Bakewell - Desert to Dessert

The Haul

I really didn't expect to be writing this post today. I was just expecting to go into Bakewell and have a mooch around before returning back to Cromford, The Vinyl District told me that the nearest record shops were in Sheffield , Derby and  Nottingham. However I knew there was a musical instrument shop there, so thought I might drop in and see what I could see.

Bakewell Music

Talked with the guy in the Bakewell Music Shop and bought a couple of CDs buy what I thought were local bands. Silent Time are a local band , but Hank Sundown and The Roaring Cascades despite having a song about Wolverhampton are, in fact, Scandinavian.

Reminds of an artist in the seventies called Hank C Burnette who loved rock and roll, but didnt know about bass guitars so with a muktitack tape recorder and a detuned normal guitar produced an album called Spinnin' Rock Boogie , the lead track was issued by Charly records and became a hit single several years later. As John Peel said he was probaly called Sven! Anyway Hanks Sundown's  facebook page is here. So 3 CDs and a good crack with the owner definitely worth a visit if you are in the vicinity.

Flamingo Lane Music Sign

Next I wandered in a local indoor market area and found Flamingo Lane Music. Similar experience to Bakewell Music and picked up a couple of reggae CDs and a live Deep Purple DVD. Very impressed and this makes Bakewell not a bad place to pick up some music. It was topped off by picking up a hefty tome about the Clash and a couple of punk and post punk volumes from a local book shop, So that's listening and reading catered for for a few weeks.



These are in addition to Bakewell's food shops , pubs , ice cream parlours. An unexpectedly fruitful day and looking forward to coming back in the future,

The Bok , Stiff , Rabid and a little John Peel

In 1976 Andy Marshall had a gig to fulfil with his band Marshall Law. Unfortunately the band left before the gig took place so after a a phone call or two The Bok (singular of Box) was formed . Simon Clinic (aka Tony Eyre) original vocalist left before the first rehearsal, but in true punk fashion we wrote songs for the gig as well as a few covers to spread out the set. All gigs were in and around Preston in carious clubs , pubs and halls. The band consisted:

• Andy Marshall - Guitar - Vox - Songs
• Mike Singleton - Guitar - Vox - Songs
• The Hippy Mark Lester - Bass
• any drummer we could find but mainly Dave Topping

Songs were chosen for lack of chords and ease of playing and obvious influences were Velvet Underground , The Damned , Jonathan Richman. Covers we did included:

• Waiting For The Man
• Psycho Killer
• Rue Courier (Roadrunner - in French)
• Shot By Both Sides
• The Passenger
• Gloria
• Egyptian Reggae

Songs titles I remember apart for the demo list were:

• Sick of Beer
• Tennis
• Rant and Rave
• Accident
• Magic Eye

We had a gig in the basement of a pub in Preston. I had been using Ollie Halsall's trick of practising with heavy guage strings and playing with light gauge strings. This meant you could play very bendy sols and chords , but also in the hot sweaty confines of the pub basement  the guitar needed continuous retuning as I played . Guy came up to me at the end and send he loved my inplay tuning , didnt have the heart to tell him it wasnt planned. The DJ didnt like us and when we launched into Magazine's "Shot By Both Sides" he started playing the record as loud as he could, The crowd took umbrage and trashed his decks - nice show of appreciation!  Anyway .......
 

........Basically the idea was to choose some songs record them and despatch to people who mattered in music. John Peel tahanked us but said we were too primitive! Stiff Records apologised that they sent us a pre printed rejection letter , but Rabid Records of Manchester wanted to record us and put out a double "A" side single of "Mystery Band" / "Happy Birthday" , with an accompanying video involving pies , bikes and aqualungs!! . We went to Rabid's headquarters in Manchester but everyone had buggered ogff to the CBS launch of John Cooper-Clarke's Disguise In Love. Graham Fellows aka Jilted John aka John Shuttleworth dropped for rehearsals for the Jilted John album . He reckoned we looked like students. Also Martin Hannett did a lot of work with Rabid artists!!

An unexpected side effect was that a lot of girls stopped talking to me because they thought we were going to be on Top of the Pops!! Never could work that one out , the only time being in a band had an adverse social effect!!

After cups of tea and making plans the guy asked us what studio we had used . Studio? We hadn't a clue but the reason for John Peel's dismissal may have become apparent. Anyway Rabid records went bust fairly quickly after that and the band sort of didnt go any further though things could have been different.....

Below are some salvaged demos - enjoy:

Isn't Hindsight A Great Thing?

Just currently reading "The Olivetti Chronicles" a compilation of John Peel's articles over the years and came across on from 1975 . In it Paul Simon just makes up the numbers in a very bland American Top Ten , Bruce Springteen , is reponsible for some jolly type rock , but nothing to get excited ablout , Patti Smith is a pretentious poseuse (well she still is , but that has resulted in some cracking albums and music).

He also hopes that Queen , Thin Lizzy and Be Bop Deluxe will make stratospheric breakthoughs , and he couldnt have foreseen how successful Queen would go on to be , Thin Lizzy rock legends , and Be Bop Deluxe have left a respectable legacy with Bill Nelson still plying his trade.

I recommend the book to anyone who can read and has even the most cursory interest in music!!

Old Typewriters and Football Shirts

It's funny how our magpie like society convinces us that we need to have things . I can't remember why but while perusing Amazon I became aware of a book called "The Olivetti Chronicles" which I thought was about John Peel , for some reason I assumed someone had written another book about him , which is notunexpected given the importance of the guy to modern music.

Today , three months after receiving it as a birthday present I finally started to read the said book , and discovered thatit is actually a collection of John Peel's writings for many publications , unearthed by his family when they finished "Margrave of the Marshes" , the man's autobigraphy.

The title alloudes to the Olivetti typewriter that John produced his articles on , despite the difficulties in procuring ink to allow him to type , , but still his wife Sheila and son William have brought together over four hunderd pages of delightful and insightful prose , including stuff on his beloved Liverpool Football Club , and of course lot's of music .

His son Tom Ravenscroft presents a show on Radio 6 and sounds incredibly like his dad in his manner and taste in music , and sense of humour.

So that's my reading sorted for the next week or two!!

Heart As Big As Liverpool

Just visited Liverpool for the first time in ten years ,and the place is looking very well , though suffering from a dearth of decent record shops.. Probe is still going in a natty location next to the Bluecoat Chambers. This has given me the excuse to include mine and John Peel's two favourite songs about the place. First up is Pete Wylie's "Heart As Big As Liverpool" , this excellent video would have met with Mr Ravenscrofts Approval I'm sure:
Watch it here
Another one:



2nd is Amsterdam's "Does This Train Stop On Merseyside" , and wonderful song and I've included Ian Prowse' solo rendition at The Anglican Cathedral followed by a documentary about the song. The album is well worth buying as is anything by his previous band Pele!!:



And Here's The Documentary: