whole
experience of the LP feels like an old painting in a modern frame. Inside the
gatefold sleeve are pictures of long-lost folk figures such as Pace-Eggers,
Morris Dancers and notable folk music historian Cecil Sharp, among others;
clearly the message here is that your heritage should be remembered, even if
you embrace that of others. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Ashley
Hutchings and Denny left so</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">on after the album’s release (to form Steeleye Span
and Fotheringay respectively) and Fairport never truly regained the magic they
managed to capture; </span><i>Full House</i><span face="arial, sans-serif"> from 1970 has its moments, but
its predecessor is where it’s really at. Oft-copied, never equalled, </span><i>Liege
and Lief</i><span face="arial, sans-serif"> is majestic. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">And quintessentially British. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="800" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYj5wIwhnzuYCCUJsRSKed1tydRZm-v0m2mTduKnJxtzgYdEprVoY-bXwGTds7llttF4FLP6afrgTyMVlVLkpvLX1ZOWQ62sCV86_0z-UxPZ4tLY5S2lKlG_Ahx5-9QjqmUS0nwVCfhdY/w512-h262/Cb29NU2WwAAt_5s.jpg" width="512" /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> (JS)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">This is an album of tensions, both positive and
negative.On one han</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">d the band present novelty in the form of amplified
electronic music in a popular American rock style, on the other the album
celebrates an interpretation of English traditional folk music, that in a sense
has informed elements of the American tradition. The musicians also present a
tension </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">between individual musical virtuosity and the discipline of
de-individualising their personal musical contributions to meld into the
gestalt, fit for the purpo</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">se of being a commercial rock band. The third
observable tension is the tension between </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">embracing the popular as championed
by the commercial charts, with the music </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">the band enjoyed playing/ listening
to. Liege and lief is often hailed as the definit</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">ive performance of the band in
studio, but in reality it was a moment of individuals, suspending their
individual creative egos momentarily to work together to produce a moment of
beauty before rushing away from each other to try something else with lesser
effect. In genre terms it is often described as the definitive English folk
rock albu</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">m, and can be identified to have spawned hundreds o</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">f imitators, even
though there were many treading this ploughline before them and many, many
after them. Whilst guest vocalist Sandy Denny gets much of the credit for the
traditional folk dimension, she was supported by Hutching's academic research
in Cecil Sharp House on one hand, and the raw folk that courses through the
veins of Dave Swarbrick’s fiddle playing. Supported by Mattacks, Thompson and
Nicol, it was an impossible alchemy not to transmute base metal into gold. The
album made money but not enough to bind the band into a second album. As the
band fragmented its members formed Fotheringay, The Albion band, and Steeleye
Span, who continued to plough the same furrow, if in a diminished form.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Come all ye - A fantastic opening track, a loose
rolling ramble into the possibilities of the new ensemble, the discipline to
play a coherent song is barely held toget</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">her, Thompson’s Nicol’s and Swabricks
musical individualis</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">m is highly detectab</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">le, whilst Mattacks and Hutchings hold
it all together. The overall sound as it is though is of the male musicians
standing around Denny in the centre, queen of all she surveys, the lyric whilst
simple, is well within her range which allows firm comman</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">d. Original
composition</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Reynardine- A loose and rather over-ornamented
version of the traditional Renardyne, this is an example of where the
individual musicians should have been kept in check, its starts at 11 and
climbs to thirteen in regards to wild improvisations, and it could do with a
bit more pace in my opinion. Denny’s vocal here has become the standard
interpretation, but the song would work better at say Matty groves pace, except
in that it precedes Matty groves on the album. Personally it feels a tad
indulgent, overly slowed down to make way for the stomper that follows. Denny
voice is a bit too thin in timbre to carry this off.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Matty Groves- A traditional border ballad, which
Denny’s vocal commands well, the band is disciplined here but the material
demands a full eight minutes to spit it out. The tune is not good enough for
eight minute, and the lyrical content illustrates that it is not a feminist
dance classic in a traditional or a novel sense. Denny’s vocal works better
here but Swarbrick is buried too deep in the mix until released by Thompson’.s
mid song wig out.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHx-PuMe57waEo6n3L4yXLeTj78f2cMVrO3jQoVYUEgbTv2VP9hZogR1epXaGAqdIuBouPIwKU6h9uUKVyHO-SFouEZavMGtymcQOrjLR9WZwMOZgm_YOC_HAo_RmZzRdxWuVRoqr1wbo/s885/19a787a6a5fde5fe450abd8d78523584.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="750" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHx-PuMe57waEo6n3L4yXLeTj78f2cMVrO3jQoVYUEgbTv2VP9hZogR1epXaGAqdIuBouPIwKU6h9uUKVyHO-SFouEZavMGtymcQOrjLR9WZwMOZgm_YOC_HAo_RmZzRdxWuVRoqr1wbo/w223-h263/19a787a6a5fde5fe450abd8d78523584.jpg" width="223" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Farewell, Farewell- A disciplined Thompson song,
with a good focussed Denny vocal</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">The Deserter- A traditional song , which binds the
band together into the classic folk band they are, Thompson, Nicols and
Swarbrick in their proper place . Denny is just about perfect in this one,
rising from an interesting vocalist to being an essential one.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">"Medley"I. "The Lark in the
Morning”, II. "Rakish Paddy”, III. "Foxhunter's Jig”, IV. "Toss
the Feathers" -Swarbrick’s price for band membership, a proper folkie
stomp that can be repeated and elongated to any length by musicians of this
calibre, it's just a shame that Swarbrick is buried a bit deep in the mix.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Tam Linn- Another example of the traditional and
rock elements bound together in perfect harmony by Denny whose vocal style
works better in the staccato than in the legato style she adopted for
Reynardine. It goes on a bit and could accommodate a bit more pace
towards the end. Swarbrick is subdued in the mix, and an alternate mix
could make the song much wilder and fairy like. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Crazy Man Michael Orignal composition, great Denny
vocal, the bands individual virtuosity is here contained and great song,
despite the occasional olde English inflection.</span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: right;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">(MS)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span> </span>“</span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Think about stories
with reason and rhyme</span></span></span></span></i></div><i><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div style="color: #fcff01; text-align: left;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span> </span>Circling through your brain</span></i></div><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><div style="color: #fcff01; text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span> </span>And think about people in their season and time</span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #fcff01;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span> </span>Returning again and again”</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;"> </span><span style="color: white;">(Nick Drake)</span></span></div></span></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; color: #fcff01; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">“Liege
and Lief” is not an obscure album. In fact it may be considered the “Citizen
Kane” of UK folk-rock recordings; the shining pinnacle, the benchmark for all
other entries to be compared against. Curiously this in itself has made it and
the band that recorded it slip into the realms of the neglected and unheard.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Perhaps
it’s a little bit too revered to be listened to? Easy prey for Norma
Waterstone’s fiddle playing daughter to once remark that there was more to the
UK folk movement than “Liege & Lief”. To be fair there is more, or at
least <i>there</i> <i>was back then</i> when the movement
consisted of a broad coalition of emerging and overlapping styles. This album
and those of the other heavyweight act Pentangle, influenced a multitude of
folk-rock bands. Special mention should be made of The Trees two brilliant
LP’s, the first few by Steeleye Span, Forest, Fresh Maggots and the one-off
Fairport offshoot Fotheringay. But there were copious singer songwriters too,
covering similar territory like John Martyn, Steve Ashley, Roy Harper, Mick
Softley, Nick Drake, Al Stewart and Bridget St John. Traditionalists, Martin
Carthy, The Waterstons, Anne Briggs, Shirley Collins upped their sound to a
lesser or greater extent to meet the changes. Then there was the hippy end of
the spectrum with the (Scottish) Incredible String Band, (Irish) Dr Strangely
Strange and the poppier cross-over musings of Donovan. And of course a number
of the rock bands such as Family, Jethro Tull, Traffic and Led Zepellin were
also playing songs within the genre.(Sandy Denny of Fairport guests on Led Zep
IV) And…there’s Comus, Dando Shaft, Heron, Mellow Candle and great stand-out
songs…Shelagh McDonald’s “Dowie Den of Yarrow”, Keith Christmas’ “Forest and
The Shore” and future West End chanteuse Julie Covington’s “My Silks and Fine
Array” etc, etc…the list is long.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">But
the fact is the <i>folk-rock</i> movement never really <i>advanced</i> beyond
this album. There were many attempts to follow the template but very few single
albums so perfectly captured such an evocative and cohesive sense of mood over
a 40 minute sitting. So many things coalesce around it, around the people who
created it and around the time it was made.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">The
opening song “Come All Ye” with its fiddles and drums is like the triumphal
march of Heralds leading an army into battle. It’s the Fairport’s “Sgt Pepper”,
introducing the listener to an experience aiming </span><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">“To
rouse the spirit of the earth and move the rolling sky”</span></i><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">.
It’s the song to kick-off any compilation of folk music from this period. The
rock element is most evident when the LP reaches Appalachian tune “Shady Grove”
appended to a 17C murder ballad, re-titled “Matty Groves”. Halfway through it
transforms into an instrumental jam showcase for the locked groove of fiddler
Dave Swarbrick and guitarist Richard Thompson; the latter taking his
improvisations into Jerry Garcia/ Jorma Kaukonen territory. In fact the riff of
this tune brings to mind a touch of Jefferson Airplane’s chorus to the
contemporaneous “’Volunteers”. (The summit of Thompson’s guitar ramblings would
be his spell-binding “Sloth” on Fairport’s next LP)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">This
was the fourth release by The Fairport Convention and the culmination of an
ever progressing sequence of recordings. They’d formed in a house called
“Fairport” at the opposite end of the same Fortis Green Road in Muswell Hill to
that of The Kinks. By 1968 the latter were creating their own somewhat more
proletarian take on pastoral idyll’s with their “Village Green” album. (The pub
that overlooks the still-standing house with its “Fairport” sign, has recently
been renamed “The Village Green”). Fairport’s early goodtime</span><span face="arial, sans-serif"> jug-band songs and
covers of contemporary Americana was a tad too respectful but once Sandy Denny
joined, the band found a vocalist who was more than a match for their maturing
musicianship. And they started to write quality originals. The anthemic “Meet
on the Ledge”, the sweet sitar-tinged “Book Song”, brooding “Genesis Hall” and
the wonderfully ominous “Autopsy”. Denny also brought a soon to be folk
standard in “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” as well as broaden</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">ing the palate
with an encouragement to bandmates to explore traditional arrangements like
“She Moved Through the Fair” and the sea-shanty psych-out of “A Sailor’s Life”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BOWXQgLWhczbnL_UdO_k4UsQqVCkD6zZnw23quwDZc0nR9ijvXhc437QXxv-mW-NLSpGyl81Uwnmn-QnenlDPJ3OITV6Z1a3nEaOGliTFe-7mPBYsv8H6jD1f6DcsYMb_2f1wXcckf8/s512/unnamed+%25281%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="512" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BOWXQgLWhczbnL_UdO_k4UsQqVCkD6zZnw23quwDZc0nR9ijvXhc437QXxv-mW-NLSpGyl81Uwnmn-QnenlDPJ3OITV6Z1a3nEaOGliTFe-7mPBYsv8H6jD1f6DcsYMb_2f1wXcckf8/w329-h218/unnamed+%25281%2529.jpg" width="329" /></span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">On
an earlier LP the magical madrigal-like “Fotheringay” always brings me back to
those shivery Saturday mornings on the sofa watching those short histories
about castles with jarring zoom lenses to the battlements</span><span face="arial, sans-serif">, swelling war noises
and soothing Patrick Allen-types recounting the fate of doomed kings and
queens. My face pressed against the cool window panes, eyes staring out into
damp northern mornings, torrential afternoons and whole weekends lost to heavy
moor-mist. From the back room drifted the Clancy Brothers and Tom Paxton and on
TV Toni Arthur was always chirping away with a song about a bloody frog. There
was a lot of folk in the background in the early 1970’s. I would have first
picked up “Liege & Lief” the only way you could back then via trips to the
library on Saturday mornings, finger-tips nicked by the too tightly packed
plastic sleeves in the cramped record dept. Like rose thorns hiding their sharp
secret, we bled to discover unheard Beatles songs left off the bodged tape
recordings fed to us by our busy father. When I finally heard the full ”White
Album” it was like gaining access to a secret room in my bedroom that had
always been there but one that had been hidden from me. A childhood measured in </span></span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">TDK C90’s.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">But
the firm connection to listening to folk-music for pleasure only truly emerged
from my subconscious during my cathartic mid-teens. One late-night I caught a
TV viewing of “The Wicker Man” introduced by a sinister looking carnival barker
frothing at the mouth about the secrets he was about to unfold upon us. When
the song “Corn Rigs” played over the opening credits of that old horror film it
seemed to suddenly awaken all sorts of ancient thoughts lying dormant in me.
Pagan horror then connected back to that musty old volume of British Folk
Mythology in the glass book cabinet in the front room that I’d spend years idly
poring over. I reflected on the spectacular mountains and pine forests I’d seen
on those dark Scottish summers spent holidaying with the family. I even
discovered that Toni Arthur had been on the fringe of the occult herself,
recording a 1971 album called “Hearken to the Witches Rune”. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; font-family: arial; font-size: large; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwgx0QU27BhariysS6cbgAgX5ZIyLO6I1jmm3yTK1W7JCzyQT6gQQzYpnHSpGZxbODXZefOBaV9a0bAFcnnHA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white;">“Liege
& Lief’s” second song “Reynadine” take us deep into those sinister woods
with the unsettling electric violin of Swarbrick taking us off the mossy path
straight into horror. Adapted from an ancient morality tale the story shape
shifted itself at the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century to tell the tale
of a maiden’s seduction by a werefox. Swarbrick gives a similarly creepy
performance on the Martin Carthy version of the song recorded the previous year
(“Prince Heathen” LP). On t</span></span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">he inside of the gatefold sleeve there were photos
of olden ceremonies or were they in fact drawings…or were they doctored photos?
It was hard to make out. And I studied that back sleeve and long considered the
significance of the curious wooden head and the final line from “Tam Lin”</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVffnp3Gtr1YkWPTxvNoNCB3l7iG1cYdWsILSfH-bDqcV7EJBkwvtc_hEWkZKHpII4edEIT6t5rxMU_a4pfWOoA6xUqwuQEvVscb3UqtqI7pr2HHMaoAi-Z8FZRH_LeR3Ani6mlmAffe0/s1588/liegefairp0008_1024x1024%25402x.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="1588" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVffnp3Gtr1YkWPTxvNoNCB3l7iG1cYdWsILSfH-bDqcV7EJBkwvtc_hEWkZKHpII4edEIT6t5rxMU_a4pfWOoA6xUqwuQEvVscb3UqtqI7pr2HHMaoAi-Z8FZRH_LeR3Ani6mlmAffe0/w329-h329/liegefairp0008_1024x1024%25402x.jpg" width="329" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; color: white; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt;"></p><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;"> "Oh, had I known,
Tam Lin,"</span></span></i><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">she said, </span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">"what this night I did see</span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;"> I'd have looked him in the eyes </span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">and turned him to a tree"</span></span></i></div></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">“Tam
Lin” is an elephantine epic that twists and turns it’s dark fairytale text
between passages of West-coast influenced guitar rock jamming. It’s a very
dramatic reading and one given space to unravel its mysterious story. See more
of this on my post below which considers Ian McShane’s unlikely contribution to
folk horror </span></span><a href="http://frombetweenthecracks.blogspot.com/2011/11/film-ballad-of-tam-lin-director-roddy.html" style="background-color: #999999;">http://frombetweenthecracks.blogspot.com/2011/11/film-ballad-of-tam-lin-director-roddy.html</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">But
the purple and cream cover of this 1969 classic shows a group compartmentalised
in neat boxes, a symbolic message that their togetherness as a band was all but
over. In the spring of that year a car crash had killed both the drummer and
the girlfriend of Richard Thompson leaving the rest of the band deeply
traumatized. Thompson’s two songs that close each side are inspired by those
events one about her and one seemingly about himself. They were barely out of
their teens when all this happened. The heartbreaking “Farewell Farewell” acts
as a sweet counterpoint to the closing sinister neo-folk of “Crazy Man Michael”
with its disconcerting - and seemingly unresolved - dying fiddle fade. It
reminds me of the way Van Morrison abruptly ended his own folk-cycle “Astral
Weeks”. (this LP incidentally being something of a unique mix of soul and jazz
within Celtic and American folk traditions)</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">After
this the band splintered with Sandy Denny going on to record a clutch of epics
such as “Banks of the Nile”, “Next Time Around” and the quite spectacular
multi-tracked “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” (a version of this Richard Farina
song had been attempted by Fairport for the “Liege and Lief” sessions and was
probably only rejected as it shares the same eerie ambiance as “Reynardine”).
Not many years later Sandy Denny fell down-stairs and died. She now shares a
Putney graveyard with Howard Carter, Jakob Epstein and Kerensky, a couple of
miles away from the house of her parents, immortalised on the “Unhalfbricking”
sleeve. Her brief career is largely unknown even to this day</span><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMeUaQya875bWV2aCnmrhYlfO6L9_Kcz2DiSbIW6j8MU3CWkAajw1AUgg0NH_sm6umg1RUeeDR53a4KmEtAsKrNO1i2uEddkAj3PpXJvU-IBhLcS7kfUOEezhagc_ofEw6EdRVsTAs3d4/s1200/i-img1200x1200-1592138501gwrdr0612233.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMeUaQya875bWV2aCnmrhYlfO6L9_Kcz2DiSbIW6j8MU3CWkAajw1AUgg0NH_sm6umg1RUeeDR53a4KmEtAsKrNO1i2uEddkAj3PpXJvU-IBhLcS7kfUOEezhagc_ofEw6EdRVsTAs3d4/w210-h210/i-img1200x1200-1592138501gwrdr0612233.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Like
traditional arrangements, mis-transcribed, re-interpreted and then forgotten so
we cultural historians wander over these overgrown paths again and again. We
pore over meaning from brief magical moments of music capturing the thoughts of
men and women before they’d even reached the age of 30. Music captured in old
brick studios long lost to developers’ profits. ”Liege & Lief” was recorded
off the Kings Road in a very different Chelsea to the one we find today. If you
keep walking down Old Church Street you’ll find the former site of Sound
Techniques set back from the road in an old 19C dairy. This was the creative
hub of Joe Boyd’s Witchseason productions, most of the acts I’ve mentioned
recorded their work here using the same pool of musicians. But like the old
stories say, be careful not to stray too far from the path. When you get to the
Thames your way may well be blocked by the private security guards protecting
Michael Caine’s view of Battersea. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"> </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">“</span></i><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;">Farewell, farewell to
you who would hear</span></i></span></div><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: #fcff01; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">You lonely travelers all”</span></span></i></div></i><p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: black; border: 1pt none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/69sLI4n674s" width="320" youtube-src-id="69sLI4n674s"></iframe></span></span></div><p></p><p></p><br /><p></p>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-33220563733892600652020-07-21T15:52:00.106-07:002022-06-18T04:49:30.010-07:00SPOOKY TOOTH - Spooky Two <span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i><i><span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">..<span style="font-size: large;">.for Tamantha</span></span></i><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"><br />
After a brief break I return with some further reflections on that period before the mid-1980's when the drums sounded good and Oldham market really was somewhere you wanted to go to.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"><br />
To kick-start this re-vamp I have invited some disparate colleagues to contribute reviews of albums selected on rotation. One an academic who excels as a painter (CG), one an administrator who excels as a guitarist (PS) and one a sort of time-travelling gypsy who excels at... that. (JS). I've no idea where this will go but I am curious to see.</span><br />
<br />
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
(MS)<br />
Spooky Tooth are a somewhat neglected rock group from the late 60's Island Records stable.<br />
They followed the same trajectory as many a band in that intense period but despite all the right connections they never really made it. <br /><br /><br />
Starting out as <b>The VIPP's</b>, a tough Carlisle blues-rock band, they moved to London on the back of some success in France and via notorious producer and scenester Guy Stevens, suddenly found themsleves wandering around Soho in hipsters and bells under (and in) the name of <b>Art. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriNkWHGFZ8U_gsr8VUJWuue0zKAotqadex0iHaMlKsbj3kLXNrf6H4RgOFAuBbKXZRfjeTq19fA62lR0cVNCAAHCp7XICIeVefpReooC8upcGw7PLr2XF_iNcji-jA8fVhERgik8Pe78/s590/R-1955787-1373826570-8180.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="590" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriNkWHGFZ8U_gsr8VUJWuue0zKAotqadex0iHaMlKsbj3kLXNrf6H4RgOFAuBbKXZRfjeTq19fA62lR0cVNCAAHCp7XICIeVefpReooC8upcGw7PLr2XF_iNcji-jA8fVhERgik8Pe78/w194-h190/R-1955787-1373826570-8180.jpeg.jpg" width="194" /></a></div></b></span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Their lone album exists as one of the more muscular entries in the small but fabled canon of recordings that emerged from the capital in '67. The psychedelic sleeve by snappily titled designers Haphash & the Coloured Coat<b> </b><span>lead them to appear as the <b>Heavy Metal Kids</b> </span>on the counter-culture jam session credited to <b>Haphash & the Coloured Coat with the Human Host.</b> Along the way they effectively discovered Joe Cocker, let Keith Emerson slip through their ranks and almost became Jimi Hendrix' Experience being the first band he sat in with on his arrival in the UK. With the patronage of Chris Blackwell and the entry of American Gary Wright they settled as Spooky Tooth. Their first album in 1968 being a fine addition to the progressive rock emerging from Island at the time complementing the albums of that year by the likes of Free, Jethro Tull and particularly Traffic. Music mid point where the psychedelic influences were waining in favour of a return to rootsy rock and blue-eyed soul.<br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLc5V5Y4uTfgPn9LJ2ODER3XQSqafoZ2igjSJqwPe5qH4O0j2rfo4nzGkzvX5gQfOmpSVWRS6cFUex1qQKx0_aAbANPiUHzTy15qBOfVX6kuldYwcJ9p8Ob5OLxf_o8R898gYEc3CmYlw/s1600/R-14687026-1579631633-1798.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="296" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLc5V5Y4uTfgPn9LJ2ODER3XQSqafoZ2igjSJqwPe5qH4O0j2rfo4nzGkzvX5gQfOmpSVWRS6cFUex1qQKx0_aAbANPiUHzTy15qBOfVX6kuldYwcJ9p8Ob5OLxf_o8R898gYEc3CmYlw/s200/R-14687026-1579631633-1798.jpeg.jpg" width="197" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
Leaning on contemporay singer-song writer material from the States the band built up a reputation for sizzling live shows that showcased their increasingly tight musicianship. Another off-shoot came with their rip-it up jam behind <b>Nirvana </b>on that band's final and atypical Island 45 in 1969. In this year they headed up to Willesden (like many of us do) and the Olympic studios-rival Morgan (now a cut-price chemists) with Traffic producer Jimmy Miller. Here they recorded "Spooky Two", arguably their most cohesive collection but one (like their career) marred with some poor decision-making. For example the opening song "Waiting For the Wind" is something of a false start. The brooding build-up drumming and tension suggest something memorable but the whole mood collapses with a horrible transition into a monolithic riff that strangles the song's melody. Great albums don't start like this. Things pick-up a bit with the follow-up songs; one Traffic-like-lite, one gospelly/Stones and finally the momentum builds to a nailed-on classic performance in "Evil Woman". When frantic guitarist Luther Grosvenor finally explodes halfway in you're well and trully ready for it ...and does he explode! <br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LtVTHB319ns/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LtVTHB319ns?feature=player_embedded" style="clear: left; float: left;" width="320"></iframe><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">S</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">ide two starts slowly again but gets better with the tracks flowing well through a range of styles, The gentle harmonica intro of "That Was Only Yesterday" launches the band into a rolling laid-back groove which contrasts nicely with the hard rock "Better by You" that follows.But like all good shows this takes you to the end on a high with the outstanding folky-rock of "Hangman Hang My Shell On A Tree". Producer Jimmy Miller was also re-making the Stones at this time and you can maybe hear echoes of "Salt of the Earth" here with the simplistic anthem-like melody ringing on after the LP's finished. The mysterious lyric blending with the (British) Island Records obsession with pastoral strumming. Traffic probably picked this up when they set about their "John Barleycorn" opus. So in conclusion "S2" is a fine lost album and should be better known. Post-script - after this the bassist left to form Humble Pie - arguably the sort of band Spooky should have become. The remaining members then foolishly attempted a collaboration with a French electronic classical music composer. The resulting plinky- plonks were distracting, the religous lyrics wearisome but the band were in fine form and some claim it very good. But it's an album that's slipped so far between the cracks that this scribe just can't seem to reach it. </span><br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">(<span>PS)</span></span><br />
</span><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I wonder if 1969 hadn't been such a stellar year for British rock and roll, would this album have had more of a positive response from the British public? As it was, this kind of ended up lurking in the shadows of <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Abbey Road, Let it Bleed, Led Zep I & II, Tommy, 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)</span>... OK, not that last one. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Maybe Gary Wright's falsetto vocals were seen as gimmicky and off-putting; maybe the rushed (and largely unwanted) release of the wretched <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Ceremony </span>later that year killed off any credibility that this might've accumulated. Whatever the reason, <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Spooky Two</span> certainly deserved more recognition than it received and it remains for me a hidden gem in Island's eclectic and largely excellent catalogue. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There are straight out guitar/organ rockers such as the opener <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Waiting for the Wind </span>with its funky extended drum intro; the melodramatic <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Better By You, Better Than Me</span> which was included on the <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Nice Enough To Eat</span> Island sampler; and the sleazy-riffed <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Evil Woman</span> which is timeless enough to have been used in TV adverts for a betting website, 50 years after its release. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPAudikU0gI9bXNBxpKVmS7Pg3AIr0fR820AjlTII3WUp7gZZFO3NdajwYFaT-qp8KzjUPJLASirXO-8OvmeBN0_S2v-9gCx4iTeHLd41EyagfYGDiqUhka0FGI7UXNh9wDChfFoyaQs/s1600/download.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPAudikU0gI9bXNBxpKVmS7Pg3AIr0fR820AjlTII3WUp7gZZFO3NdajwYFaT-qp8KzjUPJLASirXO-8OvmeBN0_S2v-9gCx4iTeHLd41EyagfYGDiqUhka0FGI7UXNh9wDChfFoyaQs/s200/download.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Elsewhere, the LP takes different turns wherever you look: <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Lost in My Dream</span> alternates between suppressed tension and spaced out prog fantasy; <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">That Was Only Yesterday</span> has a lilting country feel, complete with wistful harmonica motif; <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Feelin' Bad</span> sounds like the hangover the day after Traffic's <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Feelin' Alright</span>, but when you know the night before was worth it; <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">I've Got Enough Heartaches</span> is in danger of sounding a touch schmaltzy at first, until the beautiful gospel vocals come in to make it something Joe Cocker would’ve been happy fronting up; <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree</span> fades out to close the LP with a bit of everything thrown in for good measure.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Maybe <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Spooky Two</span> didn’t have enough going for it to be considered among the best LPs of the year, but considering the competition that’s hardly surprising. It certainly didn’t deserve to be overlooked quite as much as it has.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yVbmgVPdOoM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yVbmgVPdOoM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">(JS)</span></div>
<div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">On first impression Spooky Two( 1969) by Spooky Tooth is an album which has promise, but fails to create the next step of the culture it aspires to. The tightness of the band's rhythm and blues heritage is softened by rich organ swells. The double vocal blend of Wright and Harrison is occasionally swelled by female gospel voices. The rhthym’s are loose and the guitar work is softer, but falling short of the psychedelic jangle that typifies this period. The record hovers is a middle space between, not quite rock, not quite prog, not quite psych, and its reluctance to commit to easy categorisation confuses the listener seeking brand identity. The musicianship on display here is pleasant to hear, skilful to behold, but not sufficiently focussed to create sufficient memorable impression<span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Waitin' For The Wind</span></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Wind called on me</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How it took me by surprise</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Cause night come upon me</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Creeping through the distant skies</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wind tell me what you can</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">'Bout the life - What I came from</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A breeze blew and whispered then</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In a voice rich as the sun”</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">This is a pleasant enough stomper, with a melodic, double vocal, on an ascending keyboard sequence, but awful monotonic chorus and unimaginative guitar solo at the end. Gives the impression that the keyboard sequence evolved from a jam between the keyboard players, and the the rhythm, guitars and lyrics were fitted around the hook. The chorus doesn’t work.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">Feelin' Bad</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">You seek to grow a happy face</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">But ya' need someone for sure</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">To fill tomorrow's empty space</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">That hides behind your door</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">Oh yeah...</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">I'll bring anything you want</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">You know I'm here to guide you</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">But change your day from bad to good</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">Hide the tears inside you</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;">Oh yeah...</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: black; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Whimsical and melodic verse structure which ascends, followed by descending gospel chorus. Harrison’s vocal is stronger and works better, than composer’s thinner, falsetto contribution. Pleasant as it sounds it doesn’t really match the mood of the lyric. I suspect the music and lyric were composed separately and then fitted together.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">I've Got Enough Heartache</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Strong in a field of wheat. That's why I say, I've got enough heartaches. Tell me what you see when you look at me, yeah.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">We've got a good thing, let's not lose it.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Is it right? Is it wrong when you say it won't be long?</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">I've got, I've got enough heartaches.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;" /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span>Bluesy,</span><span> </span><span>slightly over-cooked, gospel-led, double keyboard heartbreak balladry, with great vocal from Harrison.</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span>Evil Woman</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span><span style="color: white;"><span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Woman, thought you were a blessin'</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Then I caught you messin'</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Evil woman</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Woman! You ain't got no feelin'</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">You're just a dirty dealin'</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Yeah!</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;" /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;">Guitar driven bluesy stomper which works really well when Harrison sings, less well when Wright’s falsetto takes over. Again the fireworks live more in the verse than the chorus. Extended instrumental wig extends this track to 9 minutes. Time has not been as kind to Wright’s vocal interpretation particularly when he sounds a bit like the 'ol woman of the title in the later stages of the wig out. Perhaps it would be fairer </span><span style="background-color: black;">to say inspired by the blues.</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;">Lost In My Dream</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">And now I'm still lost</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">In my dream of fear</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">It's the end for me</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Somewhere in the frost</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">On the seam of my mind</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Waits my destiny</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Don't think I've gone there today</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;" /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Unusually structured song with an unpleasant sounding verse and an uplifting middle section, sounds like Harrison’s upper range, would work quite well in a Jodorowsky western like the following year's "El Topo". This one is more time-stamped into its period of composition .</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">That Was Only Yesterday</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;"><span>T</span><span>hat was only yesterday </span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">But will I ever face tomorrow </span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">She took away what I'd had </span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">And returned it full of sorrow </span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;">Loose rock ballad stomper with added blues harmonica, strong lead vocal by Harrison, and restrained blended support vocal from Wright. Almost no novelty elements, but competent work piece. I suspect this is the material which the band could play well and the formula that song writer Wright is attempting to escape from. </span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;">Better By You, Better Than Me</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Guess I'll have to change my way of living</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Don't wanna really know the way I feel</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Guess I'll learn to fight and kill</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Tell her not to wait until</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">They'll find my blood upon her windowsill?</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">It's better by you better than me</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;" /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Tight rocker about suicidal heart broken boy with strong vocal from Harrison. Achieved later notoriety later when Judas Priest covered it.</span></span></div></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: black;">Hangman Hang My Shell On A Tree</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">The time's right ahead, can't you see</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Cause my life's running out, out on me</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">I forgotten how it was, let me be</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">So hangman hang my shell, on a tree</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;"><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;"><span style="color: white;">Two rhythms, brass inserts, long repeated chorus and fuzzy new age nonsense lyrics repeated about two minutes too many times, great Harrison vocal , with strong Wright blend</span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></span></div></span></div></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><br /></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<div>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Overall a band comfortable with the prior zeitgeist, making unconvincing, tentative steps to explore a new age and a new sound. "Lost in my dream" is probably the bravest track, but "Better by you", or "I’ve got enough heartache" is probably what the band plays best.</span><br />
<br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">(CG)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">The second album released by Spooky Tooth in 1969, Spooky Two, in many ways reflects the achievements of the British contemporary rock scene in 1969 after a seminal period in which various genres of rock and roll, R and B, and the blues had been mined to develop a predominantly guitar orientated music in the UK which expanded beyond the radio shaped formats of the 3 or 4 minute song. </span></span><br />
</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RxcQF3JKK3WaIN68iof5Wam8UyuMbPBZFar0Rri4TXY34DEQ3btOt2GPKxzOr5tYZHOzW2zmVaB4T8Cbbn-ZOgooev_pa65Dru_14_ApGb6lgnKIX4ked5pV2KCnoCgRYItOr88yf9c/s1600/images.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RxcQF3JKK3WaIN68iof5Wam8UyuMbPBZFar0Rri4TXY34DEQ3btOt2GPKxzOr5tYZHOzW2zmVaB4T8Cbbn-ZOgooev_pa65Dru_14_ApGb6lgnKIX4ked5pV2KCnoCgRYItOr88yf9c/s1600/images.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">This paralleled similar developments in rock music in the United States which also provided some impetus into the British rock scene but also highlighted differences of approach. Although not received particularly enthusiastically at the time its track listing highlights many of the directions that rock music was to develop in the seventies and eighties. These ranged from progressive rock to sultry blues derived wailers such as Evil Woman to heavy metal pounders such as Better by You Better than Me subsequently covered by the heavy metal band Judas Priest in 1978. It also included lyrical musings of Hangman Hang my Shell on a Tree that linked to the folk scene and folk rock emerging at this time with its distinctively British take on such fusions that drew on vernacular local histories found within Britain and Ireland. In short this is an underestimated album that has hidden appeal as with its diversity at least one or two tracks will score a hit with the listener whatever their musical preferences.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><font color="#ffffff"><i><br /></i></font>
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-20465264006856153452013-02-24T03:31:00.007-08:002021-03-07T12:02:23.491-08:00JACQUES BREL - "La Belle Affaire!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<i>"Quand je serai vieux je serai insupportable <span style="color: orange;">"When I get old I'll be unbearable</span></i><br />
<i> Sauf pour mon lit et mon maigre passe <span style="color: orange;">Except to my bed and my miserable past</span></i><br />
<i> Mon chien sera mort, ma barbe sera minable <span style="color: orange;">My dog will be dead, my beard shabby</span></i><br />
<i> Toutes mes morues m'auront laisse tomber" <span style="color: orange;">And all my women will dump me"</span></i><br />
<br />
"LA, LA, LA" - 1966<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXXjtVUbGSGjUV_pNIgKuD4GIcGZN5uFmZynlQ5zkM4LFzQBDdReEXhKbHGYY0DwgAnR8EAkS5Gifovcu7PJOG9jO7LEISXnnpuYNv15U8E7TJR3C8APmMXQlHxrkEOAGUZhyfKdK_Hw/s1600/Jacques-Brel.-Le-chanteur-insoumis+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXXjtVUbGSGjUV_pNIgKuD4GIcGZN5uFmZynlQ5zkM4LFzQBDdReEXhKbHGYY0DwgAnR8EAkS5Gifovcu7PJOG9jO7LEISXnnpuYNv15U8E7TJR3C8APmMXQlHxrkEOAGUZhyfKdK_Hw/s640/Jacques-Brel.-Le-chanteur-insoumis+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
By the time he finally stepped off the stage in May 1967, Jacques Brel had pretty much reached the end of his musical voyage.<br />
<br />
With a few notable exceptions, the songs recorded in this period would see him re-working the same lyrical obsessions he'd been ploughing since the late 50's, with only the lusher arrangements offering any real musical progression. In addition, each LP was now peppered with self-deprecating references to himself in third person, designed to send a signal to his audience in Brechtian terms that the show was nearly over. And so just as he'd abandoned the safety of his father's Brussels cardboard factory 15 years previously to become <i>the</i> star of the Parisian music-hall, so he decided to step off the carousel once and for all and indulge himself in something new.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLDs8LYcLXV1syuNHVi6Xt006qXqpcZ1Dn268331F5wcXgLMSiOelTqV30GUpWMTUeRb3ELCpq3mEyECKALIkAltMYt6pfvYL58ABup_GwWj41CLcmbJdPbXGLcyo3leZOG6VUVyVYqEo/s1600/imagesgt.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLDs8LYcLXV1syuNHVi6Xt006qXqpcZ1Dn268331F5wcXgLMSiOelTqV30GUpWMTUeRb3ELCpq3mEyECKALIkAltMYt6pfvYL58ABup_GwWj41CLcmbJdPbXGLcyo3leZOG6VUVyVYqEo/s1600/imagesgt.jpg" /></a><br />
A keen aviator, Brel passed his pilot's license in Switzerland and then took up the offer to launch himself into the world of celluloid, first as actor then director. These twin obsessions would dovetail to fine effect in the overhead panning shot of the Blankenburg tram trundling over the dunes, which opened his directorial debut "Franz", which premiered at Cannes in 1971. This dark melodrama starred Brel himself as a composite <i>Brelien</i> figure, marooned in the geographical and tragi-comic end of his own back-catalogue. The cinematography impressively captured the haunting monotony of the Belgian countryside and won plaudits from the critics as a first noble effort. But commercially the film failed to live up to his landmark break through back at the Olympia Music Hall back in 1961, when his name became the toast of <i>toutes</i> Paris. And so with time ticking by and dreams still to be realised, Brel added a boat to his escape plans, said goodbye to wife and daughters and set sail for a desert-island exile in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YwbpFI2JeRE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YwbpFI2JeRE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4CTyDLww7ckW1n-RvEdqp1cyLpCzYtxdPn_GBypcVkDBYq3n_USmyPkEC69DPcmV7isNIvLRSAXHHz1LvnT2aDGl6mPOfJUcfawmhc2qqYwmPp5OZPZBgpfOF2msyJigN8Dhml_M7I18/s1600/brel.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4CTyDLww7ckW1n-RvEdqp1cyLpCzYtxdPn_GBypcVkDBYq3n_USmyPkEC69DPcmV7isNIvLRSAXHHz1LvnT2aDGl6mPOfJUcfawmhc2qqYwmPp5OZPZBgpfOF2msyJigN8Dhml_M7I18/s320/brel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
By
the middle of the decade with failing health, he found himself making regular
trips back, island-hopping to Los Angeles and then onto Brussels or Orly
depending on the consultation required. Accompanied by his partner, Madly, the
couple played cat and mouse with the "Paris Match" paparazzi, hungry
for snaps of the ailing<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><i>monstre sacre</i>. Lying low behind
hotel curtains during the day, the nights were spent re-visiting old haunts
such as "Chez Leon" off the Brussels Grand Place, re-living the years
of triumph in the company of old cronies from his touring entourage with
occasional visits from the likes of Claude Lelouch and actor Lino Ventura. And
it was here that serviette scribbled doodles, risque jokes and boozy
reminiscences would coagulate, re-fuelling the chansoniers fires to lay down a
final testament to his lyrical obsessions. By 1977 the urgency to record them
would become acute as the advancing stages of lung cancer threatened to
extinguish any thoughts of a final performance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"></span><span style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNkGs9sOOlfKNjf73qq_LLy_R7Bzco-zmdohqdA-wwUE1nWEhH5223j2NeB1vGchEbp9MRFAX2tZCDollNllh_yCVX7-nGQvJvdnHMThPLfNQyhCIRVfoWSsHYBrOtprdNxA4sVC-Ac4/s1600/images.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNkGs9sOOlfKNjf73qq_LLy_R7Bzco-zmdohqdA-wwUE1nWEhH5223j2NeB1vGchEbp9MRFAX2tZCDollNllh_yCVX7-nGQvJvdnHMThPLfNQyhCIRVfoWSsHYBrOtprdNxA4sVC-Ac4/s200/images.jpg" width="175" /></a>And so it was that a final session was convened that autumn in the company of his established accompanists, Rauber, Jouannest and Azzola. The songs picked up the same familiar themes, the quartet locked into the same musical patterns. Here was a slow moving ballad, here an uptempo march with accordion fills. One track would suggest acute vulnerability only for the mood to be broken by a ribald portrait of crude misanthropy. The humour was black the sentimentality brutally honest, but underscoring every note there was something new. From the beginning his songs had meditated on the limited course of the human condition, but at that autumnal session in 1977 every single song bears the heavy presence of impending expiration.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qN7BeeH7E-E" width="320" youtube-src-id="qN7BeeH7E-E"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<br />
<br />
The years of isolation at Hiva-Oa had left Brel pondering a number of unanswered questions and the death of his manager and confident, Jojo Pasquelier in 1974 precipitated a deeper contemplation of his world. From here he wrote touchingly about his friend "Jojo", imagining them re-united,<i>"six feet under"</i>, swapping moth-eaten anecdotes and Brel even suggesting their graveyard be transformed into the heyday of their professional triumphs back at the Paris L'Olympia. This song took the male-bonding of the earlier "Jef" that bit further, focusing unashamedly on his own personal loss and the theme continues in "Voir un Ami Pleurer", which similarly pulls no punches with it's description of a friend bereft, a sight even sadder than the "<i>towns exhausted by 50-year old children". </i>The inevitable decline into old age permeates everything and "Viellir" describes it as a fate far worse than death itself, with that final<i> "</i> <i>belle affaire"</i> served as the only respite. The song's transcendent chorus echoing the triumphant fatalism of the earlier "La Mort" and "Le Dernier Repas".<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0MqbUBCSJz8XIcazZYBMeN_KCk_vnJNj7HszLIQ7_c-QuqOsDpRkT-NwqxUfSnOn5n7aX2h2pfGKBN-akQffvvXhsok9Sta0URGsGR7g75yPPxcizXC0_94ybaZUE51Fz9UsOKzwZt4/s1600/downloadth.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0MqbUBCSJz8XIcazZYBMeN_KCk_vnJNj7HszLIQ7_c-QuqOsDpRkT-NwqxUfSnOn5n7aX2h2pfGKBN-akQffvvXhsok9Sta0URGsGR7g75yPPxcizXC0_94ybaZUE51Fz9UsOKzwZt4/s1600/downloadth.jpg" /></a></div>
In "Orly", Brel stands in the shadows watching a young couple violently disengage from each other; the girl finally engulfed by a monstrous bourgeois crowd of onlookers "nibbling" at her as though she were fruit. In this song Brel seems to be saying that their long cold journey into old age is only beginning. In "Avec Elegance", one of a brace of songs recorded at the same time, he remarks how men at 50 know they should leave for the provinces, simply through looking into the indifferent eyes of the beautiful women they encounter on city streets. To retire, to be put out to grass, <i>"to be desperate but with elegance". </i> Another song inexplicably left off the album, "Sans Exigences" describes the winding down of a relationship in desperate yet noble terms to the touching accompaniment of an unusually minimal and skeletal harpsichord. Each verse conjuring up the de-escalation of passion and the resignation of trust.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwescacX3pc6jFYYc3Gnf-kT_VuqgqXOG4CkYoqfaV_rGyzU3kRvORRV55JlrwIGlpOBVCf14J9nDCfLHd4IDSUeOrcl8AexkYqiucC0N85fd_GbwAFtZ3Km0qXX17HWUL3CkunE_rgM/s1600/medium_BREL_0707.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwescacX3pc6jFYYc3Gnf-kT_VuqgqXOG4CkYoqfaV_rGyzU3kRvORRV55JlrwIGlpOBVCf14J9nDCfLHd4IDSUeOrcl8AexkYqiucC0N85fd_GbwAFtZ3Km0qXX17HWUL3CkunE_rgM/s200/medium_BREL_0707.jpg" width="199" /></a>Possibly in the interests of balance, though more likely designed to reinforce his bravura stage persona, Brel off-set these honest statements of decline with a slew of minor, up-tempo songs that pitted his "characters" against the old enemy; women. Sounding like a bastard soundtrack to Fellini's contemporaneous "La Citta Della Donna", the songs unbalanced the album and lead to renewed criticism of the author's barely disguised misogyny. In "Les Ramparts Des Varsovie" this is joined by a dash of homophobia, whilst in "Les F...", Brel gives himself over to quite earnest racial self-loathing. In this song his hitherto merely <i>hinted at</i> disdain for Flemish nationalism is made explicit against a highly ironic disco backing. The song with it's infamous accusation of his fellow countrymen being <i>"Nazis during the wars and Catholics in between"</i> leaves no margin for misinterpretation or ambiguity by a final line in which the author states, <i>"And if your cowardly brothers don't protest, too bad for them, me I stick to my guns, signing off, Jacques Brel!". </i>The song would lead to anti-Brel graffitti along the Brussels railway sidings and polarise the affections of his local fan-base. But in this unforgiving final performance Brel was taking no prisoners.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4fK69NzHjFyi69HQbSV8VZqxNiwDMe4t9xJ3nd0HpOYmRBBReqEd3otV93E95Gk8ar0_Ophjvc_ydaXaY-hZZQO4W7ir8on01F2m3VmId3-C4OuAB9VM4MWynzctarXeNd0hOPVNPDKo/s1600/9+art_large_512394%5B1%5D.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4fK69NzHjFyi69HQbSV8VZqxNiwDMe4t9xJ3nd0HpOYmRBBReqEd3otV93E95Gk8ar0_Ophjvc_ydaXaY-hZZQO4W7ir8on01F2m3VmId3-C4OuAB9VM4MWynzctarXeNd0hOPVNPDKo/s400/9+art_large_512394%5B1%5D.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
If women and his homeland get a raw deal, then it was matched by a refreshed onslaught against another ancient foe; organised religion. Throughout the LP, Brel makes it clear time and time again that he had no intention to make peace with his maker. If a feeling of bittersweet loss is the mood of the un-issued war memory "Mai 40", then the air is thick with anarchy for the LP's opening song "Jaures". This song, a rare political tribute to the anti-militarist leader of the French left, assassinated in 1914, at the outbreak of a war made with <i>"priests blessings", </i>explicitly outlines Brel's despair in religion.<i> </i>In asking why Jaures was killed, Brel seems to be addressing "Le Bon Dieu" Himself, and in the song of the same name he finds the answer, declaring him to be no maker of miracles, but something better,<i> "You are a man!"</i> Just a man.<br />
<br />
Brel the man passed away in October 1978, 12 months and 8 days after recording the album's closing tribute to his island hideaway. In 1961 he'd celebrated the dream of "Un Ile", <i>"out in the open sea of hope, where men would not be</i> <i>afraid</i>". By 1977, the island described in "<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PEwmj4Mq9kc" width="320" youtube-src-id="PEwmj4Mq9kc"></iframe></div><br />Les Marquises" is one of eerie menace and stultifying disorientation, where seasons don't exist and time stands still. But by this time Brel was done with romance and as the last words he would sing declare;<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Veux-tu que je te dise gemir n'est pas de mise <span style="color: orange;">"I tell you what, whining isn't the thing to do</span></i><br />
<i> Aux Marquises" <span style="color: orange;">In the Marquises"</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqq5U4dNLK3jZFtutWTgx4FxbahZ4ESlSVcgzGEMQw4sAoi5r2uvY4UYd7t_Qk9LMlsUAQDeW3mK90kA4HR2RlzdYkl7o0w3g8fqCf0VvyQL0qh1t03fEm6YtCNeaZfbR6CXQaqqNA5Q/s1600/med_m0122930-1-jpg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqq5U4dNLK3jZFtutWTgx4FxbahZ4ESlSVcgzGEMQw4sAoi5r2uvY4UYd7t_Qk9LMlsUAQDeW3mK90kA4HR2RlzdYkl7o0w3g8fqCf0VvyQL0qh1t03fEm6YtCNeaZfbR6CXQaqqNA5Q/s640/med_m0122930-1-jpg.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3239872183189910757.post-24850346717228562202012-12-07T04:23:00.001-08:002015-03-12T14:01:24.642-07:00The World of JOHN CAMERON<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhBxXKsdQzZq3Ie8eGdJSKn3iFcOOdOJXWcQqxSKO26zAtyA0MK3PHhJShM9_xJoYVdtFQTloEJs0duiCAi5YzJNe_0slwq3anivwpH5RQzdMU_owZ7nS8a5_MeyXGLkSkTRMXM_D4P8/s1600/images+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhBxXKsdQzZq3Ie8eGdJSKn3iFcOOdOJXWcQqxSKO26zAtyA0MK3PHhJShM9_xJoYVdtFQTloEJs0duiCAi5YzJNe_0slwq3anivwpH5RQzdMU_owZ7nS8a5_MeyXGLkSkTRMXM_D4P8/s200/images+(4).jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666;">JC. Hard at it.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the many back-room Johnnies that pulled the strings for a string of front-room favourites, John Cameron's name keeps cropping up in my record collection. As a result I feel compelled to honour the range of his arrangements and at the same time purge myself from listening to him again and again and again. I hope this draws a line under it.<br />
<br />
By way of introduction I am including one of the TV shows he was responsible for and one that in my opinion never really added up. And I mean literally. You had these impressive opening titles where all sorts of stuff was going on but because it was only on for 30 minutes there was never enough time for anything to actually<i> happen</i>. I constantly felt shortchanged. All through my youth.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/oXseqmFmFOc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtkdJINcRErXcQEdl4DL8-gVGxFdgrwCye74njPUXcOyG4A-z_DQOw9yaPzvyQGzG2dn6phywe1sGU8TvNxKKBUnbjJC4YISH6dTvm9b3RF6xQ3D8NeOBQQJopLP4nVPsidA7IPbYU4TM/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtkdJINcRErXcQEdl4DL8-gVGxFdgrwCye74njPUXcOyG4A-z_DQOw9yaPzvyQGzG2dn6phywe1sGU8TvNxKKBUnbjJC4YISH6dTvm9b3RF6xQ3D8NeOBQQJopLP4nVPsidA7IPbYU4TM/s1600/images.jpg" /></a>DONOVAN, <i>"standing by The Everyman digging</i> <i>the rigging in my </i>(his) <i>sail..."</i>, encountered JC and installed him as his musical director from whence he oversaw a truly inspired evolution from folkie to what (in the books) is officially called <u>psychedelic minstrel</u>. Much lyrical waxing ensued against the sound of harpsichords and the big-chinned Dylanist was never the same again. Cameron took Don through the changes, with the pair briefly relocating New Orleans to St Albans with a series of swinging jazztastic odes hammered out in the company of regular sidemen Spike Heatley, Candy Carr and <i>The Hipster</i> himself Harold McNair. Try "Preachin Love" for proof. It's like Georgie Fame but in a slightly fey Scottish brogue.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/IaDB8hKe2pA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qmnVs9AjkJXhYgdm7EXYQE9y-IxB49sL2z-OZ6oGrp60d3WFBuJ02JNOFFfjjxZ9FmbdGfcloWWepBUAyHkTfB_yU3sUo7J1hd6KaNOsk5rUCDjBXTbTbNuqualuD0qOvwcFaPdV19Q/s1600/felix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qmnVs9AjkJXhYgdm7EXYQE9y-IxB49sL2z-OZ6oGrp60d3WFBuJ02JNOFFfjjxZ9FmbdGfcloWWepBUAyHkTfB_yU3sUo7J1hd6KaNOsk5rUCDjBXTbTbNuqualuD0qOvwcFaPdV19Q/s320/felix.jpg" height="313" width="320" /></a>Meanwhile somewhere under Greek Street the Canadian chanteuse JULIE FELIX was hitting the same string bass notes, her "Saturday Night" restyle of "Young Girl Blues" coming out a very worthy cover and Cameron followed her onto the BBC for the duration of a TV show. In this canon mention must be made of PETER SARSTEDT's "Step Into The Candlelight" and a particularly forgotten progressive folkie of the same bent TIM HOLLIER. His LPs have some very big Cameron arrangements such as the sweeping "In The Light of Sadness".<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQheCG7EUl5gCPZSnoIpdzqife0uSiJxL8G8y_LzkEWxDmuMBifVcQkryrpdW2DZyJFYFCHN20JS8Nk4mU2zLHSOdzTR6f_6AATSf3EjFE8u7Q6hnBvQkStcw_rldtUANkTke_03LHMc/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQheCG7EUl5gCPZSnoIpdzqife0uSiJxL8G8y_LzkEWxDmuMBifVcQkryrpdW2DZyJFYFCHN20JS8Nk4mU2zLHSOdzTR6f_6AATSf3EjFE8u7Q6hnBvQkStcw_rldtUANkTke_03LHMc/s200/images.jpg" height="200" width="197" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyV2vpLNSsVSTpmDX1r12HFTDLVVwfZA6wufjjWx7vbw-aXIeGPEyiaBtxUnW0FvQuGaqRkpE2ue_Ews4pT_tUkWQ4DQN9HLIYMLv6P7HKtm5iuclDbH4iXQhEYEqg3mQI_BWjMHu7XU/s1600/tim+hollier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyV2vpLNSsVSTpmDX1r12HFTDLVVwfZA6wufjjWx7vbw-aXIeGPEyiaBtxUnW0FvQuGaqRkpE2ue_Ews4pT_tUkWQ4DQN9HLIYMLv6P7HKtm5iuclDbH4iXQhEYEqg3mQI_BWjMHu7XU/s200/tim+hollier.jpg" height="197" width="200" /></a>Hanging round the BBC (in an entirely work based capacity I must stress) Cameron must have bumped into southern belle BOBBIE GENTRY, as he ended up acting as her MD for her criminally wiped shows. (I mean what were they doing at the BBC in those days....?)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLUD3gjjxP8e6_SoT00Iu0BzMCtZSnAODydq7lE6robKHU775njg4njHceYPGRlxyg7xF9FDkN62Kx4dyHiv5Y51TspfOHLwImeEMVbJ4lidUAdrp4YTwrpltysYspGTgfQ02SBznxqM/s1600/jimmy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLUD3gjjxP8e6_SoT00Iu0BzMCtZSnAODydq7lE6robKHU775njg4njHceYPGRlxyg7xF9FDkN62Kx4dyHiv5Y51TspfOHLwImeEMVbJ4lidUAdrp4YTwrpltysYspGTgfQ02SBznxqM/s320/jimmy.jpg" height="320" width="318" /></a><br />
Pinching her distinctive Chickasaw County Sound he turned "On a Monday" by JIMMY CAMPBELL into some sort of my woman done-<i>like</i> gone-<i>like</i>, mersey delta blues. (Fans of this singer will not need to be reminded of The 23rd Turnoff's monumental "Michaelangelo"). The phenomenon of Donovan inspired a couple (?) of tribute albums recorded by VIC LEWIS at the arse-end of the 60's and Cameron turns up arranging Vic's spectacular take on Macca's "Blackbird". It's interesting to hear the MIKE SAMMES SINGERS sending the bird in a distinctly mid-Atlantic direction.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pnemG7dkOxOKR0tL_A4HUoxJbFKXl-_10u-sthxRxXMiKxNhnZuV_uaw9YN4WoePamss7w8apzwb2u4gwlZCcn7JPCKR2muH13hB3edTb03rwaDDpnBcdeS3rub_TWmXYYJxg8Nc_qI/s1600/picc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pnemG7dkOxOKR0tL_A4HUoxJbFKXl-_10u-sthxRxXMiKxNhnZuV_uaw9YN4WoePamss7w8apzwb2u4gwlZCcn7JPCKR2muH13hB3edTb03rwaDDpnBcdeS3rub_TWmXYYJxg8Nc_qI/s200/picc.jpg" height="200" width="198" /></a><br />
For the PICADILLY LINE Cameron is in restrained form. The sleeve of their album suggests full-on Toy-town psych but it's actually very measured, softly swinging folk- baroque (shit I've used all by labels!). "On the Third Stroke" sounds like something off a Simon & Garfunkel album, which is no bad thing. But Cameron was a man of many parts and word should be made of his northern soul credentials with his work with The Flirtations and one-offs like the Cam arranged "Look at the Lights Go Out" by HOPSCOTCH, a band previously called The Scots of St James (a play on words on the club The Scotch of St James ....a popular club in St James with a Scotch theme - I think they ended up as Marmalade, a breakfast condiment).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3hHEYbr1vXoVuwPjXYO_bndi_Y2ifeTYDqLTulen3GOWFErjz6JTRpRxwFhwdlr8a-7uiloyvXK38xJIwZKj9h9mnrzGq5LPwwkjOOf1gkUPMHnY7adFjxvOOGK4ibcijR4VWz9B6Sc/s1600/Lionel+bart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3hHEYbr1vXoVuwPjXYO_bndi_Y2ifeTYDqLTulen3GOWFErjz6JTRpRxwFhwdlr8a-7uiloyvXK38xJIwZKj9h9mnrzGq5LPwwkjOOf1gkUPMHnY7adFjxvOOGK4ibcijR4VWz9B6Sc/s320/Lionel+bart.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a>And then there's "No More" by American singer JON HENDRICKS, previously of the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross scat group and "Twisted" fame. He was in London at the time working with Ronnie Scott who was also acting as sideman for the former singer Scott Walker, Hendricks appears as a guest on an April 1969 edition of Scott's TV Show. (And we wondered <i>once opon a time</i> why the saving of these shows was low down the BBC priorities...). LIONEL BART's progressive 1968 LP doesn't so much divide opinion as draw together an overwhelming consensus that the song "May a Man Be Merry" is the only thing worth listening to on it! (file next to JC's soundtrack to the Peter O'Toole vehicle, "The Ruling Class". But only if you want).<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVSf4oCn6DYCLGXGEUrd1oFtVcnzsIw2F4OxoYgljS4NDguKfi-MsFo2KPFeWOWxSjZINMQylwOoPFpB2-UVcpZWYQURahvQzeF0eWqpUyEHFMEzvW_yFYtC49RmozYdQEq25etYc6B1s/s1600/alan-david-oh-what-a-naughty-man-hansa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVSf4oCn6DYCLGXGEUrd1oFtVcnzsIw2F4OxoYgljS4NDguKfi-MsFo2KPFeWOWxSjZINMQylwOoPFpB2-UVcpZWYQURahvQzeF0eWqpUyEHFMEzvW_yFYtC49RmozYdQEq25etYc6B1s/s200/alan-david-oh-what-a-naughty-man-hansa.jpg" height="200" width="198" /></a>In this period Cameron oversaw Melanie's second LP and her soundtrack to the Tom Bell vehicle "All The Right Noises" as well as sessions with ex-Manfred and budding Brit-actor Paul Jones. ALAN DAVID was another with thespian credentials appearing in "Gonks Go Beat" and the TV Show "Gadzooks Its All Happening" (no not exactly The Cottesloe, was he?). He didn't seem to have any other credits after this. "Oh What a Naughty Man" is a decidedly camp affair with more than a touch of late 60's Bowie about it. (The b-side "I've Got to Know" is a spot-on Barry Ryan impersonation by the way for those who are interested. And for those who are VERY interested there's a good cover version of it on Petula Clark's "C'est La Refrain De Ma Chanson" LP.).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJqTsmDeoj_DH3MIe4DZaGImKkaYjLrq35WvZhugm3dAuR6XqETRhqeFw8-6WLHf4ApButH3-3QLKd2PXq2ILevBuKygtNZgsnudkWBNlfqFN1za55BIG__cChRAezC-g3vOVFvcRmke0/s1600/imagesl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJqTsmDeoj_DH3MIe4DZaGImKkaYjLrq35WvZhugm3dAuR6XqETRhqeFw8-6WLHf4ApButH3-3QLKd2PXq2ILevBuKygtNZgsnudkWBNlfqFN1za55BIG__cChRAezC-g3vOVFvcRmke0/s320/imagesl.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
I suppose I should mention JC's work on singles by Gloria Hunniford and Freddie Garrity in this particular part of the appraisal but I won't. Of far greater interest is John Cameron's masterwork from 1968, "Run the Length of Your Wildness" by well-connected American singer KATHE GREEN. Enclosed within a creepy Hammer Horror-inspired sleeve, JC comes as close as anyone to recreating Jim Webb's weirdly wonderful arrangements for the Richard Harris LP's. Indeed it was the man they called Hoarse who inspired Green's album title. Songs like the title track and "Primrose Hill" pack a heavy emotional punch with JC given free-reign to belt out almost Wagnerian soundscapes. Balancing this are more wistful titles such as the meticulously arranged and sung "Ring of String".<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/99_hehfc5wo/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/99_hehfc5wo&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/99_hehfc5wo&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxW7Ppjfv-sbuWNr8ZNRHYuY5Hbvj-JpREllxGruzsMwQ5UXaOVe9hwc9dnC5IQH_zEWj37pH-zmp0h8NqE-s00m_zpRwfFBOqgMbRs5MMQDK7QyBvZx2h4gIO390k4B9fR0uwrPaC0jw/s1600/cilla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxW7Ppjfv-sbuWNr8ZNRHYuY5Hbvj-JpREllxGruzsMwQ5UXaOVe9hwc9dnC5IQH_zEWj37pH-zmp0h8NqE-s00m_zpRwfFBOqgMbRs5MMQDK7QyBvZx2h4gIO390k4B9fR0uwrPaC0jw/s200/cilla.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
The album also has a great version of one of Cameron's best known compositions, "If I'd Ever Thought You'd Change Your Mind", a song covered by many singers of the day including the eternally undervalued CILLA BLACK. (there's also a very nice Gil Evans-type jazz version of this by the mystic Californian trumpeter Maynard Ferguson). Welsh wanna-be-Cilla SAMANTHA JONES did a rousing version of JC's other famous song "Sweet Inspiration" which is well worth a spin even if her vocal does get a little over exposed amongst Mark Wirtz's ersatz parping horns.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWfgHhoWM5oZ3EVWxuS5hqX1sFC2BU5TP_LYrzxQDMB2qqug3u6byu1FCxu4vFGwudz9pPgBHeJKiphnXPtSwuPr31bjtGiKGxJMxuOYaPDXTSzmHyHE23qsEXL9Qj-YHzn1740fzRhw/s1600/ccs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWfgHhoWM5oZ3EVWxuS5hqX1sFC2BU5TP_LYrzxQDMB2qqug3u6byu1FCxu4vFGwudz9pPgBHeJKiphnXPtSwuPr31bjtGiKGxJMxuOYaPDXTSzmHyHE23qsEXL9Qj-YHzn1740fzRhw/s320/ccs.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
Cameron's big hit was however in the company of the Collective Consciousness Society - CCS - and their big band reworking of "Whole Lotta Love"which left a deep impression on many British childhoods as the theme to BBC's "Top of the Pops" (It's not the easiest thing to listen to these days I might add...) From their first LP the "Waiting Song" is a particularly fine showcase for the cream of British jazz that resided in this band's line-up. No Alexis Korner on it either. LESLEY DUNCAN's career flitted between session work (I think she's on much of the above songs I've wittered on about) and obscure singles. "Love Song" is her most famous song but this was the original version with its use of atmospheric street sounds. This is one of those VERY London songs - up there with the stuff off Drake's "Bryter Layter" and that Murray Head LP where he goes off his trolley - "Nigel Lived".<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXN1xTI1q8WI7Uie1UjGbqI2mUR5I_2QyHVzSNReBSR40ye6dW00hErTb1uDcQD0ZcckGmDGFVSgs0h884brh5mItrIXCPuGI0-2fNwyuPeJM9g5xMMGw5mRJWeLGSaqm99BHOscL4R9Y/s1600/hardy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXN1xTI1q8WI7Uie1UjGbqI2mUR5I_2QyHVzSNReBSR40ye6dW00hErTb1uDcQD0ZcckGmDGFVSgs0h884brh5mItrIXCPuGI0-2fNwyuPeJM9g5xMMGw5mRJWeLGSaqm99BHOscL4R9Y/s1600/hardy.jpg" /></a>Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" is in my opinion given it's most evocative interpretation by FRANCOISE HARDY. This wins over the French version by the the erotic pronunciation of the word:<br />
<span style="color: #ea9999; font-size: large;"> "o-rang-es" </span>near the start.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaL2azYihurO-H9FECtt3KcuXMMLXNwyiI5I-PQC4JTAU8sAnsWdJTJEF_771_lYRUoQXtbE9xEtaKUJfDbxcsgRS5kU_ffc8Ymyho1JH8B6gLk1uoHpFkUsyAT7sj9HLKMp_wXqbg_lo/s1600/oz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaL2azYihurO-H9FECtt3KcuXMMLXNwyiI5I-PQC4JTAU8sAnsWdJTJEF_771_lYRUoQXtbE9xEtaKUJfDbxcsgRS5kU_ffc8Ymyho1JH8B6gLk1uoHpFkUsyAT7sj9HLKMp_wXqbg_lo/s200/oz.jpg" height="200" width="199" /></a>One wet Sunday afternoon at The Belgrade Hotel in Oldham, I handed over a fiver for "Les Grandes Success" LP and the veteran Brummie record dealer cooed back at me, "Oooh Francoise!". In a split second, and much to my chagrin, the crowning peak of this man's entire adolescence had been eternally forced upon my consciousness.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7e-qNwZHKdbDeDgl_S-MXUH4-AGTQ4Ecrc7YjdVAkDTg-Cg4St7ju3ON3tKbfWBKHk9VBfd4CXWqycmTDKEqWr8t_ZLXS8NvJaSzqbMowUrh0c001gRhYZnl-FOBQ680TWTn5nn1jB9M/s1600/images+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7e-qNwZHKdbDeDgl_S-MXUH4-AGTQ4Ecrc7YjdVAkDTg-Cg4St7ju3ON3tKbfWBKHk9VBfd4CXWqycmTDKEqWr8t_ZLXS8NvJaSzqbMowUrh0c001gRhYZnl-FOBQ680TWTn5nn1jB9M/s200/images+(1).jpg" height="200" width="190" /></a><br />
Growing up with exposure to the Bam Caruso "Rubble " series I came across a couple of acts with Cameron arrangements, both good examples of how ill-defined much of the music we call/called psychedelic really is. Both THE KALEIDOSCOPE's "Black Fjord" and WORLD OF OZ's "Like a Tear" are very difficult to pin-point. The consistent element is the imaginative arrangements, the former bombastically epic, the latter incalculably subtle.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTM6jm6FgXEcMqmiqKMCzDC3bUqe9ukoq4T6JoxwCe051KKofj55h4eeP-oNDQLMnpAkOqcbzgsCqtuLbSp_3z4mDrPP02C-qRvSGB34PsMiqYLf1mKA3oQLGShZGDdBUxp1qhPiVMmLE/s1600/images+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTM6jm6FgXEcMqmiqKMCzDC3bUqe9ukoq4T6JoxwCe051KKofj55h4eeP-oNDQLMnpAkOqcbzgsCqtuLbSp_3z4mDrPP02C-qRvSGB34PsMiqYLf1mKA3oQLGShZGDdBUxp1qhPiVMmLE/s320/images+(2).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
Over the North Sea The Tages were the most Beatle-like of the Swedish bands and by the end of the 60's they had become BLOND (I mean they already were but they changed there name to BLOND). They drafted JC in to give them a revamp and ended up recording the "If I Ever Thought You'd Change..."song. They also recorded something of an epic called "The Lilac Years" which seems to be about the immigration of Scandinavians to America. It's all very BIG and ends up with a slightly unexpected crumhorn solo.<br />
<br />
What else...what else...well there is of course the work he produced under his own name. In the mid-60's he knocked out a couple of LPs "Cover Lover" and "Warm & gentle" which were fairly bog standard easy comps of popular tunes, a bit like the work of Sounds Orchestral and other John Schroeder produced concoctions.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45MqYWp98cceQj2MI7HDQiGA_e8J11NJ_T-Ai4L6X4kEMCfzGLJrp9W7vnKZIklEsagbyMdAu6SJSXzPh4RjMgA7SGKEWzV1Xvc7lsMvGcRiJFih_V-yViAy6xMF8pEozPnjRlElGlq4/s1600/intoxica_305.35493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45MqYWp98cceQj2MI7HDQiGA_e8J11NJ_T-Ai4L6X4kEMCfzGLJrp9W7vnKZIklEsagbyMdAu6SJSXzPh4RjMgA7SGKEWzV1Xvc7lsMvGcRiJFih_V-yViAy6xMF8pEozPnjRlElGlq4/s200/intoxica_305.35493.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a>In fact it is JC on JS's "Dolly Catcher" LP which spawned the memorable "Explosive Corrosive Joseph" amongst others. Of greater worth is the classic "Troublemaker" LP with Harold and co all in place. (PS - it's quite popular in clubs). The other stuff has been leaked out by that other Johnny, Mr Trunk with the soundtracks to "Kes" and "Psychomania".<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-N7TZnkJDkk_ODO2f2Y6HeyZTD5H5dls0R4pICYOQsNhG_pBjYdaxVycpMUdAONzL0QEUvcyf2zW8NM0rfQUY4Vpz_yDWca90ENo-zrv05Y15Kg8omKYwVlSOM43KKodvMC8UJ62W77g/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-N7TZnkJDkk_ODO2f2Y6HeyZTD5H5dls0R4pICYOQsNhG_pBjYdaxVycpMUdAONzL0QEUvcyf2zW8NM0rfQUY4Vpz_yDWca90ENo-zrv05Y15Kg8omKYwVlSOM43KKodvMC8UJ62W77g/s1600/download.jpg" /></a><br />
Elsewhere his Library work can be found on the internet (this). These LPs were recorded for commercial purposes and there is a LOT OF IT. Bonne chance to the man who wants to track it all down. However some of it is top notch with the KPM series spawning things like "Liquid Sunshine" and the Sound Gallery-famed "Half Forgotten Daydreams"<br />
<br />
Any road I'm done. I'll leave you with this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HRYvUpsrqmg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Mat Schofieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12559374502851718065noreply@blogger.com3