Just arrived – my copy of the new Soul Jazz compilation CD Punk 45 I’m A Mess (SJR CD505 2022). Sub-title is D-I-Y Or Die! Art, Trash & Neon, Punk 45s in the UK 199-1978
Track 4 is debut Trash single Priorities which has never sounded better – excellent remastering by Duncan Powell and Pete Reilly. And we are all over the packaging – front of slip case, back of slip case, on the disc itself and in the booklet (twice). Congratulations to Steve Platt at Soul Jazz and everyone involved. 7″ vinyl still to come…
Jocelyn Fiske
Titan Books £39.99
There is being a fan and being a totally-obsessive-going-to-every-gig-since-1973-batshit-crazy fan. Luckily for us Jocelyn Fiske is one of the latter, and crucially she took her camera with her. The result is a beautifully put together extended love letter to Roxy Music and all who have sailed in her. Only two of these images have ever seen before – bizarrely in a British Airways inflight magazine – so everything else is previously unavailable. Some of the early Kodak Instamatic images are a bit primitive but quality improves as we get more up to date. Throughout Jocelyn provides a running commentary on how and where the photos were taken and what she remembers of each gig. The final entry is the Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame performance from 2019, although she also documents various solo performances from Ferry, Manzanera and McKay. Production values are high throughout so that the finished book whilst not cheap exudes style and glamour, just like the band it so handsomely documents.
October 14th
View: right down the front
Merchandise: a bewildering selection of tour T shirts, programmes, books, lithographs and baseball caps
The revitalised Roxy Music ended their 50 (years) tour in front of a sold-out and enthusiastic if elderly crowd. The costumes and production were pared back, so the emphasis was on the extraordinary songs: all stages of Roxy’s career were represented in the twenty song set. An opening salvo of Remake/Remodel, Out Of The Blue, The Bogus Man and Ladytron was exhilarating. Energy levels dropped for some of the later material but Avalon and More Than This both impressed. Bryan Ferry’s vocals were ably supported by a trio of backing singers whilst Andy McKay’s sax and oboe were ably complemented by the wonderful Jorja Chalmers. Prominent throughout was the guitar of Phil Manzanera, whether playing clipped rhythm guitar to underpin Dance Away or really letting rip at the end of Ladytron and In Every Dream Home A Heartache. An impending curfew meant there wasn’t time to play an encore so the band just powered through a countdown to ecstasy final sequence of Love Is The Drug and an Editions Of You powered by The Great Paul Thompson’s explosive drumming, before Virgina Plain, Jealous Guy and Do The Strand brought the evening to a triumphant close. When I first saw Roxy Music at Guilford Civic Hall playing their new single Virginia Plain, I never imagined that fifty years later we would still be “teenage rebels of the week”. Viva!
Review written for Record Collector magazine
That setlist in full:
- Remake / Remodel
- Out Of The Blue
- The Bogus Man
- Ladytron
- While My Heart Is Still Beating
- Oh Yeah
- If There Is Something
- In Every Dream Home A Heartache
- Tara
- The Main Thing
- My Only Love
- To Turn You On
- Dance Away
- More Than This
- Avalon
- Love Is The Drug
- Editions Of You
- Virginia Plain
- Jealous Guy
- Do The Strand
Review as published in Record Collector magazine (Christmas 2022)
Available from http://www.1960s.london
The Spencer Davis Group
At The BBC
Tracklist
Side One
- Midnight Train (Roy, Hicks)
- It’s Gonna Work Out Fine (Seneca, Lee, McCoy)
- Dimples (Hooker, Bracken)
- It Hurts Me So (Winwood S)
- Midnight Train (Roy, Hicks)
- My Babe (Medley, Hatfield)
- Watch Your Step (Parker)
- It Hurts Me So (Winwood S)
- I Can’t Stand It (McAllister)
Side Two
- My Babe (Medley, Hatfield)
- Strong Love (Malone, Silvers, Brown)
- Dust My Blues (James)
- Strong Love (Malone, Silvers, Brown)
- This Hammer (Winwood M, Winwood S, York, Davis)
- You Put The Hurt On Me (Nelson)
- Keep On Running (Edwards)
- Goodbye Stevie (Winwood M, Winwood S, York, Davis)
Recording Details
All tracks recorded for BBC Radio
Side One
Tracks 1-3 broadcast in January 1965
Tracks 4-6 broadcast in February 1965
Tracks 7-9 broadcast in March 1965
Side Two,
Tracks 1-3 broadcast in June 1965
Tracks 4-5 broadcast in August 1965
Tracks 6-8 broadcast in January 1966
Personnel
Steve Winwood – Keyboards, guitar, vocals
Spencer Davis – Guitar, harmonica, vocals
Muff Winwood – Bass, vocals
Pete York – Drums
Sleeve Notes
The four members of the Spencer Davis Group had all been active on the Birmingham jazz scene before forming the Rhythm & Blues Quartet in April 1963. They turned professional at the Golden Eagle pub in August 1964, the same month that Fontana released their debut single.
Although the group was named after founder Spencer Davis the key talent in the group was teenager Stevie Winwood. He was already a powerful vocalist, proficient on guitar and keyboards and a rapidly developing songwriter. Despite this the band’s first four singles fell short of the top 40 and it was not until their cover of Jackie Edwards’ Keep On Running that the band had a hit. Released in November 1965 it went to number one in the UK singles chart. After this Somebody Help Me, Gimme Some Loving and I’m A Man were all hits. Stevie quit the band in early 1967 feeling hemmed in by the pressures of chart success. Muff Winwood also left the band at this time to become a successful record producer. A second version of the Spencer Davis Band was active until 1974 but never reached the commercial or artistic heights of its predecessor.
Rolling piano and an uptempo shuffle beat runs through Midnight Train. It’s Gonna Work Out Fine was an Ike & Tina Turner original: Winwood’s soulful vocal belies his sixteen years. The band’s first single Dimples was written by John Lee Hooker but is distinguished from generic 1964 blues-boom fare by a sprightly arrangement and Spencer’s supportive harmonica. The fabulous It Hurts Me So is an early Stevie Winwood composition, with fine Tamla Motown-style harmonies. My Babe features unison vocals from Spencer and Muff, counterpointed by Stevie on the bridge: the song was written by Righteous Brothers Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley. Bobby Parker’s Watch Your Step was a blues-boom staple with a distinctive stop-start riff borrowed by the Yardbirds, the Beatles and many others. I Can’t Stand It was the second Fontana single. First recorded by The Soul Sisters, Stevie sings it well but the hook was not strong enough to deliver a hit.
Northern Soul favourite Strong Love was another unsuccessful Fontana single, originally recorded by The Malibus and features scat singing atop a swinging beat. Elmore James’ Dust My Blues gave Steviea chance to shine on lead guitar whilst Spencer took lead vocals, as he did on This Hammer, a folk-blues which showed the versatility of the band. You Put The Hurt On Me was the lead track of an EP released by Fontana in November 1965. Initially the song was recorded by Prince La La as She Put The Hurt On Me, subsequently Otis Redding would be given the songwriting credit.
Then at last a hit single! Jackie Edwards had recorded the original version of Keep On Running on his 1965 LP Come On Home, released on Island Records. The head of Island was Chris Blackwell, also the Spencer Davis Group’s producer. Their version toughened up the rhythmic drive of Edwards’ original. The guitar intro went through the same fuzz pedal as Keith Richards had used for Satisfaction. “Heh heh heh” backing vocals were added to support Winwood’s gutsy lead vocal. The result was a huge international hit which brought Stevie into the spotlight. How do you follow that? By writing your own exit note in Goodbye Stevie, one of the final tracks Winwood recorded with the group and an appropriate place to end our selection of fine Spencer Davis Group recordings.
Writing in Bam Balam magazine in 1980 Brian Hogg crowned The Spencer Davis Group “Birmingham’s finest (except The Move). They were marvellous, playing a rolling bassy R&B. But the real power and excitement left with Stevie Winwood”. After leaving the Spencer Davis Group, Stevie Winwood would form and re-form Traffic as well as being part of short-lived ‘supergroup’ Blind Faith before going solo. All stages of his career have been artistically and commercially successful: amongst musicians he remains a well-respected and popular figure. But for sheer musical excitement, that fuzz-drenched intro to Keep On Running takes some beating…
Sleevenotes: Wynder K. Frog
Port Chester 1970
Traffic
Side One
- Every Mother’s Son (Capaldi, Winwood)
- Medicated Goo (Winwood, Miller)
- John Barleycorn Must Die (trad. arr. Winwood)
- Pearly Queen (Capaldi, Winwood)
- Empty Pages (Capaldi, Winwood)
Side Two
- Forty Thousand Headmen (Capaldi, Winwood)
- Freedom Rider (Capaldi, Winwood)
- Feelin’ Good (Newley, Bricusse)
Personnel
Steve Winwood – vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass
Jim Capaldi – drums, percussion, vocals
Chris Wood – saxophone, flute, piano
Recording details
All tracks recorded live at the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, New York on June 26th 1970 (second show) and broadcast on WNEW-FM
Sleevenotes
Whilst various versions of Traffic existed between 1967 and 1994 the band never reached the level of commercial success they deserved. Throughout their career they had the sympathetic management and financial support of Chris Blackwell at Island Records and they achieved chart listings for both singles and albums. However their musical restlessness resulted in a continuously changing line-up and a reluctance to confine themselves to a single style of music, both of which made them a hard band to market.
Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood formed Traffic together with guitarist Dave Mason. In late1968 the band split for the first tjme, Winwood going on to form Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. Following the demise of this ill-fated ‘supergroup’ Winwood started recording a solo LP to be called Mad Shadows, a title later purloined by producer Guy Stevens and gifted to fellow-Islanders Mott The Hoople. After recording two tracks on his own, Winwood invited Capaldi and Wood to join him, effectively reconstituting Traffic without Mason. The resulting LP John Barleycorn Must Die came out under the Traffic name in July 1970.
From spring 1970 onwards Winwood, Capaldi and Wood were playing songs from the forthcoming LP live. The absence of a dedicated bass player required much juggling of musical instruments between (and sometimes during) songs. Their American tour started in mid-June, so the band were well-rehearsed by the time they arrived in Port Chester to play two nights at the Capitol Theatre on June 26th and June 27th. On June 26th they played two shows, supported by Silver Metre and Swallow. The late show was broadcast in high quality by New York radio station WNEW-FM: whilst introducing the band DJ Scott Muni told the crowd “second shows are always the greatest”. The Capitol Theatre was built in 1926 for vaudeville and cinema but by 1970 the 2000 capacity venue was a popular live music venue hosting the Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin, who wrote Mercedes Benz in a nearby bar.
The audience gives Traffic a warm welcome, applauding the opening bars of the older songs and listening carefully to the new songs such as set-opener Every Mother’s Son. One of the solo tracks recorded by Winwood, the song is a showcase for Winwood’s vocal prowess and an extended organ solo. Medicated Goo was a stand alone single A-side released in December 1968 and jointly written by Winwood and producer Jimmy Miller. The lyrics do not bear close analysis but the riff is catchy and Winwood gets in a short and snappy guitar solo. The title track from John Barleycorn sees Winwood switching to acoustic guitar, supported by the subtle use of Wood’s flute and some evocative vocal harmonies. From Traffic’s second album comes Pearly Queen, withmore inventive electric guitar from Winwood that gets a great response. Keyboards dominate Empty Pages, another new song beautifully sung by Winwood. Capaldi claimed the song Forty Thousand Headmen came from a “hash-induced dream’, although the lyrics make it sound more like a nightmare and the organ/flute introduction reinforces this mood. The set-closer is another new song, an organ-driven version of Freedom Rider where Chris Wood takes a lengthy solo on flute. The enthusiastic applause brings the band back for a lengthy encore of Feelin’ Good. Although originally written for the musical The Roar Of The Greasepaint – The Smell Of The Crowd, this version is clearly based on Nina Simone’s 1965 rendition, as featured on her LP I Put A Spell On You. Capaldi keeps the beat whilst Wood and Winwood solo on flute and organ. Traffic never recorded a studio version of this song and only rarely played it in concert. It makes a great end to a fine concert, and a valuable record of this short-lived Traffic line up.
Sleevenotes: Mr. Fantasy
Miles Davis
Live At Ronnie Scott’s, London 1969
Tracklisting
Side One
- Bitches Brew (Davis)
- It’s About That Time (Davis)
- No Blues (Davis)
Side Two
- This (Corea)
- I Fall In Love Too Easily (Cahn, Styne)
- Sanctuary (Shorter, Davis)
- The Theme (Davis)
- ‘Round Midnight (Hanigen, Williams, Monk)
Recording Details
Tracks 1-5 recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London on November 2nd 1969 and broadcast on BBC2 TV Jazz Night on December 26th
Track 6 recorded live at Teatro Sistina on October 27th 1969, Rome and broadcast on RAI Italian television
Personnel
Miles Davis – trumpet
Wayne Shorter – soprano and tenor saxophones
Chick Corea – Fender Rhodes
Dave Holland – upright bass
Jack DeJohnette – drums
Sleeve notes
The Lost Quintet
Why ‘Lost’? This extraordinary collection of musicians sadly never released any studio recordings. So Miles Davis fans are grateful for live recordings taken from their European tour of Autumn 1969, some of which were released officially on Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2. Miles himself was a fan of this line-up “Man, I wish this band had been recorded because it was a really bad motherfucker…Columbia missed out on the whole fucking thing.” Audience reaction was similar. Downbeat magazine reported of the Quintet’s gig at New Jersey in November 1969 “during the second minute of the tumultuous ovation the young lady seated behind me was still gasping ‘Oh God, oh God, oh God.’ Her reaction was understandable. She had just witnessed contemporary jazz at its peak of perfection.”
Miles had spent much of 1969 in the studio, recording landmark LPs In A Silent Way (June 1969) and Bitches Brew (March 1970). The electric instrumentation he used reflected his increased interest in the rock and roll of Jimi Hendrix and the funk of Sly & The Family Stone. By 1970 he would be sharing the stage at the Fillmore East with Neil Young, Steve Miller and the Grateful Dead. November 1969 found the Quintet playing Ronnie Scott’s, a modestly sized club in London’s Soho at the behest of the BBC who were filming the gig for Jazz Night. The night before the Quintet had played two concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon, a better guide to their live popularity.
Only a small clip from the Ronnie Scott gig exists online but it demonstrates the extraordinary concentration that Miles brought to his playing as well as the casual instrumental dexterity of the other musicians. Thankfully we have a high quality audio recording of the entire broadcast. Here is JazzTimes’ Tom Moon’s description of the live Quintet. “Granted, they’re still playing tunes like ‘I Fall in Love Too Easily’, which were standards in Davis’ repertoire in the late ’50s. The tune might be old, but the treatment isn’t. Davis was determined to be a part of the new music that was erupting, and he recognized that he’d have to jettison most traces of swing to do it. The European tour of 1969 catches this moment of transition. It’s wild, fitful, ripping good stuff. And in a way, it’s prophetic: Inside these discussions, a profoundly new (nonjazz) musical landscape is coming into view. The territory hasn’t been mapped yet; there are no rules and very few structures or signposts. That can sometimes be terrifying, but it sounds like these five intense musicians like it that way.”
To complete the LP a lengthy version of ‘Round Midnight is included from an earlier date in Rome. The thoughtful and melodic introduction shows that the Bitches Brew material was just one aspect of this fascinating group. “That quintet developed some really beautiful improvised stuff” recalled Chick Corea. “ We would do two or three pieces that were strung together, one right after another for the whole concert and we would make this wonderful, wonderful composition. The live stuff really should have been gotten on tape because that was when the band was burning”. Over fifty years later we are delighted to oblige.
Sleevenotes: Bertha de Kool
Two recent privately-produced books have shed more light on the Stones during the time when they recorded and toured Exile On Main Street. Both books brim with enthusiasm for what the Stones achieved, but that enthusiasm is expressed very differently.
Geir Hornes’ “The Curious Chronicles Of Villa Nellcote” is a leisurely paced hardback that gives us the complete history of the villa in the South of France where many of the basic Exiles tracks were recorded. Hornes’ account goes all the way back to the start of the 20th Century when the French Riviera first became fashionable. The Stones do not enter the story until P282 but by then we have had a fascinating and beautifully illustrated account of how and why Nellcote was built and how a succession of owners helped to shape the building that Keith Richards’ rented from 1971 to 1973. Along the way various myths are debunked, including the fiction that the villa had been a Gestapo HQ during World War 2. The 100 or so pages covering the Stones sojurn is just as informative and well-illustrated as the rest of the book. It features some vintage Dominique Tarle pictures but also some less well known snaps and some fascinating floor plans that explain exactly how the Stones laid out the basement for their recording sessions. Geir’s obsession with the villa has resulted in a richly evocative and elegantly presented piece of social history that just happens to include the creation of some seismic rock’n’roll.
Erwin Hoetjes “Tourbook 72” shares Geir’s enthusiasm for Exile and the Stones but exhibits it very differently. Over 330 densely packed pages Erwin provides the definitive guide to the 1972 “STP” US tour. Working from contemporary press reports, subsequent books and films and every known Stones bootleg ever this is a definitive account of what went down in the frenzied period between June 3rd and July 26th. There are ticket stubs, posters, live shots, and press releases, all reproduced in full colour in large paper back format. Some of this you may have seen before but only Matt Lee has seen it all. There are some fascinating stories – for the first time an account of why the Ladies & Gentleman movie sounded so bad (and it had nothing to do with the band). There is almost too much – it can only be assimilated in small doses. But for fans of the Stones imperial phase it is very much worth the effort.
Contact details
The Curious Chronicles Of Villa Nellcote www.nellcotechronicles.com
Tourbook ‘ 72 erwin.hoetjes@gmail.com
Thanks to John Perry
Available now from http://www.1960s.london
Side One
- Let’s Spend The Night Together
- She’s A Rainbow
Side Two
- 2,000 Light Years From Home
- Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
All songs written by Jagger/Richard
Recording Details
All tracks recorded with live vocals over a pre-recorded backing track for BBC TV Top Of The Pops
Side One, Track 1 Recorded January 25th 1967, transmitted on January 26th
Side One, Track 2 Recorded and transmitted on December 19th 1967
Side Two, Track 1 Recorded on December 19th 1967 and transmitted on December 28th
Side Two, Track 2 Recorded on December 17th 1966 and transmitted on December 22nd
Personnel
Mick Jagger – vocals
Keith Richard – guitar, vocals
Brian Jones – guitar, piano
Bill Wyman – bass
Charlie Watts – drums
Sleevenotes
The Stones were influenced by The Summer Of Love, but it didn’t stop them from having hits. 2,000 Light Years From Home and She’s A Rainbow were the best tracks recorded between February and October 1967 at Olympic Studios during the interminable Satanic Majesties sessions. Despite being promoted by appearances on Top Of The Pops these two tracks were never released as a single in the UK, although they made a terrific double-header throughout mainland Europe and in the US. Bill Wyman refers to the Stones taking their own Mellotron into the BBC studios for the session. Certainly the backing track for She’s A Rainbow is a new version, but 2,000 Light Years From Home appears to be an edit of the studio master. Let’s Spend The Night Together is less trippy and more bouncy,Brian Jonesmiming Jack Nitzche’s piano part and Jagger sporting a shiny jacket. Despite Keith being unhappy with the studio rhythm track of Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? it still reached number 5 in the UK charts. In a classic “Must We Throw This Filth At Our Pop Kids?” move The Mirror gleefully reprinted the US picture sleeve which featured the band in drag, including a deadpan Bill Wyman in a wheelchair.
Four glorious slices of what Nik Cohn termed Superpop
Sleevenotes: Alan Bertrand Hall
And Ian McCann at Record Collector magazine gave us a good review!
The Seven Dials Club, Covent Garden, London WC2
Friday 9th September 2022
Simon Wright celebrates 27 years as a consultant working with sustainable food and rock’n’roll
“Hello everyone
Thank you all so much for coming out tonight. After attending a brace of funerals over the summer plus the Queen dying so suddenly yesterday I have been thinking a lot recently about loss, community and friendship. I imagine that within this room there is a spectrum of views, ranging from staunch royalist to ardent republican. What I hope we can all agree on is the importance of celebrating friends and colleagues whilst they are still with us.
Things tonight is not:
- It is not a birthday party
- It is not a retirement party
- It is not a launch party
It is a thank you, pure and simple.
When I announced I was having a works do the most common response was “what are you celebrating?”. The answer is “twenty seven years as a consultant, working with great people in food and music”. Many – but sadly not all – of those great people are here tonight. It was actually meant to be a twenty-fifth anniversary party but Covid necessitated a two year postponement. Those of you with good memories and robust constitutions might recall my tenth anniversary party, held upstairs at The White Horse in Parsons Green a mere seventeen years ago.
So here is the history bit which explains why food and music are so intertwined in my life. I was deposited on St George’s Hill in Weybridge at the tender age of 17, a hopelessly naïve student at the National College of Food Technology. I soon decided that being a rockstar would be more fun than being a Food Technologist. The result was Trash, a short lived band that amazingly recorded two singles for Polydor, copies of which are on the Nature Table, please do not nick them.
I realised my limitations as a vocalist quite early in and when Trash split I decided to shift my attentions to writing about music. Luckily the editor of seminal London music magazine Bucketfull of Brains lived round the corner so I started writing reviews and articles for the mag. The internet did for Bucketfull eventually but the last ever edition is on the Nature Table. Following the demise of Bucketfull I started writing a music blog as onlyrockandroll.london which continues to this day. I also graduated to writing live reviews and occasional articles for Record Collector magazine.
These days my other musical outlet is 1960s Records, a vinyl reissue label that puts out music that has previously been overlooked. Again examples of our output are on the table. We have just released our tenth Rolling Stones LP, helping to make up for the time and money I have spent on seeing them all over Europe on every tour since 1976.
My vinyl habit has grown through the years. With a collection of over 1100 7” singles I started up as an old school vinyl DJ, graduating from playing at birthday parties to DJing at The Roundhouse, Shepherds Bush Empire, Koko and The Band On The Wall. I have supported the Cheaters, the Replacements, Mott The Hoople and The Only Ones. Of all the bands I have met whilst writing about music The Only Ones remain my favourite and I am currently planning the publication of my book about the making of their first LP.
Al this music stuff is great fun but it does not pay the mortgage. To do this I had to resume my food career. First up was getting a degree which ended up taking ten years and three different colleges. Then I needed a proper job. Reading The Telegraph one day in the library of Oxford Poly I found a job advertised by a company I had never heard of, Whole Earth Foods. After an inspiring visit to the factory in Warrington I accepted the challenge and so began a fascinating 8 years where I learnt so much. Whole Earth was very much ahead of its time, early advocates for organic and Fairtrade. I had found my tribe. During my time as Technical Director I started working with fellow food insurrectionists such as the Soil Association, the London Food Commission and the Fairtrade Foundation. I was also part of the team that launched Green & Black’s chocolate
On the 6th February 1995 I went freelance and formed my own consulting company to work with sustainable foods – organic, Fairtrade, Free From and more and that is what I have done ever since. There has been far too much fun to mention it all but highlights have included
- Ben Elton and Tony Robinson agreeing to fund the launch of the Divine chocolate range over dinner at Kettners
- Going to Malawi to explore the possibility of Fairtrade tobacco for the much-missed Simon Dunn
- Running The World’s First Organic Cocktail Bar for Sainsbury’s in Cirencester
- Helping to organise the Whole Earth Foods 20th Birthday Party at the Groucho Club
- Having to speak after Prince Charles at a Lancaster House conference
- Launching The Handbok of Organic and Fairtrade Marketing at a very upmarket hotel in Paris
I have collected together some photos from throughout my working life and these are on rotation on the TV screen – you might even see yourself!
Today I have gone plural, as Alan Leighton so memorably put it. Amongst other projects I run the Gluten Free Industry Association for the FDF, building on my interest in Free From foods which stems back to some very indigestible dinner parties in the early days of the Food Matters magazine.
I Chair the judging for the Quality Food Awards, a job I have done for decades but a job that keeps evolving. Basically this involves eating and talking, though ideally not at the same time.
And there is Abundance Southfields, the community cider producers where we take fruit that would go unpicked and turn it into delicious cider. Our commitment to terroir is so great that for every bottle we can tell you which back garden grew the apples. A delicious way to combat food waste in Wandsworth, and one that has been praised in the House Of Commons by our excellent local MP.
For the last 12 years it has been my privilege to work for Icam, a family-owned chocolatier based outside Milan in Italy. Icam are major processors of organic and Fairtrade cocoa, so this fits with my interest in the ethical manufacturing of food and drink. We make private label chocolate bars for nearly all the U.K. supermarkets so I spend a lot of time with supermarket buyers, always a pleasure. Considering my very first job at the Leatherhead Food Research Association was trying to make a better mint imperial I really have not travelled very far.
Everyone who is here tonight has helped me in some way and I thank you all. But I have talked for long enough. I have asked a couple of friends to each relate a short anecdote or story that I hope you will find illuminating and / or entertaining. If this proves not too ghastly I might ask for further contributions from the floor. Then we will have a toast and then we can all get on with the serious business of drinking and gossiping.
(Cliff Moss of Healthy Sales & Marketing, Nick Duckett of 1960s Records and Craig Sams of Whole Earth Foods / Green &n Black’s all spoke)
So a toast. In the words of my beloved Big Star
“Thank you, friends
Wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you
I’m so grateful for all the things you helped me do”
It’s on Big Star Third if you want to hear the full version
And a very special thank you to Wendy, who has been at my side all the way and has been a constant source of massive support and constructive criticism, both of which have been invaluable.
So please raise your glasses – the toast is “Friends”.
And here are the friends who came:
Abundance Southfields
Richard Konig
Simone Konig
Serena Potter
Bucketful Of Brains
Nick West
Alan Hauser
Chocolate
Gareth Broom
Sadhbh O’Connor
Chantal Cody
Silvija Davidson
Fairtrade
Ian Bretman
Free From
Michelle Berriedale-Johnson
OF+ Consultancy
Lee Holdstock
Tim Lang
David and Teresa Church
Justin Hopper
Adrian Whitefoord
Tracy Kane
Peter Langsam
Richard Austin
Diane McCrea
Quality Food Awards
Jane Milton
Katie Theofanos
Atma Hyett
Beth Treleaven
Beckie Dart
R ’n’ B Records
Nick Duckett & Mandy
Jai Rathbone
Rolling Stones Fans
Chris Davies
Julia Kostic
Mike Baess
Paul Monk
(ex) Sainsbury’s
Melissa Addey
Trash
Keith Steptoe & Sue
Wendy Rose
Wendy Rose
(ex) Whole Earth Foods
Cliff Moss & Lee
Craig Sams
Jo Fairley
Bill Henry
Robin Bines
Renee and Brian Elliott
Photos taken by Chris Davies, for which many thanks
All releases available from http://www.1960s.london
Fleetwood Mac
Radio and TV 1968-69
Side One
1. If You Be My Baby (Green, Adams)
2. Wine Whiskey And Women (Lightfoot)
3. Peggy Sue Got Married (Holly)
4. Evenin’ Boogie (Spencer)
5. Intergalactic Musicians Walking On Velvet (Spencer)
6. Sheila (Roe)
7. Bee-I-Bicky-Bop Blue Jean Honey Babe Meets High School Hound Dog Hot Rod Man (Spencer)
Side Two
1. Shake Your Moneymaker (James)
2. Lazy Poker Blues (Green, Adams)
3. My Baby’s Sweet (James)
4. Love That Burns (Green, Adams)
5. Oh Well (Green)
6. Like Crying (Kirwan)
7. Linda (Spencer)
Recording Dates
Side One.
Tracks 1– 7 recorded and transmitted for BBC radio Top Gear in 1968 as follows:
Recording Dates:
Tracks 1 & 2 August 27th
Track 3: April 9th
Tracks 5 & 6: May 27th
Track 7: January 16th
Transmission Dates:
Track 1: November 24th
Track 2: October 13th
Track 3: April 13th
Track 5: June 2nd
Track 6: July 7th
Track 7: January 21st
Side Two
Tracks 1 – 7 recorded for TV as follows:
Track 1 Bluesology Festival, Droitwich, September 2nd 1968
Tracks 2- 4 Colour Me Pop, BBC, 19th July 1968
Tracks 5 – 7 Monster Music Mash, BBC, October 7th 1969
Personnel
Peter Green – guitar, vocals, harmonica
Jeremy Spencer – slide guitar, piano, vocals, maracas
John McVie – bass
Mick Fleetwood – drums
Danny Kirwan – guitar, vocals ( Side One, Tracks 1 & 2: Side Two Tracks 1 & 5 – 7)
Christine McVie – keyboards, vocals (Side One, Tracks 1 & 2)
Sleevenotes
This a fine depiction of the band described by Brian Mathews as “undoubtedly the most versatile group in Britain” as they convincingly play r’n’b, electric blues, acoustic blues, psyche and 50’s US pop.
If You Be My Baby is a song from second LP Mr.Wonderful, jointly credited to Peter Green and manager Clifford Davis aka C.G. Adams. This version is slower and has a simpler arrangement than the original. Wine Whiskey And Woman was originally released by Papa Lightfoot on a 78rpm 10” disc in 1954. Fleetwood Mac up the tempo and add a convincing Spencer vocal with Peter Green on harmonica. These two tracks feature the guest keyboards and vocals of Christine McVie, nee Perfect. Next up are two examples of Jeremy Spencer’s Buddy Holly fixation. Peggy Sue Got Married was written by Holly himself whilst Sheila was written by Tommy Roe in 1962 as a Holly pastiche. Both are performed with much affection and authentic Lubbock arrangements. Spencer’s fixation on USA 50’s rock’n’roll reaches its apogee with the next track, most easily referred to as Hot Rod Man. The epic title contains elements of Gene Vincent’s “Bi-Bickey-Bi, Bo-Bo-Go” and “Bluejean Bop” whilst the song itself features doo-wop vocals and period piano. “A classic” opines host John Peel. Evenin’ Boogie is also from Mr Wonderful and is an instrumental written by Spencer in the style of Elmore James and features his slide guitar prominently. Finally with Intergalactic Musicians Walking On Velvet Fleetwood Mac enter Bonzos territory to give their verdict on the burgeoning Progressive ‘scene’ with all manner of sonic weirdness and vocal profundity. An interesting curio, but Jeremy Spencer would hit his target more accurately on his 1970 solo album with Take A Look Around Mrs Brown.
Elmore James’ Shake Your Moneymaker was a highlight of the first Fleetwood Mac LP and this version was recorded at the wonderfully-named Chateau Impney, Droitwich. Green tunes to a harmonica before the band launch into an impressively raunchy work-out, lead by Spencer on slide. The next three tracks are taken from the innovative BBC show Colour Me Pop, which existed between May 1968 and August 1969. In many ways the prototype for the better known The Old Grey Whistle Test, Colour Me Pop featured everyone from The Tremeloes to Giles, Giles and Fripp. Lazy Poker Blues and Love That Burns are both Green / Davis cowrites from Mr. Wonderful. The former shows Green capable of emulating the extended blues innuendo (“she puts some coal on the fire so I can keep my poker hot”) whilst the latter intersperses his powerfully understated vocal with equally sparse lead guitar. Homesick James’ My Baby’s Sweet was a regular live favourite but was never included on a studio LP. Guitarist Danny Kirwan joined the band in August 1968 and he is heard on the last three tracks on Side Two. Monster Music Mash was another shortlived BBC TV music programme, running through October and November 1969 and hosted by Alan Price. The show was described by the Radio Times as “Pop, Blues, Folk, and Whoopee!”. Not much “Whoopee!” in this performance of Oh Well, instead a brooding performance of the first part of the single. Peter and Danny recreate the latter’s Like Crying as a duet and it is a delight. Finally a performance of Spencer’s Linda, again very much in the style of Buddy Holly – it would appear on his solo LP the following year.
Brian Mathews’ verdict is ”marvellous and beautiful”– an accurate summary of Fleetwood Mac, captured here at their peak.
Sleevenotes: Albie Tross
Taste
Radio and TV 1968-69
Side One
1. Same Old Story (Gallagher)
2. Blister On The Moon (Gallagher)
3. Dual Carriageway Pain (Gallagher)
4. Norman Invasion (Gallagher)
5. Born On The Wrong Side Of Time (Gallagher)
5. I’m Moving On (Snow)
6. Sugar Mama (trad. arr. Gallagher)
Side Two
1. Leavin’ Blues (Ledbetter)
2. Hail (Gallagher)
3. Wee Wee Baby (Johnson, Turner)
4. Blister On The Moon (Gallagher)
5. Sugar Mama (trad. arr. Gallagher)
Recording Details
Side One
Tracks 1-5 recorded for BBC Radio Top Gear August 5th 1968. Tracks 1-4 transmitted August 25th, track 5 transmitted October 27th.
Track 6 recorded for BBC Radio Top Gear on February 17th 1969 and transmitted March 9th.
Side Two
Tracks 1-3 recorded for BBC Radio Top Gear on February 17th 1969. Tracks 1&2 transmitted March 9th. Track 3 transmitted April 20th.
Tracks 5&6 recorded live at Bilzen Jazz Festival August 22nd 1969 and shown on BRT German TV
Personnel
Side One Tracks 1-5
Rory Gallagher – guitar, vocals
Eric Kitteringham – bass
Norman Damery – drums
All other tracks
Rory Gallagher – guitar, vocals, harmonica
Richard “Charlie” McCracken – bass
John Wilson – drums
Sleevenotes
Today The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream are lauded for their inventive songwriting and innovative onstage playing: Rory Gallagher’s fellow power-trio Taste have never received the same acclaim. Record company neglect and poor management have both played their part. The tireless efforts of Donal Gallagher – Rory’s brother – resulted in the 2015 box set I’ll Remember which finally represented their studio and live prowess but even this did not include all the great material the band recorded for radio and TV. With this LP we are delighted to fill in some of the gaps.
Guitarist Rory Gallagher started off his live playing in Irish showbands, touring Ireland, the UK, Spain and Germany. In 1966 the teenage Gallagher recruited Norman Damery and Eric Kitteringham, the rhythm section from Cork’s The Axills, to form The Taste. The band settled in Belfast where manager Eddie Kennedy had arranged a residency at the Maritime Hotel, the venue where Them had earlier established their live reputation. In 1968 Taste headed for London, soon selling out The Marquee and being talked up by John Lennon and Eric Clapton – the latter would ensure that Taste supported Cream’s farewell Royal Albert Hall gigs and insisted they join Blind Faith on their ill-fated US tour. John Perry of The Only Ones saw Taste regularly at the Bath Pavilion. “Taste gigged hard, very like Fleetwood Mac. We thought Gallagher easily the best of the younger new guitarists, the next generation following Clapton, Green and Beck. Definitely the find of Spring ’68. These were the days of Marshall stacks, or double Marshall stacks, bigger and bigger amps. And there was Rory playing his Strat through a little Vox AC30 amp and a treble booster. Even at the Isle of Wight, with a crowd of 600,000, just a single AC30 … and a fabulous tone.”
When Taste played the Woburn Abbey Festival on July 7th 1968 John Peel was so impressed that he offered the band a session on his radio show even though they did not yet have a recording contract. From this session Same Old Story features a catchy riff and fluid Gallagher solos. The forthright Blister On The Moon is Gallagher’s proclamation of independence and self-determination where the conviction of his vocal is backed up by the muscularity of the backing. Duel Carriageway Pain is more upbeat, the title a reference to touring the UK before motorways existed. The snappy instrumental Norman Invasion did not appear on either of the two Taste studio LPs. Born On The Wrong Side Of Time includes a thoughtful middle section with near-spoken vocals before the riff comes crashing back.
Throughout the rhythm section provides excellent backing to Gallagher’s guitar and vocals. So it was a surprise to everyone when on the verge of Taste signing to Polydor Records, Kennedy sacked Kitteringham and Damery. Their replacements were Richard McCracken on bass and John Wilson on drums: both came from the band Cheese, also managed by Kennedy. The new line up recorded a further session for John Peel. Their swinging acoustic version of Hank Snow’s I’m Moving On is closer to the country original than the better known version recorded by The Rolling Stones. The more traditional twelve-bar structures of Sugar Mama and Leavin’ Blues both demonstrate Gallagher’s ability as well as his restraint. Hail is another acoustic number, performed solo by Gallagher. Wee Wee Baby is a Joe Turner song also recorded by Muddy Waters which features Gallagher on harmonica. Our final selection is two tracks recorded live for German TV in the of summer of 1968. The intense version of Blister On The Moon features a call-and-response between Gallagher and McCracken whilst Wilson plays a drum kit that says Blossom Toes. This version of Sugar Mama gives Gallagher plenty of room to solo.
By 1970 Kennedy’s mis-management meant that the band were on the same meagre salary as when they had begun, despite having chart records and headlining festivals throughout Europe. Taste played their final gig in Belfast on New Year’s Eve 1970. Freed from Kennedy’s management, Gallagher established himself as a successful solo artist although his work never deviated far from the template he established with Taste. He died in 1995.
“It seems a shame to even suggest that Taste be classed in any way with that great puddle of British blues bands. Everybody else is just woodshedding – Taste have arrived.” Lester Bangs, Rolling Stone magazine
Sleevenotes: Catherine Fish, with thanks to Gath Cartwright
Janis Joplin
Radio & TV 1969 – 1970
Side One
- Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) (Ragovoy/Taylor) 6:21
- I Can’t Turn You Loose (Redding) 7:51
- Combination Of The Two (Andrew) 5:52
- Ball And Chain (Thornton) 6:41
Side Two
- To Love Somebody (Gibb B/Gibb R) 3:16
- Maybe (Goldner/Barrett) 3:39
- Little Girl Blue (Rodgers/Hart) 3:49
- Raise Your Hand (Cropper/Floyd/Isbell) 3:28
- Move Over (Joplin) 3:47
- My Baby (Ragovoy/Shuman) 4:07
Recording details
Side One – Radio
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam April 11th 1969, broadcast by Radio VPRO
Side Two – TV
1 The Dick Cavett Music Show, broadcast July 8th 1969
2 The Music Scene show, broadcast September 8th 1969
3 & 4 This Is Tom Jones show, broadcast December 4th 1969
5 The Dick Cavett Music Show, broadcast June 25th 1970*
6 The Dick Cavett Music Show, broadcast August 3rd 1970*
Personnel
Janis Joplin & The Kozmic Blues Band
Terry Hensley – trumpet
Terry Clements – tenor sax
Cornelius ‘Snooky’ Flowers – baritone sax, vocals
Richard Kermode – organ
Sam Andrew – guitar
Brad Campbell – bass
Roy Markowitz – drums
Except* Janis Joplin & The Full Tilt Boogie Band
Richard Bell – piano
Ken Pearson – organ
John Till – guitar
Brad Campbell – bass
Clark Pierson – drums
Sleevenotes
Janis Joplin was born on January 19th 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas. Janis hated Port Arthur. “In Texas I was a beatnik, a weirdo. They don’t treat beatniks too good in Texas”. At 17 she hit the road and was in San Francisco by 1966. There she met Big Brother and the Holding Company, the house band at the Avalon. Travelling to Chicago they signed to Mainstream Records and released their self-titled LP for which they received precisely no money. However playing the Monterey International Pop Festival in August 1967 proved to be Janis’s big break, as she impressed both Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records, and respected manager Albert Grossman. Big Brother signed with Grossman in January 1968: second LP Cheap Thrills was released by Columbia in September 1968 to both critical acclaim and commercial success. Janis played her last gig with Big Brother on December 1st. Her new band – known as either Main Squeeze or the Kozmic Blues Band – retained only Sam Andrews from Big Brother and did not go down well at its debut at the annual Memphis Sound Party on December 21st. The other acts on the bill were hard-core Memphis soul acts such as Eddie Floyd and Carla & Rufus Thomas, all given to flash and show biz: compared to them, Janis and her musicians seemed out of place. Ralph J Gleason called her new band “a drag, although they can play OK.”
By the time Janis toured Europe the following spring, a new brass section and further live work had helped pull the band together. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) was the first track on Janis’ first solo LP I Got Dem Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama! (September 1969), the version here driven by Brad Campbell’s bass. Originally recorded by Lorraine Ellison, this version illustrates Janis’s journey from the psychedelic rock she sang with Big Brother towards more R&B. An uptempo version of Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose is performed here as a soul revue duet with Snooky Flowers and gets the audience clapping along. Combination Of The Two is a Big Brother number and features writer Sam Andrews’s guitar prominently. Ball And Chain was written and performed by Big Mama Thornton and had been a highlight of Janis’s Monterey performance. Janis had seen Thornton performing the song at a bar in San Francisco and the lyrical message of how her love for a man is tying her down seemed to resonate.
The brief spring 1969 European tour was ecstatically received by fans and critics. The Daily Telegraph described the London date at the Royal Albert Hall on April 21st as “one of the most electrifying ‘happenings’ since the first great international poetry reading in the same hall in June 1965. Forget all you may have read or heard. Here in fact was the comfortingly embodied voice of love, pain, yearning, freedom and ecstatic experience, a fire that speaks from the heart of warm, rounded flesh.” Janis was less impressed, claiming to Dick Cavett on his TV show that in Europe “nobody gets loose…they are all too cerebral”. Janis was a regular guest on Cavett’s show, performing her version of the Bee Gees To Love Somebody on her first appearance and transforming the song into a slice of deep soul. Maybe was first released by the Chantels in 1957: a tight arrangement highlights Janis’s passionate vocal, ably supported by the horns and Kermode’s organ. By the time Janis appeared on Tom Jones TV show, he was very much the all-round family entertainer, but his roots were in R&B, so he was the ideal host for Janis. According to Jones, she didn’t fancy performing amidst plastic raindrops, so together they dismantled that part of the set. Janis performs a restrained solo version of showtune Little Girl Blue beforeduetting with Jones ona rousing rendition of Eddie Floyd’s Raise Your Hand, where they are both clearly having a great time despite being surrounded an audience of appallingly naff dancers.
Janis Joplin played her last gig with the Kozmic Blues Band at New York’s Madison Square Gardens on December 29th. On June 12th she debuted her new Full Tilt Boogie Band in Kentucky. The horns were no more, as can be heard on two further performances from The Dick Cavett show. Move Over is a rare Joplin composition, addressing male-female relationships in unflattering terms: it would appear on Pearl, the second solo LP that would be released after Joplin’s death in October 1970. Finally we have the August 1970 performance of My Baby, originally released by Garnet Mimms.
In 1981 Ellen Willis wrote in Rolling Stone magazine “among American rock performers Janis Joplin was second only to Bob Dylan as a creator / recorder / embodiment of her generation’s history and mythology. She was also the only woman to achieve that kind of stature, in what was basically a male club, the only Sixties culture hero to make visible and public women’s experience of the quest for individual liberation, which was very different from men’s.” This LP shows Janis at her best – a strong interpreter of songs, a soulful vocalist, a dynamic performer and a harbinger of the future.
Sleevenotes: Mercy, Des, Ben & Ben
The Rolling Stones On Tour ’66 2CD set
CD One
1. The Last Time (Jagger, Richard)
2. Mercy, Mercy (Covay, Miller)
3. She Said Yeah (Jackson, Christy)
4. Play With Fire (Jagger, Richard)
5. Not Fade Away (Hardin, Petty)
6. That’s How Strong My Love Is (Jamison)
7. Get Off Of My Cloud (Jagger, Richard)
8. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)
9. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)
10. As Tears Go By (Jagger, Richard)
11. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
12. Not Fade Away (Hardin, Petty)
13. The Last Time (Jagger, Richard)
14. Paint It, Black (Jagger, Richard)
15. Lady Jane (Jagger, Richard)
16. Mothers Little Helper (Jagger, Richard)
17. Get Off Of My Cloud(Jagger, Richard)
18. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
19. (I Can’t Get No) (Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)
20. Paint It Black (Jagger, Richard)
21. Lady Jane (Jagger, Richard)
22. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? (Jagger, Richard)
23. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
24. Interview with Eamonn Andrews
CD Two
1. I Am Waiting (Jagger, Richard)
2. Under My Thumb (Jagger, Richard)
3. Paint It, Black (Jagger, Richard)
4. The Last Time (Jagger, Richard)
5. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
6. Get Off Of My Cloud (Jagger, Richard)
7. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)
8. Mercy, Mercy (Covay, Miller)
9. She Said Yeah (Jackson, Christy)
10. Play With Fire (Jagger, Richard)
11. The Spider And The Fly (Jagger, Richard)
12. Time Is On My Side (Meade)
13. I’m Alright (McDaniel)
14. Around And Around (Berry)
15. I’m Movin’ On (Snow)
16. Mercy, Mercy (Covay, Miller)
17. She Said Yeah (Jackson, Christy)
18. Play With Fire (Jagger, Richard)
19. Not Fade Away (Hardin, Petty)
20. The Spider And The Fly (Jagger, Richard)
21. That’s How Strong My Love Is (Jamison)
22. Get Off Of My Cloud (Jagger, Richard)
23. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
24. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)
25. The Stones in Australia – Feature / Interview
26. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? (Jagger, Richard)
Recording Details
CD One
Tracks 1 – 8 recorded live at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne for Radio 3 UZ on February 24th
Tracks 9-11 recorded for The Ed Sullivan Show, New York City, February 13th
Tracks 12-19 live at the Honolulu International Centre, Hawaii on July 28th and broadcast on Radio K-POI
Tracks 20-22 recorded for The Ed Sullivan Show, New York City, September 11th
Tracks 23 & 24 recorded for the UK TV ABC The Eamonn Andrews Show, February 6th
CD Two
Tracks 1-3 recorded for UK TV Ready Steady Go, Studio One, Wembley, May 27th
Tracks 4 – 13 recorded live at the Olympia, Paris for RTL Radio
March 29th (Second Show)
Tracks 14 & 15 recorded live at the Olympia, Paris for RTL Radio March 29th (First Show)
Tracks 16-24 recorded live at the Commemorative Auditorium Showgrounds, Sydney, Australia (first show) on February 18th and broadcast by Australian 2UW FM Radio
Track 25 recorded for UK TV at Sydney Airport on February 16th plus an interview with Austin Ward for 2UW FM radio, also February 16th
Track 26 recorded for BBC TV Top Of The Pops on December 17th and transmitted on December 22nd
Personnel
Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica
Brian Jones – guitar, sitar, dulcimer, marimba
Keith Richard – guitar, piano, vocals
Bill Wyman – bass
Charlie Watts – drums, percussion
Sleevenotes
Strap yourselves in, it’s going to be quite a ride…
We start our review of the Stones busiest-ever year with a live vocal performance of 19th Nervous Breakdown, recorded in February for Eamonn Andrews’ mainstream TV programme. The preceding interview with Jagger inconclusively discusses the meaning of the song and the issue of social responsibility. Next stop New York, for The Ed Sullivan Show later the same month. Ed Sullivan introduces the opening performance of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction as for “all the youngsters in the country and Canada” and certainly the youngsters in the audience are entranced, even if Charlie Watts is not. Just Mick and Keith appear for a rare acoustic version of As Tears Go By which can just about be heard over the screams. The full band are back in imperious form for 19th Nervous Breakdown,Bill Wyman’s dive-bombing bass runs to the fore.
The February Australian tour is represented by concerts from Sydney and Melbourne. The Sydney show was performed on a rotating stage that was handcranked by stage hands – at one point an exasperated Jagger says “Will you stop this thing going round?”. Mercy Mercy and a brief She Said Yeah get the set off to a scream-drenched start before Play With Fire provides a rare moment of calm. Not Fade Away restores the pace with Jagger’s vocal a call-and-response to Jones’ harmonica. The Spider And The Fly is the second brilliant B-side to be played before Jagger totally convinces on That’s How Strong My Love Is. Despite starting well Get Off Of My Cloud falls to bits towards the end. A strong version of 19th Nervous Breakdownwith some potent dual vocalsrestores the set’s momentum before set-closer Satisfactionincreases the scream-level still further. Jagger gets lost in the song early on (“Where are we?”) but recovers well. Eye-witness accounts suggest that The Last Time was played as the opening song that night, but this is unconfirmed. The song was certainly played in Melbourne six days later as you can hear. Also included here is a report on then Stones arrival at Sydney Airport and a radio interview from the same day.
Paris was always a stronghold for the Stones as can be heard from the crowd reaction on the two radio broadcasts from L’Olympia in March. Covers of Around And Around and I’m Moving On are taken from the first show, the other eleven tracks are from the second show. The latter features some classy slide from Brian Jones and fine harmonica from Jagger. A brief snatch of Hang On Sloopy acts as the introduction to Get Off Of My Cloud. It’s followed by I’m Alright, a rare return to the Crawdaddy and a chance for Jagger to really work the crowd and generate some screams.
By July the Stones were in Hawaii, the last gig on their fifth North American tour. Also on the bill were Herman’s Hermits and Johnny Green and the Greenmen. Ticket prices ranged between $2.50 and $6.50. It would prove to be Brian Jones’ final appearance in the USA. A flavour of the gig is given by a florid live review from the Toronto Star earlier in the tour. “The young nubiles surged forward, arms undulating like tentacles of sea anemones writhing in warm fluid. Mick is a phenomenon of utter sexuality, beyond simple distinctions of maleness or femaleness”.
Not Fade Away makes for a great, up-tempo set opener. By now original songs such as The Last Time are greeted with screams of recognition from the audience. An uptempo Paint It, Black trades subtlety for intensity. Charlie Watts then makes a rare song introduction. Unfortunately he introduces The Last Time, which they had already played, instead of Lady Jane. Lady Jane is the only non-raver in the set and the crowd are noisy throughout, but the intricate acoustic arrangement shines through. Mother’s Little Helper was released as a single in the US and makes for a great live song, with both guitars playing the riff in unison and more effective Jagger/Richard joint singing. Get Off Of My Cloud features powerful shouted backing vocals, 19th Nervous Breakdown is taken at breakneck speed and Satisfaction sounds like the soundtrack to a riot, from Richard’s heavily fuzzed intro to the relentless Charlie-driven outro.
Back to London in May for a live performance on legendary TV programme Ready Steady Go! I Am Waiting receives a sensitive interpretation with Keith on acoustic guitar and Brian on dulcimer, and even a brief glimpse of Sixth Stone Ian Stewart. Under My Thumb returns us to more familiar up-tempo territory with Brian emphasising his versatility by playing the marimba, moving to sitar for Paint It, Black. Talking to Andy Neill, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg cites the latter as his favourite Stones RSG appearance. “I’d had this idea that after every verse we’d take out a bank of lights in the studio and by the end, it would just be a light on Mick alone and the rest of the place in darkness. What also makes it great is that you can’t hear Mick singing at the fade, his mike lead had gotten kicked out, but you can hear the music going on and this kind of raga beat. The whole thing is really mysterious…”.
The Stones second appearance with Ed Sullivan followed recording sessions at RCA Studios in Los Angeles. Paint It, Black features Brian Jones playing a sitar cross-legged, and despite a truly appalling haircut Jagger is in fine form vocally. Lady Jane provides an acoustic interlude, Brian on dulcimer and chalk-stripe suit. Charlie stands up to play vibes, or possibly hide an ill-advised moustache. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Hiding In The Shadow? restores the Stones raunch. Keith pretends to play piano and provides his characteristic backup vocals. We finish back where we started, in London where the band record a live vocal version of Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? for the BBC TV programme Top Of The Pops.
Fifty tracks, five countries, one year. They also released 4 singles and two LP’s (and recorded a third). The Stones would never again do so much, so quickly and in so many places. Listen and be amazed.
Sleevenotes: Nat & Faye d’Away
September 2022 edition – part of a double page spread shared with Kris Needs
A question from Mike Warth, currently writing a history of rock in Reading 1977-1987, got me raiding the Trash archives for the only national press coverage we ever received. Wily Nick Duckett persuaded us to play a party in the garage of his house in Caversham Heights and then sent a review of our performance to the NME claiming that The Garage was a new venue. They fell for it and published the piece, reproduced below together with a picture of me and Mick from the gig itself.
February 1978 – so just the 44 years ago…
Only Rock 'n' Roll 