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A busy day of sessions today and not playing the bass on Ahad’s songs after all as time was short and Dare was only in the studio for a short period. Instead I had lunch with a gorgeous wholemeal vege pasty that sacrificed itself to me whilst I glanced at the latest Uncut magazine. How lovely to eat a pasty that doesn’t have peppers whether they be green, red, yellow or otherwise. They pervade food like a rabid bulldog in a room full of cats. If I ever get the taste of them by mistake I can’t shake them off whatever I do. Even if I ate custard it would still taste of them. I think it’s something to do with anything that has alien skin – tomatoes, peppers, aubergine (egg plant). These strange shiny creatures are obviously the eggs of invading space people that gestate inside your body and will have you turn into a three-eyed lizard type creature as soon as the spaceships arrive from that distant galaxy – they are coming.

I’ll be talking a bit about Ringo Starr today as it’s his 80th birthday (as well as the anniversary of Syd Barrett’s death, but that’s for later). I bought Uncut magazine today and guess who was on the cover? You got it, The Beatles. How can that be? They broke up in 1970, that’s 50 years ago. Well there’s this new film coming (Get Back) so it is about those final days which is relevant, but, it seems that any issue with The Beatles on the cover sells well – apparently this is also true of Mojo. It’s hard to imagine that new music has little power and old music so much power with older people.

Although I might have been discussing a lot of older records in the archive (I’m kinda going through it), I’m as interested in Phoebe Bridgers or Laura Marling, FKA Twigs or Lana Del Rey (and lots of groups with males, ha ha). But it seems that the older you get and the further away you get from your youth and the music you listened to then, the more disinterested you are in what’s new. Why is that? Is music pure nostalgia? If you look, you will find lots of modern things you will like, simply because there’s so many people doing it and these days there’s so many different styles and so many humans on the planet that there’s room for everyone to have some kind of audience and justify the style you choose to make. For example if you are into The Allman Brothers you might like Chris Robinson’s Brotherhood or Drive By Truckers, not because they are the same, but because they live on the same planet and are really good. Not everything is Rihanna or Katy Perry or made for younger people. If you look you will find. Or tell me what you like and I’ll find something relevant that’s modern for you! I need more time for playlists.

Staying on music as it’s a special day, my old school friend Deb (via her partner Brett) sent me a video today of Cindy & Bert singing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid in German with the lyrics changed to Der Hund von Baskerville, mimed, badly dubbed and absurd – but you have to see it.

 
Also, nineteen years ago today American Folk legend Fred Neil died. He’s best known for writing Everybody’s Talking, sung by Nilsson, the song appearing in the classic film Midnight Cowboy (1969) with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight (Angelina Jolie’s dad). He also wrote Dolphins which Tim Buckley recorded and I have played it live with Olivia. Fred went on to work with real dolphins for 30 years and drifted away from music. If you pick up his third album it has his versions of The Dolphins and Everybody’s Talking. He died in 2001 of skin cancer at the age of 65.

I said it was all music today, Austrian composer Gustav Mahler was born today in 1860, he died in 1911. Mary Ford was born today in 1924 and died in 1977, famous for her collaborations with ‘the’ Les Paul. Just to round things off with the wonderful appearance of Cindy & Bert (he died in 2012) – It was today that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930 (born in 1859). One wonders if listening to Cindy & Bert might have killed him had he been alive.

So, music today celebrates life and death – 14 years ago today Syd Barrett died, 80 years ago today Ringo Starr was born. So I started tonight’s music with Syd’s first album The Madcap Laughs released in the UK in 1970 (not in the US till 1974). It opens with Terrapin, a collapsing gem, “Oh baby my hair’s on end about you”. The genius of Syd was his quintessential Englishness, even though at this point his state of mind was uncertain he still managed to execute his unique lyrical and melodic trip – no pun intended.

No Good Trying and Love You star Soft Machine as the band, Robert Wyatt on drums, Mike Ratledge on keys and Hugh Hopper on bass, Syd on guitar and vocals. The guitars seem to have a life of their own and one supposes that because Soft Machine were so used to odd timings, Syd’s structures somehow made sense to them. No Good Trying is a wonderful mood and melody and Love You with Ratledge’s bar room piano and the oddest time is catchy as hell, it’s like a song from a bizarre circus. No Man’s Land features Humble Pie’s Jerry Shirley, playing a steady beat through Syd’s layered guitars. One imagines it’s also Syd on bass, there’s no musician credits on the album sleeve. Dark Globe, produced by Gilmour and Waters, is an eccentric masterpiece of melody and inventiveness. The childlike Here I Go also has Gilmour in the control room and Shirley back on the drums, who seems to be not quite sure what he’s supposed to be doing. Anybody that is a Syd fan knows everything about him, so any deep analysis of these songs (should you want an analysis) can be found on the net starting with Wikipedia.

Side 2 opens with Octopus and then Golden Hair, produced by Syd and Dave, Willie Wilson on drums probably – two classic songs (aren’t they all?). What might be the best thing to do with Syd Barrett is to read all the lyrics whilst listening for maximum enjoyment. Side 1 is produced by Malcolm Jones except Dark Globe. Gilmour and Waters are back on Side 2 with Long Gone. The songs are just so full of ideas, lyrical, musical, this track could maybe have appeared stylistically on A Saucerful Of Secrets. She Took A Long Cold Look has that unnerving Syd timing and it sounds like he’s stalling as he looks at the words. One doesn’t wonder too much about where his head was at, it is what it is, but it’s more where the others in the studio’s heads were at hearing the fractured genius at work. Feel is pure poetry perhaps expressed clearly in Syd’s head as he seemingly randomly changes chords in the imaginary instrumental part, you can hear that he’s hearing something. If It’s In You captures the struggle and the vision. The last track produced by Peter Jenner and Malcolm Jones has that early Floyd sound in his voice and melody. One wonders how this album would have sounded with Rick Wright and Nick Mason perhaps the only ones (with Gilmour and Waters) who could have captured it. In the end what is captured is not the failing of a mind but the beautiful imagination of the adult child.

The second album, Barrett, also released in 1970, opens with Baby Lemonade with Gilmour in the producer’s chair and Rick Wright on keys throughout the record. Jerry Shirley and Willie Wilson are recalled on drums. It’s sonically more of a full band sound that continues on to Love Song and Dominoes with its melody, that backwards guitar and catchy little melody in the chorus (Gilmour on drums). It Is Obvious, Rats and Maisie really are meandering, but I imagine that then it was hard to get a measure of the songs and which worked and which didn’t. Can you imagine some of the takes if these were the ones they kept? You also have to remember that these guys were in their mid-twenties, trying to sort it all out. Syd was gone, not just from the Floyd – they were all so young. There would have been lots of drugs and alcohol – it was sixties London, wow, what a scene it must have been.

Gigolo Aunt opens Side 2, “I know what you are, you’re a gigolo aunt”. You can hear from this song how Robyn Hitchcock loves Syd, that mix of absurdity, deadpan humour, creativity, eccentricity, the wonderful English madness. Waving My Arms In The Air/I Never Lied To You were next. This quote from Rick Wright (Wikipedia) helps understand the process:

Doing Syd’s record was interesting, but extremely difficult. Dave and Roger did the first one and Dave and myself did the second one. But by then it was just trying to help Syd any way we could, rather than worrying about getting the best guitar sound. You could forget about that! It was just going into the studio and trying to get him to sing. – Richard Wright

Most tracks, including Wined and Dined and Wolfpack are less chaotic than the tracks on the first album, but whatever you call the essence that was captured on the first album, it shows that it’s not about anything else but spirit.

The album ends with Effervescing Elephant and shows the happy heart that lived somewhere in that impossible head. Barrett drew the cover art, but despite Gilmour and Wright’s attempts to help Syd the album failed to chart and wasn’t released at all in the US till later along with The Madcap Laughs. Syd was done and perhaps it all makes sense with this recollection from Jerry Shirley:

He would never play the same tune twice. Sometimes Syd couldn’t play anything that made sense; other times what he’d play was absolute magic. Barrett’s direction to the other musicians were limited to pronouncements like, Perhaps we could make the middle darker and maybe the end a bit middle afternoonish. At the moment it’s too windy and icy. – Jerry Shirley

Today is also Ringo’s 80th birthday. When The Beatles broke up in 1970 Ringo was hitting 30. It’s hard to imagine that after the demise of The Beatles he would already be in the studio and in that year he actually released two albums, Sentimental Journey and Beaucoup Of Blues. The first is an album of standards like Night And Day, Whispering Grass, Bye Bye Blackbird, Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing and Have I Told You Lately That I love You.

It has been seen as lovable as much as it was savaged, Harrison called it “Great”, Lennon called it “Embarrassing”, but with the picture on the cover of The Empress in Dingle where a poor Richard Starkey grew up it makes complete sense. (His relatives are superimposed in the windows.) It was songs that the relatives sang. You can image them in the pub having a sing-song. It sold 500,000 copies in the USA. When Olivia and I went on the Beatles Tour, we parked right outside the pub where the photo was taken.

In the same year he made another odd record, this time with Country songs. Beaucoup Of Blues was produced by Pete Drake and followed up on Ringo’s interest in Country music. As you know The Beatles had covered Buck Owens’ Act Naturally and Ringo had sung it, then there was What Goes On that he co-wrote, Don’t Pass Me By that he wrote. The album didn’t do as well as Sentimental Journey but has a reputation of being a proper album despite its abrupt change of direction which really wasn’t as big a shock as Sentimental Journey. It took just two nights to record. The late Charlie Daniels played violin (he died just a couple of days ago). Ringo would take a break and concentrate on his acting until he came back in 1973 and had a big hit with Photograph, returning to a musical format that the public could understand. Happy Birthday, Ringo.

Song Of The Day is See Emily Play, I still have the original single that I bought in 1967.

 
Syd Barrett – The breakdown of Syd as told by his sister and band members – Radio Broadcast 09/06/11:

Today I saw the strangest thing, people queuing to have their hair cut. What happened to men with long hair? Where did they go? Why are people so obsessed with the squaddie look? Is it the footballers or the crowd that made that happen? Everton’s Ben Davies and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk are trying. But I guess it’s fashion and people follow it, look at every picture from the seventies! Ha ha, against their better judgement they went along with it, although one might look at the fashion in 1983, yikes! I managed to avoid the worst of it by going retro. What about women that wear trousers that don’t reach their ankles? Fashion has a lot to answer for, making women wear high heels in the office? What year is this? And especially for men, conforming to the idea that if you look smart you are smart, the idea that if you have nice clothes you’re trustworthy. I’m not sure how scruffy and corruption go together.

The streets were busier than usual today as the town began to come alive. I’m not seeing many masks but I am seeing more businesses open, except of course the belt shop. We walked down to the sea and marvelled at the clouds that were huge white clumps on a blue background. The sea itself was one colour, black petrol, and the tide was in all the way. The seabirds seemed to have disappeared to another beach. There was one lone herring gull that soon flew away. Some of those clouds were taking on a darker tinge and the sun was disappearing behind them, giving the slight wind an edge, but when it was free it was hot on your skin. Well, that is hot by our standards.

On the way back from the sea we found Fynn, Sarah, William and Raz parked by the fish and chip shop. Raz was the dog, William the son. We don’t know them but got to know them in that moment because I went and talked to them. How could I not? Fynn was driving a red, twin headlight, 1970 Triumph Vitesse convertible. Ooh, what a lovey piece of architecture. On this model the bonnet (that’s the hood) opens the other way, stylish. It’s kind of like a souped up posh Triumph Herald that takes on a whole new aura. Those wonderful days of the British car industry, lost, it’s so sad. Fynn fixes up cars like this. He said he had a TR6 being worked on and that he was taking a Mini Clubman and Riley Elf and making them into one car. Car freaks will be fascinated by this, others will be getting tired. William said Fynn used to be a helicopter pilot. We talked about that for a bit, about flying around Manhattan in a helicopter. William was making funny comments about the car and Raz, “It’s so loud but Raz is deaf so it’s ok”. He said “the horn sucks” but Fynn said “no, it blows”. Ha ha, funny!

How’s this for exciting news, today would have been Frida Kahlo’s 113th birthday. Not only did Olivia buy some Frida Kahlo cushions for our gorgeous red couch but I’ve actually been to Kahlo’s house, La Casa Azul in Mexico City, twice (last time with my daughter Signe on our amazing Mexico/America trip before she was a mum). Frida Kahlo has become a merchandiser’s dream. Isn’t it incredible how that happens? She died on 11th July 1954 but her legend is alive and well. How is it that some set the public’s imagination alight and others disappear into the mist. It’s luck, not every genius can be remembered and there’s so many. Imagine the length of the list of the lost writers, artists and musicians. Imagine the great ideas that never came to be or the paintings that were destroyed before they were ever seen.

Another boring football match over dinner saw Spurs beat Everton and straight after Olivia and I watched the end of the third last episode of the final series of the original Star Trek. I’m trying to catch up with sessioneers’ work and mails – songs, poems, overviews and thoughts that are taking these projects in the right direction. I should be in the studio with Dare tomorrow before my three sessions, start playing more bass on the Ahad project, can’t wait.

Started in the Ruby league today on Duolingo. The French is getting harder but I’m hanging in there. I’m not overwhelmed by it but after a concentrated time tonight I really felt the weariness of study time, my brain was tired. But isn’t that the trick wearing your intellect out to give it life. It’s just like exercising. You have to do it otherwise “flab” and the last thing you want is a flabby brain!

Music today is Bobbie Gentry and it’s a little tricky to describe her and how great she is. She’s not exactly Country, not exactly sixties, not exactly Soul but she has a certain je ne sais quoi (I told you I was studying French). She released her first album Ode To Billie Joe in 1967 and suddenly found herself with a massive hit single and album both reaching No. 1 on the US chart, the album knocking Sgt Pepper’s off the No. 1 spot on Billboard. This first album is actually Gentry’s original demos, all sorts of overdubs added later. There’s a few moments on the record where the guitar seems to have the same intro as the hit but then turns into another song, I guess people have their thing. Initially she was only singing the songs and taking her tapes to Capitol records to have other artists sing them. They heard the demos and signed her. This first album has her seductive soft yet husky voice telling riveting stories about everyday life. On Ode To Billie Joe (which I bought when it came out) the story has you captivated right from the beginning. It’s so vivid, like seeing a film. It’s emotional, tragic, clever, a classic. Somehow the next single, I Saw An Angel Die, didn’t chart. Gentry wrote all the songs bar one, Niki Hoeky, written by Lolly and Pat Vegas from Redbone. You may remember Witch Queen Of New Orleans. The song was covered first by PJ Proby, then Gentry, then Aretha Franklin, also Duane Eddy, Ellie Greenwich and Burton Cummings. What does it mean? Well I’ve heard it called Cajun patois.

Her follow up album was the super cool The Delta Sweete (1968) which, by the way, was recently covered by Mercury Rev as a tribute with eleven female singers and an added track, Lucinda Williams singing Ode To Billie Joe. The Delta Sweete was even better than the first album but it was a commercial failure, only making it to 132 on the Billboard chart, how does this happen? There’s a reissue coming out soon that’s a bit pricey but my original copy has been owned by either a cat, a parrot or a hen so I may have to sell the food to buy the re-release. On The Delta Sweete, Gentry continued with her vignettes of life on a farm in the Mississippi Delta where she grew up with her grandparents. Her voice was perfect, her lyrics poignant as she found her folky side, never actually able to be completely pigeon-holed she wrote 8 of the 12 songs on the album. She covered Mose Allison’s Parchman Farm and John D. Loudermilk’s Tobacco Rd, violinist Doug Kershaw’s Louisiana Man and the standard Big Boss Man (covered by Elvis). She saw herself as a writer rather than a performer but when you see pictures of her and her fashion sense you just can’t wait to see her live (the press seemed to be enamoured by her look). The album title is a play on words, ‘sweetie’ a term for a Southern Belle (not sure how that sits in today’s climate but notice the spelling), because the album is also presented like a suite. Beautiful songs, Jessye’ Lisabeth is wonderful. (I guess that’s her sister.) If you live in England you may stumble across the cheap Music For Pleasure label version of the album with different artwork called Way Down South – it’s the best 50 pence you’ll ever spend.

In the same year she released Local Gentry. On the cover she’s wearing the best trouser suit you’ve ever seen. Like its predecessor it failed to chart anywhere despite its quality. At this point she was falling through the style cracks and being good didn’t seem to be enough for the public record buyers, what was she? The album has 5 original songs, opening with Sweete Peony, followed by Casket Vignette, narrative songs with scary strings, it’s hard to know why nobody bought it. It even somehow fits into a Psychedelic Pop style and on top of that the album has three Beatles songs, The Fool On The Hill, Eleanor Rigby and Here There And Everywhere (or should I say three McCartney songs). There’s also Come Away Melinda written by Fred Hellerman (The Weavers) and Fran Minkof. You might not have heard Harry Belafonte’s version or The Weavers’ version but possibly you’ve heard it by Uriah Heep or UFO. Barry St. John had a hit with it in 1965 (who by the way was a girl). There’s the Tim Rose version and then there’s the Velvett Fogg version, pre Black Sabbath Tony Iommi’s band. I digress.

After Local Gentry and three Kelly Gordon produced albums of which one went nuts and two did nothing, somebody came up with a bright idea and paired Gentry with Glen Campbell. Gordon must have been as relieved as Gentry but it is so ridiculously middle of the road. The album was a big hit, No. 1 on the Country chart, No. 11 on the Billboard chart, third time lucky for 1968. There was only one Gentry song on there, Mornin’ Glory (originally on The Delta Sweete) opens Side 2. Two Glen Campbell songs but the rest were covers, Gentle On My Mind, Little Green Apples. Boudleaux Bryant’s All I Have To Do Is Dream reached No. 27 on the Billboard chart. Let It Be Me was a small hit. Even with a successful album Gentry couldn’t find that elusive mega hit single although getting into the Top 30 in 1968 was no mean feat.

In 1969 she tried again as a solo act and a new producer, Kelso Herston, with Touch ‘Em With Love (ooh it’s scratchy, need a new copy). Recorded in Nashville it had no original songs. Somehow one of the covers, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again made it to No. 1 in the UK and No. 5 in Australia but the album and singles stalled in America. Although the album made No. 21 in the UK it could only muster No. 164 in the US. It had Jimmy Webb’s Where’s The Playground Johnny (Suzie) and Son Of A Preacher Man, but nothing happened.

Gentry had seriously fallen through the cracks but found herself in the Easy Listening realm (No. 8 on the Easy Listening chart). But only No. 96 on the Billboard chart. It’s as if she was led the wrong way. Her 1970 album Fancy (called I’ll Never Fall In Love Again in the UK, neither of which I have) made it to middle chart positions but Gentry’s patience seemed to be running out. She made one more album, Patchwork, that she wrote and produced before retiring from music. (Between the tracks there are 7 instrumental interludes, she was an innovator.) She also painted the cover. Despite good reviews the album only made it to 221 on the Billboard chart. After just five years she was done. If Gentry had been left to her own soulful meanderings, she could have made record after record of autobiographical classics, but the business got in the way or perhaps starting with a No. 1 single was a disaster waiting to happen in the future, the record company chasing the prize and promising her it would be worth it. There’s great moments on all of her albums, there could have been many more, but it just wasn’t to be.

On the video below it states in the text that she called the song Ode To Billie Joe “A study in unconscious cruelty”. In 1976 there was a film made using the song as a theme – Billy with a ‘y’. Bobbie Gentry is still alive and is now 77 years old.

Song Of The Day is Bobbie Gentry’s Ode To Billie Joe – Live from the BBC in 1968.

Today I didn’t make it outside, it’s a shame because I saw a beam of sunlight, I did, I did, I saw it, really I did. I only got 5 hours of sleep as I had to be up for a weekly Sunday sesh with Tony at midday in Sydney. Although Tony has been working on his original songs and EP with the lads from Tamam Shud, he also has been learning Spark, but the recording I played for him last week crapped out so I had to do it again. It was quite a shock going from sleep to performing a decent version of Spark. It was rather like Hawaiian beach to New York traffic jam in a flash. After Tony I thought – bed! – and slept for two more hours before waking to see Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0. They made a meal of it but got there in the end. From there, straight to Portland and Joanne who has been using the computer program instead of the acoustic guitar to develop her songwriting. That’s the trick, do things in different ways, it’s a lesson in life. That’s why you should love foreigners – because they are different. After dinner and half an episode of Star Trek it was off to Wappingers Falls where Doug is writing. That’s what it is, it’s trying things, doing it regularly, seeing what you come up with, knowing it will always be unique and getting a version of something/anything that you like. There’s years ahead to experiment, just staying in creative mode till you die is the trick, don’t go blank when you’re queuing for the bank.

Amazon, that word that people hate to hear but I’m wondering where the postal service would be without them. I never get mail and well that’s good for the poor trees but terrible for the postman. Sadly the future annihilates the past and I’m sure there were millions of people lamenting the demise of the horse as a form of transport. I don’t want to seem like I’m defending a big corporation but what are we to do, it’s the internet again. It’s changed everything. I wish though that the corporations could be nice to their workers. Does Jeff Bezos not like his workers? If you were the richest man in the world wouldn’t you just have a whole division dedicated to the well-being of your workers? How can they be so organised and yet seemingly have such dissatisfaction in the workplace? It’s Sunday, my phone rang, it was the Amazon man delivering our new toaster, Olivia’s violin strings and a CD…on a Sunday! They were only ordered on Friday. I’d rather shop in the High St but it’s pretty hard when they’re all closed, did I ever tell you about my belt?

Whenever I hear about people in power not doing the right thing I just get surprised (naive). Surely in such a position of privilege you’d want to help the humans? Is every successful man like this? Are women kinder with their riches? There must be entrepreneurs out there, benefactors, that contribute to the common good. Does McCartney or Bono or Rod Stewart or Chris Martin do anything for musicians? Or the world in regards to sharing the wealth? They must and I guess we could all do something, you don’t need zillions to help out. I used to give money to Amnesty, one day my bank called and told me that they hadn’t taken the monthly amount from my account for 6 months, it was then that I lost faith in charities. What to think when they can’t even get it together to take the money you are trying to give them. Doesn’t McCartney have some kind of academy in Liverpool? Ok, here we go, if I had 500,000,000 quid, I’d open the In Deep Music Archive as a public service. There would be rehearsal studios, recording studios, a crèche, a record label, a promotion company, there would be a music museum, an instrument museum and free money for everybody. Ha ha. Idealistic moi? (The French is kicking in.)

I won the Sapphire league today, so I’ve been promoted to the Ruby league. I guess now it’s really serious and I won’t have time to keep up with those that are truly dedicated. Maybe I can stay in this league for a while till I’m ready. I’m in league one, then there’s the Championship and then the Premier League. The problem with all this is that it’s making me want to study Italian and Spanish, can’t somebody sleep for me?

We’re hoping to release a track from the new MOAT album soon digitally. Olivia has been working on some cover art and we need to run it by Niko and see where Stephen at Schoolkids Records is at with America in disarray and Blimp in denial. We have all lost a year of our lives and some of us literally – our lives. 130,000 gone in the US. The pictures in the papers of England’s first day in with the pubs open, shows that people just don’t believe that they are at risk. I imagine that the cold truth will reveal itself as the autumn comes and we shall all see how vulnerable we really are. We’ll see if the mingling of the summer crowds has brought the pandemic down on us hard and whether the vulnerable who were victims of the first wave will be the peak or is there worse to come? We’ll see soon enough.

Music today took me to CAN because too much of them is never enough. I randomly picked Ege Bamyasi from 1972 (great cover art) and immediately wondered about groove versus song and on the opening 9.28, Pinch – the groove is the song. The ‘vocal’ is spoken or slurred by Damo Suzuki. You can hear where Mark E. Smith and The Fall got their ideas, in fact it seems a little too obvious for a band that was held in such high regard as scary and original. The more melodic and moody Sing Swan Song shows that Damo can do it when he needs too, although doing it in CAN means doing what is needed not what is expected. That groove is back on One More Night and this time I hear Radiohead. How do these bands have so much credibility when it’s all here already, cooked and laid out for all to see.

Side 2 opens with Vitamin C and that beat from the inimitable Jaki Liebezeit, can you fall in love with a bass drum? Irmin Schmidt slides in on keys and gives a sense of something European and Holger Czukay’s bass is a constant groove. Not sure where Michael Karoli is on this as we blend into ten minutes of soup but there are no demands, each player gives what is appropriate whether it be the highlight or the background. Here we delve deep into electronic noise, it’s something like Revolution No. 9 or the middle of Vanilla Queen on Moontan by Golden Earring or Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict on Ummagumma by the Floyd. I’m So Green arrives with Jaki holding down another groove (they called him “The Human Metronome”). The album ends with Spoon, it was CAN’s most successful song to date as it was the theme to a German TV series, Das Messer (the knife). So that tells you it’s just promotion and luck, image and right place at the right time with a touch of hipness and one irresistible song.

It’s quite odd to bring up Coldplay when you are on Planet CAN but like Radiohead without Creep, where would they be without Yellow? Let’s check.

I had the first Dire Straits album before Sultans Of Swing was a hit and I had Coldplay’s Parachutes before Yellow was a hit. First track is a lovely song, Don’t Panic, followed by their first single of the album, Shiver. It broke the top 40, landing at No. 35 in the UK chart, No. 57 in Australia and No. 100 in the Netherlands and that might have been it. There was actually also a non-album single, Brothers And Sisters, released the year before. Next track on the album was Spies. People love the singer’s voice, but the guitar player has some great parts too, one without the other might not have worked. You know the singer’s name but do you know the guitarist’s name? The essential rhythm section, those two who made this band stable, without them there would be no band, you know whassis name on drums and thingy on bass. Track five was Sparks (phew?). This record is so warm and cuddly that it would melt the sabre of a pirate, the club of a cave man, it sounds like boys you could bring home to meet Granny. It’s rather lovely, it’s an afternoon in a vegan cafe, a punt on the Thames in the sunlight, a whisper in the ear of a queen.

Lurking at track No. 5 on Side 1 was this one little song. It was called Look At The Stars or something, starting with acoustic guitar and then some noisy electric, who knew what would happen. It penetrated the public, made bus drivers fall in love with Chris Martin’s voice, shop assistants swooned, hipsters tipped their hats, even the cynics saw what was good about it. It’s actually surprising with the rough guitar riff but the voice, the melody, the lyrics carried it. It sat at some perfect swaying tempo, almost turgid, almost dodgy tuning, but the stars aligned and they were all Yellow. A beautiful ending with different chords, it went to No. 4 in the UK chart.

From then on they never looked back. They opened side 2 with Trouble, another mellow hit that reached No. 10. Q magazine readers were falling over themselves. They have to wait another 5 years before they got something like this (Keane and Everybody’s Changing). Somehow the last single, the lovely opening track on the album, did nothing, reaching No. 130 in the UK, how’s that possible?

Parachutes, the title track, is an interlude. High Speed has young people with proper jobs and wine in the cupboard settling down after a tough day at the office and mellowing out on the couch and having a good smooch with the partner or the cat (the Persian cat). Coldplay were clean and talented, moody and inoffensive, intelligent and friendly. It was only a matter of time before Chris Martin had a Hollywood wife and a daughter called Apple, sad it didn’t work out but I Goop saw to that.

We Never Change was the song of the perfect husband and best mate and despite the massive success of the band I’m sure he hasn’t changed. The last track with that piano that gives them another angle, makes their appeal even greater. Guy Berryman comes up with a cool bass line and Jon Buckland makes you realize when you can tell it’s him playing guitar. Will Champion, reliable rhythm like a good mate. (There’s a secret track too, even on the vinyl.)

One hopes they are as nice as their music and as humble in mega stardom as they might have been when they were making this album. I’ve seen them live twice, both times because I had mates in the support act. First time in Sydney with Mercury Rev, second time in Sydney with The Pierces (my New York flat mate Jonny was their drummer). After hearing Parachutes I might just fall asleep on the butler’s shoulder.

It’s a pretty hard album to follow unless I go for Iron Maiden or Nurse With Wound but I thought, stay mellow dude. So I reminded myself of that other record that I had before the hit was a hit, Dire Straits’ debut. I lived in London at the time and this record somehow stood out as different to the New Wave Pop that was happening. It was hard to resist Knopfler’s guitar playing, the tone, the technique, the originality, the playing with no pick. Brother David on rhythm, it was a bit like the Shadows with words. Pick Withers on drums, John Illsey on bass. And the vocal style, it wasn’t really singing, it wasn’t really English despite the North Eastern England roots. It was more like JJ Cale or Ry Cooder. Down To The Waterline didn’t seem like it was about The Tyne, it was a river in the Americas. Water Of Love sounded like (is that a dobro?) it must be and it was closer to early Doobie Brothers at Little River Band’s house near a swamp with Bonnie Raitt jamming on the slide.

It was produced by Muff Winwood, Stevie Winwood’s older brother and engineered by Rhett Davies who you might know from Roxy Music’s second wave. Winwood and Winwood were both in the Spencer Davis Group and Muff produced Sparks’ classic Kimono My House. As an A&R man he signed Prefab Sprout, The Psychedelic Furs and Sade. See the whole picture here.

Muff Winwood | Rhett Davies

Setting Me Up isn’t so good, is it? That chicken picking, I guess this is the reason why he made a record with Chet Atkins (Neck and Neck, 1990). Knopfler must have really studied the American country pickers. Six Blade Knife again isn’t really a song, it’s a nice feel with a lot of mumbling. It seems like the overall sound of the band was so particular, so odd in the UK at this time that it just stuck out and the guitar restraint was seductive. He was a new English guitar hero, I always wondered why Richard Thompson wasn’t as successful because he certainly had better songs and an equally compelling guitar style. Like Yellow, it was the mega hit that made the difference. But before we get there Side 1 ends with Southbound Again…and he doesn’t mean to Surrey. It’s all about the guitar style, the rhythm, the lead guitar sound, it made yuppies bop, it made punks yawn.

And then there it was, the timeless classic. Sultans Of Swing opens Side 2. What a great song, great story and wonderful guitar playing. A poignant lyric, “Check out guitar George, he knows all the chords but it’s strictly rhythm he doesn’t want to make it cry or sing”. Knopfler’s delivery was perfect, his guitar playing one of a kind, this song like Yellow would lead them to be one of the biggest bands in the world. We toured with them around the Makin’ Movies album, actually the dodgy Twistin’ By The Pool EP. We played 13 shows up and down the East Coast of Australia, they were huge. We saw Knopfler once, first day he poked his head into the dressing room (I know I’ve told this before), All right for drinks lads? There was nothing in the drinks bucket. We never saw him again.

There’s actually some better songs on Side 2 but even In The Gallery is something of a struggle as a song. It’s kind of like Dylan without the genius. It wouldn’t be long before Knopfler was playing on and producing Dylan albums. Check out Slow Train Coming (1979) and Infidels (1983). Wild West End is a nice track, again it works when he gets the story right because the guitar and feel of it all works by itself, his vocal thing works sometimes on this album but the bits that work are so in charge that his mumbling along is sufficient to sell the whole thing. Even the name Dire Straits seemed to amuse people and the low key cover art. It’s hard to know what’s going to grab the public but these lads certainly did it.

The album ends with Lions, another track with the same recipe, and one wonders what they thought was going to happen when they were done. Like Coldplay they appealed across the board, could they have predicted such worldwide stardom? There’s one undeniable fact through it all, Knopfler’s guitar playing was fantastic. It was a long way from New Wave but then so is Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True. How did that album pass as New Wave? Let’s check.

My Aim Is True (1977) was sold as a New Wave act, the image speaks volumes, part Buddy Holly, part ironic nerd. The backing band was American country band Clover (who went on to be Huey Lewis and The News). Costello was still working a day job when the first two singles were released. He went on to be one of the most prolific of singer-songwriters. You can hear the love of American music throughout the record. It was produced by Nick Lowe and took just £2000 to record. My original copy of the album doesn’t have Watching The Detectives, that was added to the US release. As a stand alone single it reached No. 15 in the UK chart in 1977. Costello went from day job to the cover of the NME. He referred to himself an overnight success after 7 years. This is another seventies act that has inspired hip young things (The Strokes anybody?).

It’s a mainly upbeat uptempo album with an American tinge and some lovely slower songs like Alison and the poptastic The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes. It’s before Costello went mad with the vibrato singing more like Graham Parker who somehow didn’t seem to make it as big as Costello – there’s also something very Van Morrison about it and its New Wave image certainly isn’t the thread that runs through the album, still, it’s great.

The cover is by an uncredited Barney Bubbles (who tragically committed suicide age 41). He was responsible for many covers you love, like Hawkwind’s In Search Of Space, see the long list here.

Song Of The Day is the mighty CAN and a version of Spoon almost from Ege Bamyasi 1972.

I stepped out into a drab and rainy day, I wanted to see if the pubs were open, if more shops were open, to see if any sense of normality has been brought back to the high street. The pub by the archive was open and it was noisy, there were definitely happy revellers in there. The next pub 10 yards further was still closed, but I walked past it and nipped into Lee’s shop. She sells all kinds of strange pieces and has an amazing window display that can keep you occupied for ages whilst pausing on a walk. Today she was open (and has been for a couple of weeks already) and I just walked in to say hello. She has the most fantastic accent. She’s from South Africa and it’s so thick, she told me today she hasn’t been there for 10 years. Ha ha. It reminds me of my mate Jay Aston from Gene Loves Jezebel and how Wales follows him everywhere. My Liverpool accent was only injected into my blood from about the age of 12. Before that I lived near the Pennines in the countryside, closer to Manchester (between Glossop and Marple Bridge), so it wasn’t ingrained from being an infant. Olivia does a better posh English accent than a German one. What’s that about?

So opening day in England. The problem is that people see this crisis differently. Some are gung-ho, some are freaking out and some are confused as to whether the risk is great for them or minimal. Olivia told me that they are screaming in the pub at the bottom of Causeway Head, I think the streets are going to be nuts tonight when the revellers get a skin full. How are they keeping their distance in the pub, especially after a few pints? The best thing about this planet is that people are different. Ever met a happy poor person or a sad rich person? Some people shirk work, some people thrive on it. Some people jump off buildings or scale mountains, others work at home. Some people are physical, some people are cerebral. So what I see with this pandemic is different people reacting differently to it. The doubters and the scared are living next door to each other. All I know or should I say all I believe is that a lot of people have died and that any chance of protecting yourself or others from potential death has nothing to do with freedom.

I went down to the beach today on the most un-beachy day you’ve ever seen. It wasn’t warm or cold or stormy, or beautiful, it just was. I walked amongst the stones and found a palm-sized piece of unbroken flint with that odd white exterior. I wondered why we like spinning stones across the water? Is it just a competitive thing, who has the most skips? I picked up a stone and didn’t even attempt to skim it, I just pathetically threw it at the sea and it dropped quite close to the shore. It made a weak splash on the other side of a small wave and I didn’t bother throwing another. I walked halfway along the beach and leaned against the sea wall for quite a long time and just looked at the ocean. On the horizon there was a ghostly silhouette of a sizeable ship that looked like it had sailed out of the past. I was sure I saw funnels and steam but then on second look I wasn’t sure, but then I was distracted by a couple that came down onto the beach and sat by the wall albeit some distance away from me. The man skimmed the obligatory stone with seemingly little inspiration to try it again. He had one of those odd sized cans in his hand, like Red Bull, but it was something else, the colours were different. It was probably some kind of energy drink. All I know is that it was a long way from Dandelion and Burdock and Tizer.

Still further down the beach a man arrived with a fishing rod, but he seemed to be spending more time with the rod and the line than he did actually fishing, when I finally moved and walked past him he was still fiddling. A woman arrived with two small dogs, she sat and threw stones into the water for the terrier and it jumped into the waves getting soaked without a care, never retrieving anything, looking forlornly out. The other dog looked like it had been made in a beauty salon. It had red fur and a perfectly coiffured mane, it looked at me as I walked by as if it were a queen that was used to constant attention, I ignored it to teach it a lesson.

On the way back to the studio as the drizzle was attempting to break through but failing, like the day itself, I walked past the boat pond and there were the two swans right in the middle sinking their necks deep into the water, scavenging in the weeds. I’m not sure how deep the water is in this little mini toy boat lake, but with their long necks they seemed to be finding something of interest. What do swans even eat to make them so beautiful?

In Penlee Park where today’s picture was taken (a couple of days ago) I was enjoying the contrast between the exotic plants and palm trees in this beautiful place after being hypnotized by the mighty ocean. Are people really cat people, dog people, sea people, countryside people, mountain people, river people? It seems I like too many things, it’s not that I’m easily pleased, it’s just that I can’t write things off, you know, like Thin Lizzy because of Bob Dylan, lakes because of deserts.

Music today has taken a dive into the area of obscurity, executed by people who you might not have thought had it in them. I suppose you might consider Pink Floyd a non-mainstream band even though they were absolutely massive. In 1981 Nick Mason, Floyd’s drummer, came up with a weird album with a weird band, weird songs, weird artwork, and a weird name. Which for me is exactly what we want from people who don’t need to survive on music, people who can just make music for its own sake. It’s always disappointing to hear someone who you know could actually be interesting, not being.

So when Nick Mason came up with Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports it was wonderfully odd and music to my ears. His band was avant-garde experimentalists, jazzers and old friends. All the songs (but one) were written by Carla Bley (who I have written about before). The singer is Robert Wyatt from early Soft Machine and Matching Mole. Chris Spedding plays guitar. That might be the only people you know who play on this record unless you are into intellectual musical nuts like Michael Mantler. (Mantler once refused us, Noctorum, the use of a sample from one of his records, ha ha). If you are interested in the album lineup go here.

The songs are amazing, made more amazing by Robert Wyatt’s fantastic voice (first weird track is different and so odd that I encourage you to listen to it as I can’t explain it). The album generally is an arty melodic extravaganza. Interesting words, melodies, production (thanks Carla for your weirdness). It’s sometimes like Gong, sometimes New Wave, sometimes Progressive, sometimes Jazz, and often tongue in cheek. It’s like the thing that David Byrne has, look at me I’m pretending to be nerdy but actually I’m being ironic and I’m not only intellectual but extremely hip. Unlike Byrne this record isn’t grooving, but the melancholic Do Ya? is heart-wrenching.

This album piqued my interest as to where Nick went next. Well, it was 1985 so it was in-between The Final Cut and A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. He got together with later ex 10cc member Rick Fenn and made some decidedly eighties-gated drum noises whilst Rick made some decidedly eighties guitar noises. The album is credited to Mason+Fenn and is called Profiles. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to love it or hate it, the eighties are often really a challenge to listen to from 2020, whereas the sixties, the seventies, the nineties, the noughties etc, aren’t. It was the period when the men that made machines and the men that knew how to work them got all the power, thankfully we wrested it from their grasp, eventually.

The first track is instrumental, the second track Lie For A Lie sounds like Gilmour singing and then I realized that that’s because it is. It’s almost funny listening to this album, I wonder how old Nick feels about it, all these years later. I guess Peter Gabriel was the man to follow if you were successful and looking to explore, but somehow Gabriel’s solo records are more listenable. Perhaps the songs themselves, his voice, the words.

Oh how they were seduced by those drum sounds. When you think of his wonderful understated organic drumming on the Floyd albums you might wonder if he had been desperate to escape into a more drum dominant world, well he certainly did that here. The problem is that it falls between the cracks of all the best music from the eighties, like, erm, well, say Tears For Fears and their sound. Profiles was released the same year as Songs From The Big Chair and although it’s obviously not the song-inspired album that Tears For Fears made it reminds you of the era. To be fair there’s some encouraging moments but rich Nick had a little too much influence and bought into the eighties sound far too much. The mostly instrumental compositions would have been so much better with a little restraint on the over the top overdubs as with the title track that ends Side 1. There are some great sounds that one imagines were keyboards but seems to be processed guitars (it must be both) and it’s almost in experimental Frank Zappa synclavier territory (Jazz From Hell).

The opening track on Side 2 is the only other vocal track, sung by Danny Peyronel. It’s over the top and it makes ABC sound like Leonard Cohen, ok sorry, not that extreme but you get the picture. This is an album that is so of its day but it must have sounded great then or should I say it must have sounded so modern. But as is often the case, the modern ‘now’ soon fades into the future. Somewhere in here there is a really good record but you have to be really forgiving and not blame them for their sonic drum blindness. It would be like blaming Florence Nightingale for wrapping wounds in used bandages.

Talking of medicine it’s hard to just take one dose of ‘elixir of Wyatt’ and after Nicko’s excursion into the eighties, I had to take another spoonful of Robert Wyatt and his Matching Mole. This first album released in April 1972 is one of my favourite records with the beautiful O Caroline as its opening track. Talking of the eighties I remember the band being asked to play some tracks on a radio station, I think it was Perth, mid-eighties and I chose this. The DJ hated it, ha ha, it was everything that that period of time wasn’t. It’s so weird how people get sucked into an era or a style and then find it hard to shake off. I guess if you’re into fifties Jazz, you have some trouble with Twisted Sister. I’ve been playing a lot of sixties and seventies records in recent weeks but it’s kind of an exploration of the archive and seeing what’s missing. I have lots of new records, too, I’ll get to them at some point. I did just buy a new CD, too – the latest Soft Machine album! So there!

In the meantime, here I am with Matching Mole, there’s actually two albums released in 1972, the second, Little Red Record, was released in November. You of course all know that it’s a play on the French ‘machine molle’ (soft machine). Although depending on who you ask and which translation device you use ‘machine douce’ is actually ‘soft machine’. Although douce by itself means sweet. This is why I’m learning French.

You may remember that I recently played a Phil Miller album, well he was the guitar player in Matching Mole with Bill MacCormack on bass and Dave McRae replacing Dave Sinclair for the second album on keys. Eno is there on album two as is Fripp in the producer’s chair. In the credits it says, “Musicians in order of beard length or in beard length order”.

Fascinating fact, the credit for Ruby Crystal (Der Mütter Korus) is a pseudonym for Julie Christie who all film nuts will know – if you don’t, you might recognize her from her portrayal of Madam Rosmerta in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

These albums are wonderful Canterbury, jazzy, arty, Progressive jamming with interjections from Wyatt’s beautiful voice. I love it. One might consider it to be the most relevant of records to play today, the opening track on Little Red Record is called: Starting In The Middle Of The Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away.

Song Of The Day is Matching Mole on French TV in 1972. The French seem to understand this stuff – another reason to learn it properly.

The wind and the rain, the clouds low, the people in the streets in macs, wrapped up, heads covered, cowering, necks disappearing into shoulders. It was summer in Penzance alright, perhaps this will deter the holidaymakers from coming down as the country opens up. I also heard today that the quarantine for travellers coming from abroad is going to be abandoned from next week, unless you are American of course. Oh yes and de Pfeffel’s dad has decided to break the current rules and fly to Greece, I wonder if he’s eloped with Domino Crumby?

The government is really on fire at the moment, bad negotiations with the EU and in this time of economic crisis de Pfeffel has declared (ha, get it?) that a no deal Brexit would be good. Really? Unlike most of the good people here, I will be able to escape to my wife’s country if I need to, I wonder where England will be in two years? As we have not been together long enough (4 years next week) and despite being married we cannot stay in this country anyway even if we wanted to. The visa applications, the proof of income, sporadic as a musician, the guarantee that money will flow, it’s all too much. We are hoping to be on the road for the next 5 years, let’s see if the virus lets us do that.

I was also reading today about the concept that Thumper and The Repugnants are trying it on with voter suppression and if they still lose, calling it rigged. Conspiracy theory? Well, it won’t be long till we find out. There’s different ideals, different approaches, people are different, but at the moment we are seeing something unprecedented in America as the regime is trying to stop Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic and the latest scandal about the bounty on soldiers in Afghanistan, it just seems to wash off these people’s backs like water friendly vaseline in a Russian hotel room. I never imagined that the conservatives could be so willing to throw their principles out of the window on such a large scale. Of course we only hear what we want to hear, we only stand up for our own side or do we? Wasn’t there once a time when a difference of opinion was met with compromise? We may disagree on god and abortion, but racism, misogyny, dictatorship, denial and lies are not the best policy whose ever side you’re on. You might not agree with Reagan or Bush, Obama or Clinton, but you might agree that they weren’t monsters – then there’s Putin, president for life.

So trying to find solace somewhere away from all this nonsense, as promised today the picture we have posted is the tree hugging picture. As you can see the tree is definitely reciprocating despite social distancing. It seems that the cure for messing with nature comes from nature. See, even if you mess with nature it still tries to help.

Franz Kafka was born today in 1883. I’ve read The Trial and Metamorphosis and seen the film of The Castle with Austrian actor Maximilian Schell (Academy Award winner in 1961 for Judgement in Nuremberg). I’ve also seen Metamorphosis live on stage on Broadway in 1989 with Gregor Samsa played by Mikhail Baryshnikov in his ‘breakthrough’ performance as an actor. Baryshnikov had defected to Canada in 1974, a sensation in international intrigue and the world of ballet. I remember vividly him acting the part of the cockroach. If they put that play on again they might fill that role easily.

Also today my fave bass player Andy Fraser was born. He was discovered by Blues legend Alexis Corner after being introduced to her dad by daughter Sappho. At 15 he was playing with John Mayall and in 1968 was a founder member of Free. He co-wrote All Right Now and lots of great Free songs. He was also a classically trained piano player. He formed Sharks with Chris Spedding after Free and then the Andy Fraser Band. He died in 2015 aged 62 (yikes). Unique, inventive, talented, a true original.

Music today started with the debut album from Dutch legends Focus. Their first album, Focus plays Focus, was released in the Netherlands in September 1970 and is the only album with the original lineup of Thijs van Leer, vocals, keys and flute, Jan Akkerman, guitars, Martin Dresden, bass, trumpet, vocals, and Hans Cleuver, drums, vocals. All but Akkerman are credited with vocals. For some reason this debut is always classed as Progressive and never as Psychedelic Progressive, but to me the vocal tracks have a sixties Psychedelic turn. Outside the Netherlands the album was released in 1971 as In And Out Of Focus with an extra track, House Of The King (perhaps on the European version outside the Netherlands, but not on my American or Australian copy?). The vocal tracks are what set this album apart from the later Focus albums and you can hear the influence of Martin Dresden who was gone by the second album. Melodic songs, nice melodies, always great guitar from Akkerman.

Later that same year with two new members, Cyril Havermans on bass and Pierre van der Linden on drums, Focus unleashed Focus II, better known as Moving Waves. It contained Hocus Pocus, that was the song that made the world take note, the single charting at No. 20 and the album reaching No. 2 in the UK charts (No. 8 in the US, No. 4 at home). Van Leer’s yodel, playful keys and Akkerman’s ice slicing guitar sound, with van der Linden’s drum breaks, succeeded in that impossible task of gaining attention with a catchy instrumental. The album though was a definite entry into the world of Progressive Rock. All the elements were there, a classically trained flautist who also played organ and Mellotron, odd timings, a creative guitar player and sympathetic drummer and bassist. What’s not to like?

They were already at it with the shorter Progressive tracks on Side 1 with Le Clochard (the beggar) and Janis. At first the third and title track sounds so like early ELP with the piano and the character of the voice, you have to check the album cover to make sure it’s really Focus. The side ends with Focus II, another lovely instrumental. On Side 2 it’s the suite (Eruption), how do they even imagine all these changes? It’s a wonderful journey with van Leer and Akkerman exchanging melodic tones over van Leer’s original visionary concept. At one point I expect to see Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stride in to a vast arena where Pierre van der Linden will perform the rite for the soul of the volcano. Yes, this really should have been a soundtrack, a grandiose celebration of something spectacular with a cast of thousands.

That’s it, I can’t escape Focus tonight, those first two albums were so enjoyable. So next came the double album Focus 3, released in 1972, opening Side 1 with van Leer’s slightly mad Round Goes The Gossip before reclining on a faraway beach to Akkerman’s Love Remembered. And then they did it again with another classic instrumental single, Sylvia. It’s another van Leer composition yet with beautiful Akkerman guitar lines that van Leer must have written on the keys as they are the main theme. The song reached No. 4 in the UK chart. Carnival Fugue ended Side 1 and showed off van Leer’s knowledge of ancient music.

For Focus 3 there was another change in personnel and Cyril Havermans was replaced by Bert Ruiter on the bass guitar. Three albums, three bass players, two drummers, what was going on in the Focus camp? Musically they were on fire with van Leer’s classical and compositional skills and Akkerman’s exquisite guitar playing, every track was a journey. Side 2 opens with the title track written by van Leer, but the side is shared with an Akkerman/Ruiter composition, Answers?Questions? Questions? Answers?. Still one wonders how the opening track is a van Leer composition when it’s the guitar lines that make the difference. Did he write the melodies on the keys and play them to Akkerman or is the composition in the chord changes with Akkerman making up these great lead and memorable melodic guitar parts?

Side 3 is one long track, Anonymous II, credited to the whole band. I suppose sections might have been credited to each member, but one imagines that it all came out of a jam. This reminds me of why I love bootlegs, moments of brilliance captured in an unguarded moment, but never followed through on an official release. If you ever want to contribute anything to the archive, any seventies bootleg always works.

Side 4 continues with the Anonymus II conclusion and then the album ends with two Akkerman compositions, Elspeth Of Nottingham, and you suddenly hear how van Leer and Akkerman were on the same page in regards to influences and appreciation of music of the distant past. Lastly it’s House Of The King again and this reminds me that on the first album there’s also a track called Anonymous (credited just to van Leer), which I suppose is why Anonymous II is so called. Focus 3 reached No. 6 in the UK chart and No. 35 in the US.

Their fourth studio album was Hamburger Concerto (1974), which has those wacky fellows finding a classical theme and then calling sections of the suite on Side 2, Rare, Medium and Well Done. Notably they again changed their drummer and welcomed ex Stone The Crows man Colin Allen. At this point Focus seemed to be functioning with Akkerman and van Leer comfortably creative, but before this album they’d released Focus Live At The Rainbow (1973) but were meant to release a studio album. Disagreements in the band shelved it and it came out later as Ship Of Memories. It seems like for all their creativity there were always tensions within the band. It wouldn’t be long before Akkerman would leave, making one more album, Mother Focus, in 1975 and embarking on a solo career. Focus replaced him with Philip Catherine and Eef Albers and then they made Focus Con Proby! Yep, Focus with PJ Proby, but that weirdness is for another day.

I’ve actually seen Focus twice in recent years, only Thijs left. Song Of The Day has to be Sylvia/Hocus Pocus from The Old Grey Whistle Test Christmas 1972. This performance is what made the single Sylvia a UK hit in 1973.