Colin H on No More Forever

Many of Dick Gaughan’s 1970s/80s recordings have been out of circulation for decades. That’s a large part of the impetus behind the current ‘R/evolution: 1969–83’ 7CD/DVD box set in progress (gratefully funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign), which will draw from BBC, club/concert soundboards, scattered studio rarities and selected (licensable) album tracks to fill in the appalling ‘legacy gap’.

Dick’s three 1977–81 Topic albums are available digitally but only one is currently available physically (the excellent 2019 remaster of ‘Handful of Earth’, 1981); the two Folk Freak/Wundertüte 1982–83 albums are available digitally but the label is long dormant and nothing has been remastered or available physically in nearly 30 years. The 1986 album funded by the STUC had only a limited shelf life that decade. The two solo albums for Trailer (1972; 1977), the Boys of the Lough album for Trailer (1973), the joint album with Tony Capstick and Dave Burland for Rubber Records (1978) and the two albums for Celtic Music (1985; 1988) have all disappeared into a cupboard of doom, owned by the same people, seemingly never to be reissued or licensed to third parties.

In the interests of history and for » Continue Reading.

Kev Boyd on A romantic take on one of London’s old school coffee bars

The Troubadour is an old school coffee house in London’s Earls Court. It’s been around for years and as well as serving coffee it also has a well-stocked bar, serves decent food, puts on small gigs and has a specialist wine shop located in the adjoining store. It’s probably best known by a lot of people for being the venue for a folk club back in the early sixties that was one of the small number of places Bob Dylan played on his first visit to England in the winter of 1962. One of the resident singers at ‘The Troub’ during that time was Martin Carthy. He and Dylan quickly became friends who spent a lot of time together during Bob’s first visit and continued to stay in contact for a number of years.

A young Paul Simon was also around the London folk club scene during that period and Carthy famously taught him his way of singing the English traditional song Scarborough Fair. Depending on whose version of events you believe, either Simon or an unscrupulous, unnamed music publisher immediately copyrighted the song and pocketed » Continue Reading.

moseleymoles on Visiting Islay, home of nine whisky distilleries

I know that whisky and in particular single malts are a frequent topic of discussion here, so I thought some reflections on a five-day stay on Islay earlier this week might interest a few. Various discussions and a life celebration led me and Ms Moles to book an air b and b just outside Port Ellen for a short stay earlier this week.

One of the attractions of Islay is that you get nine – nine! – top-notch distilleries within less than an hour of each other. Four (Laphroig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg and the recently-opened Port Ellen distillery, are within hiking distance of Port Ellen. Ardnahoe, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Illa and Kichoman complete the set. We booked three distillery tours in advance, the Calmac Ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen and off we went in the car.

Our accommodation was a mile outside Port Ellen, so at the last minute we added two days of e-bike hire. This proved to be a godsend. Mrs Moles has less appetite for the lengthy hike than I do, but was very happy e-biking around the island.

Our first booked tour was Laphroig, the » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Odetta Sings Dylan released March 1965

Odetta was born in Birmingham Alabama in the Deep South, home of spirituals, slave songs, the Delta Blues and traditional African American folklore. Her early childhood was spent in the shadow of Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan and lynchings. She moved to Los Angeles aged six but carried hatred and anger for the rest of her life, channelling it into political activism, standing up for black rights, and into a smouldering passion when she sang. She attended a Baptist church, her step father took her to see popular black acts of the time, including Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, and her mother listened to opera on the radio on Sundays, but it was a school teacher who spotted her singing talent when she was ten. By thirteen, she was having formal classical singing lessons. For years, she was immersed in the rigor of lieder, oratorio and opera. As she approached graduation, she was determined to be a professional singer but knew that, as a black woman, she was either going have to mimic Marian Anderson or never make it singing opera at all. She refused to be » Continue Reading.

Colin H on ‘Melody Maker’ 1/1/55 – what fun was Britain having 70 years ago?

Colin H on TH White

Here’s a conundrum that Afterworders might find interesting: what to do with a painting – unique in the wild, with no other precedents at auction – by a significant mid-20th century literary figure?

TH White (1906–64) is well-known as the author of ‘The Sword in the Stone’ and other Arthurian tales (and much other writing). He painted only as a hobby – one rather fantastical self-portrait, used on a book cover, being the only THW painting that appears via Google.

The painting was bought at auction in September 1981 by a resident of Alderney and depicts the four-master ship ‘Liverpool’, which ran aground on Alderney in 1902. White lived on the island from 1946 until his death in 1964. The painting, signed in White’s distinctive monogram and dated ‘49, was based on an old postcard that was reproduced in a book entitled ‘The Channel Islands’ by the art dealer Harald Eggert, who was also the husband of the buyer. The painting is currently owned by a relative of the original owner’s second husband.

As Mark says:

‘Amongst accompanying documents kept by the original buyer (who died in 1997) is an invoice for the cleaning and » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Where Did Our Love To by The Supremes released 31st August 1964

Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diane Ross were all brought up in Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. Ballard and Wilson met at Northeastern High School. Ross went to Cass Technical High with the intention of becoming a fashion designer. Even as a youngster, Flo had a powerful, expressive voice and boundless enthusiasm. With her best friend, Mary, she formed a girl group called The Primettes to complement The Primes, a group containing two future Temptations. In turn, Mary, forever in the role of go-between, recruited her neighbour, Diane, to contribute some poise. As teenagers they auditioned for Berry Gordy, chief of Tamla Motown. He told them to come back after they’d graduated. In the meantime, they regularly visited the Hitsville U.S.A. studio, sometimes making themselves useful but mostly making their presence felt. Eventually, they were allowed to provide handclaps and, more excitingly, backing vocals to some records. Finally, in 1961, Berry was persuaded to sign them on condition they changed their name. The girls selected The Supremes from a short list of six.

The first half dozen singles got nowhere. Gordy wrote and produced most of them. » Continue Reading.

Colin H on imaginary meetings in songs

Tiggerlion on AWB by Average White Band released August 1974

Average White Band came from Scotland, pairs of them playing in different bands interweaving in a soul scene of the late sixties and seventies spearheaded by “the godfather of Dundee soul”, Dougie Martin. They moved separately to London, seeking fame and fortune, and bumped into each other at a Traffic gig. When they jammed together, a friend said, “This is too much for the average white man” and a brand was formed. The ‘this’ was funk, a syncopated, rhythmic groove with subtextures, complexity and personality, derived from Afro-Caribbean dance music. Funk had been officially invented by James Brown in the sixties and was almost exclusively played by black bands. With their translucent skin, rubbish facial hair, some of it flaming red, and an insipid sense of dress, Average White Band looked the antithesis of cool and funky. But, they could play. The key performer is the drummer. Robbie McIntosh, who worked professionally as a teenager, brought the groove and a lot of the personality. He obsessed over Melvin Parker, who played on Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, and wouldn’t play if he didn’t consider it funky. He loved to » Continue Reading.

fentonsteve on VW Danbury Highline

Mrs F and I spent the week before last dashing round the North Coast 500 route in a hired VW Danbury Highline camper van. This was our first time in a mobile van (we’re more familiar with static caravans), so I thought, as there was an ATM thread recently, I’d jot down my observations.

We chose to hire this one in particular because it has a toilet, and I have Crohn’s disease (thankfully my guts behaved themselves and I didn’t have to use it). We collected it from Aberdeen, which meant the NC500 route (starting and ending in Inverness) became over 700 miles for us.

THE VAN

I drive a 1.6 litre diesel VW Golf Estate, and the Danbury Highline is only about 25cm wider and 75cm longer than my car, but twice as heavy when fitted out. Engine capacity was a little bigger (1.9 litre), with a six-speed gearbox, but with plenty enough poke for going up the steep mountain passes of the Cairngorms or to barrel long the motorway at 70mph. I didn’t work out the MPG figure but it was not far short of my car. I’m 5′ 11″ and I could » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt released 26/7/1974

Robert Wyatt was a loose-limbed drummer in Soft Machine, part of the Canterbury Set, a band that managed to morph Progressive Rock with Jazz. He moved on to form Matching Mole and then a solo career. He started to write songs for his second album in Venice in 1973 where his partner, Alfreda Benge, was working as an assistant editor on Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. Its waters flow through the lyrics and the music. On the 1st June, back in London, an inebriated Wyatt fell from a bathroom window at a party, breaking his back and paralysing himself from the waist down. During his rehabilitation, he had plenty of time to contemplate his life and rethink the music. He describes his catastrophic injury as the beginning of his maturity. He was grateful to be able to do anything and now that he found he had to rely more on his voice and a keyboard, he developed his skills at manipulating both very quickly. Alfie, an ever-present at his side, gently suggested there needed to be more space in his music. Just breathe. Musically, he felt unfettered. He was free to » Continue Reading.

Colin H on future legends and future nonentities

charels edwards on Blind Boys of Alabama

The Bluesfest sideshow season is at its end. We’ve really enjoyed Meshell Ndegeocello, I’m sorry I missed Snarky Puppy, Elvis Costello was hit and miss.

And I wasn’t sure what to expect at tonight’s show, Blind Boys of Alabama. Would it be a couple of wheezing, wizened old dudes dusting off their gospel history? Or maybe some kind of cabaret mixing old and new, as I knew they’d recorded and played with a range of artists from other genres.

It’s hard to believe the original Blind Boys started in 1939. Membership has slowly changed over the years, but they’ve always had high standards and achieved many accomplisments including Grammy awards and collaborations with theatre, film-makers and many other musicians. Their wonderful version of Tom Waits’ “The Devil Down Below” introduces each episode in the first series of The Wire. (The show used five versions of the song, one for each series. Waits’ version is also great in series two.)

To my delight, Karen Rouse had scored front’row seats in the balcony. Backed by a powerfully sympathetic trio on keys, drums and bass, two old blind guys and a not so old guy » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on Forces Of Victory by Linton Kwesi Johnson (6/4/1979)

Linton Kwesi Johnson is often described an intellectual, implying someone rational rather than emotional, more interested in logic than feelings. However, his work is full of rage directed against the oppression, racism and violence he and his community continue to be subject to. He sees poetry as a cultural weapon in the black liberation struggle. His experience is first hand. He was born in rural Jamaica, his mother moved to Britain on Windrush and he and his father followed when Johnson was eleven, settling in Brixton. He attended Tulse Hill School where he joined The British Black Panther Movement and started a poetry group with Rasta Love, creating pieces to be performed aloud, backed by a percussive rhythm. He went on to study sociology at Goldsmiths College, qualifying in 1973.

Johnson’s passion is derived from his cultural background and his purpose is political. He uses Jamaican Patois because it is his authentic language and because its cadence and rhythm has a natural musicality. Its origins in slavery gives it an edge, derived from mainly Creole speakers picking up English from their masters. He worked in a library and wrote articles » Continue Reading.

Colin H on Pirate radio, mods & rockers

Radio Caroline began 60 years ago last week (28 March 1964). Three days later, there was a bit of scene on Brighton beach involving something called mods & rockers. Here is part of a chapter from the draft version of my John McLaughlin book ‘Bathed in Lightning’ (2014). I enjoyed going off an a tangent and lifting a few stones to peer underneath them when writing a chapter concerning McLaughlin-related goings on in 1964, but it was a tangent that was excised when the book mushroomed. I later included it as a standalone piece in ‘Echoes From Then’ (2017) – a companion volume to BIL. Given the anniversary, here it is – with the front page of the Coventry Telegraph the day after Brighton.

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Pirate Radio, London Mods, British Soul (1964)

‘There were a certain number of coloured Americans around who should have been all right, but there weren’t any James Browns among them… ‘Soul’ in British pop was a non-starter.’ George Melly, Revolt Into Style, 1970 [1]

In a way, Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames were responsible for changing the world, or so the Scene Club’s co-owner/manager, 24-year-old » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Ricky Wilde and Nina: Scala Hearts

So far in 2024 my search for new music has lead me to the heartfelt, Gen X Americana of Noah Kahan and the theatrical, music hall pop of Barbara. While both are great they are ultimately updated versions of what I already know and love. With that in mind when I saw a tweet from Ricky Wilde, brother of the timeless pop goddess Kim, talking about his new music with someone called Nina I hesitated but somewhere in my subconscious I felt a calling. So my research began.

Ricky as I’m sure you know was the writer of many of Kim’s songs including the brilliant Cambodia and is a highly regarded musician. From Wikipedia I discovered that Nina is

Nina Boldt known mononymously and professionally as NINA (born 29 September 1983) is a German singer-songwriter based in London and Berlin. Her music is a fusion of Pop, New Wave, and Electronic music.

Ricky and Nina have made an album called Scala Hearts. A quick look on Spotify and ss soon as I saw that the album opened with a cover of Dollar’s Videotheque let me tell you dear reader there was no going back. It’s immense. » Continue Reading.

Tiggerlion on We Are Family by Sister Sledge released 22/01/1979

Nile Rodgers is fond of saying that those who invested ten dollars in Chic enjoyed million dollar returns. Jerry L. Greenberg, the president of Atlantic Records, wanted to maximise his investment in 1978, when Disco was at its peak and Chic were the best selling act on his label. He suggested that Bernard Edwards and Rodgers wrote and produced albums for others on his roster, including The Rolling Stones and Bette Midler. A few tracks on Some Girls flirted with Disco and Bette Midler’s recent Best Of failed to enter the charts. At the time, Edwards and Rodgers were nervous of working with such iconic performers. They were concerned that any success would not be credited to Chic but they’d be the first in the firing line if things went wrong. Perhaps, an act less well known might be a better place to start, someone who really did need a helping hand. Greenberg had the perfect group in mind.

Sister Sledge are genuine siblings from Philadelphia: Debra, Joni, Kim and Kathy Sledge. Their parents used to tread the boards, Edwin as a tap dancer and Florez as an actress, but » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Noah Kahan – Stick Season

My pre Christmas Del Amitri Advent while lovely got me thinking about how deep my musical rut is. It’s Grand Canyonesque as I continue to just switch between the same bands and albums. So not as a resolution just an acceptance that if I’m lucky enough to get another 20 or 30 years on this planet I’m going to need something else to listen to. It’s no secret I enjoy the process of listening and sharing so here we are.

I decided to listen to Radio 1 on my 30 minute journey to work. It worked for me before, why not now. So Tuesday morning I dived into to a world designed for those 30 – 40 years younger than me. First song out of the 8.30 news was Stick Season by Noah Kahan, nope me neither. Anyway it was clearly by one of those earnest male singer songwriters but it had enough for me to decide, right, I’m in. There was a line in the song referencing covid on planes which piqued my interest further.

There he was on Spotify looking like an extra from Deliverance with his gorgeous German » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Episode 180 – Paul Weller

About 3 years ago during lockdown one time DJ Dan Jennings started a podcast trying to fulfill his wish to finally interview Paul Weller. Much like our friends Jason and Steven’s Nothing Is Real, Desperately Seeking Paul grew from humble beginnings to be essential listening for thousands of music fans. 179 guests all with connections to Paul Weller. Friends, family, collaborators, journalists and fans sharing their stories, connections to the great man as well as what his music has meant to them. My favourites among many Nick Heyward, Dr Robert and Pete Paphides.

Dan’s style has always been a major part in why it was so listenable. Always allowing guests to tell their stories and giving them plenty of air time. This was Dan’s podcast but it was never about Dan. I’ll admit when I heard that Weller was to be the last episode I was worried how Dan would cope being such a huge fan. I shouldn’t have. This episode is without doubt the best interview I’ve heard with Paul Weller. He’s relaxed, open and clearly, as we were to discover, more content than he’s ever been in his life. » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on With The Beatles

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the release of With The Beatles just eight months after Please Please Me I’ve been listening to not only the album for the first time but also some of the music that came before. Trying to get myself in the mind of a music fan in 1963 which requires me to dismiss everything released in my lifetime and more. As luck would have it our dear friends at Nothing Is Real have a two part podcast looking back, just at November 1963 in Beatles world and it has provided the kind of history lesson I could only dreamed of having at school. It has also helped me understand the unique madness of the original and biggest pop mania. So before I get to the album let me try and set the scene as I see it with absolute acknowledgment that these gems are Steven’s and Jason’s as they microscopically followed a month in the life of The Beatles where they were touring the country in front of 120000 fans, an ever voracious press desperate for any snippet of information and increasing interest from the US.

How can » Continue Reading.