For me the cherry on top is just that authority of sound that seems a feature of some of the best 70's albums. Think of that understated yet undeniable 'rightness' of the mastered sound of 'Dark Side of the Moon' or maybe some of the Alan Parsons stuff from that period. Not the musical sound per se, but the authority of the sound if you will. Quite different from even the best CD sounds of the 90's 'The Region..' has that same authority of sound. I listen out for it, and I know it when I hear it.
The net result is a collection of pieces that to my mind are faultless in arrangement and use
of available instruments, plus succeed in being entirely evocative of the theme they are meant to
represent. On this album are several gems, of which for me the relatively short opener to side
'The Sun' stands out. Expertly paced in terms of dynamics this piece starts with a lone trumpet
figure announcing the pre-dawn reddening of the horizon, this slips into a relaxed section of
piano and volume pedal/slide guitar as the strings intro. like the first fragile sun-rays hitting the sea.
God Speed You Black Emperor - Haunted Epics.
Last Boxing day night (1999) I was driving back home from my parents place in Suffolk.
It was getting on for midnight and I was taking the long way along the back roads
because I prefer the old A roads that are quiet now the dual carriageways run
across half the country. The night was still and the cold was frosting the verges.
I turned on the radio and put it on auto channel search, I had to hit the button
a couple of times as it found a variety of crappy commercial stations playing
chart trash, until it locked onto a glorious melancholy instrumental piece.
I trundled on thinking how the music fitted the eerily quiet, flat landscape I was
travelling through. In fact it lasted me right out of Suffolk, into Cambridgeshire
and nearly back to my home county. At last after a slughtly disturbing religous diatribe
the track ended. On came John Peels' perma-confiding voice as he announced in
his ever-so-slightly condescending drone that we had been listening to entry twenty
something in his Festive Fifty, - 'Drunk as the Oven in Maida Vale'. I had stumbled across
something special here.
God Speed You Black Emperor seems to specialize in 10 - 20 minute mini epics. I can only compare
them to what might happen if Brian Eno and David Byrne and perhaps Harold Budd as well were
transported back to the early 70's to make music with the then line up of Pink Floyd. The
result is long rambling instrumental pieces interspersed with what sounds like recordings
of the spontaneous rants of wierdo's spotted on street corners (in fact that is exactly what they
are). All the time an ear is kept on the musical dynamics which ebb and flow around the
collected 'found' sounds in an impressively seamless manner.
The result is often staggering. Although I believe they come from Canada,
they seem to have the uncanny knack of portraying a New World
(is it Canada, is it the USA?) that is spiralling towards some paranoid neurotic cataclysm.
At their best the sound is darkly magnificent. My favorite track is that
John Peel session which was in fact titled 'Drunk as the Queen in Maida Vale',
How amusing that smirky old John got that one wrong. I'm not sure if its
available anywhere though. The full track is supposed to be available on Kranky's
website but I can't get it to play more than 15 seconds or so.
However the next best which IS available is the EP 'Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada' which I got
from CDNOw. Its on the Kranky label and its truly wondrous in a trippy, heavy way.
It may not be Saturday Night music, or even Sunday morning, but I love it.
In a recent article in MOJO magazine Leiber and Stoller heartily endorsed it
, what better recommendation could you want. (rjh 2000)
Godspeeds page at Kranky
Emmylou Harris - 'Wrecking Ball'
Lambchop - 'What another man spills'
I bought a copy of UNCUT magazine 'cos it came with a tasty looking cover disc of what they're calling New Country, in spite of the
fact that they included an Gram parsons track from the 70's on it. There was a lot of good stuff on it including Lambchops' 'Interrupted' from the album
'What another man spills'. Its a delicious slice of mellow, spaced out rootsy american groove. Driven by a floating pedal steel lick the songs lyrics seem
to describe a walk through a cold frosty night somewhere sometime. Its not really country actually, and spookily enough I see ghosts of Pink Floyd and Eno
lurking on the horizon again. Definitely takes you somewhere, it would
bookend well with Black Crowes 'Wiser time' around any amount of Neil
Young material.
Rock/Roots American. Criminally underrated. Formerly with Lone Justice - (great band but to me
not as good as the solo stuff), She only
really shone after she went solo and revealed herself to be a brilliant writer.
Dropped from Geffen apparently for refusing to do dumbed-down
country offal. Very difficult to describe what a major talent she is, except perhaps to say
that she easily stands comparison with Sheryl Crow. Or to put it another way, Sheryl Crow is
no more talented than Maria. And you know how much I rate Sheryl. I eagerly await her next album
which has been a long wait and must surely be with us soon. It is however a self-financed
affair so we may need to be patient
Best Tracks - This Property is condemned, My girlhood among the outlaws, Absolutely Barking Stars
Best Album - All of the major studio albums. (Maria Mckee 1989, You gotta sin to get saved 1993, Life is
Sweet 1996 All on Geffen). See the Old Grey Cat for more.
Run CnW - I've only been told about this collection of country versions of popular songs and don't
even have an album title. My friend and redoubtable bass player Steve Musgrove tells me of
these guys, but I have not found any mention
of them on the web. Watch this space. No not now, what I mean is you should come back later and
look here, well look further up the page later. Go away now please and stop gawping you're making me nervous.
Sometime ago I fished out an old cassette tape that I picked up from the office when I worked
for BMG Records in the mid 90's. It was an internal copy of what turned into the first Brian
Setzer Orchestra Album. Its great. Just at the dividing line between swing and Rock n Roll
Brian has found room to innovate. I thought that most of the tracks must be covers, but no,
one of the best, 'Ball and Chain' is a Setzer original. Later on is another fine track 'Drink
that bottle down', Surfing around on cdnow.com informs me this is a Slim Phantom original
complete with one of the best guitar quiff-outs that I've ever heard. Again this is outstanding
writing, it more or less blows Harry Connick Jr away, cos it has that gritty edge, whilst the
horn and string arrangements are spot on throughout. Highly recommend, my tape seems to be
missing a track from the album, and has
a fairly lame number 'Honky Tonk' tacked on the end instead. I guess they fished this one out
pre-release. Once again I find I've got buried treasure all around me in the house, but this
time I'm just reminded of Setzers' talent., - I've always maintained that if he'd been around
in the 50's he'd have been a megastar, and when you remember that they
were quite a phenomenon when they came out in the 80's it just shows how good they were a) to
have success in what was by then a dead and buried genre and b) that no-one has managed to
write an innovative yet 'right' sounding rock and roll song since.
Way back in 1984 I often used to occupy my Thursday nights with a visit to the Treetops Hotel
in Epping.
The owner was a big music fan and put on low key band nights in the semi-basement bar. Often these
were local bands (often featuring people I knew) but at other times we had 'proper' bands. One
evening in October of that year the 'proper' band was 'Chemical Alice'. I'd heard about this
band from the Hornchurch area with a reputation for festival type grooves and prog-cum-cosmic
rock leanings and they turned out to be very much as described. (Later when Marrillion
came to prominence we learned that Keyboardist Mark Kelly had been 'lifted' from Chemical
Alice back in 1981).
They built a great mystical vibe from the very beginning of the set, with synth drones and meaningful
pinging of finger bells from guitarist Dave Weston. To me they seemed to live somewhere in
outer space, - the corner that Hawkwind and Gong no doubt also came from. I thoroughly enjoyed
the evening and that was the last I ever heard of them. In fact even the band name got relegated
to the deepest recesses of my mind.
However last autumn (2002) whilst looking for further info on The Enid I came across them
again via the excellent (but currently static) 'Bathtub of Adventures' website. At first the
name 'Chemical Alice' only sparked a dim recollection, but as I read on I realised this was
the band I saw that night. I emailed Dave Weston to check, who confirmed that my memory was
intact and was kind enough to send me a few 'Alice recordings including a copy of a live
recording from the same year I saw them at the Treetops. Excellent it is too;
Chemical Alice Live 1984
This is the only live document of Chemical Alice in their final format in 1984. Personnel - Rob Bennet Drums, Jack Grigor - Bass,
Richard Sanderson - Keyboards and Vox, Alan Sawyer Lead Vox, David Weston Guitar, Vox and Finger Bells.
Nine tracks are featured and cover the both the jam based elements and the more 'written' type numbers.
The sound quality is not brilliant as it was just an ad hoc tape recording rather than a
mobile studio type recording and some of the singing is ragged, but then this was never intended to be made available to the public,
just a 'capture' for the bands own references. However the spirit of the occasion and some great playing of both
the spontaneous and the orchestrated type are apparent.
A few comments on my personal favourites; - "Taking Control" a measured and weighty piece
with an almost apocalyptic refrain.
I find this reminiscent of some of the best Pink Floyd output. Great sustain guitar work from Dave including one
of the most audacious string bends I've heard in a while at 6'07".
"The Gnome Song" - A great trippy spoken piece over space synth washes and Dave's finger-bells
combines English whimsy in the Syd Barrett tradition with Tolkein influences before developing
via some classic drum heaviness courtesy of Ron Bennett into a gong-ish space jam. I have an
ambition to one day produce a club mix of the middle section of this song. It would sound massive to anyone on ecstasy..
"Once and Future King" - Easily the most rocking song of the set, driving guitar, drums,
bass and the keyboard set to 'Hammond Grind', whilst the vocals get in and do their bit without
hanging around. Superb solid drumming from Bennett with staccato snare work and fluid fills at
every turn, majestic (possibly Tolkienesque) lyrics and a measured arpeggiated wah-guitar solo
harmonising with the keyboards, overall a great muscular performance that shines right through
the unfortunate recording quality.
"The Little Peace At The End" - The final tour-de-force. A full 12 minutes that manages not
to outstay its welcome by moving seamlessly through several moods, whilst (after the extended
intro ) keeping a more or less fixed and rather excellent bass riff throughout.
Only after several listens do you realise that the drum pattern changes continually from
Copeland influences, to driving rock, whilst during the verses it's more reggae than anything
else. Simliarly the keyboards move through several moods as the piece progresses. The singer
struggles in a few places, but the playing is superb, - a great example of the whole being more than the
sum of the parts and the whole band taking flight during the later instrumental parts.
This is as great a prog/rock piece as anyone has ever done that rewards repeated listens. If only
this had all been recorded in a good studio at the time.
I asked Dave to comment in terms of song genesis about some of my favourite tracks from the album; (references to the "Urban Spacemen"
concern Daves' latest band which plays new versions of some of the songs here);
"This happens in a variety of ways. Some songs such as The Once & Future King
are straight compositional exercises where the whole thing is pretty much
worked out before the band come to play it, I think that song only ever had
the one arrangement. Others such as The Gnome Song and Little Peace at the
End evolved from ideas that cropped up during jam sessions and gradually
over the years the arrangements just sort of grew on the songs in a fairly
organic way. The version of Little Peace on the Spacemen album is very
similar in terms or arrangement to the one last played by Alice in January
1985. Likewise Rising Light is a tune which started out in quite a composed
form and gathered additional ideas over the years although in this case not
really as a result of jamming. Taking Control hasn't really changed much
either in 20 years although the Spacemen version is quite different from the
Alice one especially in it's form on the CD which includes acoustic guitars
and stays quite restrained."
Another aspect of the 'Alice story that is close to my heart is the struggle to keep enthusiasm in the
face of public indifference, a struggle which has beaten me every time, but to which Dave has never yet yielded;
"Keeping the Faith" - I have always loved playing music and that has been the case for 30 odd
years. Writing and performing music is the easy part, the difficult bits are
the logistics and politics of keeping and band together, getting suitable
gigs, finding an audience etc. These parts can be very wearing and every so
often just get to the point where I stop and give up for a while and then
resume with a slightly different plan. Of course if I had been a bit more
business like about these aspects then possibly the Alice thing would have
grown in reputation and reach to the point where we might have been in the
situation that largely self contained bands like the Ozrics and IQ are in
today. The situation with the Spacemen is that we are all of a similar age
with similar domestic circumstances and are all grown up to the point where
we don't fall out over differences in opinion. The music seems to be big and
broad enough to accommodate what everyone wants to do with it so we just
sort of get along. At a musical level it's quite weird in that having
dabbled with much more jazzy and folky music a lot of what the Spacemen are
doing feels very much like a continuation of the Alice thing. It probably
would have happened before if the right collaborators were available and I
had bit more self confidence in what it is I do. It has been suggested by
friends who have known me for many many years that it should be called
Chemical Alice and have done with it but I don't think I could ever do that.
It isn't and we aren't. The reason that the 3 Alice songs are in the set and
on the CD is that the first Spacemen gig followed on from the Alice reunion
gig in early 2002 and only became the Spacemen because Jack Grigor emigrated
a couple of weeks before it took place. Most of us knew the Alice material
so that's what we kicked off with. Two of the songs which were played at the
Alice reunion were new ones from me which also became Spacemen songs. The CD
is very much a reflection of the set that we played on our first year
together so voila! There is also a Slartibartfast tune on the CD so as you
can see I have no qualms about plundering my own musical heritage although
the next CD will be 90% new material."
See The Bathtub of Adventures - Containing Dave Westons history of Chemical Alice and related bands
Sean Beste is the brother of Wonderlove bassist David Beste. His band 'Square' have a CD by the name of
'This Magnificent Nonsense'. As yet I've only listened to it once, but I can say it is very well
recorded and the opening track is excellent. He says the square sound has been described as 'A cross between Elvis Costello
and Jamiroquai, if you can imagine that'. I would add that later Steely Dan seem also to be a major
reference point to a lot of the (very smooth) arrangements.
One garageband track that got the big thumbs up from me was 'Nightbloom' by Mama Zeus out of Nevada. A seriously good open tuned guitar riff with Heart-esque vocals
and a great almost psychedlic, Zepp-esque riff, a majestic band sound, quite magnificent.
Why not check them out - they're all there on 'gb', filed under Pop/rock. Their website is at
www.mamazeus.com
I first saw the Clive Mulcahy band at the Brentwood Blues festival in late 1995.
He is a storming blues player, a little bit in the mould of Rory Gallagher, - fiery playing,
an energetic set and a commanding stage presence, and he's liable to bring the blues directly
to you courtesy of a long guitar cable and a tendency to wander out into the crowd. He
alternates between a number of modded guitars and various open tuned
lap steels and utilises an eclectic mix of valve amplifiers in a custom rig, the resultant
'wall' of sound is electrifying. At one point he was a member of the Tom Robinson Band.
I recently talked to Clive and he gave me a quick update and a copy of his album
'Mama Wants a Working Man' read about this and his playing secrets here;
Clive Mulcahy - Guitars, Lap steels, Tunings and Amps
If there's one thing I like in a group its any element of self-effacement, how about making your capacity for that
evident when you name your band? If its combined
with some wit, and some musical ability then that can only be a good thing. If you then add stylistic versatility
and multi-faceted lyrics with just the right mixture of honesty, ambiguity and observational comment
then you're on to a winner. Who could fit the bill? why its 'The Brilliant Mistakes'. Three of
this
four piece band are writers and that strength is evident when you listen to the free sample
mp3's available at their site The Brilliant Mistakes . There
are many possible comparisons to their style, some cite Squeeze, Elvis Costello, and these are
valid comparisons to their pop inspired songs. One standout track for me , however, is 'Unsuspecting Girl'
written and sung by their Keyboardist and Vocalist Alan Walker. With a voice that to me hints of
Neil Young and Tom petty, ( and that others have placed somewhere in the Adam Duritz mould ), this
track sings of a life with no storybook endings in a manner that endears rather than isolates.
Set against a slow country-ish backing that takes on life just when you thought it might get predictable,
the lyrics
are incredibly well-written, up to the standards of Mr Duritz, and remind me of that quote from some
old poet (was it Wilde) that went something like 'We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking
at the stars'. That hopefully is what we're looking at for the 'Brills.
When asked Adam Walker had this to say about the track "the song is also our attempt at a little bit of Graham Parsons sweet
melancholy, and on top of that we threw in some old-fashioned Beatle production tricks (vocals panned one way, instruments the other) as well as
the reverse tape guitar solo at the end of the song. " he never mentioned the inspired lyrics , see what I mean, - self-affacement at work again.
If someone can convince
the cloth-eared record company types of the obvious talent here then they may just make it up there.
Honeypot are a Northampton based acoustic four piece comprising; Meagan Loretz
A great young singer and guitar player, we came across her busking in the street. To be precise
in Queen St. Brisbane City Centre. She was there at the start of our recent holiday in Queensland and
four weeks later when we returned from a months travelling she was still there singing her heart out.
Presumeably she'd had a few breaks, but anyway she's perfecting her craft, and is busy writing some
strong material that she was good enough to play for us. She says she'd be happy to just break
into writing. Who wouldn't?, well she has as good a chance as anyone and I wish her luck.
Soldier date from the early 80's resurgence in Heavy Rock that was dubbed 'The New Wave Of
British Heavy Metal' or by its initials NWOBHM. My insight into this band is via my good friend Ian Astrop
who drummed with the band during that period and has also drummed in our band 'The Passengers' for the last
nine years. The news is that there has been a resurgence of interest in NWOBHM and
in particular in Soldier, - their classic track 'Sheralee' (written by Nick Bicknell) having
been covered recently by Japanese rockers Gorgon. As a result a new EP has been recorded and
is now available on the
web at www.soldierstormtroopers.com
Entitled 'Infantrycide' it features 4 tracks: "Infantrycide","Come on Down","Silver Screen
Teaser", and "Paradox".
I talked to Ian the other day and he had this to say;
"Infantrycide is a re-recording, the original having been recorded
in '81 with Steve Taylor on drums but with the rest of the line up as it remains now. "Come on Down"
and "Paradox" are two new songs both by Ian Dick, trying to break new ground but at the same time
retaining the trademark Soldier sound. Silver Screen Teaser is also a re-recording of an old favourite,
the original having been a single in 1980 which reached No 10 in the 'Sounds' Heavy Metal Charts.
Ed: So Ian how did this all come about?
"Well its all spooky isn't it?, We sat down with the PC and started cleaning up some old cassette
copies of the old Soldier stuff (some of which was from the aborted London sessions)
using Wavelab last Autumn (ed...Thats November 2002 ), and a
couple of days later I got a call from Ian Dick, who continues to live in Northampton. He said
that Garry Phillips had put a website up and got a lot of mail from people all over Europe
inquiring about the band, which he found quite amazing. A lot of questions about
how people could get hold of the old stuff and also was there any new stuff coming out?, maybe
working on that old cassette was a bit akin to rubbing Aladdins' lamp, - we coaxed the genie
out of the bottle!
So anyway Gary had got in touch with Ian Dick just to let him know there was this interest. Ian (Dick)
meanwhile had just carried on writing songs and putting them on the shelf. Between them they
thought it might be fun to try and get the band back together just to try and re-record some
of the old stuff.
They got in touch with Steve Barlow (Bass) who was still in Northampton and he jumped at the
chance to start playing again. He actually hadn't touched a bass since the band split up in '83.
So then Ian got in touch with me and I said 'I'd love to'. So we had
an initial get together at the venerable Beck Studios in Wellingborough and it went really well.
It was just like it was a week or so since we'd played, rather than 20 years or so, no real cobwebs
at all. All this of course meant Garry coming down from Blackburn on the train.
On the strength of this we went on to about three rehearsals over four months and then we
went to Soundtracks Studios in Nottingham and did the EP. It was a lot of fun.
Later on the Pro Tools tracks for Infantrycide were sent to Nick Lashley (one-time guitarist
and writer of the track) in LA who added the guitar solo."
"Yeah, I just had to give up the band in the end, what with holding down a daytime job, being married
and having our first child on the way, Nick joined the band at a very young age after I left,
but conjured up the song 'Infantrycide' which was a great song but never got properly recorded.
In the meantime he's had phenomenal success with Alannis Morissette as both guitarist and writer.
And now of course we've had the opportunity to record the song as it should have been in the first
place, with Nick adding his parts via cyberspace."
Ed. - He's done an extremely tasty job too, - the solo is restrained but spot on and he's done a sort
of doubling of the rhythm line for the last part of the song.
"That's right, he did three alternate solos and we picked the one we thought really hit the
spot, and he did that guitar harmony of the riff at the end"
Ed.. I have that track on a tape in the car at the moment, I love the lyric "Don't kill the world"
"Well it is good advice.."
Ed.. I have a version of Michael Caine saying it in my mind... anyway moving on "Paradox"
is my 2nd favourite, it's the right stuff too isn't it?
"Yes, after all this time Ian (Dick's) probably writing better stuff than ever. It probably
steps outside of the NWOBHM mould in terms of scope, cos its heavy but also melodic and almost
balladic in places, y'know a bit of a mini-epic, but it works well and maybe shows we can step
beyond what's expected from a band in our mould"
Ed.. So maybe some gigs in the future?
"Well we're boxing clever on that 'cos its got to be the right thing at the right time, we don't
see the point of going off at half cock"
Ed.. I see, but hey, Big in Japan eh?
"Yes, Garry had
an e-mail from Japan, from the band 'Gorgon' saying that they were big fans of Soldier and had
covered Sheralee. Over there people are calling us 'Legends of the NWOBHM'. They wanted us to provide a track that they could use on their 10th anniversary
CD. Originally the idea was to have a tribute album where other bands played Gorgon tracks on the CD, but
that evolved into an idea which was to have them (Gorgon) playing lots of different tracks by different
people. So we're providing a track which is a slow heavy blues thing with lots of spaces for
guitar solos by the guys from Gorgon!
For now though we're rehearsing more songs for a future album and the gig thing remains uncertain
at the moment, but soon we should have some news, maybe even something later in the year. "
Ed .. "Thanks Ian, and remember (adopts Michael Caine voice) "You are not supposed to kill the
bloody weld"
Ian .. (adopts Tommy Vance voice) "Rock On".
Midnight Syndicate
A great swinging band with Ray Charles influences and a charismatic frontman,
caught doing an open air gig in Brisbane City Centre in March 2003.
Loz Spencer
Loz Spencer deserves a mention in his own right. Loz guess back a long way with back with Honeypot, in fact to their prior incarnation "Jo-Jo and the Softlads". Loz and Jojo's voice interwove to produce a perfect vocal sound. Loz, smitten with wanderlust left to bike down to Spain and the 'softlads' became honeypot. They still play one of Loz's best numbers 'Ten minutes' and once Loz tires of globe-trotting we can look forward to some good stuff in whatever he does.
Coming soon a bit about Uncle Eric. Uncle Eric is probably the greatest and longest serving proponent
of the Northampton electric music scene. I say the electric music scene because it's difficult to classify
his extensive repertoire over the years that has covered rock'n'Roll,Rhythm 'n'Blues,Blues,Country,
Western Swing and verged into Jazz territory over something like 30 years of regular appearances
around the shire and beyond. Band line ups over the years have been extremely fluid and not only do
they read like a who's who of local talent , but include names who have worked (and often still do)
with some of the top figures of the British music scene. Band names have come and gone but the
one that has survived the longest is "Uncle Erics' Backstairs Creepers".
Over the years I've enjoyed the occasions when I've played with his band and recently I was
invited to the festivities at his 60th birthday party, where a number of familiar faces gathered
to revive some past and present favorites. Hopefully soon eric and I will hook up and get down a few of the facts and larger than life stories of this local legend.
I've now got a lead on this fabled Rock n Roll outfit from the early Eighties, I've been
in touch with Nick Churcher the guitarist on their single 'Storm Boys', who tells me
that contrary to some stories there was not so much material left 'In the Can'. I believe his
involvemnet with the band ceased shortly after the single was recorded and before it was
actually released. It remains a sought after item in the European Rock'n'Roll scene.
George Drakoulias - Top Producer Busy Making Modern Classics
George has been involved with a long list of great bands, some of my favourites
being Maria Mckee, Black Crowes, Reef and The Jayhawks. He is a great ballsy drummer too, - Listen
to "I can't make it Alone" on Maria's "You gotta sin to get Saved" for proof of that
Check also this excellent interview with George
http://www.taxi.com/insiders/ari1195.html
Brendan O'Brien - Rock Producer
Produced 'Get a Grip' by Aerosmith, and 'Vs' by Pearl Jam to name but two classics.
Knows how to make a brilliant rock album in the same way that Robert John 'Mutt' Lange
does only not so famous. I gotta find out more about him, then I'll write it up here.
Another subtlety is the use of false peaks, - you think you're nearing the peak of a track, only to find it
changing course or relaxing for a bar or two before the actual peak.
The use of these arrangement /dynamic tricks are exquisitely demonstrated time and again throughout the
album and are simply moee ingenious and satisfying than most other contemporary recordings. It
certainly makes some of the earlier Genesis stuff seem almost predictable in comparison.
Here are some good links related to the Enid;
Forgotton Sons - The Enid
Bathtub of Adventures - Excellent piece on 'In the Region..'
The Official Enid Website
New/Buried/Unsigned Stuff
The Best current Stuff to look out for
In these days of merger-frenzy corporate cynicism, global dumbing down,
and cut-price synthetic music, one of the best things that can happen to a muso is to
stumble across people doing great stuff now.
Here I note the best stuff that I come across;
- If you contact Dave Weston and ask nicely, maybe he'll sort out a copy of Live 1984. Cheers Dave!
Also Coming soon new material from Dave in the form of the first 'Urban Spacemen' CD.
Jojo Barnes - Vocals
Rob Bray - Guitar and Vocals
John Rose - Bass, Backing Vox
Jamon Cahill - Drums and Percussion
honeypots' great strength is the way they write Pop type songs with style and such great arrangements.
The up-tempo numbers are sing-along hum-along strum-along classics and the ballads are intimate, vulnerable
pieces that really get you "just there".
Up until recently they had no drums. Jamon definitely adds a kick to the up-tempo stuff, but the ballads are so good that they sounded just great with acoustic guitar, Bass and Vocals. the starker the better for these numbers and drums could clutter the picture in my opinion. This is by no means a criticism of Jamon or anything else, if any thing its a tribute to the power of the ballads.
Just recently they've released a CD, I don't know whether you'd say it was an album or a large E.P., at any rate its got 8 tracks on it and sells for about £6.
There's also a web site for you to check out from which you can get soudbites and the whole CD. I am fully confident that this will beceome a priceless rarity in years to come.
Honeypot Honeypots web page
The Supporting Cast - These People Have Great Taste And/Or Have Done Great Things in Music
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