He's back - and he's brought his new book with him.
Steve Carr makes his third appearance in the pod (second of 2020 in fact), choosing tunes, relating R 'n' R tales and supplying handy tips for the vinyl buyer (wood glue and toothpicks anyone?) taken from the freshly pressed volume - Every Record Tells a Story
Musically we bring you the original version of Superstition (and it's
*not* Stevie) Cher regrooving Dr John, the Isley's refunking Stephen Stills, and a rocking new tune from ex Tubeway Army Sean Burke
Plus a bonus quiz - Blue or False. Is it a real Blue Oyster Cult title or Fake Blues
Dig in and DL here - or where ever you get your podcasts
Brace yourselves as the Podrophenia/Harbour Bazaar team up takes a road-trip through the trippy periphery and fractured fringes of Rock 'n' Roll: Ian Pile Ian Pope Steven Hastings and m'self relay tales of shocky horrors ( murder, mystery deaths, drug casualties) from Jerry Lee, Skip Spence and Peter Green, the Beach Boys, The Beatles and Joy Division and rogues gallery of others...
Bringing light to our shade, we're joined by special guests Kev Daintree Ray Morgan , Jo Overfield and Rob Glazebrook with a bulging diary of events and festivals...
A towering edition of Podrophenia is ready for your listening lugs.. Ian Pile, Ian Pope and m'self bring you A gypsy/jazz masterclass live in the studio from Levent Basharan and Taylor Higgs
Steve Carr from Every Record Tells a Story with little known tales about ace tunes: Nick Drake, Elton, Dylan
Owen Williams spinning in both sides of his new single..
A Stan Lee tribute with a little know Marvel connection to a mahoozive R.O.C.K band
For our latest Podrophenia, we're joined by special guest Doug Kaye who worked at Mr Love on Brook Street, the restaurant below Jimi Hendrix's flat during the late 60s..
Turn on, tune in and buckle up as Doug relays tales of Hendrix favourite meal, sleb guests swinging though and which Beatle trod on a lodger's head..
Every track Doug picks is played from an album he lent to Jimi. Each album is literally touched by the hand of Hendrix - it's a scrolling roll-call of mod jazz, funk and soul.
All here plus a live acoustic mod soul set from Gary Bynorth..
Download here
Elvis' death was my JFK assassination moment. I remember precisely where I was when the news was first whispered around the room - at my paternal Aunt Shirley's, well her ladies hairdressing salon in Salisbury (the glamour!). It was like being caught in a morbid tornado hearing this omnipresent superstar had faded, flat-lined and was now, gone forever.
Although I was too young catch the sonic boom of his Rock 'n' Roll years - the aftershock of Elvisness was still resonating in my era - the seventies. His films were repeated in the schedules during the summer holidays, record shops and department stores had endless variations of compilation albums (Separate Ways was a standard) in the racks (including budget tribute LPs - 'insert name here' sings Elvis). Regular radio play for hits from the fifties to the seventies, while Live via Satellite gave a white-suited Elvis the aura of a rock 'n' roll astronaut.
But more than this, his influence was at the core of popular culture: from ginger quiffed, crepe-booted Teddy Boys to prime-time impressionists - whether comic (Freddy Starr) or musical (Alvin Stardust, Cliff, Les Gray) and any number of white suited popsters The Osmonds, showaddywaddy, The Rubettes. At the more respectable end of R.O.C.K Bryan Ferry and Bowie both lent heavily on Elvis' legacy...
An indicator of Presley-power is: long before I had any real awareness of The Beatles, Stones or in fact who any of Rock's heavy-hitters were - Elvis seemed - to me anyway - like an untouchable international idol with a seemingly god-like presence and super-hero stature, revered across the world - while other rock and rollers had come, copied, gone or been forgotten. For perspective, thumb through David E. Stanley's The Elvis Encyclopedia and you'll find Clapton and Led Zeppelin desperate to get an audience with Elvis..
Should you (and you really should, as it's his 80th birthday this year) fancy coming as close as possible to The King, book yourself a trip to Elvis at the 02. It houses the largest collection of Elvis' items ever to appear in the UK, all imported from Graceland and overseen by Priscilla Presley.
Items that include.....
The Heartbreak Hotel Acetate
Dress down casual Elvis-style
The American Eagle suit cape
Front detail
Suits you
68 Special 'Trouble' outfit
A gift from Ali
The Vegas Room
A defining performance is, of course the 68 Special - where you could lucky dip any clip for pure-brewed musical-boom. Although this medley, with Elvis in full flight, revisiting his Rock 'n' Roll back catalogue with a renewed and unrelenting energy is explosive.
But for the essence of Elvis - this outtake is the key to his magic as I wrote a few years back..
' While the offstage boffins were making technical tweaks and possibly 'checking levels' between takes, Elvis asks for his guitar, kicks off the riff for 'Baby What You Want Me To Do' the orchestra jump in, start jamming and the audience go wild'
If you're a Bookfacer - you can see the full set of my Elvis 02 pics here
From postcards from Pellicci's to postcards from Southend and Scarborough
Rewind backawhiles, to January 2010... and you'll find me getting into a wide eyed (boy from freecloud) froth over Michael Chapman and the proto Bowie-tone colouring the sound of his 1970 album Fully Qualified Survivor - a tone brought to the FQS sessions by the recording debut of Mick Ronson..
The result of some stealthy info-digging since first hearing FQS - reveals an entire web threading the Chapman-first/Bowie-later connection together, with a repertory of Chapman's accomplices and session men being absorbed into Bowie's orbit. From 69 and Jon Kane covering Chapman's Soulful Lady (produced by Tony Visconti) to Gus Dudgeon of Rainmaker and FQS (later of Space Oddity, MWSTW, Ziggy), Paul Buckmaster of Rainmaker and FQS ( also Space Oddity, unreleased Man Who Fell to Earth OST) to Chapman's drummer Richie Dharma later appearing on Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side - and of course - Mick Ronson's The Rats (from Hull), becoming Bowie's Spiders (from Mars).
So what's the point of this see-saw style, name-spotting? Well, Chapman returns to Southend for an appearance as part of the 2013 Leigh Folk Festival, which I believe, is his first live outing in this area since playing two local gigs with Bowie in 1970...
The tickets are booked, the bikes have been readied for a cycle to the venue - and who knows I may even try and grab a quick natter with Pal Chapman to get his take on the push-me—pull-you tale.
If you haven't backtracked to the original Chappers/Ronson post - lend a quizical ear below
"Your flashy clothes are your pride and joy " David Bowie - The London Boys
Ahead of Sunday's Bowie by the Sea bank holiday shakedown (more on that later) - expect to see a Bo' post or two in your feed of a lunchtime this week, Starting at the beginning - with a re-up from November 2008
Bowie, Bolan, Bryan Ferry, Eno (and Rod Stewart) all made the breakthough from cult undergrounders to interstellar superstars as variants on the star-spangled glitterkid theme. They may have had stars in/on their eyes, but those platform boots were firmly grounded in Mod roots. The look-sharp and look-ahead apprenticeship of Mod, with it's made to measure mix of American soul and Italian style, Ivy League look meets British dandyism - an eye for the detail and an ear for a tune, was probably why Bowie (and the other moonage mods mentioned) endured beyond the best-before date and lipstick-brickie chic of their patent leather peers.
The sixties scene was an era Bowie referenced from his earliest recordings (London Boys) and one of the motifs and influences that's remained a constant throughout his peacock career - mentions of Lennon, Beatles and Stones on various singles. Twiggy and Jagger getting name checked on Aladdin Sane (along with a Stones cover), Pin Up's set of swinging London standards and Young Americans (covering classics like 'Knock On Wood' and 'Footstomping' during live shows), and pitching in with 'Pictures of Lily' on The Who tribute album through to the slim-fit suit on 'Reality' being almost a homecoming to the Lord John look pictured above...
For some strange reason all tracks are playing - Silver Tree Top track, but DLs should be ok
David Bowie and The Lower Third - Can't Help Thinking About Me (There's a clip of Bowie on his mod days, Steve Marriot and a 1999 version of 'CHTAM'here)
David Bowie - In The Heat Of The Morning - (BBC version)
(The Last Shadow Puppets made a healthy go of 'INTHOTM')
Davie Jones and the King Bees - Louie Louie Go Home
(LLGH was the B-side of Bowie's first single "Liza Jane")
Ziggy Stardust - The Mod Who Fell To Earth
A note on the tunes....and a Bowie Bonus Can't Help Thinking About Me (1965)
The first recording to feature the newly named David 'Bowie', and almost a blueprint of Bowieness the outsider lyrics and ambiguous angst of "my head's bowed in shame" "blackened the family name" to the set piece template of semi-spoken verse and Bowie-bellow on the chorus, it's a tune that wouldn't seem out of place on any album since Scary Monsters.
In The Heat Of The Morning (1970)
For my earth pounds the BBC take of this tune is superior to the official album version, and benefits from being enhanced by the extra bounce of Alan Hawkshaw's fantastically funky keyboard coda.
The Beatstalkers (touted as the Scottish Beatles), were under Ken Pitt's management at the same time as Bowie (and also signed to Decca). They were offered first refusal on any unused Bowie compositions or offcuts, 'Silver Tree Top School For Boys' is one of these, and a Bowie penned 'Penny Lane ' sound-a-like from 1967.
I am on something of a Bowie buzz lately (two Bo' posts in two weeks) brought on by reading the Fantistico Dave Thompson book To Major Tom - a gem and a joy of a read if you're into any type of music or movement from Bowie's catchment era
Digging through the John Barry back catalogue I ran across his take (well the John Barry 7's take) of Watch Your Step...originally a Bobby Parker single that Lennon openly admitted was lifted and rejigged by The Fabs for I Feel Fine (more on that here). The Beatles shuffle 'n' bump arrangement is literally just a shade away from John Barry's Brit-Beat twist on the tune.
His first take appeared on The John Barry Sound EP, released just a year after the Beat Girl soundtrack, an album constructed from similar trebly Anglo-twangs and speedy hipster rhythms
Fast forward to 62, where The John Barry Orchestra re-oomphed Watch Your Step for Beat Girl star Adam Faith, an updated take flip-siding his Lonesome single. The opening note - an extended sax honk - is almost a pre-feedback version of The Beatles legendary intro.
Exhibits A (Adam) B (Barry) C (Cheeky Beatles) are below. Take 6 of I Feel Fine, the instrumental version, is the one to lend a quizzical ear to...
Sixties garage, The Who, Small Faces, Iggy Pop, Ian Dury and Dr Feelgood can all claim paternity rights to the Godfather of Punk title. True enough, each one's a conributor to the movements genetic heritage. But let's not forget the big brassy pantomime dame that is punk's glitzy older sister (or brother). Glam!
Anecdotally and historically, glitter-rock's smudged lipstick and sticky fingerprints are all over the frightwig hair and short, sharp, stomp of punk...
Sex Pistols: Rotten's Pistols auditioned was played out to Alice Cooper's I'm Eighteen. McLaren briefly managed the NY Dolls with Steve Jones bagging Sylvain's Les Paul. McLaren's original group idea was for subversive Bay City Rollers style boy band. The Damned:toured with Bolan, and later covered the Sweet's Ballroom Blitz and borrowed Gary Glitter' Rock and Roll riff.. The Clash: Mick Jones was a Mott the Hoople avid. Adam Ant: make up a go-go and peacock wardrobe. Glitter Band double drums and guitar twang. Marco owns Dave Hill's Super Yob guitar Ramones:Slade influenced (the Brothers Ramone aped Dave Hill's hair and the bands pile-driving pop). The Undertones: Covered Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll
Factor in the Rocky Horror, Bowie, Roxy Music and Eno's louder output and the sound of the suburbs begins to take shape. For me one the greatest indicators of the punky shake-downs and bust-ups to come is The Sweet's Turn it Down.
A black leather 'n' studs pop-stomper for the angry brigade, the single kicks in with a honking two-fisted riff that wouldn't sound out of place on a Pistols single with Andy scott's squeal and feedback anti-solo being the sound of the Velvet Underground. Sweet's bubbleglam angst gets graffitied with references to 'degenerates' 'creeps' and gum-chewing sneers of' 'don't gimme no lip'. But the phrase that really pays is gobbed out...'listen hear, ya punk'.
Typically, Legs McNeil's New York fanzine - Punk, debuting in 76 is recognised as the earliest use of the word 'punk' with a musical association. But here we have lipstick-brickies Sweet (banned by the Mecca dancehall circuit for their 'overtly sexual stage act'), spitting and snarling the P word two years before Punk went to print ~ and on a single banned by UK radio for being 'unsuitable for family listening'.
Now if that isn't punk, I don't know what it is..
Look out for: the inverted hippy symbol on Andy Scott's guitar sticker. Listen out for: the throaty rumble of Steve Priest's Rickenbacker bass. A model later played by Glen Matlock, Rick Buckler and Paul Gray of The Damned and Hot Rods
Questions starting 'where were you when'? for me anyway, are usually answered 'in bed actually'. I'd just woken up when mum broke the news of John Lennon's murder. A very grim start to the usual school shuffle and shunt. Even 'Hairy Cornflake' DLT had the good sense to drop the wackery for one morning, and the Not Not the Nine O'Clock News tribute of a non-comedy ending: fade to black and In My Life soundtracking the credits was pitch perfect.
Say what you like about his Legend - and we have done here - but if Lennon's Jukebox is any sort of indicator of his record collection, it appears to sort of haul that would get the knowing nods from music snobs and pop purists alike. This portable jukebox (a Swiss KB Discomatic) was originally loaded with 40 of Lennon's favourite singles for taking on tour with The Beatles and later updated with newer tunes. Peeping at the playlist (with track titles scribbled in Lennon's hand writing) of mod, soul, Motown, pop and rock n roll - all the inspirations, influences and building blocks of The Beatles fall into place.
Click to zoom in for full details
Rhythm, riffs and top line melody seem to be the unifying themes, which makes sense given Lennon's role as the Fab's rhythm guitarist and vocalist. Like many writers in rock's aristocracy (Bowie, Dylan, Macca, Roger waters, Keef) Lennon was a non-virtuoso. Musically he plays a mid-field position where the shape of the song is more important than the solos.
How do you rate yourself as a guitarist? Well, it depends on what kind of guitarist. I'm okay; I'm not technically good, but I can make it fucking howl and move. I was rhythm guitarist. It's an important job. I can make a band drive. Rolling Stone interview 1971
But, getting back to the jukebox, most of the Lennon's hand-picked singles were collected and compiled for a (deleted now, and selling for silly money prices) double CD in 2004 and the subject of a South Bank Show special. Scanning the panel above reveals a tune or two missed from the CD: one being a new-to-me Booker T stomper, which isn't a million miles from this Lennon riff
Stepping Out appears on the CD as Paul Revere, but my guess would be given the JM and C scribbled notes, that it's the John Mayall and Clapton tear up (available here)as Clapton's thick fuggy Beano tone also seems to be the source for Lennon's guitar sound on Abbey Road
So tomorrow I will be tipping my hat and a raising a glass to the memory of John Winston Ono Lennon, who thirty years on from his tragic and senseless death is still tuning me into new music. And as a footnote, looking at the tracklist of 'bankers' on the CD, I'll bet he would have made a rocking DJ ..
From The South Bank Show: Bobby Parker's Watch Your Step, with Lennon expanding on how The Fabs recycled the song for several Beatles bits.
PS - if you've got half a mill' to spare why not punt in a bid on Mark Chapman's Lennon signed copy of Double Fantasy. Hopefully though Yoko will bag it, and keep the bloody thing out of the public domain once and for all
The secret of The Beatles sound (well, Lennon's technique mostly) was revealed to me in a local pub, by an old boy known as Music John - 'He played Banjo chords on guitar' John whispered with lowered tones and knowing nods. If you've ever dabbled with guitar techniques and Beatles tunes, you'll know the Fab's catalogue is coloured with quirky chord shapes and unique sequences, unlike anything you'll find in other rocker's songbooks. It's these same singing, ringing chords and magical combo's that defines a demarcation line between disciples and disbelievers....
Roger McGuinn 'The chord changes really had magic in them'
Bob Dylan 'They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous'
Steve Jones 'The rest of us hate the Beatles. And it turned out he (Glen Matlock) loves them. He came up with all these Beatles influenced chords and melodies that I couldn't play.
From the moment it's first Cllaaaaaanggggg rang around the world, the opening chord to A Hard Day's Night has been the Holy Grail (and basis for raging debates and dissertations on the mechanics of the chord) for guitar anoraks, plectrum analysers and Beatologists. George Harrison settled, but didn't solve the mystery in 2001.
George Harrison' It is F with a G on top (on the 12-string), but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story'
The principles of the 'proper story' are:Fadd9 is the George chord, (you'll hear this being picked during the closing coda) but the recording is a composite of overdubbed instruments playing additional notes. Meaning, the chord required for solo players is - G7sus4. The full theory and breakdown is here. My home made recreation of Fadd9 and extra instrumentation is here.......
But, getting back to Music John's revelation, Lennon was shown banjo shapes by his mother Julia. As his style developed he rounded out his chord library with more conventional shapes, but always coloured his compositions with these peculiar voicings. But it wasn't just the chords that were non-standard. Musicians of the early sixties typically favoured, shiny new Fenders in jet age shapes and Cadillac colours. Not The Beatles - their kit and instruments were a collection of oddities and eye-openers.
Lemmy on seeing The Beatles at The Cavern....
Music John's banjo chords theory, is only one component tone of The Beatles signature mix. Build in Lennon's love of descending bass lines, Ringo's left handed drummer/right handed kit arrangement Macca being the reluctant bass player reinventing the form, and the north-south divide of blues boomers versus country lovers (why the Stones honk out riffs and the Fabs chime with arpeggios) and inspiration and influences taken from an assortment of sources, soul imports, Little Richard squeals, Motown hits, music hall melodies - and the harmonics of the hit makers starts to take shape.
Zip to 00:48 of Chuck Berry's You Can't Catch Me - and you'll find a line mainly famous as Beatles refrain, or Bobby Parker's opening riff for Watch Your Step, which Lennon openly admits was recycled for handful of Fab anthems.
Piley and I set about our eleventh podcast later this week, with sound-a-likes being the motif of the moment. So expect to hear some more 'sounds familiar' acts and tracks at some point soon.
How gutted and crushed must the Blue Magoos have been to hear the explosive opening bars of Deep Purple's Black Night ringing out from radio and record shops. Purp's fret-melter Ritchie Blackmore had plainly pop-lifted the nippy little lick underpinning the Magoos' 69 garage classic (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, literally stealing their heavy metal thunder - buffing, bulking and bullworking it into Purple's mega-metal anthem and international hit.
If you're a long haul reader of this blog, you'll know The Damned are ever-cherished favourites of mine. So a platinum-plated result then to spend an evening of pints and pizza with Rat Scabies, the legendary drummer with a roll call of credits that reads The Damned, Sid Vicious, Joe Strummer, Tony James and Jimmy Page.
'One of the most personable blokes on the scene - no airs and graces with Rat, what you see is what you get' is how Barry Cain describes him. All true and a thoroughly pretension-free, down to earth chap he is too. Rat, is now a fully fledged Grail-chaser and star of the soon to be seen special Rat Scabies Grailhunter. I met Rat, Rockmother and later Barry Cain at the Champion pub recently (thanks for the tip Cocktails) for a chat about his interest in the history and mystery of the Holy Grail and Rennes-le-Chateau...........
It's not unusual for rock star's to have hobbies - flying planes, racing cars, model train sets even. But a crusade to find the Holy Grail -that's a bit special isn't it. How do you go from drumming legend to Grail hunter..
I'm stuck with it 'cause of my parents. They'd been on a tour of the Rennes-le-Chateau trail, after the TV programme by Henry Lincoln from '71 or '72, so I've grown up with it all around me. I've always known the story really well: the priest, the missing treasure and the curse. When I left the band I had this idea for a film script, I renewed my interest in it again, I started writing it all down, once you do that you find out new things. You get to talk to people, they tell you stuff and it just ends up taking over.
Would you say it's taken over your life now. There's a lot of it in my life now. A lot more than I wanted.
How would you describe a layman's or beginners guide the Grail Mystery. The trouble is there's about three or four different interpretations of what the Grail is. Even if you want to the beginners guide that's hard work, but to summarise - it's either the cup used at the Last Supper that caught Christ's blood at the Crucifixion. Or the other extreme is when it's happiness beyond being satisfied with your life. You're content, you've got to Arcadia.
Do you need or have to have any spiritual or religious belief to be involved Well that's my problem, and why I don't really go for the cup of Christ, I'm not really a Christian I'm an Atheist - so, for me the thing of it being a spiritual awareness seems a bit more likely.
Is it a physical grail or an analogy to something else I know where there's about three physical grails.
What fake or genuine ones It only needs one to be genuine. But, the thing is they all say they're genuine.
Do you think it will ever be found?
It's the journey - that's more fun than arriving.
What about Dan Brown has he been a help or hindrance to Grail hunters.
He's quite good at writing crime fiction - but pretty much everything in the Dan Brown novels has already been said by someone else Henry Lincoln etc. What's good about it is, people read it and gave them a different take - that it's good to question the physical version of events. I don't necessarily buy into the whole Da Vinci, Mary Magdalene thing - because if that is the Last Supper and that is Mary Magdalene sitting next to Christ then actually they're a disciple short..
Does your research spin into other areas
Oh yeah, you end up in Egypt or scaling a pot hole - in a lot of ways that's why Rennes-le-Chateau is the important place. There's a lot other belief systems. There's a lot of new age Tibetan gong banging goes on down there, holding hands at midnight. But at the same time there's people watching flying saucers coming over the nearest mountain ranges - not that I've seen any. Anything that's left bank can be found down there
Is there an British equivalent to the area.
Glastonbury's pretty close - there's a few places around the world. Joshua tree in America where weird things happen
Do you look for lines or links between between these locations.
No, the thing is any two points make a straight line. People can whittle a shape out of most things.
It's like the constellations isn't it how do you make a bear or plough out of that.
I think human consciousness probably evolved around the same time somebody ate mushrooms and was lying there looking at the sky
You've got children, what's their take on the mystery and Dad as a Grail hunter
They call it Rennes-le-Shithole.
Do they get involved
They quite like the place, some of them, because it's beautiful - they like going down there and hanging out.
A Champion pub window, featuring W G Grace - who, appears as the face of God in Monty Python and The Holy Grail
How do you do your research - old bookshops, libraries, the British museum
Everything really. Visit a lot of old churches and castles. A lot of reading, various ideas . I end up with a lot of symbolism. A lot of similar things keep re-appearing re-emerging. Before people could read and write that was how they signposted something. Rosslyn chapel's like a book full of them. Have you been there?
No, but it looks incredible.
The amazing thing about is Rossalyn is the way built. It's brilliant. there's no cement holding it together. It's just perfectly cut lumps of rock. Some people have said it's a showcase for the Masons. There's a great deal of debate about it. The version I heard was it started out as Templar building but The Masons took it over.
Where have you met the most oddbods and bizarre characters Grail hunting or drumming with The Damned
Grail hunting. The first thing I realised was: just because I don't believe it - doesn't mean the other persons wrong. So when somebody tells me they've floated down a mountain side. I don't believe it - but it doesn't mean they haven't managed to do it. There's also a lot of one-upmanship and everybody wants to be the one with the latest theory and to have found something that nobody else has discovered.
Do you get splinter groups and spin offs
No it's much more basic belief level than that. Like minded people stick together, so the ones that are a bit Sword and sorcery or get naked round a fire at midnight tend to go off for a ding-dong. I prefer practical things you can see, touch and smash a window with. Any misconceptions you'd like to clarify?
People that try to debunk the theory of Rennes-le-Chateau and Saunier. The rest of it's pretty much up in the air. You do get a lot of opinions.
You've made the trailer - what's next? Romo - To try and get it commissioned, although we are continuing to film.
Rat - A lot of the people involved like Henry Lincoln are knocking on a bit now, so it's important to get them while they're still warm.
There's been plenty of good feedback on your style as presenter.
I find it really hard work. I've got a memory like a sieve. I'll pace up and down for ten minutes over three lines.
Have you ever had a moment where you've thought what am I doing here.
The part in the trailer where we're going down the mines - it doesn't look anything like as rugged as it was. The floor is incredibly fine quicksand - and rocks with a lot of quartz in there, when the water comes through parts break off and it becomes like shards of glass. So you're either sinking or cutting your feet. And every fifteen feet there's a sandbank - so you have to drag this dingy over quartz, crystal and sand - there's five of us in a two man dingy after the third bank the dingy's leaking.
Is there anything you'd have done differently
Not really. I never really expected to find anything all I wanted from it was the good stories.
And that really helps, because everytime you talk to the villagers they're a bit cautious. As soon as you say you don't want to do a book about Geometry or UFOs they come round to it. By the time you've got end of a second glass of wine they start telling you stuff off the record. There are conspiracies down there - the whole village is in on something. You get to a certain point in a conversation and they'll suddenly clam up. You get to too close to a certain subject and they change the topic.
Some of you earliest gigs where at the Mont De Marsan festival, which, geographically isn't that far from Rennes-le-Château. Do you feel you've come full circle and are the French more tolerant too 'outsider' ideas? Hmmm, not full circle, cos I was already Rennes aware when I joined the band, and to be honest I doubt if the French have become more tolerant to anything, other than the tourist trade
Your Grailhunting adventures have led to a book and film . Would you be tempted with working your stories and experiences into an album? I have already include some esoteric (UFO's in this instance) material in my music, anybody interested in listening should check out the track "Floydian slip" on my Myspace pageRat Scabies Grailhunter. In the meantime I'm trying to hustle up the cash to buy some new recording equipment so I can resume work on Sauniere the musical..
Are there any tunes or tracks that make you think of your experiences
Flipron'sRaindrops Keep Falling on The Dead - it could really summarise Saunier and his housekeeper's relationship. Even though Flipron knew nothing about it they'd written a perfect background to this part of the story.
So an almighty thank you is due to Rat and Romo for making this meet happen, and to Barry for an evening of trading trench tales from the punk-wars with Rat. Which, is one of the most heady spectator sports you could ever wish to sit in on (although almost all are unprintable here)..
Rat Scabies will return with some drum talk at a later date...
Only Eno could could unplug from Roxy's sequins, sci-fi and avant glam, patch in with a desperately untrendy mob of spit and sawdust pub rockers - The Winkies, and still make music that sparkles.
Following his firing/resignation from Roxy Music, Eno hooked up with The Winkies for live appearances. But, after just five gigs he was hospitalised with a collapsed lung* (he'd been hit by a car, but whispers at the time suggested an over-enthusiastic bedroom session). Before the accident Eno, along with his new backing band, recorded a Peel session for the BBC, reworking (or is it rewinking) some early solo-era songs. Including Totalled a ramped up proto version of I'll come Running with almost Edward Lear style lyrics (it eventually ended up like this)
Post Eno The Winkies went on to record an album produced by Guy Stevens (more on him later) with The Paw Paw Negro riff being recycled as, well, ermmm..
*It was during Eno's enforced convalescence that he invented ambient music. Eno's Sleeve notes from Discreet Music - his first' ambient' album
In January this year I had an accident. I was not seriously hurt, but I was confined to bed in a stiff and static position. My friend Judy Nylon visited me and brought me a record of 18th century harp music. After she had gone, and with some considerable difficulty, I put on the record. Having laid down, I realized that the amplifier was set at an extremely low level, and that one channel of the stereo had failed completely. Since I hadn't the energy to get up and improve matters, the record played on almost inaudibly. This presented what was for me a new way of hearing music - as part of the ambience of the environment just as the colour of the light and the sound of the rain were parts of that ambience.
It's well worth checking out the full set of Roxy 73 live shots here
On January the 1st 1970 Yorkshire folkie Michael Chapman released his second album Fully Qualified Survivor, a record that passed with few fanfares or fireworks (apart from John Peel crowning it 'Album of the Year'). Forty years on, the album pooling all the elements for the post sixties Bowie tone remains an overlooked obscurity.The Velvets, Iggy and Dylan may get the knowing nods for the rise of Ziggy Stardust but the core components are much closer to home.
Produced by Gus Dudgeon, with string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster, both having worked on Chapman's debut Rainmaker - and Bowie's Space Oddity in between - it's Chapman's choice of fretman for 'Fully Qualified Survivor' that's the key ingredient here. Handpicked from Hull, and making his recording debut is - Mick Ronson.
Ronno's glittering riffs and runs electrify the album's open aired fuggyness of acoustic shuffles, lumpen drums and sparkling guitar work. Effectively it's a style that informs The Man Who Sold The World through to Ziggy Stardust. In the the same way Anthony Newley and this chap (no it's not Bowie singing honest!) were borrowed for Bowie's vocal coat of many colours, Chapman's chewed 'S's, fey waywardness and louche-lipped, gin-soaked vocals seem to have been appropriated as the voice of choice for DB's heavy hippy moonage daydreaming.
We've already documented, Bowie's magpie eye for talent, so it's no surprise that shortly after Fully Qualified Survivor's release, Ronson and Hull-based band mates Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey were recruited for Bowie's new band The Hype eventually evolving into The Spiders From Mars until Ziggy broke up the band.
If you're familiar with the Dame's pre-Pinups discography (Pin ups drummer Ansley Dunbar also appears on Rainmaker) Fully Qualified Survivor will get you spotting a references from the off. Build in the space-age mod clobber of a Droog suit, top it off with Vivienne Westwood's feather cut, and all the pieces fall into place.
