TO WHERE I AM NOW

Dare wasn’t coming into the studio today till after 4PM so Olivia and I made our joyous pilgrimage to the recycling and the supermarket which although necessary is really just an excuse to go and be with the sea. In fact feeding off the sea air might be healthier than anything we buy. All that oxygen and that salty breeze are just a delight. I read somewhere (unsubstantiated) that as well as breathing all that beautiful fresh air in, you might want to start by breathing out all the old air that’s sitting in the secret corners of your lungs. (Yes, Unsubstantiated and Secret Corners are ex band songs.) Olivia’s eyes started to water in the wind, but I just couldn’t drag myself away, this mesmerising toing and froing of the waves, the purity of the air, the expanse of the bay, the moving clouds and the sun disappearing and sporadically reappearing, is the antidote to the lockdown.

On the way back up to the studio I decided to take some pictures of the hairdresser’s menu. One of the dishes was “Skin Fade”. I said to Olivia, “What is skin fade?”. Just then our friend and resident Reggae expert, DJ and professional Liverpudlian, Indian Billy came by and between Olivia and him, they explained what it was. Only now have I really understood – it’s footballer’s haircut. Billy and I briefly exchanged memories of being chased around Liverpool by ‘skinheads’, Billy putting up with a lot more than me. I left the scary hairdresser’s thinking it’s only people with short hair that have their hair shortened.

In the park the exotic plants are bravely coming out despite the lockdown. I must find out what some of them are called and write something about this place as plants grow here that don’t grow in the rest of England (it’s a milder climate down here), there’s even bamboo! Walking back through the park Billy and his friend were sitting on one of the benches taking in the beauty of it all. We became aware of the birdsong all around us. I asked does anybody actually know which birds sing what songs? Billy said there’s an app! Of course there is.

Just out of the park we met Steve, the sound engineer from the Acorn Theatre opposite the studio and archive. He’s obviously had nothing to do for the last month with all the concerts postponed. Dare saw us on his way to the studio and he came and joined in the conversation. It was then that I noticed we were all standing farther apart than we normally do. I’d noticed earlier that although couples must touch, that you don’t see any public human contact (even from the couples). Is the handshake dead? The continental cheek kiss, the hug? Can people really be scared of touching their own partners?

In the studio it was straight into guitar ideas with Space Summit. What does this track need? We spent a good hour experimenting with the wah-wah pedal, different guitars, Jazzmaster, Strat, Les Paul, different amps, AC30, JC120. It was all a bit too funky for the song, a bit too “Shaft”. We spent a couple of hours working on the track till I had a sesh with Marc in Annapolis. Did I read there were anti-lockdown protests there and in other places where there are Democrat governors blaming them for doing what the government (with medical advice) has been telling everyone to do and whilst Republican governors are also enforcing lockdowns? Worst of all during these protests, they bring their guns – you know that essential business that must stay open through it all, but you must close the bookshops, I mean they are always so packed with people. All I know is that Stockholm is not in lockdown and that’s where my eyes are focussed for obvious reasons.

After the Marc sesh, dinner, an episode of Star Trek, interestingly it was the episode about ‘Kodos’ who had executed 4,000 people on a colony when they ran out of food to save another 4,000 from starvation. The moral dilemma of it all – the food arrived earlier than expected, just after he held the execution, and by the way the executed were chosen by him. I read that one of the Republican governors stated that it’s best for the vulnerable to die and save the American lifestyle. Also there’s the potential scenario that although the lockdown might slow down the virus and the hospitals will be able to cope more easily with the lockdown in force, that ultimately the virus will infect beyond the easing of the lockdown anyway and all we’ll have is even more death, but with a shattered economy. This potential scenario doesn’t make the most vulnerable and the sick and their families want to be sacrificed now for the so-called greater good. Everyone needs help, everyone wants to live. Then there’s the people out there that think that the whole thing is a great big lie. My view on all this is that hopefully at some point in the future we will all be able to see what should have happened, who was right, who was wrong and how can we avoid it all happening again.

Music today was a journey back to obscure bands that all the collectors know and the public at large don’t. May Blitz s/t and The 2nd Of May were released on Vertigo in 1970 and 1971. They were not successful and consequently the band broke up. The singer and guitarist James Black and the bass player Reid Hudson were both Canadian and returned to Canada. I haven’t been able to trace what happened to them next. The drummer Tony Newman went on to play with Three Man Army and was recruited to play on David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs. He continued to play with Bowie live and also appears on David Live, released in 1974, Newman has quite a resumé. May Blitz are a mixture of early Progressive and Blues Rock. What I like the most about music like this is all the instrumental passages, the jamming. I listen for amazing songs in other music. I only have reissues of most of this type of album, in the case of May Blitz originals sell for around the £500 mark.

Staying in the same approximate universe, I listened to Three Man Army’s three seventies released albums. The instrumental passages are still there but it’s more song orientated. The Gurvitz Brothers Adrian and Paul, formed the band after Gun split up in 1970. You might remember Gun’s 1968 hit, Race With The Devil. Three Man Army’s last seventies album was unreleased till 2005. Prior to Three Man Army, Paul Gurvitz joined Parrish & Gurvitz for one album produced by George Martin and Adrian, after starting work on the first Three Man Army album originally planned as a solo album, joined Buddy Miles’ band before the brothers found themselves playing with Ginger Baker for three albums in Baker Gurvitz Army and then two albums with The Graeme Edge band (Moody Blues drummer). Then, and although it seems like a lot of people don’t actually know who the prolific Adrian Gurvitz is, his huge long list of successes is for you to research yourself should you wish to.

Song Of The Day today is the riffy Let Me Tell You A Secret from Noctorum’s Offer The Light:

 

Let Me Tell You A Secret

The Venus de Milo
The Shroud of Turin
The Mona Lisa
Ho Chi Minh

Leonardo da Vinci
The Eiffel Tower
The Sahara Desert
General Eisenhower

All this information
Too many things to know
It’s like dehydration
And so nothing grows

Coca Cola
Calvin Klein
Starbucks and Nike
ICI
You turn on the TV
Too many things on show
Too much information
Ooh too much food to grow

Let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
I’m as crazy as you are
Living with these ghosts

And so we’re in it together
With our big ideas
Changing the system
In these coming years

But it’s like climbing a mountain
Without any clothes
All this running in circles
You gotta keep on your toes

Well let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
If it’s the last thing I do here
Put an end to these jokes

Let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
Well I’m as crazy as you are
Living with these ghosts

Well let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
If it’s the last thing I do here
Put an end to these jokes

(Willson-Piper / Mason)
Noctorum – Offer The Light (2006)