Patti Smith

A few weeks ago I was mightily disappointed in myself for missing the news that Patti Smith was appearing at Farringford Hotel, once home of Tennyson, here on the Isle of Wight.  With only about 200 tickets on sale, they apparently sold out in minutes.  Having scoured the net, visiting Wightbay regularly and brooding over the lack of progress in tracking down a ticket, I was fortunate enough to visit Vaguely Sunny’s website.  Information there pointed me to another source and now I can look forward to a great evening in June.  Patti will be singing and reading poetry.  The event recalls an incident in the late 70s when I bought an import picture sleeve 45 of Patti’s version of Gloria from a record store in my then home town of Reading.  Imagine my dismay when I got home and found that there was paper in the vinyl itself, making the disc unplayable!  This was then compounded by the shop refusing me a refund for what were plainly goods of unmerchantable quality.  Trading Standards sorted out the issue for me and I was able to collect a refund a week later, though of course no longer welcome at the one store that had good stock! Laying in bed this morning, listening to Gloria on CD over the headphones, I am struck by what a great version Patti’s is and how her voice seems almost elastic in its phrasing – a real gem.

Vinyl makes a comeback

A recent trip to Normandy found me in a junkyard; I couldn’t resist buying an old Philips portable record player and now the search is on for decent Lps, 70s being my favourite vintage.  Ok, the player suffers a bit from wow and flutter, guess I’ll replace it if I see something better in a charity shop, but the thrill of handling LP covers again and carefully sliding out the disc again is wonderful!   Stumbled upon a drive sale at the weekend and I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw that the home owner was a local music promoter;  needless to say the LPs on offer were very interesting and at 50p each, half a dozen were added to the collection.  Sitting writing this listening to JJ Cale, having already fingered Joni Mitchell, Jeff Beck and Focus this evening (if you’ll excuse the term).  Oh Heaven!

Ah memories!

I came across a book about Reading Festival at my local Waterstones, with reviews of the festivals back to the early seventies.  Having attended three or four times in the mid-late seventies I scanned the photos for any sign of myself with long hair, but to no avail.  However, I hugely enjoyed the photos of festival-goers in the noddy, diving around in the pools of mud.  It brought back great times and the memory of my platform shoes losing their heel in the sticky mud!

Listening to Hawkwind’s ‘In Search of Space’.

Lean Times

I like blues, just not so keen when I got them myself … hence the generally quiet nature of this blog for a time; lack of motivation rather than lack of interest in music. I find music can help me through many different kinds of moods and situations and is able to take me out of myself.

Lately I’ve been exploring the range of music blogs available as a result of reading that fabulous article in The Guardian about sources of free music. There are so many sites it is mind boggling, not sure I should even bother, but I’ll not give up yet.

Writing this listening to a live Pink Floyd recording, the result of some judicious surfing!

Hoping for further UK dates

As one of the millions that logged onto the Led Zeppelin site in a vain effort to get a ticket for last night’s gig at the O2 Arena, I was feeling a mixture of great excitement and one of missing out.  I decided to get the DVD out and watch the footage from the 1975 gigs at Earls Court, recalling my attendance at the tender age of 19!  In many ways it seemed like yesterday.  If you are a Zep fan and didn’t get to the gig, try visiting the forum at www.ledzeppelin.com and you will find many links to clips from last nights concert recorded on mobiles, it looks as though the venture was a triumphant success.  Desperately hoping for a UK tour!

Tragic waste – what might have been?

 

I have already written about Tommy Bolin’s work with the James Gang, but he was much more than just a rock guitarist; he is probably infamous in the UK as the guy who dared to step into Ritchie Blackmore’s shoes in Deep Purple.  His attempts then were mixed, ‘Come Taste the Band’ is in hindsight a reasonable heavy rock album with a taste of funk in places, live appearances were sometimes poor, I saw Purple at Wembley in 1976 and he had to suffer the crowd calling for Ritchie and he was apparently suffering from flu (stoned?), but no way did he live up to his potential when you listen to his other recordings.   Tommy’s strength was his ability to cross musical boundaries, mixing jazz, funk and rock in his own inimitable style. He was an amazing songwriter, who knows where he could have been had he not died at the age of just 26 – another drug casualty.

‘Going Back to Colorado’ by Zephyr is folk tinged rock, while amazing soloing on Billy Cobham’s ‘Spectrum’ and funkier sounds on Alphonse Mouzon’s ‘Mind Transplant’ have raised Tommy’s standing amongst musicians.  It is his two solo albums, issued in his lifetime, that stand out for me, ‘Teaser’ and ‘Private Eyes’.  It’s worth checking any or all of these albums out, some are only available on import, but hey, with the pound high against the dollar, now’s the time!

Previous

Yes, I’ve got previous … experience that is….  of The Police in a festival context.  I had to check the Reading Museum website, but there it was, 1979 Reading Festival and I can still remember Sting singing ‘Born in the Fifties’ and identifying with him.  For a laugh, I thought I’d see who else on the ‘79 bill might be fit to grace the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival and have come up with Motorhead, Peter Gabriel, Nils Lofgren and Whitesnake plus Gillan (rumoured to be reforming).

James Gang :Two great guitarists

  

The James Gang have had a few incarnations, but the original lineup included Joe Walsh and these early albums are worth checking out ( ‘Yer Album’,'Rides Again’, ’Thirds’), but ‘Live in Concert’ gives a good flavour and there are some good clips on YouTube, check out the video of Funk#49, a truly great rock song.  This original lineup reunited for a U.S. tour in 2006, I’m hoping they may make it to England at some stage.

 

 A later incarnation of the band included the late, great, Tommy Bolin.  I guess many people may say “who?” but if asked to pick a favourite guitarist, Tommy would be in my top 5.  The albums ‘Bang’ and ‘Miami’ mix light and shade and showcase some of Tommy’s talent, not just as a guitarist but as a songwriter too.

Wrote this listening to James Gang ‘Live in Concert’. though interrupted for ten minutes by a call from my mother-in-law!

Crossing Paths

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met my friend Jim about two years ago and we share an interest in football and music;  having discovered that we lived about half a mile apart in North London in 1978 and that we were both frequented the same music venues in the late 70s, I am convinced that our paths were bound to cross at some stage.  Jim has e-mailed me to say that King Crimson and Focus were a big influence on him at the time and I’m wondering whether he was one of the cool guys wandering around with the album tucked under his arm?  As for Focus, have you seen the great (and hilarious) clip on the Old Grey Whistle Test DVD where the keyboard player gets a bit carried away with his singing?  Advise you check it out. 

Enjoyed Velvet Underground ‘Loaded’ whilst washing up today

The dreaded Prog Rock

 

 I put my hands up and admit to owning a range of prog rock albums and attending various gigs.  I’ll even let you know that with the change to CD and regretted disposal of all my LPs (needs must at the time), there are still 2 albums by ELP in my collection, ‘Tarkus’ and ‘Brain Salad Surgery’, the latter of course being the main subject of the ‘74 gig I attended. 

 

Yes, I also liked Yes; amazingly as a lad I used to listen to ‘Relayer’ on tape as I went to sleep – it’s surprising I got any sleep at all.  Then there was that gig at QPR football ground, mid 70s.  I remember Chris Squire being amazing on bass and keep thinking I should get his ‘Fish out of water’.  Probably the most ludicrous, but enjoyable experience was watching Rick Wakeman and King Arthur on ice at Wembley Empire Pool in ‘75.  In truth, I look back on those times as formative, my tastes have changed, but some of the music still stands up today.

Listening to Neil Young ‘Zuma’ today, looking forward to getting my hands on a ‘Chrome Dreams II’.