Time for this month's 'One For The Road' track.

This is a band I heard back in January, just after I'd missed seeing them play in Hastings Old Town. Originating from Eastbourne the group are named after a collection of telescopes at the nearby Herstmonceux Observatory. 

The Equatorial Group features Helen Weeks, Dave Davies, Twe [Teresa] Fox, Andy Tourle and Neil Grimes and it's been written listeners hear the shadows of Neil Young or the colours of Fleetwood Mac in their music. You decide, but I'm hearing pedal steel guitar excursions like Neil Young solos and clear four-part harmonies. 

Here's their song ‘Feet’ from the most recent album 'Sea' - don’t know what the song’s about but the video is a definite front seat view of the road ahead.

Check out more music and videos: 'Fire'; 'Lights Shine'; & 'Electric Light': (click on). 

  

Record Store Day (last weekend) may well have past but I read a number of articles all about the subject. These made interesting reading especially after asking a favourite record shop in Hastings town about this 'Day', only to be told they didn't believe in it !

A long article I found entitled 'The Great Vinyl Buying Swindle' went some way to explaining what was conceived in 2007 as a good idea to boost interest in Vinyl records and to support stores again, has now turned into just another commercial merry-go-round !

This article* did deal with every aspect of the business from a lack of pressing plants to quality and costs of 'new' vinyl records. But the author had a a nice turn of phrase which I did enjoy. Like: 

- Record Store Day - RSD: festival/circus/ritual (delete as appropriate)

- New marketing terms for ‘Audiophiles’:

‘Half Speed Mastered From 1/4 Inch Master Tapes’! ‘Pressed On Virgin Heavyweight 180gsm Vinyl For Optimum Sound Fidelity’! Ob-Bla-Di-Ob-Blah-Blah-Bloody-Da!!!

- Crazy amounts of variations of special releases for RSD - re issues of classic LPs - ker-ching

- Greed-flation - Rip-Off Store Day ! more like...

I wont go on but the current cost of NEW vinyl is crazy and you won't find me paying such prices, that have more than doubled since 2008. Far better to hunt for 'old' discs at Record Fairs and shops that are selling second hand, at prices you can afford. 

Rant over - to this week's music. Which really has to be a new release I suppose. And I have another one of those amazing outrageously colourful videos from Escape Music. 

Soon to be released is an LP by Sign of the Wolf. A new supergroup featuring members from iconic bands such as Black Sabbath (Vinnie Appice), Whitesnake (Doug Aldrich) and Rainbow (Tony Carey). They aim to bring back melodic Hard Rock. "Evil has to fail so the spirit can prevail" - epic !

This is 'Rage of Angels' > 

*For those of you with time to spare here's the link to the article referred to. Link 

   

Back at the end of February I promised to feature The Animals version of Eric von Schmidt's 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down' covered by Bob Dylan on his first album.

Given a new arrangement by Americans Wes Farrell and Bert Russell, The Animals version of this song re-titled ‘Baby Let Me Take You Home’ is strikingly different and it was apparently a key influence on Dylan's change to electric music.

This recording from Tyne Tees TV in July 1964 is quite bizarre to say the least, not surprisingly grainy, while taking 'miming' to a whole new level of pretense. Great song which reached No.21 on the UK chart before the band's follow up smash hit 'The House of the Rising Sun'.

I recently found out that all these years I had been singing the wrong lyrics - I certainly hadn't been singing: "I'll do anything in this God-Almighty world, If you'll just let me take you home" ?

NB: Tomorrow is 'Record Store Day'. I may well revisit this next week.

  

Today is World Drummer's Day - hands up if you knew that ?

April 4th (4/4) is a universal celebration of percussion because the most popular time signature used in music is 4/4. So how about 216 drummers all together !

Our old friends Rockin' 1000 from Paris in 2019 with The Ramones 'Blitzkrieg Bop' >

NB: There's a minute of credits at the end - FYI.

The FMS has featured the song 'Blitzkrieg Bop' previously, would you believe nearly 9 years ago.

As a bonus on 4/4 Day here's the same song but from a purely drummers perspective:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpLKD-0wzDk

      

Hastings 'Fat Tuesday' music.

On top of the Unplugged Saturday 'Pub to Pub' afternoon of non stop 'live' music, Sunday saw the Umbrella parade along the Prom lead by Mr Wilson's Second Liners. From the bicycle wheel drum kit to the uniformed brass section they were quite a sight and sound !

Described as New Orleans meets 90s club classics - a totally bonkers rave that even saw rock 'n' roll power chords from the banjo player !

The White Rock theatre hosted an afternoon of drum bands and dancing (see photo). And dance tunes with a difference is what we got. Check out Mr Wilson's: Short promo here 

Expect Robert Miles, Fat Boy Slim, Prodigy and more... YouTube has plenty - this is a good example of their 'all join in' interactive performances > click here

   

A brief history of the changing RCA Victor single sleeve.

Late 60s the old red 45 bag design with the black label was updated to the orange label colour and bold logo type. Early 1975 a new sleeve appeared, designed by my work colleague Dick Whitbread and artworked by yours truly. (Modestly, I still get a kick out of seeing this single sleeve in shops). 

RCA single sleeve evolution - (L-R) 1967, 1971 and 1975.

The last 45 pictured above is one of the first releases with this new sleeve: 'Fox On The Run' by Sweet came out on 7th March 1975. It was the first Sweet single written by the band, rather than producers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman - gone was the make up of the glam rock look and the group finally had their own 'A' side record and hit of their making. 

Not that some of their previous hits hadn't been good, just that some had been a bit dodgy (see below for a Sweet reminder). 

By the end of March 'Fox On The Run' was a Top 10 hit, reaching No.2 in April. 

Here's a YouTube compiled Top 10 hits list > www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwOVua9IEd0

Some very poppy early numbers BUT their pick as No.1: 'Fox On The Run' !

Garry Blakeley is a virtuoso fiddle player and performed at the original Hayloft Folk Club with a number of house bands and in the group Brian Boru and Burgess & Blakeley.
Garry is also a full time member of the celebrated supergroup Feast of Fiddles.

Performing with his good friend Bear Lucas, on guitar and vocals, together they produce an eclectic range of songs and sounds.

Here's a taster with a couple of videos of Garry, firstly playing in Hastings at The Stag. And then below taking the lead with Feast of Fiddles from a couple of years ago (he is far right on the stage). 

The Hayloft Folk Club

Following the success of last year’s two shows that featured artists who’d performed at the Folk Club in the 1970s. This show provides another chapter in the fascinating history of The Cove.

View The COVE pub in Fairlight for additional information: thecovefairlight.co.uk/events/ 

  

Part Two: of Nico and Jackson Browne:-

Also featured on Nico's 1967 'Chelsea Girls' album was a version of 'These Days' (one of my all time favourites). A song written when Jackson Browne was only 16 years old, but not recorded by him until 1973, by which time thanks to a Gregg Allman version, the arrangement had changed. 

Another song also written by Jackson, shortly after he returned to California in 1967, was titled ‘The Birds of St. Marks’. Rediscovered in 1994 it was only properly recorded for the first time on his 2014 LP 'Standing in the Breach'.

It's apparently written about Nico, and has a very 60s Byrds feel to it (probably why I like it so much). The middle guitar break with Greg Leisz and Val McCallum (on 12 & 6 string guitars) is wonderful and they return for the instrumental ending. 

Another great track from a teenage Jackson Browne

> Article on Nico’s version of 'These Days' -  https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-story-behind-the-song-the-contrasting-origin-of-nicos-these-days/

   

Within the space of a few weeks I heard two tracks off the 1967 ‘Chelsea Girls’ album by Nico (she of The Velvet Underground & Nico fame) I'd not previously known. 

She was born Christa Päffgen in Cologne, Germany and after being introduced by The Stones Brian Jones, she began working in New York with Andy Warhol.

This is part one of a two part story involving her and a young Jackson Browne, who she had a brief romance with in 1967, and who wrote both songs in question.

The first track is ‘The Fairest of the Season’ from the album that apparently Nico didn’t approve of once producer Tom Wilson had filled it out with strings and flutes... (I rather like them) - the LP also contains contributions by Velvet Underground members. 

Part Two of this romance will be next Friday

   

We been down the Motorway and the Highway. Today "Wir fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n, auf der Autobahn" for the latest 'One For The Road' track.
Issued today to mark the 50th anniversary of Kraftwerk's iconic 'Autobahn' album, with releases on three different formats including a Picture disc. 

Funnily I always thought they sang 'Fun, Fun, Fun on the Autobahn'...

Band member Wolfgang Flür explains: 

No! Someone else told me that they [the misinterpreters] thought the way we speak in German "Fahren", which means driving, sounds like the English word "fun". "Fahren fahren fahren", "fun fun fun". That is wrong. But it works. Driving is fun. We had no speed limit on the autobahn, we could race through the highways, through the Alps, so yes, fahren fahren fahren, fun fun fun.

Even the video uses 'Fun, Fun, Fun' > beep, beep 

The original album version of the song lasts 22 minutes, but the track was edited down to 3 minutes for its single version, b/w ‘Morning Walk’ (Morganspariezgang), released Feb 1975.