I'm heading off to Butlins this weekend, in about half an hour in fact.
Not for the crazy golf or the knobbly knees competition, but for All Tomorrow's Parties.
Three days of black clad miserable Australians, led by Nick Cave, The Dirty Three, Einsturzende Neubaten (who cancelled Rock City last night - doesn't bode well..) and the more sprightly Joanna Newsom, who is the act I'm especially looking forward to. Adding the legendary 'I can't believe they are still alive, let alone appearing on stage' The Only Ones, and the acoustic Spiritualized, it should be a cracking weekend.
And if the entertainment palls, there's always the chance for a quick dip in the sub tropical paradise or a brisk stroll up Minehead beach.
'No dry ice? No dry ice? Hey Jason, they've got no dry ice'
16.4.07
Into The Purple Valley
Two LPs have dominated tonight's listening; 'Into The Purple Valley', by Ry Cooder, and 'Handful Of Earth', by Dick Gaughan.
Ry Cooder seems to me to be an unsung giant of guitar music. I bought this LP when I was 17 or 18, from Way Ahead records on Hurts Yard in Nottingham. Most of the tracks are cover versions of songs by folks like Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, etc. Cooder is maybe more famous these days for being the instigator of the Buena Vista Social Club, as well as his soundtrack for Paris Texas, but he paid his dues playing guitar alongside Captain Beefheart, Taj Mahal, and in the 'Sticky Fingers' era Rolling Stones. Not to mention one of the great lost Stones singles, 'Memo From Turner' from the soundtrack to Performance.
Cooder has claimed that Keith Richards pinched his signature guitar tuning, and based subsequent Stones albums around his sound, although the Keef countered that Cooder himself learned various tunings and techniques from the likes of Rev Gary Davis and was therefore hardly in a position to claim originality.
Either way, Into The Purple Valley is a terrific LP, some great slide guitar - Vigilante Man being the highlight for me.
Gaughan, on the other hand, is the man who prompted Andy Kershaw to exclaim 'I thought The Redskins were radical until I discovered Dick Gaughan'.
Famously, Handful Of Earth was voted the best folk album of the 1980's by readers of Folk Roots, on the strength of tracks like 'World Turned Upside Down' (covered by Billy Bragg) and 'Worker's Song'.
Jim and I once went to see him at the Old Vic, not a vintage evening, but great to see the man in close quarters. There were two ladies at the bar loudly discussing topics unrelated to socialist folk music. After the next convenient tune, Jim leaned over to them and said 'Could you talk a bit more loudly? I can still hear Dick Gaughan'.
Did the trick...
Ry Cooder seems to me to be an unsung giant of guitar music. I bought this LP when I was 17 or 18, from Way Ahead records on Hurts Yard in Nottingham. Most of the tracks are cover versions of songs by folks like Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, etc. Cooder is maybe more famous these days for being the instigator of the Buena Vista Social Club, as well as his soundtrack for Paris Texas, but he paid his dues playing guitar alongside Captain Beefheart, Taj Mahal, and in the 'Sticky Fingers' era Rolling Stones. Not to mention one of the great lost Stones singles, 'Memo From Turner' from the soundtrack to Performance.
Cooder has claimed that Keith Richards pinched his signature guitar tuning, and based subsequent Stones albums around his sound, although the Keef countered that Cooder himself learned various tunings and techniques from the likes of Rev Gary Davis and was therefore hardly in a position to claim originality.
Either way, Into The Purple Valley is a terrific LP, some great slide guitar - Vigilante Man being the highlight for me.
Gaughan, on the other hand, is the man who prompted Andy Kershaw to exclaim 'I thought The Redskins were radical until I discovered Dick Gaughan'.
Famously, Handful Of Earth was voted the best folk album of the 1980's by readers of Folk Roots, on the strength of tracks like 'World Turned Upside Down' (covered by Billy Bragg) and 'Worker's Song'.
Jim and I once went to see him at the Old Vic, not a vintage evening, but great to see the man in close quarters. There were two ladies at the bar loudly discussing topics unrelated to socialist folk music. After the next convenient tune, Jim leaned over to them and said 'Could you talk a bit more loudly? I can still hear Dick Gaughan'.
Did the trick...
11.4.07
I Got a Razor
Willie Dixon is best known as a writer of hit blues songs for the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf, as well as being the double bass player in Muddy's electric band in Chicago - he also played on some of Chuck Berry's early records. Led Zeppelin ripped off his 'You Need Love' for a track on their second album, later adapted as the theme tune for Top Of The Pops...Willie won a royalty credit in an out of court settlement almost 20 years later.
I'm a lot less familiar with his own recordings, but this track from the soundtrack to Deadwood is fantastic, walking bass and braggadocio spoken word vocal accompanied by Memphis Slim on the Old Joanna...
Also on the wheels of steel tonight - late period Captain Beefheart, specifically the albums featuring Gary Lucas on the guitar. Ice Cream For Crow - Floppy Boot Stomp! - and Doc At The Radar Station, which includes Hot Head.
I'm a lot less familiar with his own recordings, but this track from the soundtrack to Deadwood is fantastic, walking bass and braggadocio spoken word vocal accompanied by Memphis Slim on the Old Joanna...
Also on the wheels of steel tonight - late period Captain Beefheart, specifically the albums featuring Gary Lucas on the guitar. Ice Cream For Crow - Floppy Boot Stomp! - and Doc At The Radar Station, which includes Hot Head.
10.4.07
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Much of this Brian Eno LP sounds very familiar, it must have been used on loads of films, documentaries, adverts, etc although the only one I would have been able to name is Deep Blue Day from the Trainspotting soundtrack.
Previously the only Eno stuff I have heard was Music For Airports, so ambient as to be barely musical, and Here Come The Warm Jets, which is pretty much a straightforward rock LP (with vocals!) recorded shortly after he left Roxy Music. Apollo makes for unsettling listening, and I guess in the right, or wrong, circumstance sit could be downright terrifying. I'd love to see the NASA documentary which it was devised to accompany, I would imagine it would be a perfect marriage of sound and vision.
2.4.07
There there my dear
It's 1980; I'm listening to Axe Attack with Ady, enjoying the delights of Motorhead, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, and, er, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush...
Meanwhile, Dexy's Midnight Runners have released 'Searching For the Young Soul Rebels', and a nation of indie kids is dressing in donkey jackets and beanie hats, hooting along with Kevin Rowland to 'Geno' and 'Seven Days'...
What a terrific LP that is! It does slightly shame me to think I was immune to anything other than NWOBHM rock at the time, but I have belatedly been enjoying this record almost every day since I picked it up last week, after reading the great review in Fear of Music. Hearing music as passionate as this is a refreshing alternative to the jaded, careerist pap which passes fro chart music in 2007.
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