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Australian poet and musician Daevid Allen, born in 1938, moved to Europe in 1960, inspired by the writings of the ‘Beat Generation’. After a year or so in Paris, he arrived in the UK in 1961. After meeting William Burroughs, and discovering the peculiar music and philosophy of free-jazz maverick Sun Ra, he formed The Daevid Allen trio with his landlady’s son Robert Wyatt. Some years later they teamed up with Mike Ratledge and Kevin Ayers to form Soft Machine (William Burroughs’ name for the human body). After a European Tour in 1967, Allen was refused entry to the UK because of a visa irregularity, and moved back to France, where he became involved in the famous student insurrection of 1968. He then moved to Deya, Majorca where he, and partner Gilly Smyth began to assemble a loose-knit collection of musicians who began recording under the name Gong. One of these musicians was Didier Malherbe (latter dubbed Bloomdido Bad-De Grass by Daevid), a tremendously gifted saxophonist and flautist, who Daevid claimed to have found living in a cave on the estate of poet Robert Graves. In 1971, in Daevid’s own words..."It was now three years since my deportation from the mum country so I was now able to legally re-enter England for the first time since 1967.”
One of his first appearances when he returned to the UK, was a performance at a benefit concert at The Roundhouse in aid of Release. Release was founded in 1967 by Caroline Coon and the late Rufus Harris. It is a charity which provides assistance to those people who have been charged with drugs offences. According to Wikipedia: “Today Release is the oldest independent drugs charity in the world and continues to provide a range of services dedicated to meeting the health, welfare and legal needs of drugs users and those who live and work with them”. The lineup of the concert included, Daevid himself, Gilli Smyth, Didier Malherbe, Christian Tritsch, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean and Gerry Fields. The event was one of the most important British hippy actions of the time, and we at Gonzo Multimedia are overjoyed to be bringing it out into the public arena. |
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The story of Wally is one of those strange, convoluted, and rather heart-warming tales which surface once in a while in the rock ‘n’ roll multiverse. The band was formed in Harrogate and in the early to mid-1970s got themselves quite a reputation. Their infectious brand of proggy, country-tinged rock music, with intricate arrangements, cleverly baroque vocals, and melodies that much more successful ensembles would die for, made them quite a few friends. Amongst these friends was Bob Harris, the presenter of The Old Grey Whistle Test, and Rick Wakeman, then at the zenith of his commercial career as the keyboard player with Yes. These two luminaries even produced early records by the band, and Wally was one of the support acts at Wakeman’s ground-breaking performance of Journey to the Centre of the Earth at Crystal Palace. Things looked promising for this band of talented young Yorkshiremen, but for some inexplicable reason wider commercial success eluded them. Fame is a fickle mistress at the best of times, and for Wally the latter part of the 70s were far from being the best of times. The band disintegrated, and quickly became one of those sad ‘might have beens’ beloved of the cognoscenti, but unknown to the bloke, or blokess, in the street. Then, decades later, the band decided to get together.
For reasons that probably had something to do with maturity, they sounded even better second time around, as this rare concert recording from 2009 attests. Wally are at the top of their game, and this live DVD perfectly complements the recent studio release ‘Montpelier’. For Wally, the circle truly is unbroken.
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