| WHAT ALAN HAD TO SAY REMINDED ME OF THIS RATHER GROOVY RELEASE FROM GONZO |
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In these degenerate days when popular music is basically just a device to sell TV talent shows, one forgets that only a few short decades ago, an entire generation believed that music was going to change the world, and that somehow one could facilitate this global metamorphosis by sitting in muddy fields smoking suspiciously long cigarettes. And just in case you think that I am being snide about all this, I was one of those young people, and I truly believed in it all. In fact, if I am brutally honest with you, I’m not sure that I still don’t.
The rock festival culture that had been developing for several years reached its apotheosis in popular consciousness with Woodstock, held over three days in August 1969 in upstate New York. Despite the fact that only a few months later, the Rolling Stones-sponsored Altamont festival in California had been an unmitigated disaster, and the mass media had declared the scene to be over didn’t stop a whole slew of idealistic young promoters across the world wanting to emulate what they perceived had happened at Woodstock. One of the most successful of the first generation of European rock festivals was Kralingen Music Festival. Held less than a year after Woodstock its line-up was a stellar mix of the upper echelons of both British and American rock royalty including Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Byrds, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and the headliningPink Floyd. The festival was filmed for a movie, usually known as Stamping Ground, which amongst other things featured a very young Al Stewart performing a very assured Zero She Flies, Jefferson Airplane at the height of their magickal powers performing a medley of White Rabbit/The Ballad of You and Me and Pooniel, and, of course Pink Floyddoing a monumentally groovy Saucerful of Secrets which for my money is better than the more well-known live version from Umagumma.
But quite a lot of music was recorded that wasn’t in the film, and people purchasing this very, very cool 2CD 1DVD set will also be the proud owner of more live material fromPink Floyd, (Set your controls..) and some immeasurably rare artefacts from folk such asTyrannosaurus Rex, Dr John, Family and The Byrds in their most under-rated incarnation that happens to be my favourite. There are also some songs from far more obscure (undeservedly so) artists like The Flock (whose second album Dinosaur Swamps has one of my favourite covers of all time) and East of Eden. What a collection! This is so much more than just a bunch of exquisitely chosen and played vignettes. This is a real slice of history, and is of immense socio-cultural importance. And who is putting this album out? Gonzo, of course.
Tracks: Disc 1 , 1. DVD Santana - Gumbo , 2. Al Stewart - Zero She Flies , 3. Canned Heat - Human Condition , 4. The World's in Tango/So Sad , 5. Quintessence - Giants , 6. Jefferson Airplane - Won't You Try Saturday Afternoon , 7. It's A Beautiful Day - Bulgaria , 8. T.Rex - By The Light of the Magical Moon , 9. The Byrds - Old Blue , 10. The Flock - Big Bird , 11. Soft Machine - Esther's Nose Job , 12. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit/The Ballad of You and Me and Pooniel , 13. Santana - Savor/Jingo , 14. Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets , , Disc 2 , 1. Cuby & The Blizzards - Dust My Blues , 2. Canned Heat - Human Condition/So Sad , 3. Livin' Blues - Big Road Blues , 4. Al Stewart - Zero She Flies , 5. Quintessence - Giants , 6. East of Eden - The Sun of East/Irish Theme , 7. Country Joe - Freedom , 8. Dr John - Mardis Gras Day , 9. Family - Drowned in Wine , , Disc 3 , 1. CD2 Santana - Gumbo/Savor/Jingo , 2. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit , 3. Jefferson Airplance - The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil , 4. It's a Beautiful Day - Wasted Union Blues/Bulgaria , 5. T.Rex - By The Light of the Magical Moon , 6. The Byrds - Old Blue , 7. The Flock - Big Bird , 8. Soft Machine - Esther's Nose Job , 9. Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun , 10. Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets. |
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To recap. CJ has been plagued by material from Internet porn sites. He suspects he has a stalker. He remembers an old love affair....
All of that was years ago. You were there, and then you were gone. We lost contact. You got married. Maybe that was what you had always wanted. Maybe it was something I felt I couldn't give you. And the years went by and we both grew older. And maybe you thought about me now and then, in quiet moments. Maybe you regretted what we'd lost. Or maybe it was more like a stolen memory, locked away in your trinkets box in your bottom drawer. Locked away with all the other treasured things, the jewellery your Grandmother left you, too old-fashioned to wear, but too precious to lose. Or like the only copy of an old black and white photograph taken on a forgotten afternoon, to remind you of the past. And once in a while you take out the photograph and look at it: this still, quiet moment, slightly out-of-focus, caught on camera, trapped in a moment. And what is the look in his eyes as you look at the photograph. What was he thinking? The photograph preserves the look on his face, mysterious and unfathomable. But does it preserve the thought?
Dark days and days of love. The minutes ticking by. How real was it all for both of us? What has time's memory preserved for us to treasure, in secret, in stolen nights of thought? How fleeting it all was.
Your marriage was an unhappy one. You've told me that since. But you loved your kids with a fierce intensity. Fierce and abiding like the spark of life itself. Unquenchable. Immeasurable. Unquestioning.
Three daughters and a son. You named your son after me. You stayed put in our old home town, quietly grieving, while I moved away. Moving, moving, always moving. And I had my life just as you had yours. And I fell in love so deeply once it seemed to tear the heart out of my body. And love comes and love goes and like a flame it consumes what it clings to. And when the flaming was done I was left with a blackened heart and a fear of the love that can consume, and let the heart stay hidden in my body even while the body was locked in some external embrace. And I had a son too, who loved me despite myself. And then, when he grew up and moved away, I was left on my own again not knowing what to do.
It was about this time that we made contact again.
Do you believe in Fate? I do. I believe in Fate in the same way that I believe in Quantum Theory. I believe in mysterious and unfathomable forces that connect the Universe, that spin it into a web, in fractal patterns of coincidence, in the small scale and the large scale - as above, so below - in the asymmetrical equations that define the patterns of a landscape, in the kaleidoscopic weaving of energies in the subatomic regions where nothing is real.
And I don't believe in Fate either, because to give in to Fate is to give in to the inevitable, and nothing is inevitable in the end. It is we who will determine what the Universe will offer us.
So there was a note on my Mother's mat while I was staying there once while she was on holiday. It was note from you. It had your telephone number on it. And then it was a late night 'phone call after the pub, and some laughter and some discomfort and then an arrangement to meet the following day. It was during the 'phone call that I learned that you were training to be a Vicar.
So I came round to see you and we ate chicken tikka sandwiches. And between the food preparation and the bustle there was a mountain of thoughts. No: more than a mountain, it was a whole mountain range, with its pinnacles and its heights and its impassable ravines; with its torrents and its waterfalls, with its perilous drops; with dogged trails over crumbling Masonic scenery; with false trails and dead ends and caverns and cairns; with vertigo, with echoes, with winds, with clouds. With something as solid and as impenetrable as rock.
We sat in a room full of thoughts in the suburbs of a city with a mountain range between us. I could hear your voice and you could hear mine. We heard all the words. But it was like neither of us was really there. Not in that scruffy, comfortable suburban room. Not in the back garden either, where we sat beneath the wind-blown trees. But somewhere else. Trapped in caverns of our own making, in impassable realms, in uncharted regions where the storm clouds loom.
You talked about your life. You talked about your kids. You talked about your Christian beliefs. The words were there, but not the person. The person was somewhere else. You tried to sound sophisticated and knowing. You tried to sound grown-up. But you weren't grown-up at all. You were a little, frightened child trapped in a cavern, lost in the mountains, calling out for some kind of guidance.
Well I was lost too. I was in a cave too, too scared to come out. I didn't know what to say to you. The weight of mystery was on my shoulder.
I made my excuses and left.
And that was that. There was nothing more to say to you.
And the Internet Stalker still hadn't arrived.
(To be continued....)
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Invisible Opera Company of Tibet (Oz)
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| DAEVID ALLEN: A blast from his past |
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Daevid Allen has enjoyed an enviable reputation within the music business over the last forty plus years. He has formed many groups and musical alliances, in order to further his musical visions. During the eighties Daevid found himself back in his native Australia having been exiled from the U.K.
At this time he continued to make music and one of the bands he formed was, The Invisible Opera Company Of Oz. The band recorded albums of songs to act as demos for agents back in the UK where there was still a big interest in Daevid and his musical ventures. The subsequent tour would see Daevid’s triumphant return to UK venues, as the man who was hard to categorise.
The recordings by the Invisible Opera Company Of Oz, were made during a full moon along with the resultant tapes, mixed for good measure, during a full moon. |
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| JUDGE SMITH TALKS ABOUT MR AVERELL |
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Over the last couple of weeks the magazine has featured the work of the Dutch performance artist called René van Commenée who produces musical work under the name Mr Averell. Last week we posted an interview with him, and as a sort of adjunct to that interview, here is an excerpt from a conversation that I had a few days ago with Judge Smith.
For those of you who have not heard of Judge you should feel heartily ashamed of yourselves. He was not only one of the founder members of Van De Graaf Generator, but he has released a number of albums in his own right including his genre of song stories - three of them so far, which have all been released through Gonzo and which are all bloody good. We shall, no doubt, return to this subject very soon, but for today he tells me about his working relationship and friendship with the man behind Mr. Averell.
Give it a listen...
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Read my Article about Mr Averell
Am I a fan of this idiosyncratic Dutchman? Am I going to blatantly abuse my position of power within the musical community to plug his music unmercifully? Damn tooting!
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HAWKWIND NEWS
(The masters of the Universe do seem to have a steady stream of interesting stories featuring them, their various friends and relations, and alumni) |
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Half-way through the production of this issue, Graham Inglis returned from Portsmouth where he saw The Elves of Silbury Hill play a 'Sea Shepherd' benefit. He had this to say:
"Although the main act were billed as The Elves of Silbury Hill, the setlist would leave an averageHawkwind fan in little doubt as to how they might have sounded on the night:
Shouldn't do That, Waiting for Tomorrow, Web Weaver, PXR5, Brainbox Pollution, Valium 10, Uncle Sam's on Mars, Green Finned Demon, Mind Cut, Prometheus, Psi Power, Ejection, Mirror of Illusion, Steppenwolf, It's so Easy, and Brainstorm.
Five members of Hawkwind, one member of Technicians of Spaceship Hawkwind, and several strobes turned the space rock blanga control up towards 10 at this Sea Shepherd fund-raiser event in Portsmouth.
Full report to follow on the Gonzo site".
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| THE YES CIRCULAR - DIVING IN THE 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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| However, the most important cultural breakthrough from one of the Yes alumni this week was also from Rick Wakeman who became the first ever person from the Yes camp to be featured in Viz. It don't get much better than that! |
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And that, boys and girls, was just about that for this week.
I am probably getting a bit OCD about all of this, but I find the Yes soap opera of sound to be absolutely enthralling, and I for one can't wait to see what happens next! |
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Thank Freud for reading this and ignoring it
Thank your peer group if you take action
Thank science for adapting to population pressures
Thank Monsanto for gene altering grains
Thank Nestle and Amatil Corporations for privitizing water supplies
Thank plastic for plastic oceans
Thank individuals,small groups and tribes for adaptation
(Yet are we seven billion.With growth that is unsustainable..)
Thank Darwin for espousing evolution
Thank indigenous for earth wisdom
Thank you for listening
(Do not mention geo-engineering...
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In Victorian times every well-bred Gentleman had a 'Cabinet of Curiosities'; a collection of peculiar odds and sods, usually housed in a finely made cabinet with a glass door. These could include anything from Natural History specimens to historical artefacts. There has always been something of the Victorian amateur naturalist about me, and I have a houseful of arcane objects; some completely worthless, others decidedly not, but all precious to me for the memories they hold..
I used to be a collector of rock and roll memorabilia, but most of my collection went into my solicitor's pocket during my divorce from my first wife, and I never had the stomach to build the collection up again. However, people send me pictures of interesting things such as this..... |
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Most of the items that we feature in this column are prohibitively expensive, but this week (and I cannot make up my mind if it is the best thing I have ever seen or one of the worst) one can obtain it for just over a fiver.
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| JUDY DYBLE ON THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND |
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Over the past few months I have become a fan of Judy Dyble, and have interviewed her on a couple of occasions. My first interview with her can be found:
EXCLUSIVE: Judy Dyble interview (Part One)
EXCLUSIVE: Judy Dyble interview (Part Two)
EXCLUSIVE: Judy Dyble interview (Part Three) |
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However, it was after that interview had been published that I discovered that Judy had actually sung on one of my favourite albums; The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by The Incredible String Band, and one of my mates (who is a big ISB freak) berated me wholeheartedly for not having taken the opportunity to ask her about it. So, I made another appointment and telephoned her.
Check out what happened next...
Check out some of our other Judy Dyble related posts |
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| INTRODUCING THE NINE HENRYS |
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| I think Peter McAdam is one of the funniest people around, and I cannot recommend his book The Nine Henrys highly enough. Check it out at Amazon. Each issue we shall be running a series of Henrybits that are not found in his book about the nine cloned cartoon characters who inhabit a surreal world nearly as insane as mine... |
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| LIZ LENTEN INTERVIEW: Coming soon from Auburn |
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I am a big fan of Liz Lenten and her band Auburn. Liz Lenten formed Auburn in the summer of 1999. Their first gig was at the jam-packed launch party of Scarlet Records held at the salubrious and smoky Madame JoJo's in Soho to a completely packed and enthusiastic house.
Their first EP 'Sweet Sebastian' received extensive airplay, and sold out of its limited pressing within 2 weeks. They then teamed up with producer Tim Pettit, (Travis, Sun House and Carlene Carter) and recorded 'For Life', which also got great radio support and the band toured UK and played many live radio sessions.
The debut Album DREAMS was released in 2003 and Auburn toured with SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR in UK and EUROPE, playing to 40,000 people. In 2005 CRY reach no 5 in the indie video charts after which they took a break concentrated on parenthood!
Since then Liz has continued to work as a vocal coach, artist manager, record label, songwriter and choral director. She was 'SING UP' (governments' national singing campaign) lead facilitator/vocal advisor for Lincolnshire; has conducted the London Mozart Players Orchestra with the South Holland Choirs; written for and directed a 1000 voice kids choir for 'Sing 66' and manages several artists including award winning folk artist ELIZA CARTHY and New Yorker GALIA ARAD.
Last year the band released Indian Summer on Gonzo, which is where I became involved.
Check out my first interview with Liz, from all those months ago, and the one that I didafter their spring tour last year.
I had an email from Liz the other day, in which she intimated that she had some very special news for us. So I gave her a ring and this is what she told me...
Videos directed by yours truly from their Southampton gig supporting the mighty Jefferson Starship. HERE and HERE |
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| COMING SOON FROM GONZO: Peter Banks - a retrospective |
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In the first week of March, 2013, just as Britain was undergoing the coldest and most inhospitable spring for many years, progressive rock fans around the world were shocked by the news that Peter Banks had died of heart failure at the age of 65. Now, the original lineup of one of the most important progressive rock bands (some would say the most important) in the genre, would never be able to play together again.
Banks was only in Yes for an album and a half, leaving in 1970 after disagreements with other band members about the addition of an orchestra to the album Time and a Word. He then formed a rather fine band called Flash which produced three admirable albums, and in 1973 another band Empire which also released three albums.
He also played sessions for a bewildering range of artists ranging from Roger Ruskin Spear to Lonnie Donegan, and from Jan Akkerman to Lionel Richie! He was also responsible for a whole string of impressive solo albums.
Peter Banks is undoubtedly best known as the original guitarist for Yes; something which will undoubtedly earn him a modicum of rock and roll immortality. But what is less well known is that Banks was in four other groups in the four years before he joined the band in August 1968. And this is what the majority of the music on this CD is all about.
There are a couple of songs by his mid-'60s group the Devil's Disciples; some but not all of the cuts from the 1967 singles by his fine, obscure psychedelic band The Syn which also included future Yes bass guitar maestro Chris Squire. There is also a demo of one of those singles, "Flowerman"; and a few numbers by his subsequent, even more obscure psychedelic group which rejoiced in the name of Mabel Greer’s Toyshop. Who could ask for more? JON DOWNES |
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COMING SOON
Kate Rusby: My Music |
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Fifteen years ago in the spring of 1998, I was working intermittently for a folk music record label that has long since gone the way of all flesh. I wrote press releases, designed album packages, and gave lots of sound commercial advice which was completely ignored. Towards the end of my relationship with the company I was sat in the boss’ car as he drove me through the Cotswolds. “Here, ‘ave a listen to this” he said, pushing a cassette into the car stereo. “I guarantee that you will like it”.
On the whole I didn’t have much faith in his judgement, and knew that my days with him were very much numbered. But he pressed ‘play’ and an incredible voice came out through the speakers; a voice which sent shivers not just down my spine, but to the very depths of my soul.
“Who is she?” I gasped.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” he said. She’s called Kate Rusby.
Kate Rusby, sometimes known as the "Barnsley Nightingale" is one of the most important contemporary British folk singers. Drawing from both contemporary and traditional sources, her material is so charming and guileless that she has become one of the few performers within the folk idiom who has transcended it, and become far more than a folk singer.
Audiences from outside the folk music community have taken her to their hearts, and each album she makes gathers new fans and supporters.
She was born, in 1973, into a musical family in Sheffield. After becoming proficient on a number of instruments including the guitar, the fiddle, and the piano, as well as honing her natural talent as a singer, she played in many local folk festivals as a child and teenager before joining (and becoming the lead vocalist of) the all-female Celtic folk band The Poozies. They recorded one EP and an album together before Kate left to concentrate on her burgeoning solo career. Together with fellow Barnsley songstrel Kathryn Roberts she released an album called simply Kate Rusby and Kathryn Robertswhich, two years later was followed by her debut solo album Hourglass.
Over the next fifteen years, Kate became a British folk institution. Perhaps the most telling tribute to her was in 2012, when Island Records reinstated their legendary pink label, home of such musical luminaries as Fairport Convention, Dr Strangely Strange and Nick Drake, for Kate’s album 20.
It was a telling moment, because Kate has become as important to the current era of this music, which is larger and more important than just folk music, but which despite its commercial and cultural success retains the humility and humanity of ‘the people’s music’, as the aforementioned acts were in previous eras.
Kate remembers listening to the music on the pink Island label when she was growing up. Somewhere there is a young girl who is humming Kate Rusby songs as she plays with her skipping rope, unaware that in a few short decades, she, too, will take the world by storm.
The music on this DVD is taken from the highly acclaimed 2008 TV series. It is a real treat, and as one Internet commentator known only as ‘YouLessThanThreeMe’ noted: “I love her!! She's so down to earth and still has this majestic aura surrounding her! She's fabulous!”
I can’t add anything to that, nor am I going to try. JON DOWNES |
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THE BEST LAID PLANS...
And yes, once again, things completely fail to go according to plan. The fly in the ointment this week was that I had another bout of the crippling illness from which I have suffered all my adult life.
As many of you know, I am bipolar (what they used to call manic-depressive) and it is a condition that effects me every minute of every day. Now, I don't want you (or indeed anyone else) to think that I am bellyaching about my health. In many ways I have had a fantastic life; I have done all sorts of interesting things, met all sorts of interesting people, and generally lived a far more fulfilled and exciting life than most people do, and this is quite possibly because my mental condition has laid me open to more vistas of opportunity than most people have.
However, it does affect me on a day to day basis, and I would rather that people understood why I sometimes don't answer my emails, why sometimes I sound slurred and disassociative on the telephone, and why some publications (especially this one) don't arrive on a set moment over the weekend. The Gonzo Weekly is posted out sometime between Friday and Sunday nights depending on how insane the editor is feeling at that particular time.
So, rather than have you think that I am some inefficient weirdo, I would much rather have you know that on occasion (especially around the time of the full moon) I am as mad as a bagful of cheese.
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who puts up with me, especially - this last week - my lovely wife Corinna and my friend and colleague Richard Freeman. Thank you my friends. I really do appreciate all that you do for me. |
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There is still likely to be a monthly magazine in both digital and hard copy formats at some point, as soon as I have managed to attract around me more like-minded souls who want to contribute.
We are living in disturbing and strange times, but ultimately they are very interesting ones, and continuing to chronicle the Gonzoverse is an immensely rewarding thing to do. Thank you for reading.
Until next week,
Slainte
Jon Downes
(Editor) |
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