It was supposed to be the big one today - the long-promised 'What is Classical Music?' post...but, sometimes, things happen that change our plans... What did John Lennon sing on his last album? "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Today I lost one of the best friends I never met! I have been a fan of the American singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson since 1976 (the story of how this Harry met THE Harry is told on my website at www.marcharry.com/harrymetharry.htm ). Harry was the sort of artist who doesn't get books written about him...although he won Grammys and had number one singles and albums - and counted 'The Beatles' themselves amongst his closest friends and biggest fans. Harry was not the sort of star who gets biographies written about him...in fact there was not even a documentary until David Leaf's company made one a couple of years ago ( www.whoisharrynilsson.com ) - and for which I'm proud to boast an IMDb credit - but have still not seen!
I only started to learn more about Harry's life and music, having adored it for years, when I 'joined' the internet towards the end of the 1990's. I discovered a wonderful site run by Roger Smith (another big Nilsson fan from Florida) and found that there were actually a couple of hundred kindred spirits with me 'on-line'. Friends of Harry's, including his official discographer Andrea T Sheridan, long-time admirer and everyone's favourite 'Booger', actor Curtis Armstrong (Nerds/Moonlighting) and even Harry's eldest son, Zak were members of Roger's 'Jadebox Nilsson Fellowship'. We learned together some of the long-sought biographical details, gained a wonderful, ongoing insight into some of his recordings, contributed to a great fanzine and even got to meet each other at yearly fan conventions - or International Harryfests - one of which I was privileged to help organise at the luxurious Hotel Russell, London in May 2001.
One Nilsson pal I never got to meet in person - but in some ways felt I knew better than most others - was a very funny and talented man from New Jersey - Jim Painton. Jim contributed to Nilssonweb (and also to Beatles and Beach Boys lists I also 'inhabited') in a unique, and not always appreciated, way!
For Jim had what I now term a 'British' sense of humour, learned and honed at the feet of Monty Python...and, like mine, his was a pretty warped one...the kind that no doubt has got us both in a bit of trouble over the years! It is a humour many in the USA completely fail to understand. Let me give you an example: my sister made a lovely, supportive American friend on Facebook recently...around the same time as her cat Bobbisox was shot by a neighbour's rifle. After much prayer, 3 hours of surgery and copious amounts of antibiotics, Bobbisox survived. An English friend posted on Ruth's wall that he was rather tired of hearing about the troubles of the said cat..and joked that 'it ought to be shot!' Our lovely, American friend was utterly disgusted and horrified - totally failing to get the 'joke' and posted to that effect! It's all sorted now and that lady is now a good friend to my whole family! Jim would have got the joke...this was the guy who, after having had his cancerous bowel removed a few years ago joked about bringing it home to drape around the family Christmas tree as a decoration!
He was the guy who wrote songs about the tapeworm that lived (allegedly!) in Thomas Edison's intestines...another one about a newspaper reported accident that befell a giant 'Cat in the Hat' in an American parade ('The Cat in the Hat went Splat'). But, amongst this 'bizzaro' sat some fantastic pop tunes: 'The Moon is You', 'Last Night I Saw Lennon' and 'The Girls From High School' to name just three.
Jim and I swapped music files via email and snail mail in those early days: he sent me a copy of his 1st CD 'Painton A Picture' to love and cherish, introduced me to The Barenaked Ladies..and then I got some wonderful demos for his 2nd album which was eventually to be 'Painton Place'. Amongst them was a still unissued response from 'John Lennon's ghost' on the news that the 3 surviving Fabs were releasing 'Free As A Bird'...it's title was 'Please Don't Put Out This Turd'!
Jim encouraged me to finish and issue my own CD - and he championed it tirelessly in the States (where it was far more successful than here at home!) He got a track played by Dr Demento...and all this NOT JUST because he wrote the liner note/salutation and made the artwork at his 'day job' Painton Studios - but he genuinely loved the songs.
It was more than an honour when he asked me in return to write the liner notes for 'Painton Place' and it was such a thrill to see my little cartoon self on the CD artwork reviewing, sat on the floor, complete with headphones!
Jim's music never made him a fortune - though it deserved to! There is more good music on his two discs than in this weeks Billboard chart...or I'll eat the Cat in the Hat's hat!!! The world is full of unsung musical heroes - people who strive day by day to write and record beautiful, inventive, challenging, inspiring and, yes, at times even funny music and lyrics that all deserve a FAR wider audience than they will ever receive in these over-hyped, celebrity-dominated days full of disposable, forgettable songs and artists.
Sir George Martin once claimed that, had he not 'discovered' The Beatles in 1962, someone else UNDOUBTEDLY would have...for cream always rises to the top. Well, Sir George, that may indeed have been the case in 1962 - I hope so anyway...but it certainly wasn't the case in 2002...and, sadly, I doubt it ever will be again. Stars these days are MADE...invented by awful, fake TV 'talent' shows - and the cream today is almost always ignored...cream is bad for you, after all!
Another unsung musical hero of mine, John Young would agree: he astutely announced in a concert once (a small pub in a country village in front of about thirty people) that the wonderful Eva Cassidy would have never have been heard by any of us...had she not died so tragically and, of all people, Terry Wogan gave her a posthumous and incredible lift from obscurity to international superstardom.
My friend Jim died today.
I will be playing his CDs tonight...and all week probably. Unless Terry Wogan also hears them over the coming months I guess the only place you will be able to hear them will remain at www.cdbaby.com/Artist/JimPainton - go on...do it - there are even some free samples!
Do your ears a favour, smile and raise a silent one to my pal Jimbarino!
Monday, 28 September 2009
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Only One Leonard Bernstein!
If ever a word was over-used in the musical world then it has to be 'genius'. I've lost count of the number of 'Joe Average' strummers, pluckers, blowers and mike-lickers who have been tagged with this precious word over the years. I'm not going to name and shame anyone...after all, they probably have never crowned themselves with that particular epitaph...and it would probably be very unfair for me to crown anyone myself...wouldn't it?
Well, what a boring blog that would make for you all to read! OK....I could stick to the 'no surprises' genius list: Mozart (was he the greatest natural musician ever?), JS Bach (I wouldn't nominate him 'cos I'm yet to become a fan!), John Lennon (a biased choice, of course!)...in fact the only choice I could make that might possibly be unarguable would be Brian Wilson...if I had a quarter of his musical brain I know I would be a far greater musician today than I am!
In case you're wondering, (ha-ha!) the word has even been applied to me on several occasions. In the words of Victor Meldrew, "I don't believe it!" Not even for a minute! But being a recipient still instils a very nice feeling of self-worth - especially when I have it in writing from no less than John Gowans, retired General of the Salvation Army!
So...who am I going to officially crown with the genius hat tonight?
Someone whose knowledge of music, understanding of it and ability to share his own love with countless millions of others has made him a part of almost all our lives, whether we know it or not: I speak of the great, late Leonard Bernstein!
Bernstein was not only a great composer - if 'West Side Story' was all he'd ever composed it would be enough, I guess, to earn him an place in 'Composer's Heaven'. Without doubt one of the best musicals ever written WSS deserves (even in the opinion of the snobbiest critic) equal footing with any opera of the 20th Century. Tunes like 'Tonight', 'Maria' and 'Somewhere' have earned their place in public consciousness and rightly so. What has always surprised me is that music lovers have not necessarily gone out of their way to discover Bernstein's other work...'Candide', the glorious 'Chichester Psalms' and his most unusual and innovative 'Mass' come straight to mind...it just seems that the public only want to remember WSS in association with Bernstein. So be it...
Even so, composing was, ultimately, a small part of the Bernstein legacy - he was a massively respected conductor - his interpretations of Mahler's Symphonies are the be all and end all for Mahler afficionados. He was never afraid to go against the accepted 'norm' in terms of interpretation of a piece...sometimes deviating so far from that norm that he managed to alienate even his own supporters...remonding us that no-one is infallible! I remember a disastrous interpretation of Elgar's 'Nimrod' (from the Enigma Variations) on live UK TV...it was so slow I swear the next day's scheduling had already begun by the time the piece ended!
But, for me, Bernstein's ultimate genius was his ability to share music with the masses through his wonderful lectures to young people. I've seen far too few of them (so far...I do hope more surface on TV/DVD) but they are an amazing insight into both a great musician's mind and also some wonderful music - opening doors to us lesser mortals in terms of musical understanding and interpretation.
The first one I ever saw concerned his own 'magnum opus', 'West Side Story' and Leonard described how he had built so much of that entire score on just three notes....(alarm!!! Muso alert!) He described them as C, F and B (natural...but sometimes flat!). If you play one after the other you will hear the opening (whistled) motif from the score (go on...make the C short, the F very long and the B short). Next, try C, F, B, C1, B, F, C, F, B, C1, B - getting there? The overture continues with C, C1, A, F, B0....
Maria starts...yes you guessed it: F, B, C (then FBCDBCDBC). Tunes based around C, F and B flat include 'I Feel Pretty', 'America' and 'Somewhere'...but they all do follow the rule!*
And the more you listen to the wonderful music of WSS the more you will acknowledge Bernstein's genius to do all this without making the whole thing sound contrived!
So check out some Bernstein...maybe stick the VHS or DVD in and have a good watch...enjoy his genius - I just checked, you can get it on DVD new for a fiver on Amazon (or £2.03 'as new' from marketplace)...so no excuses!
And I'll be using another of Bernstein's ideas to finally answer that question 'What is Classical Music?' tomorrow...so please come back...and keep the encouraging feedback flowing. I'm enjoying this, I hope you are too!
*allowing, of course, for transposition - it is the intervals that are common rather than the actual notes, of course - a whole musical in one key would be very irksome indeed!
Well, what a boring blog that would make for you all to read! OK....I could stick to the 'no surprises' genius list: Mozart (was he the greatest natural musician ever?), JS Bach (I wouldn't nominate him 'cos I'm yet to become a fan!), John Lennon (a biased choice, of course!)...in fact the only choice I could make that might possibly be unarguable would be Brian Wilson...if I had a quarter of his musical brain I know I would be a far greater musician today than I am!
In case you're wondering, (ha-ha!) the word has even been applied to me on several occasions. In the words of Victor Meldrew, "I don't believe it!" Not even for a minute! But being a recipient still instils a very nice feeling of self-worth - especially when I have it in writing from no less than John Gowans, retired General of the Salvation Army!
So...who am I going to officially crown with the genius hat tonight?
Someone whose knowledge of music, understanding of it and ability to share his own love with countless millions of others has made him a part of almost all our lives, whether we know it or not: I speak of the great, late Leonard Bernstein!
Bernstein was not only a great composer - if 'West Side Story' was all he'd ever composed it would be enough, I guess, to earn him an place in 'Composer's Heaven'. Without doubt one of the best musicals ever written WSS deserves (even in the opinion of the snobbiest critic) equal footing with any opera of the 20th Century. Tunes like 'Tonight', 'Maria' and 'Somewhere' have earned their place in public consciousness and rightly so. What has always surprised me is that music lovers have not necessarily gone out of their way to discover Bernstein's other work...'Candide', the glorious 'Chichester Psalms' and his most unusual and innovative 'Mass' come straight to mind...it just seems that the public only want to remember WSS in association with Bernstein. So be it...
Even so, composing was, ultimately, a small part of the Bernstein legacy - he was a massively respected conductor - his interpretations of Mahler's Symphonies are the be all and end all for Mahler afficionados. He was never afraid to go against the accepted 'norm' in terms of interpretation of a piece...sometimes deviating so far from that norm that he managed to alienate even his own supporters...remonding us that no-one is infallible! I remember a disastrous interpretation of Elgar's 'Nimrod' (from the Enigma Variations) on live UK TV...it was so slow I swear the next day's scheduling had already begun by the time the piece ended!
But, for me, Bernstein's ultimate genius was his ability to share music with the masses through his wonderful lectures to young people. I've seen far too few of them (so far...I do hope more surface on TV/DVD) but they are an amazing insight into both a great musician's mind and also some wonderful music - opening doors to us lesser mortals in terms of musical understanding and interpretation.
The first one I ever saw concerned his own 'magnum opus', 'West Side Story' and Leonard described how he had built so much of that entire score on just three notes....(alarm!!! Muso alert!) He described them as C, F and B (natural...but sometimes flat!). If you play one after the other you will hear the opening (whistled) motif from the score (go on...make the C short, the F very long and the B short). Next, try C, F, B, C1, B, F, C, F, B, C1, B - getting there? The overture continues with C, C1, A, F, B0....
Maria starts...yes you guessed it: F, B, C (then FBCDBCDBC). Tunes based around C, F and B flat include 'I Feel Pretty', 'America' and 'Somewhere'...but they all do follow the rule!*
And the more you listen to the wonderful music of WSS the more you will acknowledge Bernstein's genius to do all this without making the whole thing sound contrived!
So check out some Bernstein...maybe stick the VHS or DVD in and have a good watch...enjoy his genius - I just checked, you can get it on DVD new for a fiver on Amazon (or £2.03 'as new' from marketplace)...so no excuses!
And I'll be using another of Bernstein's ideas to finally answer that question 'What is Classical Music?' tomorrow...so please come back...and keep the encouraging feedback flowing. I'm enjoying this, I hope you are too!
*allowing, of course, for transposition - it is the intervals that are common rather than the actual notes, of course - a whole musical in one key would be very irksome indeed!
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
The Curate's Egg is Out of Fashion!
I'm sure some readers will remember the quaint English tale of a young curate invited to tea with the vicar and his good lady wife. Given a boiled egg for tea he cracked open the top only to discover that the egg inside it had gone bad. Nevertheless, it being his prime duty that teatime to impress the vicar's wife and come over as the epitome of good manners, he somehow managed to eat the offending ovum and, when asked, "How was your tea?" he drew upon all the resources of grace God had given him by smiling and replying politely, "It was good...in parts!"
'Good in parts' is an opinion rarely experienced in the musical world today. I have found that most people are fiercely loyal to their musical favourites...with the possible exception of Genesis fans! Genesis fans fall into three very distinct groupings: the Gabriel-era fans, the Phil Collins-era fans...and the Gabriel-era fans who are brave enough to claim that the first three or four albums after he left are still worthy of the band's name! I think I fall into the latter group (probably the least inhabited group of the three I have found!) While I love the early pure-prog of 'Foxtrot', 'Selling England' and 'The Lamb...' I am persuaded to admit that 'A Trick of the Tail', 'Wind & Wuthering' and ''Duke' contain, at least some of, my favourite Genesis music.
However, 'Abacab' and 'Genesis' (ugh...'Mama') have not been heard in their entirety by me for at least two decades! That, as a Gabriel-era sympathiser, I am somewhat compelled to add!
And I digress again...Genesis not being the intended subject for tonight's outpourings! If I am honest there is something from almost all my musical heroes that leaves me a bit cold: For 'Yes' it would include 'Relayer', 'Talk', and 'Open Your Eyes', for Rachmaninov it's the 3rd Piano Concerto...love the 2nd more than almost any other single piece, enjoy the first...I KNOW some perfectly sound opinion rates the 3rd as the best of all...but it just won't do it for me!
I love the Mahler symphonies...but the 7th leaves me, for the main part, cold - and it's not just the Castrol GTX association! John Wetton = Jack Knife. Beethoven = Fidelio. Mozart = La Clemenza Di Tito. Pink Floyd = Animals. I could go on all night...all my personal opinion, of course!
Yet, when I enter a conversation with some people it seems I am defied to argue against opinions like, "Eminem has never made a bad song," or "I adore every note James Blunt has ever sung" or even "Wagner never had an off-day - it is all sublime!"
These are the music fans who have never tasted "The Curate's Egg". Of course, it may be that our eponymous curate is, in himself, a thing of the past...gone are the days when his whole perception of acceptance into a local community might depend on a spotless reference from the vicar's wife!!! For crying out loud, in half the parishes up and down the country the vicar himself is probably as gay as rainbow socks and, from my experience of twenty years working with vicars associated with a C of E school, it would probably more the case today that, should he be given a 'bad egg' to eat at teatime, a modern curate would stand up, put on his coat and exhort the vicar to come out for a pint, a smoke and a take-away!
It is 'the curate's egg' that allows us to clearly differentiate between the good and the mundane. I am a massive fan of Rick Wakeman - and in recent years have been privileged enough to even be able to count him a friend...but even I could never try to convince anyone that all Rick's output is wonderful...maybe I'd struggle even to say it's all good...in fact I hope even Rick could admit now that some of the stuff he has released (amongst the 100+ albums released in his name) are pretty darned awful!
So...a challenge for you all! In the comments box below I want you to show your good taste and balanced opinion by 'outing' a song or album by one of your own favourites that leaves you less in awe of their genius that most of the rest of their oeuvre! I look forward to seeing your choices and, maybe, I will even disagree...oooh, debate!
'Good in parts' is an opinion rarely experienced in the musical world today. I have found that most people are fiercely loyal to their musical favourites...with the possible exception of Genesis fans! Genesis fans fall into three very distinct groupings: the Gabriel-era fans, the Phil Collins-era fans...and the Gabriel-era fans who are brave enough to claim that the first three or four albums after he left are still worthy of the band's name! I think I fall into the latter group (probably the least inhabited group of the three I have found!) While I love the early pure-prog of 'Foxtrot', 'Selling England' and 'The Lamb...' I am persuaded to admit that 'A Trick of the Tail', 'Wind & Wuthering' and ''Duke' contain, at least some of, my favourite Genesis music.
However, 'Abacab' and 'Genesis' (ugh...'Mama') have not been heard in their entirety by me for at least two decades! That, as a Gabriel-era sympathiser, I am somewhat compelled to add!
And I digress again...Genesis not being the intended subject for tonight's outpourings! If I am honest there is something from almost all my musical heroes that leaves me a bit cold: For 'Yes' it would include 'Relayer', 'Talk', and 'Open Your Eyes', for Rachmaninov it's the 3rd Piano Concerto...love the 2nd more than almost any other single piece, enjoy the first...I KNOW some perfectly sound opinion rates the 3rd as the best of all...but it just won't do it for me!
I love the Mahler symphonies...but the 7th leaves me, for the main part, cold - and it's not just the Castrol GTX association! John Wetton = Jack Knife. Beethoven = Fidelio. Mozart = La Clemenza Di Tito. Pink Floyd = Animals. I could go on all night...all my personal opinion, of course!
Yet, when I enter a conversation with some people it seems I am defied to argue against opinions like, "Eminem has never made a bad song," or "I adore every note James Blunt has ever sung" or even "Wagner never had an off-day - it is all sublime!"
These are the music fans who have never tasted "The Curate's Egg". Of course, it may be that our eponymous curate is, in himself, a thing of the past...gone are the days when his whole perception of acceptance into a local community might depend on a spotless reference from the vicar's wife!!! For crying out loud, in half the parishes up and down the country the vicar himself is probably as gay as rainbow socks and, from my experience of twenty years working with vicars associated with a C of E school, it would probably more the case today that, should he be given a 'bad egg' to eat at teatime, a modern curate would stand up, put on his coat and exhort the vicar to come out for a pint, a smoke and a take-away!
It is 'the curate's egg' that allows us to clearly differentiate between the good and the mundane. I am a massive fan of Rick Wakeman - and in recent years have been privileged enough to even be able to count him a friend...but even I could never try to convince anyone that all Rick's output is wonderful...maybe I'd struggle even to say it's all good...in fact I hope even Rick could admit now that some of the stuff he has released (amongst the 100+ albums released in his name) are pretty darned awful!
So...a challenge for you all! In the comments box below I want you to show your good taste and balanced opinion by 'outing' a song or album by one of your own favourites that leaves you less in awe of their genius that most of the rest of their oeuvre! I look forward to seeing your choices and, maybe, I will even disagree...oooh, debate!
Monday, 21 September 2009
The Critic!
It was mum reminded me! Having started reading my blog she wondered if I might find a new career as a writer/reviewer/critic...and the word 'critic' opened up another dark and dusty corner of my memory!
When I was but a kid my crazy memory had already started to develop its retention skills...and one particular poem...or recitation....had a defining part to play in my upbringing...
I stood up, throughout my childhood, to participate in a great many Salvation Army festivals...sometimes as a singer, most often as a euphonium soloist...but I also got asked, from time to time, to recite poems! One about two frogs in danger of drowning in a milk churn comes to mind (but they kept on paddling and eventually turned it to butter and climbed out - the moral, never give up!), another about a lady in church who sat amongst the 'bad boys' on the back row...and one poem, in particular, came to mind this evening. Called 'The Critic' I must have recited it dozens of times...I even recall once singing it to the tune of 'Paddy McGinty's Goat'!
I'd guess it's out of copyright by now so here it is:
It's the difference between an 'Army' band existing for the reasons it does and the raison d'etre of an 'outside' band (as they are still referred today by Salvationists) that perhaps is highlighted most in the poem. 'Outside' - or contesting - bands compete frequently against each other...you only have to watch 'Brassed Off' to experience some of the competitive nature! I don't know if they still do this but the adjudicators used to sit behind a curtain and listen to each band's rendition of the 'test piece', making their comments - their critical appraisals - and, ultimately, deciding the order in which the bands would finish in the contest.
I only ever went to the Royal Albert Hall once for a contest - the testpiece was the 'easy listening' favourite 'Blitz' by Derek Bourgeois. I sat and listened to this atonal piece of programme music some twenty-odd times and vowed never to do it again! (I quite like the piece now but it was not my cup of tea as a teenager and it took a long time for me to forgive it!)
Yet the pretence of the curtain I found the most ridiculous thing...could the experienced adjudicator really not tell it was Black Dyke playing when the cornet solo was played by the familiar tone of Philip McCann? Even I could tell his sound a mile off! I remember the first time we watched the wonderful Patricia Routledge detective series 'Hetty Wainthropp Investigates' on TV for the first time - the theme music started and my dad and I both said 'That's Philip McCann' within a couple of notes. Surely the 'professional' could recognise all the bands without seeing them!
That's where criticism has its place, of course - and very much rightly so. 'Army' bands don't compete (and, as mentioned above) exist for an entirely different reason..but we like to do the best we can. Having played in a Salvation Army band now for some 37 years (man and boy) I like to think that the best of SA bands could hold their own with the best of the contesting bands - but I have no desire to ever see them have that opportunity...and neither would they!
So sit up in the gallery a-listening to the band...but enjoy the music - thank God for it if that's your 'thing' - but criticise at your peril! That young boy might be in the row in front...and you wouldn't want his sozzled dad to still be selling his boots, would you?
*the 'monstre' is the monster-bass - a BBb tuba some 5' or more high
When I was but a kid my crazy memory had already started to develop its retention skills...and one particular poem...or recitation....had a defining part to play in my upbringing...
I stood up, throughout my childhood, to participate in a great many Salvation Army festivals...sometimes as a singer, most often as a euphonium soloist...but I also got asked, from time to time, to recite poems! One about two frogs in danger of drowning in a milk churn comes to mind (but they kept on paddling and eventually turned it to butter and climbed out - the moral, never give up!), another about a lady in church who sat amongst the 'bad boys' on the back row...and one poem, in particular, came to mind this evening. Called 'The Critic' I must have recited it dozens of times...I even recall once singing it to the tune of 'Paddy McGinty's Goat'!
I'd guess it's out of copyright by now so here it is:
"He was sitting in the gallery, a-listening to the band
He thought himself a crictic and was feeling mighty grand,
As he loudly made his comments, so that all around could hear,
He made himself a 'perfect pest' to people sitting near:
"The cornets, they were terrible, their tone was really rough.
The basses couldn't do a thing, there wasn't half enough!
The trombones and euphoniums were ragged as can be,
The drums were poor, the flugel worse -
The drums were poor, the flugel worse -
The horns played horribly!
The baritones were dreadful; the BM didn't seem
To get the men to follow like a good and balanced team."
Well, he counted up the errors and he didn't miss a fault
And so he carried on until a small boy called a halt.
"Excuse me, guv," the boy remarked, "You seem to 'ave it wrong!
This meeting ain't a contest - that ain't why they've come along.
These men 'ave got a message - it's an old 'un but it's true -
There ain't a band wot's playin' that could please the likes of you!
"That man what plays the monstre*, he's me father, do you 'ear?
He used to come 'ome sozzled and would sell me boots for beer
But 'The Army' went and found 'im, 'e got saved! I'm proud to say
'E's now the finest father - and I likes to 'ear 'im play!
"Now others in the band are 'toffs' and never 'ave been poor,
They love to play the music and they no what bands are for!
So don't sit criticising the good old Army band -
Just fink of all the good they do - My! Ain't that playin' grand?"
It's the difference between an 'Army' band existing for the reasons it does and the raison d'etre of an 'outside' band (as they are still referred today by Salvationists) that perhaps is highlighted most in the poem. 'Outside' - or contesting - bands compete frequently against each other...you only have to watch 'Brassed Off' to experience some of the competitive nature! I don't know if they still do this but the adjudicators used to sit behind a curtain and listen to each band's rendition of the 'test piece', making their comments - their critical appraisals - and, ultimately, deciding the order in which the bands would finish in the contest.
I only ever went to the Royal Albert Hall once for a contest - the testpiece was the 'easy listening' favourite 'Blitz' by Derek Bourgeois. I sat and listened to this atonal piece of programme music some twenty-odd times and vowed never to do it again! (I quite like the piece now but it was not my cup of tea as a teenager and it took a long time for me to forgive it!)
Yet the pretence of the curtain I found the most ridiculous thing...could the experienced adjudicator really not tell it was Black Dyke playing when the cornet solo was played by the familiar tone of Philip McCann? Even I could tell his sound a mile off! I remember the first time we watched the wonderful Patricia Routledge detective series 'Hetty Wainthropp Investigates' on TV for the first time - the theme music started and my dad and I both said 'That's Philip McCann' within a couple of notes. Surely the 'professional' could recognise all the bands without seeing them!
That's where criticism has its place, of course - and very much rightly so. 'Army' bands don't compete (and, as mentioned above) exist for an entirely different reason..but we like to do the best we can. Having played in a Salvation Army band now for some 37 years (man and boy) I like to think that the best of SA bands could hold their own with the best of the contesting bands - but I have no desire to ever see them have that opportunity...and neither would they!
So sit up in the gallery a-listening to the band...but enjoy the music - thank God for it if that's your 'thing' - but criticise at your peril! That young boy might be in the row in front...and you wouldn't want his sozzled dad to still be selling his boots, would you?
*the 'monstre' is the monster-bass - a BBb tuba some 5' or more high
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Back to Reality
Back to Reality...is the title of my favourite episode of (one of) my favourite TV Series of all time! I speak of the wonderful 'Red Dwarf', of course - a true rarity in TV history being a science-fiction comedy series. I would find it an impossible choice to make if asked to narrow my preference down to just one series (or one album, or one song even...impossible!) yet I admit that most of my TV favourites, at least, have a link...
...The other two contenders would be 'Inspector Morse' and 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'...and the most eagle-eyed reader might have already spotted that link...a link of 'well-loved' that extends as far wide as the films 'Still Crazy' 'Sweeny Todd', and 'Lucky Break', as well as the Harry Potter films and the 1989 'Batman', Morse spin-off 'Lewis', and other TV drama series including 'Spender', 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Waterloo Road'...yes...all roads lead back to 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet'!
The 'Red Dwarf' episode I mentioned (featuring AWP's Tim Spall - aka Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail) sees the crew of the spaceship coming back down to Earth with a bang when they (mistakenly) come to realise they have only been playing a 'communal video game' for the entire duration of series one to five! In a similar way I have come 'back to reality' today after a week or so of such hectic musical activity it seems like Iwas caught in a (most enjoyable) whirlwind!
First, we had the much-hyped and previously discussed Beatles remasters and a 'Beatley' week par none - interrupted only by 'Last Night Of The Proms' - and this week has been a kind of personal Prog Heaven for me! 'Genesis' on the radio, 'IQ' in the car and both 'It Bites' AND 'Touchstone' live in concert! I don't manage to get to as many gigs as I'd like to these days (can't afford it!!!) but these two were very reasonably priced and with the added bonus of each band being the favourite of one of my 2 older sons (Lewis is the 'It Bites' maniac and Morgan loves 'Touchstone') - so they got a night out each...and I got two (har har!)
What a privilege I have as a dad to share so many musical tastes with my teenage sons! Neither of them are remotely interested in 'RnB' or 'DnB' or 'RaP'...if they were they might be invited to 'RiP'!!! When they 'discover' something I might like they are keen to share with me too...I struggle a little to appreciate 'Muse' as much as Morgan does, or 'McFly' as Lewis did but I do try - and we all listen happily together for the majority of the time!
'Touchstone' ( http://www.touchstonemusic.co.uk/ ) played last night at 'The Peel' in Kingston, Surrey (we arrived early, despite my playing organ for a wedding at 4pm back in Portsmouth) so spent a nice hour with my aunt and 93 year old Nana who still looks a picture of health!). I first encountered 'Touchstone' as a support band...Now, I've seen and heard some BAD support bands/acts in my time - some have been completely the wrong type of music for the audience, some have been so cocky they thought they were there to 'blow the main act offstage'...forgetting it was the main act we'd paid to see and not them! Others have been miles out of tune, boring or FAR TOO LOUD (I was deafened for the night in Brighton before 'Meat Loaf' even got on stage!)
So impressed was I with 'Touchstone' as a support slot that I felt I had to go seek them out by the merchandise stall and tell them/thank them...and a very friendly bunch they are too! Last night I saw them as 'headliners' for the first time in Kingston and a good time was had by all! The five-piece produce a very 'big' sound which would justify their performing in a far larger arena than 'The Peel' but the grandeur lost by playing a small venue is more than made up for by the real intamacy one is able to feel with the performers in venues like last night's!
Like the best of Rick Wakeman-era 'Yes', 'Touchstone's music is dominated by a vast keyboard back-drop courtesy of Rob Cottingham and his trusty Kurzweil (and expansion boards - hey! - the same 3 I use!). The rhythm section of Al (drums) and Moo (bass) are as tight as you could wish to hear; Moo's innovative work on a 5-string fretless bass is, I think, quite unique - and, at times, lightning quick - while Al, complete with new cymbals thanks to a well-deserved Sabian sponsorship, lends plenty of energy as well as thundering fills to the ensemble (though the less said about his flying underpants the better!)
Adam's guitar 'solo-swaps' effectively with Rob's keyboards while his general song playing ranges from power-chords through melodious counter-melody and numerous other styles...and over all this soar the lead vocals of Kim 'Elkie' Seviour. 24 year old Kim joined Touchstone in 2006 having answered an advertisement. In her early days with the band she shared the lead vocal duties with Rob but the latter's share quickly diminished as both the power of Kim's voice was recognised and also as her powerful stage-presence began to exert its sway over a legion of red-blooded proggers! And she's not shy...happy to describe herself as 'pen pusher by day - rock goddess by night!'
Even in these days of 'equal-ops' it is rare for a rock band to be fronted by a female - but as groups like 'Magenta' discovered...and as Touchstone now aver...the idea works...especially in the prog-rock genre - the higher pitch of the natural vocal sits very comfortably in an inevitably 'crowded' arrangement without further clouding that sub-middle C octave, giving the instruments more room to breathe and express themselves. (This is, in reality, also a secret of 'Yes' - Jon Anderson's counter-tenor occupies a similar space in the soundscape.)
Last night we heard most of the band's 2nd full CD 'Wintercoast': highlights, for me, being the title track, 'Voices' and 'Solace', Kim's emotional tour de force. The enthusiastic and noisy audience loved the 'audience participation' number 'Strange Days' while the surprise inclusion of 'Thriller' (yes, THAT 'Thriller'!) as an encore went down well.
There is no pretention with 'Touchstone' - barely going off-stage at all pre-encore (any pretence was merely to give Kim an excuse to tell herself off for succumbing to the tiniest ego-trip) - then, after the 2nd encore, it was straight off the stage and into the audience to thank and chat with their fan-friends! That's not rock and roll...but Touchstone are!
So...I'm a bit of the 'deflated Dwarfer'...'back to reality' today. Tonight, as I type, it's musical edification provided once more by an enjoyable but more mundane family life (watching 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' with youngest son, Ieuan - at just 5 not - yet - weaned onto prog!). When he goes to bed I might watch one of the new series of 'Lewis' that have been waiting patiently in their DVD cases for me...all roads lead to AWP, after all!
...The other two contenders would be 'Inspector Morse' and 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'...and the most eagle-eyed reader might have already spotted that link...a link of 'well-loved' that extends as far wide as the films 'Still Crazy' 'Sweeny Todd', and 'Lucky Break', as well as the Harry Potter films and the 1989 'Batman', Morse spin-off 'Lewis', and other TV drama series including 'Spender', 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Waterloo Road'...yes...all roads lead back to 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet'!
The 'Red Dwarf' episode I mentioned (featuring AWP's Tim Spall - aka Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail) sees the crew of the spaceship coming back down to Earth with a bang when they (mistakenly) come to realise they have only been playing a 'communal video game' for the entire duration of series one to five! In a similar way I have come 'back to reality' today after a week or so of such hectic musical activity it seems like Iwas caught in a (most enjoyable) whirlwind!
First, we had the much-hyped and previously discussed Beatles remasters and a 'Beatley' week par none - interrupted only by 'Last Night Of The Proms' - and this week has been a kind of personal Prog Heaven for me! 'Genesis' on the radio, 'IQ' in the car and both 'It Bites' AND 'Touchstone' live in concert! I don't manage to get to as many gigs as I'd like to these days (can't afford it!!!) but these two were very reasonably priced and with the added bonus of each band being the favourite of one of my 2 older sons (Lewis is the 'It Bites' maniac and Morgan loves 'Touchstone') - so they got a night out each...and I got two (har har!)
What a privilege I have as a dad to share so many musical tastes with my teenage sons! Neither of them are remotely interested in 'RnB' or 'DnB' or 'RaP'...if they were they might be invited to 'RiP'!!! When they 'discover' something I might like they are keen to share with me too...I struggle a little to appreciate 'Muse' as much as Morgan does, or 'McFly' as Lewis did but I do try - and we all listen happily together for the majority of the time!
'Touchstone' ( http://www.touchstonemusic.co.uk/ ) played last night at 'The Peel' in Kingston, Surrey (we arrived early, despite my playing organ for a wedding at 4pm back in Portsmouth) so spent a nice hour with my aunt and 93 year old Nana who still looks a picture of health!). I first encountered 'Touchstone' as a support band...Now, I've seen and heard some BAD support bands/acts in my time - some have been completely the wrong type of music for the audience, some have been so cocky they thought they were there to 'blow the main act offstage'...forgetting it was the main act we'd paid to see and not them! Others have been miles out of tune, boring or FAR TOO LOUD (I was deafened for the night in Brighton before 'Meat Loaf' even got on stage!)
So impressed was I with 'Touchstone' as a support slot that I felt I had to go seek them out by the merchandise stall and tell them/thank them...and a very friendly bunch they are too! Last night I saw them as 'headliners' for the first time in Kingston and a good time was had by all! The five-piece produce a very 'big' sound which would justify their performing in a far larger arena than 'The Peel' but the grandeur lost by playing a small venue is more than made up for by the real intamacy one is able to feel with the performers in venues like last night's!
Like the best of Rick Wakeman-era 'Yes', 'Touchstone's music is dominated by a vast keyboard back-drop courtesy of Rob Cottingham and his trusty Kurzweil (and expansion boards - hey! - the same 3 I use!). The rhythm section of Al (drums) and Moo (bass) are as tight as you could wish to hear; Moo's innovative work on a 5-string fretless bass is, I think, quite unique - and, at times, lightning quick - while Al, complete with new cymbals thanks to a well-deserved Sabian sponsorship, lends plenty of energy as well as thundering fills to the ensemble (though the less said about his flying underpants the better!)
Adam's guitar 'solo-swaps' effectively with Rob's keyboards while his general song playing ranges from power-chords through melodious counter-melody and numerous other styles...and over all this soar the lead vocals of Kim 'Elkie' Seviour. 24 year old Kim joined Touchstone in 2006 having answered an advertisement. In her early days with the band she shared the lead vocal duties with Rob but the latter's share quickly diminished as both the power of Kim's voice was recognised and also as her powerful stage-presence began to exert its sway over a legion of red-blooded proggers! And she's not shy...happy to describe herself as 'pen pusher by day - rock goddess by night!'
Even in these days of 'equal-ops' it is rare for a rock band to be fronted by a female - but as groups like 'Magenta' discovered...and as Touchstone now aver...the idea works...especially in the prog-rock genre - the higher pitch of the natural vocal sits very comfortably in an inevitably 'crowded' arrangement without further clouding that sub-middle C octave, giving the instruments more room to breathe and express themselves. (This is, in reality, also a secret of 'Yes' - Jon Anderson's counter-tenor occupies a similar space in the soundscape.)
Last night we heard most of the band's 2nd full CD 'Wintercoast': highlights, for me, being the title track, 'Voices' and 'Solace', Kim's emotional tour de force. The enthusiastic and noisy audience loved the 'audience participation' number 'Strange Days' while the surprise inclusion of 'Thriller' (yes, THAT 'Thriller'!) as an encore went down well.
There is no pretention with 'Touchstone' - barely going off-stage at all pre-encore (any pretence was merely to give Kim an excuse to tell herself off for succumbing to the tiniest ego-trip) - then, after the 2nd encore, it was straight off the stage and into the audience to thank and chat with their fan-friends! That's not rock and roll...but Touchstone are!
So...I'm a bit of the 'deflated Dwarfer'...'back to reality' today. Tonight, as I type, it's musical edification provided once more by an enjoyable but more mundane family life (watching 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' with youngest son, Ieuan - at just 5 not - yet - weaned onto prog!). When he goes to bed I might watch one of the new series of 'Lewis' that have been waiting patiently in their DVD cases for me...all roads lead to AWP, after all!
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Mr Richland...I Know What You Meant!
Prog Rock, Beatles, Brass Bands, Brian Wilson? Just what is my favourite music? Who is my all-time favourite artist? If I had to choose just one???
I could beg (literally!) not to have to make that choice..but you readers won't let me out of it that easily, will you?
Ok...this will come as no surprise to my closest friends and family but that place of particular honour would go to an artist most music-lovers would claim not to know...yet you sing them one line and they say 'Oh! HIM!'
I speak of the great, late Harry Nilsson...and that's where the title of this blog entry finds its author. Nilsson (for those of you who still might say 'who?' I sing 'Can't live...if living is without you...' - and that's enough for now - you know at least one of his recordings*) wrote a song for his 2nd LP, 'Aerial Ballet' with the title 'Mr Richland's Favorite Song'. It told of a singer, once an 'untouchable hero'...up there on a stage, seemingly a million miles from his fans but, ultimately, a one-hit wonder! As the years passed by his loyal fans stayed for the third show, the second show and, many years later, he became 'the fallen star who works in a bar where yesterday is king' and where he 'calls his fans by name'.
In October 1982 I sat in a full to bursting Wembley Arena to watch the 'supergroup' Asia perform their first ever UK gig. What anticipation! What a thrill! There, tiny figures on the stage in front of me and my friends stood John Wetton (King Crimson, Family, Uriah Heep, Roxy Music UK etc.), Steve Howe and Geoff Downes (once of the great 'Yes'...and 'The Buggles'!) and Carl Palmer (exactly one third of the mighty ELP). They were untouchable, unreachable...like musicians from another realm, another planet even...a lifetime away from mere mortals like us in the audience! They sang and strummed their way through 'Heat of the Moment', 'Only Time Will Tell', 'Sole Survivor' and more of the songs I had already grown to love on the first 'prog' LP I ever bought. The night is as fresh in my memory tonight as it was then. I even recall the support act, a juggler of all things, called Chris Bliss - and he juggled with fluorescent balls and white gloves under an ultra-violet light. Bliss had a particularly blunt and effective way of dealing with hecklers (no doubt well-practised if you juggle habitually as support to rock legends!)...I dare not repeat his 'put down' on here (my mum reads this!) but, suffice to say, the same heckler did not transgess twice!
So, where is this going? Tonight I went with my 2nd son, Lewis, to see one of our favourite bands, 'It Bites' play a gig at Mr Kyps, Poole. I had never visited the venue before but it is a nice, intimate venue for a medium-sized gig (no doubt infinitely better these days as a result of the smoking ban!)
'It Bites' formed in Egremont, Cumbria in 1984. Four boys who went to school with each other, made a name for themselves then earned a record contract with Richard Branson's 'Virgin' Empire - and made the most of it by getting the early career 'hit' so eagerly sought by all new bands (see last night's blog for more info).
I saw 'It Bites' in 1990 in Portsmouth, I'd been a fan from their earliest days...but becoming a member of the band one day never even crossed my mind... Yet it must have been a dream for John Mitchell! John was a fan too...he recalls sneaking out of the house to go to gigs having raided a liquor cabinet to lubricate his enjoyment cells...and, no doubt, he honed his budding guitar skills by sitting - hour after hour, night after night - trying to emulate his hero, Francis Dunnery - lead guitarist and singer with his favourite band!
Tonight, John stood on stage as the front man of 'It Bites' - what a dream come true! John shared with some friends and I a year ago about the surreal situation he now finds himself in! When Dunnery quit the embryo reunion Mitchell took his place...what boots to fill!! Tonight he dominated the stage like 'Asia' did for me in 1982! A fairly small, though vociferous, audience lent him their support as they sang their hearts out through old faves like 'All In Red' and 'Still Too Young To Remember' - but the first half of tonight's show was dominated by a towering tour de force in 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley' - a new anthem to stand alongside the old favourites (and from the latest album).
When they retook the stage after a short interval 'It Bites' played the whole of what was almost universally acclaimed as their best album, 'Once Around the World'. Four stonking rockers launched the set in 'Midnight', 'Kiss Like Judas' (what a great track that is!),'Yellow Christian' (anyone out there tried playing in 14/8 time?) and 'Rose Marie'....and, later, the album ends with the band's 'magnum opus' - the epic title track of the CD which has elements of pop, rock, jazz, vaudeville and much, much more! 'Once Around the World', A Day In A Life...A cornucopia of genres that takes you from Caesar to Willie Carson in a quarter of an hour!
We sang our hearts out! We watched wide-eyed as John Mitchell's fingers flew like lightning over his frets, we marvelled at the solid and steady (and oft-times spectacular) drumming of Bob Dalton and wowed in appreciation at how the nimble fingers of keyboard genius John Beck held the sound together with his own personal orchestra of samples and patches...and, perhaps more than all, we wondered how bassist Lee Pomeroy was able to switch with such seemingly effortless ease from the steady 4/4 simplicity of being bassist for 'Take That' to nailing this music of infintely more complexity in his 'day job'!
I came away thrilled and entertained...my son, Lewis, came away inspired to practice and improve!
And what of Mr Richland?
Well, before the gig started tonight, I had the privilege to stand and chat once more with John Wetton...in 1982 that dot on a stage - tonight a friend and fellow 'fan'! Harry Nilsson's song personified...especially for me! If ever I could have wished for a bonus to make my evening this had to be it. This man has sold more records than anyone in this month's pop charts - quite possibly all of them added together!...and I have most of them in my collection! Recordings with 'Mogul Thrash', 'Family', 'Uriah Heep', 'Roxy Music', 'King Crimson', 'UK', 'Asia' as well as his fabulous solo albums have all given me endless hours of joy...and he stoood chatting with me again tonight! John is in better health now than last time we chatted socially! On my web pages at http://www.marcharry.com/ you will find a review of the night we met first of all...a night when John was in the grip of a serious and life-threatening alcohol addiction. That is now behind him...as he told me tonight 'but for the grace of God' he could have gone the way of Keith Floyd..but John still has much more music to make!
What a gift to us all music is! 'Johns' Mitchell and Wetton...I thank you from the depths of my heart! May it continue to flow for a long time to come!
*Note I say 'recordings' NOT compositions! Harry wrote the vast majority of the songs he recorded yet, strangely, his two biggest hits 'Everybody's Talkin' (Fred Neil) and 'Without You' (Pete Ham/Tom Evans) were composed by others. Ham & Evans were from British Beatles acolyte band 'Badfinger' and their sad, story (partly revolving around their battle for recognition as authors of the song) may well be told another day...
I could beg (literally!) not to have to make that choice..but you readers won't let me out of it that easily, will you?
Ok...this will come as no surprise to my closest friends and family but that place of particular honour would go to an artist most music-lovers would claim not to know...yet you sing them one line and they say 'Oh! HIM!'
I speak of the great, late Harry Nilsson...and that's where the title of this blog entry finds its author. Nilsson (for those of you who still might say 'who?' I sing 'Can't live...if living is without you...' - and that's enough for now - you know at least one of his recordings*) wrote a song for his 2nd LP, 'Aerial Ballet' with the title 'Mr Richland's Favorite Song'. It told of a singer, once an 'untouchable hero'...up there on a stage, seemingly a million miles from his fans but, ultimately, a one-hit wonder! As the years passed by his loyal fans stayed for the third show, the second show and, many years later, he became 'the fallen star who works in a bar where yesterday is king' and where he 'calls his fans by name'.
In October 1982 I sat in a full to bursting Wembley Arena to watch the 'supergroup' Asia perform their first ever UK gig. What anticipation! What a thrill! There, tiny figures on the stage in front of me and my friends stood John Wetton (King Crimson, Family, Uriah Heep, Roxy Music UK etc.), Steve Howe and Geoff Downes (once of the great 'Yes'...and 'The Buggles'!) and Carl Palmer (exactly one third of the mighty ELP). They were untouchable, unreachable...like musicians from another realm, another planet even...a lifetime away from mere mortals like us in the audience! They sang and strummed their way through 'Heat of the Moment', 'Only Time Will Tell', 'Sole Survivor' and more of the songs I had already grown to love on the first 'prog' LP I ever bought. The night is as fresh in my memory tonight as it was then. I even recall the support act, a juggler of all things, called Chris Bliss - and he juggled with fluorescent balls and white gloves under an ultra-violet light. Bliss had a particularly blunt and effective way of dealing with hecklers (no doubt well-practised if you juggle habitually as support to rock legends!)...I dare not repeat his 'put down' on here (my mum reads this!) but, suffice to say, the same heckler did not transgess twice!
So, where is this going? Tonight I went with my 2nd son, Lewis, to see one of our favourite bands, 'It Bites' play a gig at Mr Kyps, Poole. I had never visited the venue before but it is a nice, intimate venue for a medium-sized gig (no doubt infinitely better these days as a result of the smoking ban!)
'It Bites' formed in Egremont, Cumbria in 1984. Four boys who went to school with each other, made a name for themselves then earned a record contract with Richard Branson's 'Virgin' Empire - and made the most of it by getting the early career 'hit' so eagerly sought by all new bands (see last night's blog for more info).
I saw 'It Bites' in 1990 in Portsmouth, I'd been a fan from their earliest days...but becoming a member of the band one day never even crossed my mind... Yet it must have been a dream for John Mitchell! John was a fan too...he recalls sneaking out of the house to go to gigs having raided a liquor cabinet to lubricate his enjoyment cells...and, no doubt, he honed his budding guitar skills by sitting - hour after hour, night after night - trying to emulate his hero, Francis Dunnery - lead guitarist and singer with his favourite band!
Tonight, John stood on stage as the front man of 'It Bites' - what a dream come true! John shared with some friends and I a year ago about the surreal situation he now finds himself in! When Dunnery quit the embryo reunion Mitchell took his place...what boots to fill!! Tonight he dominated the stage like 'Asia' did for me in 1982! A fairly small, though vociferous, audience lent him their support as they sang their hearts out through old faves like 'All In Red' and 'Still Too Young To Remember' - but the first half of tonight's show was dominated by a towering tour de force in 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley' - a new anthem to stand alongside the old favourites (and from the latest album).
When they retook the stage after a short interval 'It Bites' played the whole of what was almost universally acclaimed as their best album, 'Once Around the World'. Four stonking rockers launched the set in 'Midnight', 'Kiss Like Judas' (what a great track that is!),'Yellow Christian' (anyone out there tried playing in 14/8 time?) and 'Rose Marie'....and, later, the album ends with the band's 'magnum opus' - the epic title track of the CD which has elements of pop, rock, jazz, vaudeville and much, much more! 'Once Around the World', A Day In A Life...A cornucopia of genres that takes you from Caesar to Willie Carson in a quarter of an hour!
We sang our hearts out! We watched wide-eyed as John Mitchell's fingers flew like lightning over his frets, we marvelled at the solid and steady (and oft-times spectacular) drumming of Bob Dalton and wowed in appreciation at how the nimble fingers of keyboard genius John Beck held the sound together with his own personal orchestra of samples and patches...and, perhaps more than all, we wondered how bassist Lee Pomeroy was able to switch with such seemingly effortless ease from the steady 4/4 simplicity of being bassist for 'Take That' to nailing this music of infintely more complexity in his 'day job'!
I came away thrilled and entertained...my son, Lewis, came away inspired to practice and improve!
And what of Mr Richland?
Well, before the gig started tonight, I had the privilege to stand and chat once more with John Wetton...in 1982 that dot on a stage - tonight a friend and fellow 'fan'! Harry Nilsson's song personified...especially for me! If ever I could have wished for a bonus to make my evening this had to be it. This man has sold more records than anyone in this month's pop charts - quite possibly all of them added together!...and I have most of them in my collection! Recordings with 'Mogul Thrash', 'Family', 'Uriah Heep', 'Roxy Music', 'King Crimson', 'UK', 'Asia' as well as his fabulous solo albums have all given me endless hours of joy...and he stoood chatting with me again tonight! John is in better health now than last time we chatted socially! On my web pages at http://www.marcharry.com/ you will find a review of the night we met first of all...a night when John was in the grip of a serious and life-threatening alcohol addiction. That is now behind him...as he told me tonight 'but for the grace of God' he could have gone the way of Keith Floyd..but John still has much more music to make!
What a gift to us all music is! 'Johns' Mitchell and Wetton...I thank you from the depths of my heart! May it continue to flow for a long time to come!
*Note I say 'recordings' NOT compositions! Harry wrote the vast majority of the songs he recorded yet, strangely, his two biggest hits 'Everybody's Talkin' (Fred Neil) and 'Without You' (Pete Ham/Tom Evans) were composed by others. Ham & Evans were from British Beatles acolyte band 'Badfinger' and their sad, story (partly revolving around their battle for recognition as authors of the song) may well be told another day...
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Once More Around the World...my proggy friends!
I have to concentrate!!! Seriously, I do! One of my very rare 'prog free' listening periods must come to an end tomorrow...Lewis and I drive to Poole for the 1st night of the wonderful 'It Bites' latest tour...the tour on which they will perform the entire 'Once Around the World' album - including the epic 14 minute and 48 second title track!
Not enough people even know It Bites exist(ed). My son Lewis started college today and his Music tutor was delighted to discover that he had a 'prog' fan in his group. As he briefly shared with Lewis about his love for Yes, Genesis and ELP Lewis mentioned that we were seeing It Bites tomorrow! The prog loving tutor had never heard of them!! Aaaaaaaargh!
It Bites were formed in Cumbria in 1984 and and their Warhol-ian 'five minutes of fame' came when their 2nd single 'Calling All The Heroes' reached number 6 in the UK singles charts. On the back of this success the group attracted many TV appearances and built a strong and loyal audience. Whilst, unashamedly, in those days It Bites were a pop/rock band I saw enough in a Saturday Morning kids TV appearance (in which they also played debut single 'All In Red') to catch my attention in a BIG way. Next time I met my musical 'oppo' Alvin, with whom I had shared 4 years membership of our own band 'Blood and Fire' and the man who first introduced me to prog I HAD to tell him about the band I'd 'discovered'...but, of course, he had also found them and had already bought the album!
This band was no Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet or Culture Club...here was a group of very fine musicians, led by the wonderful Francis Dunnery (who not only coped with being front man and lead vocalist but is amongst the best 2 or 3 guitarists I have ever heard!).
It Bites never repeated the success of their 2nd single. However, their 2nd album - the afore-mentioned 'Once Around the World' would still today head my personal list of 'best prog-rock albums EVER'...and with 'Close to the Edge', 'Foxtrot', and 'Brain Salad Surgery' amongst the opposition that is no faint praise indeed from this particular prog-head!
Picking up Lewis from college today I got my escape route from the ******** dominated listening of the last week (for stars substitute that group from Liverpool whom Kate seems to think I can't write a blog WITHOUT MENTIONING!)
Simon Mayo was interviewing Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks from Genesis as I drove...and my ears became attuned to a live version of 'I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)' from the box-set of live albums about to be released by the biblically-named proggers. Whilst the interview was highlighted by the live excerpt played (rare music on Radio 5!) and a funny debate about Pan's People's literal interpretation of the song on Top Of The Pops (including a real wardrobe!) at least my mind was turned towards prog at last!
What is prog, I hear some of you ask?
Hmmmmmm....I guess I see prog as a sort of middle-ground between the pop world and the classical/orchestral world (that blog on 'what is classical music' bubbles ever closer I feel...). It is rock music played by musicians who were probably good enough at their instruments to have 'made it' in any field...but chose rock! Prog 'songs' tend to be of 'epic' length...7, 10, 15 minutes rather than the usual 2.5 to 3 minutes that account for 99% of all hits in all pop charts. These songs probably do not limit themselves to one (or even 4) keys, change time signature more often than their composers change socks and have extended instrumental passages that allow the virtuosity of the players to come very much to the fore.
When It Bites split after their third album 'Eat Me In St Louis' I was devastated. Another fan in a similar catatonic state at that time must have been John Mitchell. John is younger than me but he had been to the gigs, been captivated by the music and, no doubt, longed for the day he might get to see his heroes take the stage one more time. Frank Dunnery went on to launch a successful solo career and hopes were raised after a solo concert at the Union Chapel in 2003 when the 4 members of It Bites took the stage together once more...talk on the forums later confirmed that a reunion was finally being attempted.
The biggest hurdle to the reunion was always going to be a Continental one. With Francis living in the USA and the other three still 'at home' in the UK rehearsal and writing time was always an impossible dream...and after several abortive attempts at getting the new project off the ground defeat was admitted to understanding but realistic fans...and that's the point at which all John Mitchell's dreams came true!
Sitting in front of amplifiers at home, fingers ever-growing in skill and dexterity, mastering intricate Dunnery riffs and solos...there must have been dozens or more who attempted it! Mitchell's effort seemed rewarded when he found success himself with his own band 'The Urbane', who produced two fine albums 'Neon' and 'Glitter', 1990's prog greats 'Arena' in which he was 'merely' guitarist...and then his next band 'Kino' arrived on the scene...
Kino's keyboard-player was John Beck...keyboard wizard with his own heroes, It Bites! The Kino debut album 'Picture' is a masterpiece in many ways and Mitchell richly deserved the plaudits the album attracted amongst prog-fans! Then, when Kino needed a new drummer for live dates, who should step in but Bob Dalton...yes, you guessed it, ex-drummer of It Bites! With Mitchell's fandom coming evermore to the fore it was natural indeed that It Bites songs like 'Plastic Dreamer' and 'Kiss Like Judas' made it to Kino's live set...
...and when It Bites' reunion hit the rocks - who better to bail the others out than a fan who could stand on stage and admit that years of Latin education at school meant nothing until he could translate the lyrics of 'Old Man and the Angel'? Mitchell became the new lead singer/guitarist of the reformed It Bites! Talk about childhood dreams coming true!!!!
Mitchell and Beck found that they wrote the same way as Dunnery/Beck once had done - the majority/main idea coming from Dunnery/Mitchell and the middle by Beck! A new album followed a successful re-debut tour...unfortunately (in some respects) they lost original bassist Dick Malone along the way...and WHAT an album it is!
I was privileged to attend a private listening party for 'The Tall Ships' with John and some friends last summer...what a wonderful night for Andre, Alvin and I - gaining insight at first hand to an album we all saw as the 'true' successor to 'Once Around the World'.
Tomorrow night we hear 'Once Around the World' again...live! I missed it first time around...it starts at 8pm in Poole...but I'll be driving away from Portsmouth soon after lunch! No Ringwood traffic jam is going to deprive me of this pleasure twice!
Not enough people even know It Bites exist(ed). My son Lewis started college today and his Music tutor was delighted to discover that he had a 'prog' fan in his group. As he briefly shared with Lewis about his love for Yes, Genesis and ELP Lewis mentioned that we were seeing It Bites tomorrow! The prog loving tutor had never heard of them!! Aaaaaaaargh!
It Bites were formed in Cumbria in 1984 and and their Warhol-ian 'five minutes of fame' came when their 2nd single 'Calling All The Heroes' reached number 6 in the UK singles charts. On the back of this success the group attracted many TV appearances and built a strong and loyal audience. Whilst, unashamedly, in those days It Bites were a pop/rock band I saw enough in a Saturday Morning kids TV appearance (in which they also played debut single 'All In Red') to catch my attention in a BIG way. Next time I met my musical 'oppo' Alvin, with whom I had shared 4 years membership of our own band 'Blood and Fire' and the man who first introduced me to prog I HAD to tell him about the band I'd 'discovered'...but, of course, he had also found them and had already bought the album!
This band was no Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet or Culture Club...here was a group of very fine musicians, led by the wonderful Francis Dunnery (who not only coped with being front man and lead vocalist but is amongst the best 2 or 3 guitarists I have ever heard!).
It Bites never repeated the success of their 2nd single. However, their 2nd album - the afore-mentioned 'Once Around the World' would still today head my personal list of 'best prog-rock albums EVER'...and with 'Close to the Edge', 'Foxtrot', and 'Brain Salad Surgery' amongst the opposition that is no faint praise indeed from this particular prog-head!
Picking up Lewis from college today I got my escape route from the ******** dominated listening of the last week (for stars substitute that group from Liverpool whom Kate seems to think I can't write a blog WITHOUT MENTIONING!)
Simon Mayo was interviewing Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks from Genesis as I drove...and my ears became attuned to a live version of 'I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)' from the box-set of live albums about to be released by the biblically-named proggers. Whilst the interview was highlighted by the live excerpt played (rare music on Radio 5!) and a funny debate about Pan's People's literal interpretation of the song on Top Of The Pops (including a real wardrobe!) at least my mind was turned towards prog at last!
What is prog, I hear some of you ask?
Hmmmmmm....I guess I see prog as a sort of middle-ground between the pop world and the classical/orchestral world (that blog on 'what is classical music' bubbles ever closer I feel...). It is rock music played by musicians who were probably good enough at their instruments to have 'made it' in any field...but chose rock! Prog 'songs' tend to be of 'epic' length...7, 10, 15 minutes rather than the usual 2.5 to 3 minutes that account for 99% of all hits in all pop charts. These songs probably do not limit themselves to one (or even 4) keys, change time signature more often than their composers change socks and have extended instrumental passages that allow the virtuosity of the players to come very much to the fore.
When It Bites split after their third album 'Eat Me In St Louis' I was devastated. Another fan in a similar catatonic state at that time must have been John Mitchell. John is younger than me but he had been to the gigs, been captivated by the music and, no doubt, longed for the day he might get to see his heroes take the stage one more time. Frank Dunnery went on to launch a successful solo career and hopes were raised after a solo concert at the Union Chapel in 2003 when the 4 members of It Bites took the stage together once more...talk on the forums later confirmed that a reunion was finally being attempted.
The biggest hurdle to the reunion was always going to be a Continental one. With Francis living in the USA and the other three still 'at home' in the UK rehearsal and writing time was always an impossible dream...and after several abortive attempts at getting the new project off the ground defeat was admitted to understanding but realistic fans...and that's the point at which all John Mitchell's dreams came true!
Sitting in front of amplifiers at home, fingers ever-growing in skill and dexterity, mastering intricate Dunnery riffs and solos...there must have been dozens or more who attempted it! Mitchell's effort seemed rewarded when he found success himself with his own band 'The Urbane', who produced two fine albums 'Neon' and 'Glitter', 1990's prog greats 'Arena' in which he was 'merely' guitarist...and then his next band 'Kino' arrived on the scene...
Kino's keyboard-player was John Beck...keyboard wizard with his own heroes, It Bites! The Kino debut album 'Picture' is a masterpiece in many ways and Mitchell richly deserved the plaudits the album attracted amongst prog-fans! Then, when Kino needed a new drummer for live dates, who should step in but Bob Dalton...yes, you guessed it, ex-drummer of It Bites! With Mitchell's fandom coming evermore to the fore it was natural indeed that It Bites songs like 'Plastic Dreamer' and 'Kiss Like Judas' made it to Kino's live set...
...and when It Bites' reunion hit the rocks - who better to bail the others out than a fan who could stand on stage and admit that years of Latin education at school meant nothing until he could translate the lyrics of 'Old Man and the Angel'? Mitchell became the new lead singer/guitarist of the reformed It Bites! Talk about childhood dreams coming true!!!!
Mitchell and Beck found that they wrote the same way as Dunnery/Beck once had done - the majority/main idea coming from Dunnery/Mitchell and the middle by Beck! A new album followed a successful re-debut tour...unfortunately (in some respects) they lost original bassist Dick Malone along the way...and WHAT an album it is!
I was privileged to attend a private listening party for 'The Tall Ships' with John and some friends last summer...what a wonderful night for Andre, Alvin and I - gaining insight at first hand to an album we all saw as the 'true' successor to 'Once Around the World'.
Tomorrow night we hear 'Once Around the World' again...live! I missed it first time around...it starts at 8pm in Poole...but I'll be driving away from Portsmouth soon after lunch! No Ringwood traffic jam is going to deprive me of this pleasure twice!
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