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Robert Calvert was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1945. While an infant, his family relocated to London, where he grew up in the hippy counterculture world of 1960s Notting Hill, a world of alternative ideas and 'underground arts'. Calvert's activities as frontman of Hawkwind in the 1970s brought him rock circuit fame and acclaim, but he said more than once that he'd like to be known primarily as a poet and playwright. Bending his wordcraft abilities to the penning of rock and pop lyrics was an effective second string to to his bow, however.
The highly accessible 'Hype' album was the third of five solo albums. Originally released in 1982, it consists of the 'Songs of Tom Mahler' - Mahler being the fictional rock star whose turbulent but somewhat jaunty story was earlier told in a Calvert novel, also called 'Hype.'
The musical 'Hype' journey opens with the witty 'Over My Head' where the Mahler character meets a rather sophisticated woman in a bar and the conversation soon is 'over his head!'
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Mostly unnoticed on its release, the album - part concept album, part soundtrack - musically is a bridge between Calvert's new wave-ish "Kerb Crawler" days with Hawkwind and the Eno-area electronic pop with which he experimented in the 1980s.
It's the quirky zone where art prog and intellectual punk meet - and they're not so unlikely bedfellows as one might have thought. 'Hype' is often considered by his fans to be Robert Calvert's best album, in terms of song composition and production. Although the album could be described as mainstream, the lyrics lift it onto a rather different plane.
'Hype' - both the book and the album - focuses on the somewhat difficult world of the music business. No space voyagers or exploding planets here; just a planet - Planet Earth - where a musician is literally shot to stardom.
Calvert's fellow-musicians for this project were gathered from various strange corners of the Earth.
Three (Csapo, Michaels and Dowling) from punk band Bethnal, whom he met when they played support to Hawkwind on the 1977 tour.
Judge Trev and Nik Turner were in Inner City Unit; Pavi and House were together at times in prog band High Tide; and Michael Moorcock was numero uno in the rather quirky Deep Fix.
Broadly speaking, though, the collection of luminaries really serve to underpin Calvert's lyricist role, rather than to push musical envelopes or explore individual avenues of their own.
In short, then, they acted as an ideal backing band for a vocal artist.
The overall style is that of rock-pop songs - some of which are decidedly catchy - rather than any traditional rock arrangements with instrumental passages. However, there are moments that can really catch the attention; such as Nik's short but surprisingly grungy and growly saxophone piece in 'Evil Rock'.
Ranging over their cleanly-constructed backing are Calvert's unmistakable vocals - from the lyrical almost-punk on songs like 'Sensitive' and 'Evil Rock', the brooding style of 'Hanging out on the seafront', through the jaunty 'We Like to be Frightened', the reflective vocal tones on 'Greenfly & The Rose' to the decidedly unusual 'Lord of the Hornets'.
The bonus tracks are basically demo versions, with Bob playing all the instruments; nonetheless, the sound quality is quite reasonable, similar in quality and general style to Calvert's home-recorded demos that saw the light of day as the 'Cellar' releases.
It can only be hoped that the reissue of 'Hype' brings - albeit belatedly - some of the widespread recognition that this extraordinarily articulate rock performer so obviously deserved. |
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LOQUATIOUS LAGOMORPHS: RABBITT
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Rabbitt was seen as South Africa’s equivalent of The Beatles during the seventies. In fact the band actually outsold The Beatles, which in this day and age seems incredible.
The band first came together under the name Conglomeration in 1968. One of the members was Trevor Rabin who along with others, had recorded a version of Jethro Tull’s ‘Locomotive Breath’ under the name of Rabbitt. This was a big hit but unfortunately the band split and the various members went their separate ways, with Trevor playing in a Greek restaurant for a short time.
Moving forward to 1974 and the band had re-formed, playing the club scene to enthusiastic audiences. By 1975 Duncan Fuare had been asked to join. As an interesting aside Duncan would go on to replace Les McKeowan in the Bay City Rollers. It was also in 1975 that Rabbitt was to record a debut album ‘Boys Will Be Boys’. The album contained mainly original material written by Trevor Rabin and occasionally Patric Van Blerk, although it also included the previous hit ‘Locomotive Breath’, which was penned by Ian Anderson.
The band was incredibly popular in their native South Africa and tours were hugely successful. Trevor Rabin however, felt frustrated with the band's inability to break out of the South African market into the wider world. It was this frustration, which led to his departure from Rabbitt. |
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| THE YES CIRCULAR - TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS |
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| The Court Circular tells interested readers about the comings and goings of members of The Royal Family. However, readers of this periodical seem interested in the comings and goings of Yes and of various alumni of this magnificent and long-standing band. Give the people what they want, I say |
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This week, for a truly horrible reason, the most high profile member of Yes has been Geoff Downes (to whom, as far as I am aware, I am no relation). Tragically, his youngest daughter Alexandra died this week. All the staff at Gonzo Weekly and Gonzo Daily would like to send Geoff and his family our heartfelt condolences at this terrible time.
In happier news, there has been an interesting Chris Squire interview as well as more news about Steve Howe's guitarist retreat. |
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Jon Anderson has given a rather revealing interview in which he confesses that he still hasn't emotionally left Yes. With various hints dropped by various members of Yes, I wonder whether we shall see him back in the fold before long.
However, the Yes alumnus most closely associated with Gonzo is Rick Wakeman, and this week there have been some interesting revelations from him. In his monthly newsletter he describes what is going to be happening at his big gigs in Gloucester later in the year. They certainly sound like they will be a real tour de force.
In another posting, there are some details about the tickets from the organisers, so I would strongly urge you all to check them all out! |
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TEENAGE, UM.. MIDDLE AGED DEPRESSION:
Eddie and the Hotrods |
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When I was a pupil at a particularly crappy North Devon boarding school in 1976, this bunch from Essex were my favourite band. It is so good to find that they are still doing their funky thang!
Eddie and The Hot Rods began life in the mid seventies when the prevailing trend in the music business was "Pub Rock".
The band quickly established itself on the scene and a sizeable following soon built up. Despite having contemporaries like Brinsley Schwartz and Dr. Feelgood, Eddie and The Hot Rods had a tougher and faster sound which set them apart from other bands on the circuit. This stance would also stand them in good stead when in 1976 "Pub Rock" metamorphosed into "Punk Rock" and although the band was obviously not Punk, it was accepted by the Punk movement where others had failed.
The band’s first brush with success was the EP ‘Live At The Marquee’ and the single ‘Teenage Depression‘ both of which made the top forty singles charts quickly. These were followed by the debut album ‘Teenage Depression’
In 1977 former Kursaal Flyers guitarist Graeme Douglas joined and they shortened their name to The Rods. The single ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ was a top ten success in the summer of that year and the album from whence it came ‘Life On The Line’ also sold well. Further albums saw smaller returns however and the band split in 1981, following the release of the worthwhile album ‘Fish n Chips’.
The classic line up of Barrie Masters, Steve Nichol, Dave Higgs, and Paul Gray reformed for a hugely successful European tour and a subsequent album was released in Japan and the UK.
The band still tour regularly led by sole founder member and front man Barrie Masters.
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| EXCLUSIVE: Merrell Fankhauser interview |
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I have been wanting to interview Merrell Fankhauser for months, but - as is so often the case - events conspired against us. However, I managed to catch up with him about half an hour before he left the house to go to a very important gig...
Part One
Part Two
That night's gig |
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| One of my favourite bunch of unsung heroes |
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Slapp Happy were a multinational band featuring musicians from America, Britain and Germany. The members were Anthony Moore, Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause.
The band was formed in 1972 and moved to the U.K. in 1974, where they merged with Henry Cow, but split soon afterwards. There have been subsequent reunions alongside solo careers and albums from all three members.
Anthony Moore has also worked with David Gilmour in a song writing capacity providing lyrics for material on the Pink Floyd albums ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ and ‘The Division Bell’.
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