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

ACTION!

THE ACTION-Never Ever/Twenty Four Hours (sic) Holland Parlophone R 5572 1967

I don't own it, but I wish I did. Picture sleeve scan courtesy of Reynaldo Moldonando.

Clapton Is God ! (?): Mayall USA Part Two

JOHN MAYALL AND THE BLUESBREAKERS Featuring ERIC CLAPTON-I'm Your Witch Doctor/Telephone Blues U.S. Immediate ZS7-502 1967

Well I don't know if I buy that, but it sounds good right?! That's what was alleged to appear dabbed on walls in London in '66 when Eric Clapton was John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers new guitar slinger having fully joined in April 1965. this single was originally issued in the U.K. as Immediate IM 012 in October 22, 1965 crediting "John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers (and later relaunched again by Immediate in September 1967 as IM 051 crediting "John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton" as did today's postings  American pressing) .  It was John Mayall's third 45 and "God's" first with Mayall and Co. The session for both sides was produced by Jimmy Page, who at the time was doing quite a bit of dial twiddling for Andrew Loog Oldham's new label (among them 45's by Nico, The Fifth Avenue etc).

The line up at the time was the same as the famous "Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton" ( U.K. Decca  LK 4804 July 22 1966 and U.S. London LL 3492 mono and PS 492 stereo 1967) album: Mayall (vocals, harp, keyboards), Clapton on guitar, John McVie (bass) and Hughie Flint (drums). It also marks not only the vinyl debut of Eric Clapton with the band but Mayall's new Hammond organ as well.

"I'm Your Witch Doctor" is classic Bluesbreakers, from Mayall's Hammond intro note segueing into Clapton's blistering guitar licks to Mayall's bluesy lead vocals.  The jazzy swing is undercut by the blues based guitar licks and it all works very well indeed thanks to the nifty little stops and Mayall vocalising along with his organ trills. For me it marks the end of the band's classic British r&b "Flamingo jazz" style before they became an all out "blues rock" group.

"Telephone Blues" is not as swinging in my book. It's sadly traipsing into the B.B. King turf that quite honestly bores me when it's being recycled by a batch of British blues devotees.

Both sides are available on a variety of places since Immediate stuff has been reissued very heavily, more often than not illegally. If you're concerned with legit products there's the double CD "Immediate Pleasure" of various tracks for the label that contains the A-side

Hear "I'm Your Witch Doctor":

http://youtu.be/ml3LekKHdOc

Hear "Telephone Blues":

http://youtu.be/YutZ3Y5Vf8Y

Somewhere In New York:Paul Weller Live 5/19/12

When I got word that Paul Weller would be coming to NYC for two nights I decided I'd go.  After two decades of what can best be described as either hit or miss or partial to near ambivalence about his material I'd been suitably jolted by his  "Wake Up The Nation" LP (us old folks still call them LP's) to want to have a look.  After all "Wake Up The Nation" was to me, the best Weller product I'd heard since 1980's "Sound Affects", true story.  A month later after purchasing tickets for the fellas and I he launched his new LP "Sonik Kicks".  I had a problem.  After numerous listens I could not get my head around it save it's Ultravox-like opener "Green".  So it was with much trepidation that the Likely Lads (my gang of men friends) set off for the Big Apple....

Weller NYC gigs have always had an interesting cross section in my limited experience (I've seen two, both in NYC).  I hadn't been to a Weller gig since 1992 or 1993 but the demographic hadn't changed too much (although there was a distinct absence of any "mods" this time around, bar some of my band of merry men and I am happy to report that the NYC scruffy Brit pop/Indie mods are gone or at least absent from Weller gigs ).  There were the rich Euro/Brit jetsetters who flew over just for the gig and told everyone and sundry about it, those dedicated Wellerites who'd follow everything he did and probably pine for his unreleased "house" Style Council LP, those sad fuckers who go to bed every night praying one day they'll log on and discover he's patched it up with Bruce and Rick and then there's what "Mojo" faithfully described as:

"fortysomething year old men in Fred Perry tops, arms folded wondering what arty mini-suites like "Trees" are playing at".

Though in NYC they all seemed to be wearing gingham Ben Sherman's! On my way to the gents during the riot girlll opening band (my pal Kevin mused "They've seen The Runaways movie and formed a band") I bumped into Andy Lewis, Weller's bassist and all round cool guy (AND an amazing musician in his own right who's Acid Jazz releases have garnered more iPod time in Anorak Thing Manor than his employer).  Andy assured me that despite what I felt about "Sonik Kicks" that I'd possibly appreciate it live and that I should keep an open mind and that there'd be much more than the new LP and promised an enjoyable two and a half hours of music ahead of us.  He did not lie on any count!

Weller and band took the stage to a greeting that equaled the sound all the Chelsea fans made in the Belgian bar we'd been at a few hours earlier when they trounced Munich.   Kicking in with "Green" the place and mood was electric.  Resplendent in a kipper tie, immaculate Weller hair and a suit with lapels large enough to carry him to the Falklands with a strong headwind the man wielded an Epiphone solid body and looked high on playing.  I will own up and admit that Andy was right, "Sonik Kicks" did indeed sound brilliant live!  My highlights of the "Sonik Kicks" set were (beyond the stellar opener): the string quartet and trippy Floydian '67 effects on "Sleep Of The Serene" segueing into "By The Waters" where I saw for the first time in the 30 years I've been going to see him live, Paul Weller perched atop a stool clutching a microphone while Steve Craddock in the absolute coolest fucking double breasted suit I've ever seen strummed an acoustic and immaculately arranged string section did their thing.  Then there was the Melodica laced "Study In Blue" (with a guest spot by Mrs. Weller Hannah on vocals) with it's "Armagideon Time" extended dub reggae swatches towards the end and the "Interstellar Overdrive" meets "Tomorrow Never Knows" screamadelia of "Drifters" that was absolutely trippy.

The band came back for an acoustic set that saw all band six members perched on stools and all but Andy strumming acoustic guitars (Andy had a groovy Epiphone semi acoustic bass).  The set opened with "The Butterfly Collector", which actually worked well and of course sent the Jam deprived members of the audience into insanity and included one of my fave "early" Weller solo tunes "Out Of The Sinking". 

Off they went and came back for an electric set, electric in more ways than one with punchy versions of my faves like "From The Floorboards Up", "Stanley Road" (with Weller on electric piano) and "22 Dreams" which until tonight I'd never paid any mind to and is now a favorite!  "Foot Of The Mountain" became a bit "jam bandy" (and not in the Woking three piece sense) but kept shorter than I'd seen it played before and my faves from the previous LP like "Wake Up The Nation" and "Fast Car/Slow Traffic" kicked out the jams.  Sadly there was no "7 + 3 Is The Strikers Name" (which he'd played the previous night or so I read). 



The band beat an exit and returned to a thunderous encore.  By now a flatulent German my age or older  had violated my personal circle space and beyond his noxious odor I had to contend with his fist pumping and juvenile jumping up and down and flailing limbs with near childish enthusiasm. Encore #1 brought more "old" solo faves like "Into Tomorrow" which brought me back to being a demobbed soldier in the Summer of '91 and hearing this new and interesting "Weller solo debut" and another "old" solo fave "The Changingman" (aka E.L.O.'s "10538 Overture").  There was a second encore.  By now I was weighing the issues of ruining a $1,300 suit and traumatizing my family by getting locked up for assault as the German had now taken to swinging the handkerchief which he'd been mopping his balding head with all night and I contemplated seizing it and wrapping it around his neck from behind in a low horse stance to gain control of his balance.  When the second and final encore brought "Town Called Mallice" der arschloch was in full on idiot dancing cuming in his pants mode and I was in no mood to enjoy it.  Maybe it was also the weird sing along frenzy that swept the venue and caused me to suddenly feel as I did when I took my wife to see Crosby and Nash for her B-day and all the 60+ hippies caterwauled out of key to every favorite: nauseated.  Not at all by the band or even their decision to play the track but by the corniness of the sing along "oldies" feel the night suddenly had taken with thousands of hands reaching into the air and swaying like they'd seen the messiah and wanted a piece of him.  I suddenly found it odd that Weller as a practice, disowns Jam reunion talk but here's several thousand people crooning along off key to possibly the best known Jam tune in America.........is their a difference my friends?  You tell me. But no matter what it wasn't going to piss on my parade that was, as Andy promised, an amazing two and a half hour evening!



Sonik Kicks Set
1. Green
2. The Attic
3. Kiling I Klang
4. Sleep Of The Serene
5. By The Waters
6. That Dangerous Age
7. Study In Blue
8. Dragonfly
9. When Your Garden's Overgrown
10. Around The Lake
11. Twilight
12. Drifters
13. Paperchase
14. Be Happy Children

Acoustic Set
15. The Butterfly Collector
16. Out Of The Sinking
17. Aim High
18. All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You)
19. You Do Something To Me
20. Devotion

Electric Set
21. Moonshine
22. From The Floorboards Up
23. 22 Dreams
24. Stanley Road
25. Foot Of the Mountain
26. Wake Up The Nation
27. Fast Car/Slow Traffic
28. Echoes Round the Sun
29. Whirlpool's End

Encore #1
30. Pieces Of A Dream
31. Into Tomorrow
32. The Changingman

Encore #2
33. A Town Called Malice

Robin Gibb R.I.P.