So… given the propensity of the MFW comments to scoot off in a musical direction, we thought it worth filling some of the close season voids with some musical thoughts of the team. First up, the one and only Mr P…
***
The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The Small Faces, Hendrix, Cream and the Yardbirds. Not a bad start in life all things considered.
You’ll notice I omitted The Beatles. Not really to my taste apart from Yesterday and Back in the USSR.
Things move on and you find your favourites. The 1970s were my glory years – we could walk to Dagenham Roundhouse (four miles but worth it on a Saturday night) or jump the Underground to Chalk Farm Roundhouse, the Marquee in Wardour Street or Finsbury Park Rainbow plus the Hammy O slightly later. Golden years.
My “shopping list” of bands I saw, sometimes for nothing courtesy of writing a review, runs deep. Wishbone Ash, Can, Man, Guru Guru, Golden Earring, Jethro Tull, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Caravan, Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Stones, Deep Purple, Blackmore’s Rainbow, Hawkwind, ZZ Top, Nektar, Groundhogs, Greenslade I really could run on and on.
I wasn’t just a prog-rocker though. I adored Bowie, Roxy Music and my all-time favourite band happens to be (Rod Stewart and) The Faces. Rod was good back in the day y’know.
A few gigs still stick out in my memory.
The Pink Fairies at Chalk Farm in 1975 for yet another “final” performance. One of my all-time favourite bands but I can assure you me and my mate were the only people in the place who would have passed a drugs test. And it was a Sunday afternoon.
My teenage crush, Marion, and I went to see Mott the Hoople at aforementioned Hammy O. The support, entirely unknown to us beforehand, was Queen. Don’t think I need to add anything beyond when they were heavy, at the beginning, they blew our minds. Queen, not Mott. I am one of the very few who gave up on Queen after Sheer Heart Attack: that’s the point at which everybody else jumped on board.
When we saw Led Zep at Earls Court in, I think, 1974 they tardily re-emerged to play a 20-minute encore, with Robert Plant yelling: “this is for the real fans”. We nearly missed it – many people did. Last tube home (District to Central), crapping ourselves.
That actually happened to my mate Barry and me when went to see The Who at Charlton (football reference!) and we were not so lucky as there is no Underground there. We walked all the way to Trafalgar Square to catch the N98 night bus home. I couldn’t do it now. But we did find an open kebab house around 2am. Unusual in the 1970s.
Then, of course,something happened. The New York Dolls and the Ramones had been around a while across the pond and when The Damned released New Rose as a single it all kicked off – giving me so much more to enjoy just as I was becoming bored.
The Clash, Jam, Buzzcocks, Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, even the comedy of the Leyton Buzzards. I never saw the Pistols but I got to see most of the rest. The Rich Kids were sublime too – one of my all-time faves who were killed off by die-hard punks who thought they were cheats. Wrong!
Latterly, I love the Manics to death, enjoy a bit of Oasis/High Flying Birds and number one son provides me with loads of Sludge I really enjoy – Mastodon (who were superb live at the UEA LCR), Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Black Tusk, Red Fang.
I also have a certain appreciation of the camp side of life: Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, The Pet Shop Boys It’s A Sin and of course YMCA.
The last band I saw live was in February this year at the Waterfront – Hayseed Dixie who lump in Sabbath and AC/DC covers with a banjo and an electric mandolin. It works, believe it or not.
Rod Stewart was on Brentford’s books as a teenager and had a football pitch built at his home in The States. He still turns out for his side The Exiles at 70 years of age. Kicking balls around on stage and into the audience were part of The Faces’ act – Ronnie Wood could play a bit too. Both Ray and Dave Davies from the Kinks were very useful players in North London during the 1960s. Pink Floyd had their own football team which all four band members regularly played in – check out the cover of their reissue A Nice Pair where you can see them in all their glory. In Binners’colours.
Robert Plant is a massive Wolves fan while Sabbath’s Geezer Butler (and Ozzy to a lesser involved extent) support Villa. I think Tony Iommi is a Bluenose but I’m not sure. Manic Street Preachers are ardent backers of the Welsh national side and John Lydon of PiL and the Pistols loves NCFC – his dad used to work offshore at Bacton and he by his own admission proudly owns a hat and scarf and loves us, something I never knew until recently. Mick Jones of The Clash supports QPR.
I’ll leave readers with my top five albums: two of which are as obscure as heck :
- Skeleton In Armour – Fusion Orchestra
- Japan – Japan
- A Nod’s As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse – The Faces
- The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie
- Crack The Skye – Mastodon
Might as well add some singles :
- Stay With Me – The Faces
- Brown Sugar – Rolling Stones
- Fire – Arthur Brown (for the video clip alone)
- All The Young Dudes – Mott the Hoople via Bowie
- Layla – Eric Clapton – full-length version.
A cracking start to Music Week! Should provoke as much debate as our NCFC writings.
The Beatles will be defended later in the week….
0
Thanks Stewart – it’s not that I don’t like them (I own Lennon’s Imagine, the White Album and Revolver).
It’s just that, well, they weren’t that exciting to me. Probably the most respected pop-rock band in history but they never really did it for me. It’s probably simply that they never had that gutsy guitar thing that I love so much. Music is obviously so, so subjective!
Lennon’s Working Class Hero – expertly covered by the Manics – is one of the finest things I have ever heard.
Looking forward to reading your take on them:-)
0
Martin what a memory jogger thank you … You got to see a lot of bands, that I managed to see: Floyd, Deep Purple Jethro Tull, The Who , Canned Heat, Mott the Hoople, Hawkwind , & Arthur Brown. (how to make a living from one song for over 30 years)
The Stones played the old Gaurmont cinema what was near the now John Lewis. as did Bill Haley (too young for that one) The Beatles also played the City, in the Grosvenor Rooms which was a left over part of a Vinegar Works, on Prince of Wales Rd.
I also got along to King Crimson, Jeff Beck (what a player Guitar that is) Barclay James Harvest, Traffic, Yes, Cream, Ginger Baker’s Airforce, Quintesence. Paul Simon before he teamed up with Garbunkle . Ben E King, Eddie Floyd .Donovan on the Britannia Pier. Finally a man’s music, I have always liked from the very first time I heard him, way back in the 60’s he always seemed to write something over the years that struck a cord with me. Sadly now suffering from Parkinson’s . Neil Diamond., Personally I am just so glad I managed to see him a couple of years ago.
He sang for 2,hours 45 minutes without a break, filled the 02 to the rafters and had the whole place dancing, not bad for a man in his 70’s
There are probably some more tucked away at the furthest recesses of my mind, the place where the windmills of your mind turn
0
Hi Lad
Have to go straight to Jeff Beck..
Never seen him live but when we were about 14 we used to hang around at a boutique called “Angel Easy” in the far corner of Romford Market. They were playing “Truth” with Rod Stewart on vocals and Ronnie Wood on bass.
This was before Led Zep and I’d heard nothing like it in my life.
The exceptionally attractive owner said the shop had played the record to death and I could have it for two quid. Done deal.
These days I have the CD reissue and sometimes play it even now, even though I’m less keen on Beck-Ola, the other half of it.
I’m no Neil Diamond fan (anyone who writes for the Monkees…) but Deep Purple MkI’s version of Kentucky Woman is well worth a listen.
Fantastic response – thank you.
0
Listen to Jeff Beck live at Ronnie Scott’s and you’ll discover he’s one of the few who has improved over the years.
0
Hi John I don’t do links but there is a magnificent clip of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on YouTube at a Hall of Fame inauguration where they break into Immigrant Song – and Beck does the Robert Plant vocal screams on his guitar. Brilliantly.
Funny how so many of us respect the legend that is Jeff Beck.
I know Jimmy Page wrote it but I could listen to Beck’s Bolero until the end of time. Sometimes things just naturally come together as they did for those who performed on it – Keith Moon, JPJ, Page and Beck.
0
Good read Martin,
Musically, the seventies were a bit too early for me to really appreciate what was out there (having been born in 1967) So for me the 80’s was where my music appreciation was nurtured. My first ever gig was The jam at the UEA in 1981. At the time not a huge deal but now looking back, it was.
The early 80’s was a very productive time for music, but in Norwich it was a bit of a halcyon existence in which a young lad couldn’t really appreciate or associate with the social angst being lived out in our big cities and reflected in the music!
It was not until I joined the Navy in 1983 that my horizons were broadened and I started getting my teeth into what was out there.
Some might say my view on all things NCFC are a bit negative so my musical tastes will not really surprise a lot of people. I’m a lyric man first and foremost so the band which initially grabbed my full attention were the Smiths. The combination of Marr and Morrissey was a match made in heaven for me and to be fair one which they haven’t really continued on their own. They set my compass to alternative music which has never changed.
My only regret was I never saw them live mainly due to being away in the Navy.
The late 80’s was a bit of a musical desert for me. There were a few gems mainly from across the pond in the shape of hip hop, Public Enemy, Stetsasonic for example but I would listen to anything from those few boroughs in New York where the genre originated.
However, the early 90’s and the emergence of “Britpop” (I hate that phrase) was like a breath of fresh air to me. A few bands other than Oasis and blur emerged into my consciousness and are still there today. The La’s, Gene and The Longpigs to name but a few.
By that time I’d left the Navy and my gigging life really started at a pace. Anything that was on at the UEA or Waterfront (when it opened) I’d go and see. There were some corkers and some not so good. A couple that spring to mind from back in the day, are Gene at the waterfront in 2004 and the manics at the UEA in 1996.
I kept some of the tickets, but not all (I wish I had, but you don’t think at the time) My wife recently framed the ones I had put into the bottom of a drawer which is a nice touch from her, (I’m gutted they’ve stopped issuing tickets now) I still go to the odd gig but not in the same frequency as I used to . A recent gem though was Sleaford Mods.
There are lots of songs and albums I could list as my favourites but I’ve picked one song and one album. These are selected as I could pick either up and put them on repeat and not get bored.
The single..
There she goes… by the La’s
The Album…
The Queen is dead by the Smiths.
Anyway, like I said, a good article Martin and apols for rambling on!
0
Hi Chris – no worries about rambling – it was hard for me to keep what I wrote relatively tight, believe me!
From what you say Public Enemy stand out to me. They had something to say and said it. Also they were a huge influence on the Manics – the “Bomb Squad” remixed “Repeat” on Generation Terrorists.
I love Jonny Marr, Smiths, Cribs or simply watching him interviewed. My second favourite vegan after Geezer Butler. Morrissey? Not so sure. He obviously made the Smiths what they were but all he did subsequently gets a no-no from me.
MFW doesn’t do prizes but if there was one for *the most obscure band I recognise* it would go to you for the Longpigs.
Great post and thank you.
0
One of the original members of the the Longpigs was Richard Hawley Martin, a quality song smith and guitarist. A weird name but a quality band. Listen to On and On if you get the chance.
0
Unfortunately I know where the name of the band came from. It was a translated phrase from certain Guinean folks: a longpig is a phrase for a human body about to be devoured by the cannibalistic community. All without Google.
Oh well, I’ll have a listen if I ever get a chance. Terrific name for a band!
0
Holy Moly Martin!
I saw almost all of those bands and went to most of the venues too!
I also rate ‘Stay With Me’ as the best single ever. Back in the day I was a roadie for Warlock Lites and got to meet a whole load of bands including Led Zep. (Knebworth) Roxy Music, Status Quo. Focus. Judas Priest. All at Bracknell Sports Centre. Other gigs were plentiful at Slough College (Ziggy Tour etc) and Community Centre. (Heavy Metal Kids. Alex Harvey) Halcyon Days!
OTBC!
0
Woah! Long reply coming I’m afraid!!!
Thank you for the Stay With Me agreement – the speed-up at the end is mental and brilliant; no other words to describe it.
On to your last pars – I saw Gary Holton and the Heavy Metal Kids a couple of times when Holton would wear wellies, a raincoat and some kind of WWII helmet. I still have one of their albums on mp3, honest. Auf W was all the poorer for his early demise.
Nobody divided opinion like Alex Harvey. At the fag-end of prog, their theatrical approach was rejected by the snobs. However Faith Healer was always played by the DJ/mixer controller at the Roundhouse as was Orgasm by Head Machine. I actually own Next. Not the shops.
I think what particularly alienated the prog crowd was Cleminson and Glenn mincing around doing that ridiculous faux ballet routine when Delilah was a single and exposed on the TV. It didn’t do much for me either tbh.
My “I have met” list in terms of the top of the drawer is a relatively short one but it consists of Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood, Lemmy, Mick Box and Dave Byron of Uriah Heep’ Phil Lynott. and Ian Dury.
Each and every one of them was a real gent (particularly Page and Wood).
I’ve actually played darts against Mick Box – Kings Head Chigwell in 1974 if you’re reading, Mick.
Thanks so much for your post – keep reading MFW this week for more!
1
What a great band the Faces (and the Small Faces) were. As much as I love Stay With Me, I’d have to plump for their cover of (I Know) I’m Losing You as my favourite, though.
And when Poolhall Richard was played on BBC 6 Music a few months back, I even managed to impress an initially non-plussed 13 year old by singing it word for word 😉
Also agree with you about early Queen. Wow.
0
Thanks Scott.
The heartbreakingly beautiful You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything was such a fitting final single just before they broke up.
I heartily recommend the Ian McLagan-compiled CD boxset: Five Guys Walk Into A Bar. Loads of out-takes and demos. Expensive but very worth it.
Losing You was I think on Every Picture Tells a Story but they did it live on the four times I saw them – it was a vehicle for a short and tight Kenney Jones drum solo.
I hope you didn’t smash a bottle at the end of your Pool Hall Richard rendition!
PS Queen have two live Rainbow concerts from 1974 available via a certain Russian-based website and quite possibly from more official sources. I was at both gigs and while the sound quality isn’t brilliant they are well worth owning.
Great post.
0
You’re right about early Queen Martin – very experimental and progressive. They had a loyal but small fan base, and then they became famous! You’re wrong about The Beatles.
I was lucky to grow up in Norwich during the late 70’s and early 80’s. The UEA managed to book a lot of bands – Bauhaus, The Rezillos, The Skids, OMD, The Thompson Twins, The Monochrome Set, Hazel O’Connor, Kid Creole and the Coconuts to name but a few. Norwich also had a reasonably vibrant alternative music scene at that time – The Farmer’s Boys, Screen 3, The Higsons etc. My first ever gig still stands out; The Stranglers at St Andrew’s Hall in 1977. What a night that was.
0
Thanks Andy – most folks will say I’m wrong with my take on the Beatles. I knew I would get some negative for my viewpoint when I wrote the piece,
Your Queen comment is top dollar – love it. The March of the Black Queen on Queen II is indeed progressive in extremis – a precursor of Bohemian Rhapsody if I’ve ever I’ve heard such a thing. And better, considering the resources the band had at the time.
I saw Kid Creole too at I think Brixton Academy. They were brilliant. Forget the obvious attraction of the trio of Coconuts and ignoring the little percussionist who really got on my nerves and… what a great night it was. August Darnell and a Lifeboat Party?
Oh yeah – even a metallist loved that show.
0
Hi Martin another enjoyable read.
Growing up in the late 50’s and esrly 60’s there was a lot of choice in music and Yarmouth hsd it’s fair share of them doing the circuit and the first band I went to see was the Pretty Things they must be older than the stones but read still touring in the states a couple of yesrs ago.
Late got to see Cream, Fairport convention, Amen Corner, Dave Clarke 5 (spurs supporters) Who, Beatles fleetwoodmac(oringinal line up) plus many more.
Being in the RAF we had lots of bands do gigs on camps and that cost nought at Brize we had possibly one of the most moody singers every in Leobard Cohen loved his songs but he could put you asleep listening to him, we also had Donovan, Stealers Wheel, Wurzels.
I was amazed to find out Lemmy was a Blackpool lad and with his early bands pkayed the club circuit that must have been a shock to their ears.
Favourite songs whilst driving Baker Street, Night Owl, Right down the Line and stuck in the middle with you all written and dung by Jerry Rafferty sadly missed
0
Hi Alex.
I think Lemmy came from Stoke rather than Blackpool. Just what I’ve been told so I could be wrong. He was wonderful to talk to on the two occasions I met him in the Marquee and he seemed to have a lot of time for folks..
He couldn’t keep off the fruit machines. The Marquee Club was the first (really) to have a commercial cheese toasty sandwich machine – £1.20 and you could include tomatoes or onions for no extra.
Then there was the primitive black and white table tennis box video game on the wall. There was a queue for it, honestly.
It really was a Club – a membership card meant a lot and with one you got to know the guys on the door, the bar staff and if you were 16 or so it was just brilliant to be accepted. It meant a lot at the time.
Re Gerry Rafferty: when Baker Street came out I was at Harlow College of Journalism for a couple of brief months and “kind of” with the lovely Caroline, I quit both College and Caroline within a reasonable timescale.
But I will always associate that song with her.
Whenever I hear the guitar cut in after the sax I’m back in Harlow in 1977.
Not where I would honestly like to be.
A shame he (Rafferty) drank himself to death.
0
Martin a one hit wonder nd album was FREE and the hit Alright now.
0
Ha!
All Right Now and Wishing Well were crackers – Free were a great band.
I believe Paul Kossof’s father was a Rabbi, as if that means anything. He appeared on the TV occasionally when I was a kid, sometimes reading stories.
Paul, like so many, died far too young.
0
I always thought his father was an actor and was in the Larkins and a couple early carry on, plus read on Jackanory.
1 last long memory was listening to John Mayall and the blues breakers with his stella line ups always had great guitar rifts not so hot on the vocals and didn’t he tour a couple of years ago.
Never got the recognition he deserved.
0
Keeping things vaguely on a Norwich theme, one of the best gigs I ever went to was The Higsons at a nightclub in Basingstoke!
0
Hi Derek – both The Higsons and Basingstoke passed me by I’m afraid, but I did see Del Bromham and Stray at the Country Bumpkin in Andover:-)
The only Norwich band of any note I’ve seen is Bearsuit – although ex-Groundhogs Alan Fish and his band Egypt can rock a pub better than most. Lee Vasey is also a consummate professional, but he’s originally from the North East!
0
Hayseed Dixie do a rather good cover of a certain Lowestoft band!
0
Hi Dave – I guess you mean The Darkness. They didn’t do it at the Waterfront.
Talking to John Wheeler afterwards he said a semi-serious myth they like to put about is that a car crashed in Nashville. They couldn’t save the driver, but they saved his AC/DC albums…
0
I’m with you for most of the punk stuff but will slightly question the Rich Kids. They had one good eponymous titled single. Although Glenn Matlock was doing his thing rather well, they also had Midge Ure on vocals who had not long before jumped on the teeny bopper Bay City Roller band wagon with a band called Slik and a song called all All Of Me Loves All Of You. I can forgive him this but they way he went on to ruin Ultravox is unforgivable.
I also privately like a bit of funk and disco (Odyssey and Cameo are excellent) but I keep this quiet.
I was slightly surprised when Lydon exposed his love for Norwich as I thought he was a Gooner.
I thought you’d have gone more heavily into Joe Strummer the boys…
0
Ha!
First off I love Parliament, Funkadelic and anything else George Clinton did, really. I also love Nile Rodgers and Chic – he’s one fascinating guy.
I stayed away from Clash references cos I’ve made them so many times before and there are only so many words you can cram into an article.
Rich Kids. Your points about Midge Ure stand. But the driving force behind that band was Matlock and Steve New (aka Stella Nova) and they carried on without Ure and produced possibly their finest stuff. There’s a Cherry Red CD release which features New on vocals.
Apparently Ure had brought a synth into the studio, Matlock went double ape$hit and that was very much that.
The Cherry Red release has “Just Like Lazarus” which is the finest thing you’ll hear in a decade.
I’ll mail it you if technology allows:-)
1
I’ll look forward to it. Matlock going ape at Ure makes me want to like it.
0