The first guitar magazine I ever bought, Beat Instrumental, had an interview with a hot new guitar star that suggested there was life beyond punk. Later in 1978 I saw Van Halen blow Black Sabbath off the stage of The Bristol Hippodrome. The first album mingles hard rock and punk better than any band except Motorhead. Reading Eddie van Halen talk about Allan Holdsworth lead to Bruford's 'One of a Kind' and the first U.K. album and then on to Holdsworth's solo work and into Jazz Rock and most other sorts of Jazz. Reading Steve Lukather's self serving autobiography he minimises Van Halen's role on Beat It, which is rubbish, it's one of the iconic guitar solos. Reading Thomas Dolby's memoir he talks about becoming friends with Eddie van Halen who contributed to his excellent 'Astronauts and Heretics' album.
And now he's gone, from Cancer aged 65. A tweet from the band Pearl Jam says "changed everything and played with soul". That is probably a pretty decent legacy. His finest moment below.
The Stranglers were never a punk band. Their first three albums are still regular plays for me. Hugh Cornwell said last night that Dave Greenfield, who as passed with Covid 19 should be remembered as the man who created the music of Golden Brown. Personally I would prefer to think of the Black and White album which as an old progressive rock fan had his stamp all over it. Curiously, despite loving the Stranglers I've never much liked their main influence, The Doors, but they did introduce me to Soul through this song, and also to Van Der Graaf Generator who were probably a subconscious influence. Indeed when Hugh was in jail Peter Hamilll was one of the guest singers at a show at The Rainbow London. The resulting album is hardly better than bootleg quality but as a document of a band evolving from their roots it is fascinating. The Stranglers as prog band, discuss.
A while ago I suggested that Lulu was the nearest British equivalent to France Gall who has died aged 70. I was wrong, the French treat their singers far better than we ever treated Lulu, Dusty or Sandie, they let them grow up.
A quick history...
1964-67: Serge Gainsbourg started writing for her, best song from her Ye!Ye! period is Laisse Tomber les Filles. Won Eurovision and kick started the novelty song era of Eurovision songs.
1967-74: Stopped working with Gainsbourg after unwittingly recording a song Les Sucettes that turned out to be one big Double Entendre (it means Lollipop, she was 19, it was 1967, work it out). Career stalls until she met and ultimately married star songwriter Michel Berger. 1974 - 92: With Berger writing the songs she matured into a mix of all round entertainer, musical Starmania being the highlight here, and albums artist. Eight studio and six live albums over twenty years, all of which did respectable business in France and not a light here.
1992 - 97: Berger dies of a heart attack, and after one more studio and a raft of farewell live albums, with the death of her daughter in 1997 that was it.
Why should you care? Because all through her career she worked with quality songwriters, and always developed and progessed her music, changing arrangements, styles, and hair while remaining uniquely herself. For me she is top of the list of Ye! Ye! singers. To learn more about this fascinating era try Ye-Ye Girls of '60s French Pop by Jean-Emmanuel DeLuxe. and Ace Records Ces't Chic compilations. Later on, while she certainly chased fashions in music, there were some great albums. "Babacar" with her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald is her best album as album, but very few of her later ones are without merit. The conventional wisdom has it that Michel Berger didn't write the quality of songs for Gall that he provided Franciose Hardy or Veronique Sanson. Not so, he just wrote more for his wife. The quality over 20 years of songs is very high. There aren't many double cd compilations you can listen all the way through to without hitting skip sometimes, Gall's "Evidemment" which covers her whole adult career is one I play all through often.
Gall regularly shifted the focus of her music, disco, pop, rock, and used the best French and imported musicians. Her last band featured Prince's New Power Generation rhythm section and David Sancious. Magma bassist Janick Top was a fixture for many years. Compare songs like 'Resiste' from it's slightly insipid pop roots in 82 through to live show anthem in '96. Her voice can be a bit shrill at times on the uptempo numbers, but give her a ballad like 'Ella Elle L'a' or‘Évidemment’ and she can do no wrong for me.
I have been pondering a blog about the appeal of French music for a while, why you should hear people like Nolwenn Leroy, and Couer De Pirate. I will get to it soon, but in the meantime I will be playing "Évidemment" and her last live album "Concert Prive, Concert Public" and remembering one of my favourite singers.
I said when I wrote about John Wetton that I wasn't one for marking every musician's passing, but now this...
In the late 70s Virgin Record stores published a magazine. In among advertorials for whatever they were selling that month was the occasional article that piqued my interest. One of these was on a new supergroup U.K. I was just starting on the path away from Top Of The Pops and the "previously with..." list read well. I didn't buy the record then, but a couple of years later saw Bill Bruford's band on 'Rock Goes To College', and discovered the world where Jazz met Rock. the guitarist stood out of the limelight, but something interesting was going on. At much the same time (or very close, memory may be faulty here) I bought my first guitar magazine, Beat Instrumental and read about Edward Van Halen's love of Allan Holdsworth.
So armed with 'One Of A Kind' and the first U.K. album I learnt more. The solos on 'In The Dead of Night', and 'Hells Bells' opened new views on what was possible with the electric guitar.
Sometime later BBC Radio 3 (yes 3) broadcast a session of Holdsworth's new solo band I.O.U. Recorded without the vocals of Paul Williams from the album it remains some of my favourite pieces of his playing and deserves an official release. I have followed him intermittently ever since.
'Road Games', 'Metal Fatigue', 'All Night Wrong', and 'Blues For Tony' are my favourites. If you are new to his music get the new compilation Eidolon, but be prepared to end up buying the new very suitably named 'The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever!' 12 cds of solo albums heralding new improved versions of his work.
In 1990 he joined Level 42 for a tour and part of the Guaranteed album. The only officially released live work is on a box set, the solo on Love Meeting Love is sublime.
Now too soon and suddenly he has gone. The crime that has artists of his quality leaving their family's needing Go Fund Me for funeral expenses is a subject I will come back to in a later post but for now I would suggest buying the new compilation, Bruford's One Of A Kind and reading Bill Bruford's autobiography which describes his time working with Allan Holdsworth, who comes across as someone unwilling to compromise his work, possibly a little difficult at times, but commited to his vision of the guitar and its possibilities.
Bill Bruford said on his Facebook page With enormous sadness I write to express my condolences to Allan's
family on the loss of a much-loved father and grandfather, my friend and
colleague. For several years in the 1970s, through my own band and
'UK', I listened to him nightly, launching sheets of sound on an
unsuspecting audience, changing perceptions about what guitars and
guitarists should or could be doing, thrilling me half to death.I would
have paid to be at my own gig.
Allan wasn't easy, but if it was easy it wouldn't have been Allan. Like
all creative musicians he was restless and relentless in pursuit of
'the perfect sound', the one that he couldn't get out of his head, the
one that would never leave him alone. Now he will be at peace. Still, my
guitar gently weeps.
I'm not often moved to write about a musician who has passed, but John Wetton was different.
At the start of the eighties some of my favourite musicians started forming bands together in some sort of fantasy rock group league. First Adrian Belew from Bowie's band & Talking Heads joined up with Bill Bruford, Tony Levin and a guitarist called Robert Fripp who I had never heard of, and then two of the lineup that made Drama, still my best loved Yes album, to form Asia with ELP's drummer and John Wetton.
John Wetton was a favourite by then. A hard driving bass player and a singer with a distinctive mid range voice. I heard him originally on U.K.'s Night After Night live album, worked back to the first U.K. album (where I found Bruford and especially Allan Holdsworth) and then earlier versions of King Crimson. Asia were different, more mainstream, the term AOR was just becoming one of abuse, but with enough substance to keep the music interesting. Built around Geoff Downes keyboard sounds, which were as much Buggles as Yes, Steve Howe's guitar solos were trimmed to keep you wanting more rather than looking at your watch, and Carl Palmer by and large kept out of the way.
In Downes, Wetton had the writing foil he needed to bring out the commercial aspect of his songs and make them hits. Short punchy anthems, the first album was full of them. John Wetton had been heading in this direction for a while, "As Long As You Want Me Here" on Night After Night, and his sole contribution to Wishbone Ash "That's That",and Downes contributions enabled him to create an album full of memorable hooks and tunes. Mike Stone's production and the business backing of John Kalodner and Geffen Records provided the mega seller that four muso's from the seventies would never have expected.
Lightning didn't strike twice and the second album was not as good, and in the end politics got in the way. The whole story is on Wikipedia fairly accurately. After Asia Wetton had a solo career that produced some great songs and a lot of good versions of his past triumphs. I saw the reformed Asia in 2009 and they were good, the voice was there and the bass playing was excellent. Wetton still had it right up to the end. The last picture I saw of him meeting Fripp was of a gaunt figure, who has sadly joined the ranks of the gone too soon. I will remember the powerhouse singer and bassist and play some his music tonight. What would I suggest to the person who has only just learnt his name or lost track in 1982?
Asia - "Asia" The whole album not a bad song on it. Heat Of the Moment might have been the hit but there are stronger songs and performances.
John Wetton - "Live In Tokyo 1997" Some of his best interpretations of Crimson, U.K. and Asia along with the pick of his then current solo stuff, skip the solos though.
Wishbone Ash - "That's That" from Number The Brave, great metallic bass sound, Asia should have covered this.
John Wetton - "Raised in Captivity" His last studio album and probably one of his best
His whole discography is here explore it and find some lost gems along with songs that if you are of my generation will resonate with you
