I was watching the out-takes of the Monterey Festival from 1967 last night (as you do), and thought l'd share this mesmerising footage of Laura Nyro from it. There's only her performance of Poverty Train, plus the end of Wedding Day Blues, but it is outstanding, even to these noise raddled ears and ravaged old eyes. Amazing to think that she apparently thought at the time that she was not liked at the festival and was not well received.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of footage of her to be found anywhere, but she was a special talent, and her first three albums are exceptional, although she is better known for other people covering her songs.
I'm glad to say that Arlo Guthrie has just retired, rather than died, and although he has some health issues, l hope he has many, many happy years in retirement. It must have been hard for him growing up as the son of the legend that was Woody Guthrie, but Arlo made a decent career for himself, while always coming across as a nice guy. He has many songs that l love, and l suppose Alice's Restaurant is the most famous, but l've always had a soft spot for this little ditty - The Motorcycle Song.
I received my copy of Andy Neill's Ready Steady Go book at the weekend, and to say l'm impressed would be a massive understatement. It's everything an in depth book should be, with plenty of interviews and background information, plus enough stats to bore a normal member of the public to tears. That's without mentioning the marvellous photographs, many of which l have never seen before. Then there's the copious amount of pictures, featuring tickets, letters, magazines, albums etc. Fantastic! It's also improved my pretty much non existent exercise routine, as it weighs a ton and is the size of an lp boxset. If l was given funds to produce a book like this myself, this exactly how l would wish it to turn out. Buy it now!!
What a shame pretty much all of the episodes and performances have been wiped.
It's not just me that loves it - here's David Hepworth and Mark Ellen also gushing about it, and talking to the author in one of their 'Word in your Ears'
These photographs have been on my computer for quite a while, so l assume Slash's house has now been sold, but if not, and you've got some spare money, here's what it's like.
This is a Nashville radio stations top 40 requests from 1976.
It looks like it would have been the station l would have listened to if l lived in the area at the time, as a lot of these songs are on heavy rotation at my house to this very day
So, Little Richard, the King and Queen of Rock and Roll has shuffled off to meet his maker after suffering the last few years with various health problems. I'm amazed he lasted so long with the lifestyle that he partook in for so long, but he was always a survivor, albeit the most over the top flamboyant one of all. I heard while l was at work over the weekend, and funnily enough l had just finished watching the Elton John biopic 'Rocket Man' on my overnight shift when l heard the news, and was thinking at the time about Little Richard, because without him, there may not have been an Elton, and although Elton's outfits were more flamboyant, and they superficially had very similar lifestyles, Little Richard was waaaay over the top and living his in Black America, before rock and roll coolness had become 'a thing', when it was (and to a lesser degree, still is) a very dangerous thing to do. I know about his influences, and that he wasn't 'the first', but he was the best. I wrote about how great Little Richard was and how fantastic and honest his biography (by Charles White) was here (Which was a long seven years ago), so find out for yourselves. I haven't really much to add, apart from the fact one of the few things l regret is not having been able to watch (or meet) him when he was a young pup (and bitch) back in his old Rock and Roll days. He was a massive gift to us all who lost his Rock and Roll way by heading to the pulpit, and who wasted his talent on lots of different record labels and bad choices of songs, but man, could that cool cat entertain and sing. For those that haven't heard them, his gospel and soul recordings are also sublime. - he could do anything. Even when he was drugged up and not at his magnificent best, the charisma. intelligence, honesty and playfulness shone through, and he'll be missed a lot in this household. I spent a lot of time yesterday watching old youtube clips with a drink in my hand and a tear in my eye, and l advise you all to do the same. The records will be dug out later today, and l pity my neighbours if they are trying to sleep. I may even try putting on some makeup and being bisexual again in his honour - he deserves it.
Here's an early crowd watching Elvis (when he was cool) - look at the joy, despite how shocking he was to some
Here's an early crowd watching Little Richard - look at the disbelief and amazement
The screen test for 'The Girl Can't Help It'. He's a bit subdued at the start, but watch him go after 1.15m. Every time l see him dancing on this l laugh out loud
Me and My Uncle was written by John Phillips of The Mamas and Papas during an evening of much merriment, or at least it seems so, as he couldn't remember writing it afterwards. It's been covered a few times, and the Grateful Dead version is probably the most well known.
However, related to this, although l've always liked Joni Mitchell, l could never fathom how so many people (and other musicians) worshiped her so much, and considered her a genius. That was until l saw Joni's 1965 Oscar Brandt 'Let's Sing Out' version, from before she was even signed up to a record label. The guitar playing is intricate and superb, and she sings it in such an emotive and playful way. The other older musicians just look amazed.
Consider me a convert.
Here's John Phillips
Here's one of the many the Grateful Dead versions
Here's Judy Collins
And here's the magnificent 1965 version by Joni Mitchell
John Prine, one of the greatest songwriters of his generation has sadly passed away from the Coronavirus, although he had been in poor health for a while.
If you are unfamiliar with him and his work, do yourself a favour and check him out, as his ability to inhabit a character and speak plainly and emotionally from their viewpoint was outstanding.
He'll be missed a lot in this household.
Here's some examples of his genius
And here's Jeff Tweedy paying tribute with a John Prine song
I certainly love songs with a lot of noise and a bit of an edge, which is one of the many reasons l love The Velvet Underground. I do however, also love their more tender tunes from the pen of the now sadly departed Lou Reed (of which there are many).
One of these l had not played for a while came on unexpectedly (for me at least) as the credits rolled at the end of the 2017 film 'Daphne', which l had just finished watching. I very nearly missed it as l was just about to delete the film, but l'm glad l didn't, as it reintroduced me to the rather wonderful 'I Found a Reason', which can be found on the Velvet's fourth lp 'Loaded'.
Here it is in all it's magnificence.
Enjoy!
I was playing the rather splendid new two disc 2019 remaster of Iggy and The Stooges album earlier today, at what l would describe as a pretty loud level (turned up to 11).
Mr Parrot however, is so used to my nonsense and lifestyle, he fell asleep during it.
The little cutie.
Also..
My neighbours listen to some great loud music - How do l know? I'm playing it (In reality, they were out).
When l was off work last week for a few days, l stayed up all night, drinking and listening to music. At one stage in the early hours, l turned all the lights off in my living room, to chill out and immerse myself in the tunes l was playing at the time (Early T.Rex if you must know). However, l then had a rather splendid idea l wanted to remember, and as l didn't want to get up and put the lights on, l wrote it on the palm of my hand in the blackness.
Great idea - Didn't have a clue what it was the next morning.
Another reason l need to win the lottery and move to a larger house. Status Quo guitarist / singer Francis Rossi has put his green Fender Telecaster up for auction with Bonhams, Knightsbridge on 17th December 2019. Rossi bought the guitar for £75 in 1968 and painted it himself, using green Ronseal, and it was the guitar most used by him during the subsequent years. Rather sadly for me, it is estimated to go for between £100,000 and £150,000, which is a bit out of my price range, especially with Christmas coming up.
For those that have the money - see here
Following on about the Rod Stewart Vertigo albums in the post below, l would not like to cast aspersions about where the vertigo design came from, but l have a sneaking suspicion that whoever designed it may have seen the 'Uneasy Centre' Op Art by Bridget Riley (1963), which is below.
Compare and contrast to the Vertigo version.
The art team of Linda Glover and Mike Stanford, (based on an idea by Olav Wyper) were meant to be inspired by Marcel Duchamp's Rotoreliefs (below), but who knows?
Despite how great l think the label design is, I can think of only one punishment that should have been administered for the possible 'inspiration'.
I re-watched Anthony Newley's 'The Strange World of Gurney Slade' last night, as l am a fan of Newley's, but l am still amazed how weird it must have seemed when it was first broadcast in 1960. It breaks just about every rule of a comedy show, and it is understandable that it wasn't a big hit at the time (or since then) despite it (and Newley himself) being a huge influence on David Bowie. The TV audience must have been bewildered.
It's very slow paced, has no real jokes in it, and is pretty surreal, so it's just the sort of thing that appeals to me, although l am not at all surprised there was only one series. Even l was too young to watch it at the time, but it would have messed with my young head if l had.
It's all available on youtube, and in my opinion, is well worth sticking with till the last episode (6).
This Gavin Clark / Toydrum Frank Wiedemann remix version of 'God Song' has been on heavy rotation at home recently as it's something different, but l still prefer the original Evangelist version.
Either way - what a song!
Last weekend l was out and about in Richmond (The North Yorkshire version) and this was one of the delights on offer at Richmond Live. Oh My God It's The Church!
The Lightning Seeds were pretty good on the Saturday night, despite the downfall before they came on, but l didn't have my recording device on me that day, so this is it.
As it's the anniversary of the Moon landing this week, here's some more space related stuff (see earlier blog).
The first picture is Alexey Leonov leaving his spacecraft and taking the first steps into space. The second picture is Bruce McCandless, out and about in space by himself. The courage they had to do such things is remarkable, and the same goes for the first Moon landing guys.
And now we have Donald Trump and Boris Johnson - two men l would happily send into space (with a one way ticket).
Plus one of my favourite Deep Purple songs - Space Truckin' from their Made In Japan album
