I will keep on with these lists of musicians, ten at a time, till it doesn't make sense to me anymore. Anyway, on with part 2. Again, these artists are not here in order of any preference, but rather they are listed as I think of something to say about them.
LIGHTNING HOPKINS
Hopkins seems to be discounted by some blues aficionados of being from the very top draw but I don't agree. From the time I first heard his laconic vocal delivery coupled with his lively turn-around dominated guitar style I was hooked. Also, I will take recordings of him from just about any time in his career. The video below is from 1962, and finds Sam Hopkins in strident form.
JOHNNY CASH
Hello, I'm not Johnny Cash but I can detect integrity and talent when I see and hear it. Johnny Cash was one of the few artists my Dad and I both liked. He appealed to so many outside of the rigid Nashville dictated view of what country should and shouldn't be. The 'man in black' image attracted me long before I learned there was a connection between the words 'Gothic' and 'rock', but his music was the reason I stayed. His work was vital throughout his career but it amazes me that the Country music establishment seemed to want nothing to do with the remarkable 'American' recordings Cash made with Rick Rubin in his twilight years. Here are two videos, one featuring the Johnny Cash my Dad and I shared, the other, the most touching video I think I will ever see.
NICK DRAKE
When I was fifteen or so, Saturday afternoon was not complete without a visit to Tally Ho Electric music store in the Arcade, North Finchley. One day I was there with my friend Torquil. We wanted to buy an album, but didn't have enough to buy a full price LP. We ended up with 'Nice Enough To Eat', an Island label sampler. I discovered so many artists from that record, Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, Spooky Tooth, Quintessence and Dr Strangely Strange to name a few, but none affected my more than 'Time Has Told Me' a beautiful almost country like song, but with crystal clear British accented vocals, and an otherworldly appeal. So it was that I became one of the four thousand or so record buyers to become aware of Nick Drake in his short lifetime. This track led me to the album it came from, 'Five Leaves Left' and the astonishing follow up, 'Pink Moon'. English singer songwriting at it's best. There is no video footage I know of of Drake performing, in fact he only played 12 gigs in his life I think, but there are some tribute videos on Youtube that feature his music. By the way, I believe the lead guitar on this track is played by Richard Thompson.
DOCTOR FEELGOOD
Before punk, there was the London pubrock scene. I forget the amount of times that I saw Doctor Feelgood in some sweaty North London pub such as The Brecknock, NW5, or the Torrington N12 But the impression of the Bg Figure on drums, Sparko on bass, the mechanical genius of Wilco Johnson on lead guitar and the manic Lee Brilleaux on vocals and harp will never leave me. With their beyond back to basics approach and Wilco's lead and rhythm at the same time style, the Feelgoods reinvented the British blues scene while taking steps towards the imminent birth of punk. They were best experienced in a pub, not a TV studio full of 13 year old Osmond fans and one of the most punchable DJ presenters it has ever been my misfortune to witness, but the videos below give some idea of what they did. Anyone who sees me playing in California these days will be able to spot the influence straight away.
DICK HECKSTALL-SMITH
I had been aware of Heckstall-Smith the sax player for a long time, even saw him once in the early 80's playing with the pub band 'Big Chief', but his real influence started on me when I began creating a web-site for him, which led to me being his manager for the last four years of his life. Dick needed someone to believe he had a future, more than anything, and I performed that function to my limited ability. Dick had led a career too confusing for the music industry to want to bother with. He played blues in Jazz clubs, jazz in blues clubs and in a world where everyone has to be neatly packaged, Dick tended to be ignored. This was a mistake, he was a musical genius, perhaps too wrapped up in the mathematics of music in later years, but a genius nonetheless. And man, could he play, from spells in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated (along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker) Graham Bond ORGANisation (again with Jack and Ginger), John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Coloseum, through to DHSS, the unrecorded fusion band that meant so much to him, and his generally overlooked solo work. I am biased of course, but Dick taught me so much about music. I thought I knew so much before I met him, and it turns out I hardly knew anything at all. here are a couple videos, one of Dick playing with Norman Beaker in Jack Bruce's band in 1988, and a curious period piece, The Graham Bond ORGANisation in a very silly movie, "Gonks Go Beat" in the mid 60s. This skims the surface of what Dick could do, but if you have never heard him before, it's a start.
BB KING
I discovered the music of BB King through that of Peter Green. I once had the chance to interview Greeny in his then home and ask him how much BB King influenced him, and in particular, how much his 'Live At The Regal' rubbed off on Peter Green's playing. He agreed that it had meant a lot to him, and so it should of done. All these years later and it is still the handbook on how to play beautiful reverb soaked heartfelt blues lead guitar. A wonderful singer as well as guitarist, King goes into the 60th year of his recording career. His shows now feature as much storytelling as guitar playing, he is in his mid eighties, yet that magical touch remains.
THE BEATLES
There I was, a six year old oik with his plastic Beatles guitar, convinced that I had found what I wanted to do when I grew up. The Beatles invaded every part of my life in 1963, and 45 years later I still play their music, read about their lives and unlike John in his Rolling Stone interviews,I 'believe' in the Beatles, or at least in the music they made. If that makes me a sad case, fair enough. Four lads from Liverpool who shook the world in general, and a weird North London kid in particular.
FRANK ZAPPA
I had accompanied my Mum and Dad to see my Great Aunt Gracie when I was about 14 or so. I was as bored as I could be, and found myself in a different room to the grown-ups, trying to find something acceptable to listen to on an ancient bakelite radio. Finally, on BBC Radio 3 of all places (they usually played classical music) I found a documentary about The Mothers Of Invention. The music was crazy, doo-wop one minute, space rock the next with long passages of incomprehensibility thrown in along the way. I loved it then, I love it now!
KEVIN AYERS
I think I discovered Ayers through finding a 2nd hand copy of 'Whatevershebringswesing' somewhere. As with most of my musical obsessions, that led to me getting as much of his stuff as possible. He had this aura of a hippie ex pat Englishman with more than a touch of Noel Coward. He used great guitar players (Mike Oldfield, Andy Summers and the great great Ollie Halsall) and a romanticism that maybe only John Martyn came anywhere near. The video below does show a little of what made him so special to me! By the way, I think that is the great free jazz sax man Lol Coxhill on soprano.
DAVID BOWIE
Bowie has been a constant in my music collection since I bought 'Space Oddity' as a thirteen year old. I might have discovered 'The Man Who Sold The World' late, but that LP is still of great importance to me now, all these years later. Bowie is a lot of the things I can never be, but he also reminds me of some of the things I can.
LIGHTNING HOPKINS
Hopkins seems to be discounted by some blues aficionados of being from the very top draw but I don't agree. From the time I first heard his laconic vocal delivery coupled with his lively turn-around dominated guitar style I was hooked. Also, I will take recordings of him from just about any time in his career. The video below is from 1962, and finds Sam Hopkins in strident form.
JOHNNY CASH
Hello, I'm not Johnny Cash but I can detect integrity and talent when I see and hear it. Johnny Cash was one of the few artists my Dad and I both liked. He appealed to so many outside of the rigid Nashville dictated view of what country should and shouldn't be. The 'man in black' image attracted me long before I learned there was a connection between the words 'Gothic' and 'rock', but his music was the reason I stayed. His work was vital throughout his career but it amazes me that the Country music establishment seemed to want nothing to do with the remarkable 'American' recordings Cash made with Rick Rubin in his twilight years. Here are two videos, one featuring the Johnny Cash my Dad and I shared, the other, the most touching video I think I will ever see.
NICK DRAKE
When I was fifteen or so, Saturday afternoon was not complete without a visit to Tally Ho Electric music store in the Arcade, North Finchley. One day I was there with my friend Torquil. We wanted to buy an album, but didn't have enough to buy a full price LP. We ended up with 'Nice Enough To Eat', an Island label sampler. I discovered so many artists from that record, Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, Spooky Tooth, Quintessence and Dr Strangely Strange to name a few, but none affected my more than 'Time Has Told Me' a beautiful almost country like song, but with crystal clear British accented vocals, and an otherworldly appeal. So it was that I became one of the four thousand or so record buyers to become aware of Nick Drake in his short lifetime. This track led me to the album it came from, 'Five Leaves Left' and the astonishing follow up, 'Pink Moon'. English singer songwriting at it's best. There is no video footage I know of of Drake performing, in fact he only played 12 gigs in his life I think, but there are some tribute videos on Youtube that feature his music. By the way, I believe the lead guitar on this track is played by Richard Thompson.
DOCTOR FEELGOOD
Before punk, there was the London pubrock scene. I forget the amount of times that I saw Doctor Feelgood in some sweaty North London pub such as The Brecknock, NW5, or the Torrington N12 But the impression of the Bg Figure on drums, Sparko on bass, the mechanical genius of Wilco Johnson on lead guitar and the manic Lee Brilleaux on vocals and harp will never leave me. With their beyond back to basics approach and Wilco's lead and rhythm at the same time style, the Feelgoods reinvented the British blues scene while taking steps towards the imminent birth of punk. They were best experienced in a pub, not a TV studio full of 13 year old Osmond fans and one of the most punchable DJ presenters it has ever been my misfortune to witness, but the videos below give some idea of what they did. Anyone who sees me playing in California these days will be able to spot the influence straight away.
DICK HECKSTALL-SMITH
I had been aware of Heckstall-Smith the sax player for a long time, even saw him once in the early 80's playing with the pub band 'Big Chief', but his real influence started on me when I began creating a web-site for him, which led to me being his manager for the last four years of his life. Dick needed someone to believe he had a future, more than anything, and I performed that function to my limited ability. Dick had led a career too confusing for the music industry to want to bother with. He played blues in Jazz clubs, jazz in blues clubs and in a world where everyone has to be neatly packaged, Dick tended to be ignored. This was a mistake, he was a musical genius, perhaps too wrapped up in the mathematics of music in later years, but a genius nonetheless. And man, could he play, from spells in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated (along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker) Graham Bond ORGANisation (again with Jack and Ginger), John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Coloseum, through to DHSS, the unrecorded fusion band that meant so much to him, and his generally overlooked solo work. I am biased of course, but Dick taught me so much about music. I thought I knew so much before I met him, and it turns out I hardly knew anything at all. here are a couple videos, one of Dick playing with Norman Beaker in Jack Bruce's band in 1988, and a curious period piece, The Graham Bond ORGANisation in a very silly movie, "Gonks Go Beat" in the mid 60s. This skims the surface of what Dick could do, but if you have never heard him before, it's a start.
BB KING
I discovered the music of BB King through that of Peter Green. I once had the chance to interview Greeny in his then home and ask him how much BB King influenced him, and in particular, how much his 'Live At The Regal' rubbed off on Peter Green's playing. He agreed that it had meant a lot to him, and so it should of done. All these years later and it is still the handbook on how to play beautiful reverb soaked heartfelt blues lead guitar. A wonderful singer as well as guitarist, King goes into the 60th year of his recording career. His shows now feature as much storytelling as guitar playing, he is in his mid eighties, yet that magical touch remains.
THE BEATLES
There I was, a six year old oik with his plastic Beatles guitar, convinced that I had found what I wanted to do when I grew up. The Beatles invaded every part of my life in 1963, and 45 years later I still play their music, read about their lives and unlike John in his Rolling Stone interviews,I 'believe' in the Beatles, or at least in the music they made. If that makes me a sad case, fair enough. Four lads from Liverpool who shook the world in general, and a weird North London kid in particular.
FRANK ZAPPA
I had accompanied my Mum and Dad to see my Great Aunt Gracie when I was about 14 or so. I was as bored as I could be, and found myself in a different room to the grown-ups, trying to find something acceptable to listen to on an ancient bakelite radio. Finally, on BBC Radio 3 of all places (they usually played classical music) I found a documentary about The Mothers Of Invention. The music was crazy, doo-wop one minute, space rock the next with long passages of incomprehensibility thrown in along the way. I loved it then, I love it now!
KEVIN AYERS
I think I discovered Ayers through finding a 2nd hand copy of 'Whatevershebringswesing' somewhere. As with most of my musical obsessions, that led to me getting as much of his stuff as possible. He had this aura of a hippie ex pat Englishman with more than a touch of Noel Coward. He used great guitar players (Mike Oldfield, Andy Summers and the great great Ollie Halsall) and a romanticism that maybe only John Martyn came anywhere near. The video below does show a little of what made him so special to me! By the way, I think that is the great free jazz sax man Lol Coxhill on soprano.
DAVID BOWIE
Bowie has been a constant in my music collection since I bought 'Space Oddity' as a thirteen year old. I might have discovered 'The Man Who Sold The World' late, but that LP is still of great importance to me now, all these years later. Bowie is a lot of the things I can never be, but he also reminds me of some of the things I can.
