The Roots of Madness:Kilburn And The High Roads

KILBURN & THE HIGH ROADS-Rough Kids/Billy Bentley U.K. Dawn DNS 1090 1974

As I grew wiser (and older) I began seeking out obscure British things from the early 70's that weren't glam.  Way back in the early 90's I'd heard Dr. Feelgood's "Down By The Jetty" and immediately had The Jam's debut LP "In The City" sussed. About  6 or 7 years ago I heard Kilburn and The High Roads....yes

Kilburn And The High Roads

and I had Madness sussed. Wow, I knew The Nutty Boys had some different influences, but this was completely their sound and the song that hipped me to this was "Rough Kids" that appeared on a "Mojo" CD that I think, was called "The Roots Of Punk" (I could be wrong).  "Rough Kids" was the band's debut 45 issued in the U.K. in November 1974.  For those who don't know the band were formed in the late 60's by Ian Dury and numbered among their line up a guitarist Keith Lucas (now known as Nick Cash, the lead singer of 999) and pianist Russel Hardy (who co-wrote much of their material with Dury). They are best remembered also as being one of the more eccentric, but short lived acts in the mid 70's U.K. pub rock scene.

"Rough Kids" has a slight ska feel to it from the mock West Indian accented lead vocals (not unlike The Kink's "Apeman") to the sax (which is also crossed with Dury's beloved 50's rock n' roll).  There's also a music hall feel on the piano and a slight almost "contemporary" bit with the female backing vocals sounding like most records from 1974's top ten.  Overall it's totally unique and bears absolutely no distinct resemblance to any one genre as Dury and Co. skillfully mish mashed a variety of influences, as he did throught much of his career.

"Billy Bentley" follows Dury's beloved Cockney/music hall influence (again an area absorbed by Madness lock stock and barrell) and later quite apparent on Dury tracks with The Blockheads like "My Old Man", "There Ain't Been Half Some Clever Bastards", " Billericay Dickie" or "Plaistow Patricia". Complete with Dury's cheeky banter, tasty sax lines and moments where the track slows down and disloves into a jaunty little piano trill (again QUITE Madness-like).

Both tracks are available on CD on the reissue of their sole LP "Handsome"

Hear "Rough Kids":

http://youtu.be/yJNmqT1F4eI

Hear "Billy Bentley":

http://youtu.be/TcCk6tcteNc

Groovy lookng PRT 10 " E.P. I missed in the 80's when we were all buying them on the cheap (Kinks,Bowie,Searchers,Sandie, Foundations etc)

Hear Madness play "Rough kids" with Ian Dury live 12/21/85:

http://youtu.be/6-QGNtFbN2Q



The Genuis of Graham Gouldman: on 45

GRAHAM GOULDMAN-The Impossible Years/No Milk Today RCA Victor 47-9453 U.S. 1968

Manchester's very own Graham Gouldman is best known for the string of hits he provided to The Hollies, The Yardbirds and Herman's Hermits to name but a few. With his own band, The Mockingbirds, such chart success eluded him despite his knack for songwriting and possessing great voice (he fronted The Mockingbirds).  Between early 1965 and late 1966 the band cut five amazing, but commercially unsuccessful singles in the U.K. (two on Columbia, one on Immediate and the final two on Decca).  Shortly before the last Mockingbirds single ("How To Find A Lover" Decca F12510 October 1966) Gouldman released the soulful ""Stop! Stop! Stop! (Or Honey I'll Be Gone)" as his first solo single on Decca (F 12334) in the U.K.  It too failed.  Undeterred he plugged on and released another U.K. only solo single ("Upstairs Downstairs" backed with a funky Hammond/Mellotron instrumental called "Chestnut" as RCA 1667 in February 1968) and oddly a bit later in 1968 he was rewarded with a U.S only LP called "The Graham Gouldman Thing" (RCA Victor LSP 3954).  It was comprised of 11 tracks, all Gouldman originals, many of which were previously recorded by other artists.  The original sleeve production credits go to Peter Noone, of Herman's Hermits, though Gouldman was adamant in an interview quoted on the Edsel CD reissue that Noone had little involvement after an initial visit and the bulk of the LP's work was done by the brilliant touch of John Paul Jones with help from Eddie Kramer and session drummer extraordinaire Clem Cattini with Gouldman providing guitar.

"The Impossible Years" was the first of two singles launched in the U.S. to promote the album. It was previously released as the fourth solo 45 by fellow Mancunian Wayne Fontana in November of 1966 (Fontana TF 770 U.K.). Gouldman's ode to the difficult times of a blooming teenage girl are perfectly rounded out by immaculate orchestration (strings and woodwinds) courtesy of John Paul Jones and strong lead vocals by Graham. It easily blows the Wayne Fontana version away on all counts. "No Milk Today" previously a smash hit for Herman's Hermits (# 7 in the U.K. and #35 as a U.S. B-side) doesn't fare as well as the A-side for my ears, it almost sounds as though Gouldman is going through the motions.  Regardless it's a great track, just not as amazing as it's topside.

Both sides are available on the CD reissue of "The Graham Gouldman Thing".  And for a well done piece on his brilliant 60's career pop over here for a look:

http://accelerateddecrepitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/graham-gouldman-thing-1968.html

Hear "The Impossible Years":

http://youtu.be/NG59kVEp-sY

Hear "No Milk Today":

http://youtu.be/KXbf6OmTLdk

Weirdness:Sean Bonniwell and The Manson Family

I've long been fascinated by The Manson Family, not in a cult hero sort of way but there's something so unbelievably creepy about them that I find myself drawn to reading or watching anything I can get my hands on about them.

Charlie or Felix Cavaliere?

Now this guy DOES sort look like Tex Watson





Back in the early 90's I lived near an amazing video rental store that stocked the most off the wall shit on VHS.  Among the treasure trove there was a 1971 film called "The Helter Skelter Murders".  In retrospect it's a pretty awful film, bad acting, at times the film is in color then reverts back to b&w, bad directing, the guy playing Manson looks like Felix Cavaliere from The Rascals, oh I could go on and on. BUT it has it's merits, the rest of the cast actually look like the Family members they're portraying and even better, the musical director was one Thomas Sean Bonniwell (aka Sean Bonniwell) of the Music Machine.  The theme tune during the opening credits is a super eerie instrumental version of "Dark White" (the tune itself with vocals appears frequently in the film) which is played while there's grainy negative footage of a moth being devoured in a spider's web.  Uber creepy!  You can watch it below, you'll have to wait till about the 5:00 mark before the credits/music begins. They also use "Eagle Never Hunts The Fly" in a "freak out scene at Golden Gate Park" as a bunch of long hairs looking like The Electric Flag or Country Joe pretend to play while a witness recounts on the stand how she met Charlie as well as "Soul Love" and a T.S. Bonniwell tune from his '69 LP "Close" called  "Where Am I To Go".  I've always been curious how he wound up involved with this flick!

Even more creepy is they even got the real Charlie Manson's music in the film with one track (the wiggy "Mechanical Man")!  Beyond the cast looking like members of the Family the people playing their victims look like the actual persons they are playing in many instances as well.  The layout of the house/yard for the Sharon Tate slaying scene looks as if it had been filmed on the actual location at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon (it wasn't). The scene is quite distrubing, more so than the 1976 TV movie "Helter Skelter" (featuring Beatles music by a band called "Rain"!) because it's graphic without resorting to slasher style gore and occurs pretty much the way we've all read it going down.

For more on the film you can get the specifics from imdb.com:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183159/combined