This from Brother Jobe over at Voodoo Wagon this afternoon and if you don't have it you really should if you are a Drake fan and let's face it who isn't!? I have this double CD down in the vaults and played it to death back in 2014 so if you really don't have this it is really well worth it. It made me revisit this collection of early demos and radio miscellany (John Peel etc) Much missed and the main inspirer and influencer of so many (not least John Martyn!) a British legend taken far too soon . . . . . . . .
time has told me you're a rare rare find . . . . . . .
a troubled cure for a troubled mind…
sadly true and no cure was found
Drake suffered chronic depression and possibly an undiagnosed schizophrenia, he was found dead from an overdose of amitriptyline in 1974,prescribed for his mental health issues and whilst he left no note he did leave a letter to his sometime girlfriend Sophia Ryde (he had unconsummated relationships with women including a deeply close relationship with fellow musician Linda Thompson).
His sister the actor Gabrielle and his mother Molly are worth following and researching too. Molly has been published posthumously and The Unthanks have recorded a tribute to her* and by extension Nick
Molly Drake died in 1993
On her tombstone it reads "Now we rise, and we are everywhere"
Means just one thing . . . . . . the annual FAIRPORT CONVENTION gathering in a village up the road from me here a couple of years back (2019) and broadcast on my local radio station Radio Oxford (BBC) this is therefore great quality and despite being over at Big O and picking your way gingerly amongst the torrent of verbal abuse and horrific neanderthal meatheads in the comments section they share this well and it is well worth the download if you like the roots of all music . . . . . . . . (discuss!)
Of course this is the beating heart of the band and features the nucleus currently:
Simon Nicol – guitar, vocals (1967–1971, 1976–1979, 1985–present)
Dave Pegg – bass guitar, mandolin, backing vocals (1969–1979, 1985–present)
Chris Leslie – fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki, vocals (1996–present)
Gerry Conway – drums, percussion (1998–present)
with guests of Dave Mattacks (drums) and Sally Barker, Anna Ryder on vocals, P.J.Wrightand somehow Joe Brown reeling out his 'hit' 'Picture of You' for reasons best known to someone else. Now I like Joe ( a lot actually and note his contributions to the George Harrison tribute onward he is still playing and touring and entertaining us but I don't quite get his appearance here) . . . . . . .still not to be too snitty. Let's face it it takes two singers to replace Sandy Denny and two violinists to replace Dave Swarbrick so in the absence of Richard Thompson, who often does pop up at these things, or his wonderful daughter Kami who appears at time on vocals, I guess they need as much help as they can get! And nothing wrong with that. It's great fun and fine quality of course. Put 'Shuffle and Go' on and turn it up! You'll be reeling around your living room in your pants in no time!
So Floppy Boot Stomp turns up trumps again this morning (here! sic) and I think it was my children or more specifically my son who mentioned these guys to me and I really like them . . . . . . if you play one thing today play the video . . . if you like that head on over to HQ and sample the set there and as a bonus Silent Way has posted a YouTube of an entire concert . . . . enjoy! I did!
The War On Drugs - Hilvarenbeek, NL. 2014
The War On Drugs - Best Kept Secret Festival Beekse Bergen, Hilvarenbeek, NL. June 21, 2014 Soundboard@320 (not the complete show)
An Ocean in Between the Waves Baby Missiles Eyes to the Wind Under the Pressure Burning Red Eyes Your Love Is Calling My Name
I have always been troubled by Jimi Hendrix's death and the struggles he had towards the end. Something was clearly wrong. In the months leading up to his death he seemed terribly unhappy. This gives me the opportunity to mention another brilliant blog of specialist pages focusing on a few artists namely Jimi and Pink Floyd and specifically Dave Gilmour alone, rather than the shotgun spattered eclecticism of my pages here so check out over at Prochedelic Music and I think I found it through the auspices of Floppy Boot Stomp and/or Voodoo Wagon thanks to Silent Way and Jobe and the gang (where else?!).
Now Prochodelic Music has posted an attempt to interpret Jimi's proposed fourth album before his tragic and untimely death at a mere 27. It is a fascinating read and worth checking out for the liner notes if nothing else (see below) but is well worth the listen too. Now I have a problem with his work post Electric Ladyland and so did he it would seem. I blame his management and specifically Mike Jeffrey who ensured Hendrix's touring schedule was chaotic, seemed unplanned, hectic and guaranteed to exhaust the star. This was of course the industry standard at the time and bands were sent with little to no logic on tours without the meticulous eye for detail we expect these days. It is my belief he was close to nervous exhaustion around the time he died and if you check his itinerary and the photos of him before he passed away you may ending up agreeing that he seems to have become far from happy with his lot. Electric Lady recording studio looked like costing him a fortune and probably not capable of recouping his investment before several years were to pass but we will never know now.
There is quite a lot of evidence that Prochodelic is correct in his tracklising (see Jimi's notes on illustrations 4 below) and Jimi had definitely had begun working on it when he died. Listening to it worries me. It sounds unformed at best and untidy somehow. It seems to reflect his mood and frustrations what with the arguments with Chas Chandler who left him by now and with Noel (Reading) effectively being sacked but he also seemed less than happy with his chosen replacements in Billy Cox and Buddy Miles and others to boot. The album as it might have been has a sound that we don't find upon Electric Ladyland. It has a discordant note to me. There is no Red House, no beauty of Little Wing no magic jam of Voodoo Chile 15 minute album jam with the joyous peak of working with Steve Winwood, Jack Cassady and guests [sic] or the vision of reinterpreting Dylan's All Along The Watchtower. His attempt to continue and cover another Dylan song in the cover of 'Drifter's Escape' has none of the re-arrangement or vitality that Watchtower must have made Bob sit up and take notice in shock and awe at what Jimi had wrought. It is lacklustre and uninspired. But then much of the work is in my humble opinion and I know there are Hendrix fans who will disagree with this and cite Ezy Rider, Cherokee Mist and especially Roomful of Mirrors but in my view these are nowhere near the excellence the artistry, the beauty if you will of his previous albums.
Check it out and see if you agree . . . . . or not and look at these cover notes here to whet your appetite
this last shot of his final live performance in Isle of Fehmarn Festival Germany is particularly sad in my view he was clearly exhausted, met with boos and a rowdy disappointed crowd, sent by Jeffry to do the show and is seen arriving by train in the rain and there was something in the atmosphere that hinted things were less than right somehow.There was a dismal storm coming . . . . . .
Something was definitely wrong and within less than a fortnight he was gone
I noticed while linking another post to Sturgill Simpson that a video from YouTube of him covering a great John Prine number had been deleted and to make up for it posted this . . . . . . classic performance of them working together and is a perfect illustration of how much John appreciated the up and coming or the younger artists that crossed his path . . . . . . while sad in that you can clearly see how poorly he was towards the end this shows the indefatigable spirit of John was not going down without a battle and a song!
The final volume of Bear Family's seven-part country-rock history Truckers, Kickers, Cowboys Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country-Rock concludes the story of the rise of country-rock by illustrating ways rock worked its way into mainstream country, while mainstream rock embraced the sunny vibes of California cowboy music so thoroughly it no longer seemed country...
and apposite somehow we should have the final disc 2 of Vol 7 today (Sunday 29/Aug/2022) its a public holiday here so what better soundtrack than something that covers Gram Parson, Kinky Friedman to John Prine . . . . . . . .
Nice piece this morning from Kostas over at Urbanaspirines looking at the phenomena that was Woodstock and the mother of all live music festivals from 1969 to the present day and covering some 18 CDs (count 'em!) an awesome achievement and well worth checking out for sure. If you don't have all this then browse and read what Kostas says about the whole deal here . . . . . . . . . :
"In August 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. Over half a million people came to a 600-acre farm to hear 32 acts (leading and emerging performers of the time) play over the course of four days (August 15-18). Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were among the line-up. Woodstock is known as one of the greatest happenings of all time and perhaps the most pivotal moment in music history."
Thirty-two musicians, a combination of local and world-famous talent, performed at Woodstock. Around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 15, Richie Havens took the stage and played a 45-minute set. Havens was followed by an unscheduled blessing by yoga guru Sri Swami Satchidananda
'Rocket' posted this classic early set ('78) from Elvis Costello live in Eugene Oregon for the 'boss' in response to a note from Brother Jobe over there at Floppy Boot Stomp as a tribute to Silent Way the man who leads all the related sites and seems to have been suffering a health setback . . . . . . . . . we sayGet Well Soon!
and Turn It Up!
Its a FM quality broadcast so lively and a bit 'hot' to me but fine fine raucous good fun and it is really worth checking out.
The priceless selections over at the brilliant blog Zerosounds (still!)and another Mento treat. It should perhaps be noted that this selection contains lyric writing at its Jamaican bawdy best, innuendo at its peak that at best is pure filth! As Zero G notes "The songs are traditionally chock-full of bawdy double entendres and poorly veiled sexual humour, which makes them rowdy and fun." This is so true and contains a favourite song that I bought as a single way back when and I thought by the legendary Prince Buster, so scratched it was almost unplayable but quite the funniest double entendres I had ever heard at the time in the classic 'Miss Constance' about the singer have a "running race" (ahem) with his girlfriend and what with all the interest in athletics at the moment from the Commonwealth games to the European games in Germany it seemed particularly apposite! Here is it performed by Charlie Binger's Six with Count Lasher on vocals! Believed to have been written by Lord Kitchener (Aldwin Roberts) and the liner notes here are worth reading alone and the most extensive I have ever seen for such a compilation complete with lyrics!
Check it out if you check one thing today . . . . . . it is absolutely filthy!
A most welcome addition to the Leadbelly trove over at Zerosounds
Great quality and remastered from the Smithsonian original
Tracklist:
Fannin Street 3:01 Bourgeois Blues 2:17 Easy Rider 2:50 Alabama Bound 2:16 Don't You Love Your Daddy No More? 3:01 Gallis Pole 2:44 Leavin' Blues 1:29 Midnight Special 2:01 T.B. Blues 3:42 Linin' Track 1:14 Julie Ann Johnson 0:40 John Henry 2:24 Jim Crow Blues 3:29 Jim Crow #2 2:42 Good Morning Blues #2 2:08 Abraham Lincoln 3:10 Army Life 1:46 Hitler Song 4:32 Careless Love 2:56 Haul Away Joe 2:48 How Do You Know?/Don't Mind The Weather 2:17 Skip To My Lou 2:10 Red Bird 2:54 Out On The Western Plains 1:30 Cowboy Song 1:43 You Can't Mistreat Me 3:13 Diggin' My Potatoes 2:33 John Hardy 2:42
Somebody posted this fine performance from the Jools Holland show on Facebook this morning and it reminded me when I first heard it I thought it was a tribute to John Prine as his was the first version I heard but it is written by the bass player from Chris Isaak's band Silvertone, Rowland Salley!
Lovely to see this version and great to spot the legendary T Bone Burnett on guitar here too
the author's version
Rowland Salley
where I heard it first - Pink Cadillac album by John Prine
NB. John was nothing if not generous with his time and attention and apart from from his support for younger artists which was a constant, (Sturgill Simpson, Kurt Vile, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile, Kacey Musgraves to name just a few) he covered songs by people we didn't necessarily know like Salley and Blaze Foley, Leon Payne and others besides.
TWILIGHTZONE has posted another in the series and says:
On the fifth volume of the seven-part country-rock history Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country-Rock, Bear Family shines a spotlight on 1972...
so it contains peaches by Ry Cooder, J.J.Cale, Dan Hicks, Townes, Kristofferson and The New Riders of The Purple Sage!
There’s enough misery and plenty of dysfunction to go around in this musical family, and Wainwright often bears the brunt of it. From the beginning she never feels fully at home in her family, she explains in her new book, Stories I Might Regret Telling You: A Memoir. “I was taught to be an outsider. An outsider with a ferociously close family.”
