Rhinestone Cowboy

I came to the Glen Campbell story a little late. In 1975 he had his last burst of chart activity with what was to become his theme song - Rhinestone Cowboy. It was big back then. I remember it and loved it.

Rhinestone Cowboy is an interesting song in that it deals with an urban loser who dreams of becoming one of those rodeo riders, all decked out in a glittering cowboy outfit with fake gems and big smile for the crowds.

In a way - obvious connection never eschewed - that was how Glen Campbell was; a synthetic cowboy hiding some real grief and a more complex oeuvre than the good ole country boy image he got pigeon holed with. He was so much more than country music.

He was a session guitarist in LA playing with the ubiquitous Wrecking Crew of musicians employed by the studios to provide the backing to thousands of hits. I knew he played on The Righteous Brothers songs and lots of surf music but did you know he also played the guitar on Sinatra's Strangers in The Night?

He also had a high voice. This voice got him a stint in the Beach Boys in the mid 60's when Brian Wilson was cooling his toes off in the sand and the touring group needed another harmony. Indeed, it was Brian who gave Campbell his first solo single, the Beach Boysesque - Guess I'm Dumb. This would have slotted nicely into Pet Sounds. It was a failure.

It was another songwriter however that Campbell will forever be associated with - Jimmy Webb. This is where the career defining hits came in - Galveston, By the Time I get to Phoenix and the ever brilliant, never bettered, written in 20 minutes, Wichita Lineman.

For those that follow my videos on YouTube (er, that's probably just me) well you'd know that Wichita Lineman is one of those songs I like to whip out when a guitar and the occasion merits it. This major / minor key song is classy, and Campbell's yearning voice, never fails to send shivers down the spine when he sings:

“And I need you more than want you
And I want you for all time.”

Simple and yet beautiful - the first line cueing up effortlessly the second. Songwriting gold, my friends.

Other favourites from my Glen Campbell list - some well known, others not - are Where's The Playground Susie, If This Is Love, Time, Dreams of the Everyday Housewife, London. If you want to hear how Campbell interprets a song, how his easy style masks virtuosity, listen to his version of Only Make Believe.

From what I've read and from interviews I've watched, Campbell comes across as a nice guy with a prodigious talent. I'm proud to say I was a fan.

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Oh, and I like this one from Glen Campbell's TV show 1970. HIs guest is Neil Diamond. They do a rocking version of Thank The Lord for The Nighttime.

And yes I realise that Glen Campbell wasn't on my list of obituaries... What can I say, some flexibility in my subject matter is important...

Mick Taylor: Street Fighting Guitarist

It's not a secret that I think the Stones were at their best - live - between 1969 and 1973. Collectively these years are known - by those who know these things - as The Mick Taylor Years. During this period, the Stones sported serious lead guitar muscle to match the chops and riffs of Keith Richard. This really was their live golden era (nothing though can match their recordings 1963-1969. Of course).

I won't get into any nonsense about Mick Taylor being the Stones. Clearly, Mick and Keef are obviously the beating heart of the Stones. They are the songwriters, the visual focal point, the direction, but with Mick Taylor, they now participated in the best live incarnation of “The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in The World!”

It's one of the reasons - there are a few - why I don't go to see the Stones now. I'm their Number One fan but, pathetically, I want to see them in 1971 with Mick Taylor and not in 2017. I know, I know - I'm complex, capricious and not a little nuts. Deal with it, ladies.

So, onto Mick Taylor and the magic runs and solos he used to such incendiary effect back in the day when flares and drag queen make up marked a rock band. I'll trace Mick Taylor's development and influence in the band through one song over the years 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973.*

Street Fighting Man. Yes, it used to be the Stones’ powerhouse closer. It’s a riff laden ditty that combined fighting lyrics with punchy guitar. One word of caution though!! As I listen to live versions of this song 69-73, what is most noticeable - apart from the gradual rise in prominence of Mick Taylor's lead guitar - is the concomitant deterioration in quality of Jagger's singing. You can't discount the fact that a sloppy, word shortening, dicking about Jagger screws up the overall ambience of any performance. That is a shame because as Taylor gets better, Jagger gets worse.

So, back in 1969, Singer Mick cares and sings and articulates his words. By 1973, he's fucking about and missing out words and shouting. Frustratingly, whatever Guitar Mick did on guitar - if the lead singer is acting like a tit - the band is gonna sound worse. As it happens, I actually think by ’73 such was Taylor's shy dominance, he was getting too far to the front of the Stones. Yes, some of his stuff started to sound like guitar wank. Yes, you CAN have too much MT. Too many notes as they said of Mozart.

1969 - Get Your Ya Ya's Out

Jagger to the fore – “Get Down, boy!” (though there's more than a suspicion of studio touching up). Taylor sticking to the proscribed and approved lead lines. He often just riffs along with Keith which is no bad thing but that’s not why you have a shit hot soloist in the band now is it? As in all versions, Wyman's bass is awesome - propelling the group, shaking the earth and rooting the group in a solid foundation. The Stones as a group in front of 20,000 at Madison Square Garden.

1971 - Get Your Leeds Lungs Out.

Cards on table, I happen to think this is the Stones' greatest ever gig. They are on fire in this small-scale club setting. Taylor's more experimental on his lead lines than ’69 - his trademark fluidity is now evident. The melody lines he fingers, the vibrato he gets from his axe, all mark this version; it’s still a great group effort but this time propelled forward by MT.  Keef’s unusually ‘dirty’ guitar provides a perfect foil to the MT’s lyricism. But as Taylor ascends, Jagger begins to descend, cutting out words, beginning to shout more than sing. But not too much, yet. This is the summit.

1972 - Ladies and Gentlemen...

My it's a close one! The tempo is too quick and Jagger is seriously not singing anymore. But Mick Taylor is kicking guitar ass! Keith gives good backing but it's now the Mick Taylor show. The close is built around MT soloing like a bastard Velvet Underground style. Watch the video below as his fingers - always in control - fly over the fretboard. This is a guitarist knowing he’s the Dog’s Bollocks and beginning to assert himself.

1973 – A Brussels Affair

Too quick and Jagger is now not really giving a fuck about singing – just yelping and swallowing words. I’m sure he looked good but any artistry has gone. However, as Jagger morphs into a Mick Jagger caricature, the music of the Stones has become Mick Taylor and supporting band. I love his sustained note at the end of the final chorus where the live band mimic the clarion ending of the recording. And then we’re into a Sister Ray freak-out fade-out as the group get faster and faster and MT has a completely free hand to solo wherever and however he wants. Distressingly - freed from the discipline and control of the Stones’ format -  he seems to distressingly to run out of ideas. The end of this track – to my ears – is welcome. It probably felt better on the night.

And there we have it – the Mick Taylor years with the Rolling Stones told through versions of just one song. What can we conclude from this pub conversation with myself?

He’s clearly talented, dextrous and knows how to add lyrical lead lines to the riffs of the premier rock group of the era. Mick Taylor operates best when there’s a format he has to fit in with. Here, constrained, he can shine, do the unexpected and sound fresh and exciting. By the end of this period though – 1973 – when Jagger had become a parody and Keith retreated into strictly rhythm, MT ever so slightly starts to become annoying. It’s really not the Stones.

So – in what order do I rank the years? I’m sure of the best and the worst. Second and third place are a bit arbitrary and, in another mood, in another place, I’d rank them differently, but here, now and tonight, the 69 tour version beats Ladies and Gentlemen…

1. 1971

2. 1969

3. 1972

4. 1973

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* Not yet unearthed a decent 1970 performance.

Great Songs You've Never Heard

In my role as the sage of Battersea Arts Centre, the Yoda of Lavender Hill, the eye candy of Burgess Hill and the once and future King of Rochdale, I necessarily wear many hats. Especially on sunny days. So it's a given that many people read this blog in order to be on point with the issues and slightly ahead of the curve about what to think. 

I get that. So let me direct to you to some songs that aren't famous but, maybe, should be. It's that Shazam moment where you frantically point your phone towards some tinny speaker in the pub when a weird and wonderful track comes on. "Wow! What's that!"

You Can't Win Them All Mum - Lost Soul Band (1993)

Ever tumbling, ever dying, You Can't Win Them All Mum, was my favourite song of 1993. A bit like Theresa May's favourite sexual position, who cares? Well, I have taste and this is a beautiful song. Led by Gordon Grahame, this Scots band had about 10 seconds of fame in the early 90's but - like a Celtic Achilles, they burned bright and then left. I had this single in three formats (7', 12' and cassette) back in the day. This is always on my Desert island Discs playlist. It's a private song from my youth, means something personal and shows that people who sound like Tim Robson can make it - albeit only briefly!

Sucker - Kevin Tihista (about 2001 /2 I reckon - Google is a bit silent on this)

Shit man! Beautiful, wistful, the alternative world's national anthem. For every loser out there who has been duped by an unfaithful parter. Call yourself a 'sucker' and then move on. Hold the moral high ground, it's their fault not yours. Also speaks forcefully about asymmetrical attractiveness within a relationship. Never happened to me, of course! Though all my girlfriends have been pretty stunning. Heart rending vocals, great acoustic guitar. Makes you weep. Makes you strong. Sucker!

Yohanna - Funny Thing Is

She sings like the best female singer you're ever gonna hear, she beautiful as hell, she writes great songs. Big in Iceland... If there was any justice in the world, Yohanna would be fucking huge all over the world, and you'd all be saying that you got on the Robson hipster train before she was famous, before she was the pin up of female vocalists, the Icelandic Aretha Franklin. Yeah, so she and I swapped a few Facebook messages a couple of years ago. Doesn't mean I'm smitten (I am! I am!). Of all the artists here - she's the one you need to check out and go - 'why the hell don't I know her?' Join the secret club of the righteous. 

Forever J - Terry Hall - 1994

Wow! Another of my Desert Island discs. Got nowhere in the charts back when I had hair and my girlfriends were plentiful and ridiculously attractive. A stunning song with a French feel, great melody, vivid memories. Once heard, never forgotten. Well forgotten by everyone except me and a few others who can also recognise this diamond in the dirt. BTW - doesn't Terry Hall look like that nob Ed Milliband here in the video? 

That's it for now. I guess I'm easing my way back into blog writing as I seem to have slept through the last couple of months. When inspiration dies. It dies. You can't fake it. And I've been uninspired recently. There's no alchemy and I can't give you base metal.

But now I can. It's back.  I'm back and this time, it's for real. Man.

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Fooking Manchester.

One Love Manchester was a significant concert for many reasons and those who organised it, and those who had the guts to turn up, made it special occasion. The scum who think blowing little girls up advances any cause, achieves some bullshit equivalency or pleases a capricious god, should rot in hell. This concert was a giant 'Fook You'* to all those who try to shut down others' lives simply because they are - as Trump says - pathetic losers.

Although all the acts on the day were good, they were pretty much on the contemporary pop edge of music. Of course. And then, right at the end, on walks Mr Manchester himself, Liam Gallagher. The Manc swagger's there, the only guy in the world who can rock an orange parka and yet still look cool. Hell - even his voice sounded better than usual!

For Manchester, for the Western way of life, for defiance and for rock itself, I give you Mr Liam Gallagher.

* Also respect to - amongst others - Ray Larner ("Fuck you, I'm Millwall") who battled back against those lowlifes at Borough Market.

The King

A question I'm often asked (by myself usually) - who would you have most like to have seen in concert? The possibilities are endless - The Beatles (obviously), The Stones, Queen, Led Zep, The Who, Sinatra... But there is only ever one answer. The one person I would have loved to have seen in concert, is Elvis.

To be clear, Elvis from 1969 onwards. Elvis in his mature years.

Like much of his life story, his last few years have acquired a mythology. The myth is that of a fat, drugged Elvis, bulging belly in a white tasseled sparkling jump-suit, sweating his way through a tired set to drunken middle-aged audiences at The International, Las Vegas. 

Well let's scotch that myth. Take a look at E - lithe and on form, slaying them in 1970...

From the 2001 opening to the Fools Fall in Love (Elvis has left the building) ending, an Elvis show had rituals and designed peaks and troughs. Where to start? Well, start where I did, aged 10 - Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden. This 1972 was peak Elvis. The set list has all the live greats - Polk Salad Annie, Suspicious Minds, American Trilogy, You Gave Me A Mountain, Proud Mary, You don't have to say you love me...

You can listen online.

A La Recherche du temps se souvenait.

Tim's 70's Songs (Remembered Edition)

Here it is. The official Tim 70's song list. Based on what I liked in that decade. So, there's not much before 1973. I'll do another list (when?) of my favourite 70's songs now but - to be honest - young Tim had great taste!

Abba - Dancing Queen (1976)

For so long this was my fav track. Abba's comeback track after their career stalled 1974/76. Familiarilty and Mama Mia have dulled some of the brilliance of this - the springy piano, the trademark girls' harmonies, the effortless melody.

Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun (1973)

Probably the first record I really remember. (With the Osmonds) My God, it dominated that winter of 1973/4. It soundtracked the Heath government going down in flames and the dawn of Wilson's last administration. Yeah, it's morbid, sickly, over sentimental but aged 5, I liked it. Strange, my kids do too. One hit wonder.

Elvis Presley - Suspicion (1962 / re-released 1976)

Man - I loved this song and would wait around the radio for the Top 40 just to hear it. Hit Number 9 in Feb 1977. Recorded in 1962, Elvis is on top form and just hearing the intro gives me chills, even now. He was dead just months later and 'Way Down' stormed to the top. Taken way too soon. This was my first Elvis fav.

Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap (1978)

Never really punk, but the Rats looked it, this was before Bob Geldof became Saint Bob and then - pace Brexit - Bob the Nob. Great tune but what makes Rat Trap so special is the narrative style lyrics. The way the song builds - detailing urban decay and hopelessness - until we get to final double couplet:-

"She finally finds Billy down at the Italian cafe
When he's drunk it's hard to understand what Billy says
But then he mumbles in his coffee and he suddenly roars,
"It's a rat trap Judy; and we've been caught...."

Glen Campbell - Rhinestine Cowboy (1975)

Like a shiny beacon from the 1970's. Glen Campbell on top form, coming back after years of irrelevance. Yep - I'd sing along to the radio on this one. I've been known to busk versions of this song when the mood takes me. Good times.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)

This packed both a punch and a tutu. Impossible, over wrought, it shouldn't work but it sure as hell does. Number One 1975/76 for 9 weeks, to my 6 year old self, it seemed that Top of The Pops couldn't finish without this scary song with that scary video being played. Yeah, sure, it's ubiquitous now but I listened to again recently and yes - thanks sixth form - I still know every word. Loved the revival in Wayne's World.

Wings - Mull of Kintyre (1977)

First single I ever bought along with a million or so other Brits. Fashionable to knock this as a McCartney piece of fluff but - as every guitarist knows - it's a great strum to practice to. And when those bag pipes come in near the end! Scottish rock! Can't say I play it much now but when I do hear it, it always brings a smile to my face.

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star (1979)

Fuck! This was the future when it came out. It still is. So far ahead of it's time. So clever. So well produced. Probably pop's finest ever three minutes. This is in my Desert Island Discs. And that reprise at the end! Spine tingling! The girls singing "Ow-A-Ow-A!". When people say the 70's were shit, this is a great counter argument. It wasn't.

Grease - Summer Nights (1978)

How BIG was Grease in the 70's? Huge! Unlike Star Wars it had songs which ruled the charts in 1978. And they had an inbuilt video to show on TV. I saw the film when it came out in Rochdale. All the smut and innuendo ('Took a holding in the arcade' - anyone?) went right over my 10 year old head. This is just a great song and who hates this? 

Blondie - Dreaming (1979)

A toss up between this and Denis, Dreaming came out of the blocks like some poster child for a pilled up new wave kid looking for a fight. My group used to do a (crap) cover of this. I remember 2 things about this song. 1) It's bloody good and sums up new wave better than any other song of the era. 2) Debbie Harry. Yeah. Debbie Harry. No more needs to be said.

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The Mamas and Papas

Stealthily, I’m penning an article on my memories of the 70’s. It’s a think-piece with much first-hand material, assorted recollections, warm memories. There’s laughter, tears; insight. If you remember the 70’s, you were probably there.

In the 70’s I got my music mainly from the Radio 2 – Terry Wogan or Stupot rather than Radio 1 and Tony Blackburn. We are all victims of our parents’ choices. Obviously Thursday nights and Top of the Pops or the music slot on Swap Shop was important. But for repeated plays I would need to raid my parents record collection. Hence my love of The Carpenters or Abba, I guess.

And the Mamas and Papas.

I created a Mamas and Papas playlist recently to play on the train to work. I love the Mamas and Papas. Although the group was of the 60’s* they are inextricably linked to the 70’s for me.

I played and played the Best of The Mamas and Papas LP. It was the British best of compilation with just ten tracks. I knew every word. They informed my evolving worldview. My nascent thoughts on relationships were crystalized by “Sing for your Supper’, “I Saw Her Again Last Night’, ‘Dedicated to the One I Love’. Before I actually had relationships, I had an idea of what they were about.

So; who were the Mamas and Papas?

John Philips – tall, songwriter and vocal arranger. Boss. Obsessive. Drug casualty.

Mama Cass - Big, bold and brassy with a belting powerhouse of a voice. The heart and soul of the group. Fancied Denny. He preferred Michelle.

Denny Doherty – Lead singer. Dressed in a kaftan at the Monterey festival. Looked a prat. Slept with Michelle. Wrote ‘I Saw Her Again’ about this.

Michelle Phillips – Ethereal, heartbreakingly beautiful. Thin soprano voice but she had the look. Wife of John but also known for shagging Denny and, briefly, the late great Gene Clark of the Byrds.

And their sound?

Bright if somewhat wistful songs with complex multi tracked musical arrangements that utilise interweaving lead and backing vocals. A unique sound – briefly with us and then, gone forever.

After their hippy beginning (documented in the hit Creeque Alley) the group only really lasted two years in the public eye – from late 1965 to late 1967. They reformed in 1971 to complete their unsuccessful fifth album - as demanded by contract - but they were essentially a mid 60’s group.

I hesitate to put in a list headed – My Favourite Mamas and Papas songs. I’ll instead entitle it:

Some Interesting Mamas and Papas Songs

Twelve Thirty (young Girls are coming to the Canyon) – I discovered this later, in the 80’s. Moody, reflective, with tinkling piano underpinning one of John Philips best songs juxtaposing an unfriendly New York with the warmth of California. The possibility of renewal.

Look Through My Window – The opening line, “It’s not that lovers are unkind,” is a wonderful, if oblique, start to this wistful romantic vinaigrette. “Look through my window, to the street below’. It takes a formulaic set up –someone reflecting on a break up whilst looking out of a window- and turns this into a wider metaphor for alienation. Great vocals throughout, resolved by Denny’s softly repeated ‘She’s gone,” at the end.

For The Love of Ivy – One for hard-core Mamas and Papas fans. John Philips’s masterwork, constructed over many, many sessions in his home studio. Harmony, piled on harmony, choirs of Mamas and Papas trying for more! More! For The Love of Ivy sails past like a doomed battle cruiser sailing to war; so stately, so magnificent, you want to stand to attention and salute it. It shouldn’t work, but it does! This was my 70’s favourite.

California Dreaming. Their calling card; a massive hit, it introduced the Mamas and Papas to the world. But despite its ubiquity, the song bears repeated scrutiny. From the acoustic guitar figure at the start, the signature vocal harmonies, Denny’s impassioned delivery, the flute solo, the abiding sense of yearning. There’s an air of decay – of the seasons, of a relationship that’s run its course leading to the yearning for something better. California.

Finding a live performance from the group is rarer than rocking horse shit. There's the stuff from Monterey but Michelle's mic wasn't working. To be honest - they were a studio band. With all the harmonies and double tracking, they couldn't replicate their sound live. So - I'll post a video of them miming. Live. If only to hear their music as it should be. And to see how beautiful Michelle was.

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* They released People Like Us in 1971 to fulfil a contractual obligation. 

Play that Funky Music - White Boy!

When I pick up my guitar my fingers form themselves around the same old familiar chords and runs as I tend to return to a short list of songs time after time. I've tried over the last few years to remember new songs but I forget them after a couple of plays. Drink I guess. Age. Befuddlement. Whatever.

So what would you hear, listening in at my kitchen door?

The Ballads

It's Too Late - Carole King / Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell / Walk on By - Dionne Warwick / 

The Blues

Me & the Devil / Hoochie Coochie Man / I'm a Man 

Stones

Honky Tonk Women / Country Honk / Brown Sugar / Love in Vain / Satisfaction

Others

Proud Mary - Various / I Get A Kick out of You - Frank Sinatra / Return to Sender - Elvis Presley / Run to Him - Bobby Vee

80's

Wake me up before you Go-go - Wham / Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi / Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell

As a special treat I recorded especially for this article - for you - this video of four of these songs.

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Prince. FFS

Watch this homage to George Harrison. And then watch Prince Roger Nelson tear it up at 3.36.

Legend.

Or as George would have said Leg End.

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Loose Ends

The Ancient Roman general Sulla twice turned his armies on Rome. Caesar just the once. Later. But who remembers Sulla? Crossing the Rubicon trumps The Battle of the Colline Gate in our collective memory. Which just goes to show that posterity goes to the those that write things down (Caesar) against those that don't (Sulla).

Yeah, a new year hasn't blunted the edge of my pretentiousness. If anything the Xmas break has sharpened it. When not overeating or drinking, I used the time to read up on the decline of the Roman Republic whilst simultaneously ploughing through the decline of the Empire four hundred years later.

I think it's called having depth. Polymathic. Or being single. Whatever.*

Which is I guess a somewhat irrelevant introduction to the real purpose of this blog - tying up loose ends. And what loose ends are these, Tim? Well, the loose ends that I left on this blog at the end of 2016. And no, by loose ends, I don't mean the lady in Quench Bar in Burgess Hill a couple of weeks ago who I never called. **

What I mean is - yawn - Christmas songs. 

Briskly - 

- Best crooner type - Frank Sinatra - The Christmas Waltz

- Best cheesy Xmas song - Last Christmas (RIP George)

- Best carol - Can't choose. I like all five. Like a contemporary school sports day - you're all winners. ***

And lo! we become 2017. Saturnalia is over, the Xmas tree packed away, novelty Santa egg cup awaiting the chill festivities yet to come. 

Let me leave you with an intimate view of Mick and Keef being surprisingly good in 2016.

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Notes (why?)

* Polymathic. Whacked it in. No spell check appeared so I guess the word exists!

** Literally cannot turn it off.

*** "Ever feel you've been cheated?"

Golden Era Xmas Songs

Gosh - I'm so over Christmas.

Today we're nominating the Golden Era of Christmas songs - Bing, Frank, Ella, Tony, Dean. Hey! You know. Class. In a glass.

I'd like to side track and pay tribute to the guy in the baseball cap who reversed from a side street tonight into a busy Wandsworth Road - one handed! His other hand was, naturally enough, holding his phone. Kudos mate! You are my Xmas ***t.*

Nominees

1) Frank SInatra - The Christmas Waltz

2) Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

3) Snow - Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Trudy Stephens

4) Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Dean Martin

5) Tony Bennett - Winter Wonderland.

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* Those that know me well will be able to fill in the blanked letters on this four letter word.

Mick Taylor and that Guitar Solo

They say the Devil has all the good tunes (except when he goes down to Georgia, of course!). But perhaps just sympathising with Old Nick also conjures up a decent tune too.

I remember the first Stones album I bought myself. I was 15. Coming off the back of a couple of Greatest Hits compilations, I went and bought the live album Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. Live albums can often be a mistake as they tend to offer thin, over-emoting, out-of-tune and unnecessarily long versions of well-loved – and crafted - studio songs.

But not so Get Yer Ya Ya's Out...

It's a tour album commemorating the infamous 1969 US Tour - yes the one that ended with the screw up that was Altamont. I come back to this album frequently. I can safely say; I learnt to play guitar strumming along with this album. Recorded at Madison Square Garden, it captures the Stones as they transitioned away from Brian Jones and into the demi-god led outfit that included Mick Taylor. Finally, the Stones had some serious lead guitar muscle to complement the Human Riff, Keef. They would get better in the next couple of years, but this is the only official live album of the Stones Mark 2 line up.

My fav track was Track 1 / Side 2: Sympathy for the Devil. (“Paint It Black you devils! Do Paint It Black!”) E-D-A verses dropping to B for the chorus. Brilliant to play along with and attempt the extended guitar solo at the end of the track. Yes, I learnt my pitiful lead axeman skills from this track. Well at least for the first minutes of the solo anyway! Because suddenly the solo gets hard - real hard. What is a rhythm guitarist's best ever solo morphs into a shit-hot guitar hero work-out. You can hear the change about 4:30 into the track. It’s almost as though Keef took a snort half way through and felt emboldened to shout "Oi! Hendrix, Clapton - come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!"

But YouTube and the internet have revealed the mystery behind the split personality on Sympathy for the Devil’s guitar solo. For of course – Keef plays the first half and then hands over to Mick Taylor. In less than two minutes, Mick Taylor pisses on Richards and - in the cock-measuring contest that was the Stones – for the next five years, never again would Keith attempt to challenge Taylor. There has only ever been one lead guitarist in the Stones and his name was Mick Taylor.

I’ll write in due course more about this golden era of the Stones. When they really deserved the moniker ‘The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the World’. But for now, listen to this audio and you’ll see what I mean. Keef starts soloing at 3:18. Mick Taylor takes over the baton at 4:30 and from 5:20 streaks down the back straight to take both the tape and the Gold Medal.

As I said, the Stones would get better after 1969. Taylor would get more confident – aware that his fluid, melodic soloing would propel songs like Midnight Rambler, Gimme Shelter, Street Fighting Man to ever higher levels. But Get Your Ya Ya’s Out is where it began and, on Sympathy for the Devil, you can hear him shyly but definitely, take over the band’s sound.

Enjoy.

To read other Mick Taylor related articles, click here...

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Christmas Cheese

I wish it could be Xmas everyday, and here it is, Merry Christmas, I'll be lonely this Christmas, Stepping into Christmas, Stop the Cavalry, they said it would snow blah blah blah.

We all know the hey-day of this genre - the 70's and 80's. It's probably the most ubiquitous of my Christmas song categories but also, my least favourite. But - culturally - these cheesy types of festive songs evoke Christmases past, slow dances with girls long forgot in venues either burned down for the insurance money or long converted into flats.

And the nominations for best cheesy Christmas song go to:-

1. 2000 Miles - The Pretenders
2. All I want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey
3. Last Christmas - Wham, Cascada, Taylor Swift
4. Wrapped in Red - Kelly Clarkson
5. One More Sleep - Leona Lewis

Yeah - I added a couple of more modern ones as I think the genre kinda died in the 80's but these last two are pretty decent reinventions (I've posted Kelly Clarkson's song here already).

Sorry for the multi artist nomination for Last Christmas but I like Cascada's version and Taylor Swift's Holiday EP is pretty awesome and her Last Christmas, countrified, is a great interpretation. 

Anyway - results in a couple of weeks! Please enjoy The King looking (and sounding) his best in 1968 in his comeback special. And yes, it's Elvis on electric lead guitar.

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A Carolling we will go!

I'm going to be publishing a shortlist of carols and, towards Christmas, I'll choose one as the 'Ultimate Carol'. I'll list the other categories in the coming days but The Best Christmas Carol is the most important category.

I did think about opening the results up to a public vote but:

1. I can't be arsed
2. Only two people would vote (both me from different IP addresses)
3. Last time I opened up the comments section on this blog someone helpfully pointed out that I was a sad, pathetic man with no friends who was probably sat in his underpants spewing forth vitriol at the world to hide the fact that he was an inadequate loser.*

So, here is the shortlist:-

1. Every Star Shall Sing A Carol
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
3. The Star Carol
4. In the Bleak Mid-Winter
5. See Amid the WInter's Snow

Contenders that just missed out:-

• Little Donkey
• O Little Town of Bethlehem
• Ding Dong Merrily On High
• O Come, All Ye Faithful

So what am I looking for? Well, it's a cocktail, naturally enough. Tune and melody - of course. Many carols fall by the wayside with their insipid or dirge-like melodies. There's a reason why there's about 15 well known carols - many of the others are poor.

Secondly, nostalgia and the power of memory. For a few years I was a Church of England choirboy. But also my schools used to sing carols as part of unashamedly Christian assemblies. Carols were as much a part of Christmas as anything else. Increasingly, in my evolving memory, carols are a growing part of the experience. Which leads me to the third criteria; the spine tingling feeling you get from a carol being sung at full-blast, led by an organ and choir belting out a full counterpointed arrangement as they deliver the nativity story with power and eloquence. A musical but muscular Christianity indeed!

I'm not ashamed to say - I'm a cultural Christian. As I get older I know, it's who I am. It's home. And what better way than through melody to evoke childhood? I'm already looking forward to my one church visit a year when I take my kids to the local Church of England candlelit carol service next week. I spend most of the service with tears in my eyes. Happy tears.

So there are the nominees. My taste is a shifting scale - one moment here, the next there. All the carols mean something, all are worthy. If there's a couple of unfamilair ones, take a listen on Youtube - they are there.

Anyway - a bit of Bert Jansch doing In The Bleak Mid-Winter

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* Clearly the person knew me. It sort of paraphrased - whilst eschewing the flowery language - my own short stories. We are the stories we tell, unfortunately.

An Early Christmas Present!

Merry Christmas readers. Enjoy!

Tim Robson still rocking that cardigan. Hip cat. Play those blues, boy!

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Run Run Rudolph!

Last January I - somewhat bizarrely - promised to publish a list of my favourite Christmas songs. But like a drunken middle-aged man with performance anxiety, who's just met a gorgeous girl and is a bit out of practice, I sadly failed to deliver (the Xmas article).*

Sorry. 

And so here we are, one year on, with my growing readership unaware of what my taste in Christmas songs is. How can that be and must it be tolerated? Obviously not. It's time to let y'all know. Let me remind you of what the categories were:-

1. Carols
2. Hollywood type Christmas songs (roughly 40's to the 60's)
3. Cheesy Christmas pop songs (roughly 70's to the 90's)
4. Folky / world music type Christmas songs
5. Miscellaneous

Well, I'm gonna do some listening in the next few days, remind myself of the contenders, maybe record a video of me playing a couple. Who knows? My axe is cold and needs to be warmed up. On camera. And actually this is important stuff. Food, family, music; hopefully these are givens and so pretty universal. Food I can cover in a later post. But music. Well, it was my first love.

One day I'm gonna write a classic. Maybe in an attic? Cause I'm an addict. An addict for shite lyrics.

So, from London, bon soir.

Cheers

Tim

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*Yes that metaphor was too long. Just having fun with words. It's clearly not based on personal experience. Well, except a story my friend Dan told me. He tells me he's fine now, I believe.

Top 25

I thought I'd take a look at what my i-tunes says are my top 25 tunes. My i-tunes takes input from the following:-

• The computer itself
• My i-phone
• My kids ipads
• The ipod in the car

So therefore my top 25 tunes are not purely my tastes. Luckily for me, my girls play - and then over play - a particular song, and then never play it again. I'm a bit more constant in my likes!

To get in my top 25, you have to have been played at least 106 times (Henry Purcell - Rondeau). To top the charts, you need 265 plays (Vivaldi - RV535 iV Allegro - concerto for 2 oboes). 

What do we find in the list Tim?

Vivaldi - 7 'tunes' or 28%

Lucie Silvas and Taylor Swift are the only other artists that appear more than once (2 each).

Classical - 11 tunes or 44% (as well Vivaldi, Henry Purcell, Beethoven, Elgar and Debussy)

0 Beatles. In fact the nearest Beatles song has 'only' been played 46 times (their final rooftop, complete with police, going-down-fighting Get Back).

1 Stones (live Street Fighting Man 1971)

1 Coldplay (Viva La Vida - Tiberius? Constantine? Pilate?)

3 definitely from my girls (Taylor - Shake it Off and Blank Space, Iggy Azelea - Black Widow)

1 from Iceland - Yohanna Funny Thing Is

0 Elvis (The highest Elvis - at 32 plays - is the rather mawkish Don't Cry Daddy)

Randoms - Neil Diamond (Glory Road), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Save the Population), GRL (Lighthouse), Todd Rundgren (I Saw the Light)

Dance - Matrix & Futurebound - Control

Most recent addition - Shania Twaine - You're Still The One. Added in February 2016. 110 plays.

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So what does any of this prove?

1. I'm commuting again. I tend to listen to classical and Vivaldi on trains
2. The top 25 played (apart from Elgar, Vivaldi and Lucie Silva - Breath In) doesn't match up with my self-defined favourite songs.
3. I'm self-amusing again. Sorry. Music is important to me!

More updates next year when I reveal the shocking news that Vivaldi totally takes over the top 25 list (and he might, looking at the many, many concerti bubbling just under the top 25).

Split pea soup for lunch.

Tim

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Frigidus and the Lost Battles of Britpop

There are many battles in history whose importance recedes with time.

One thinks of, randomly, The Battle of Colline Gate, the Battles of Frigidus, Poitiers, Marston Moor, Assaye, Goose Green, whatever whatever, blah blah. History is a bitch. 'Now' is all that counts. Apparently everything that happens now has never happened before. 

But what about a real battle from history: Oasis v Blur 1995?

Yes - I realise that was a dreadful segue, a shocking attempt to shoehorn some history into an article about two mid 90's Britpop English bands. Sorry.

I liked Blur from the start. Leisure's one of my favourite albums ever. I think I was one of the very few people who bought their post Leisure single Popscene in 1992. I loved Modern Life is Rubbish. Saw them at the Reading Festival 93, a festival in Brighton and then on the Sugary Tea tour late 1993 at Sussex University where Damon crowd surfed on my head (and I took the set list off the mixing desk). I was so happy when Boys and Girls made number 5 in 1994. I celebrated with them on their late 94 tour at the Event in Brighton.

But from 1994 onwards there was also this five piece combo from Manchester who played loud and wrote songs that didn't pretend to be clever - they just went for the balls. And they had a singer who had it all - the swagger of Ian Brown, the attitude of Lennon, the voice of a rock god.

The first song I ever heard from Oasis was on some free-with-the-magazine Q compilation CD. Slide Away. Wow! I mean, at last my retro tastes - Beatles, Stones, Led Zep, Who, Sex Pistols had a modern application! Oasis did loads more but I always return to this moody song from Year Zero of the Gallagher consulship.

See the video below of Oasis in 1994.

In 1995, in the great battle of the singles - Country House v Roll With It, my head said Blur but my heart was always Oasis.

Me being me, I actually bought both.

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I have tended my own garden too long

I wandered empty streets down

Past the shop displays

I heard cathedral bells

Tripping down the alleyways

As I walked on..

There was a time when watching Dustin Hoffman – as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate – floating around in a swimming pool wearing shades was the height of cool. Or I thought so, anyway. The music playing in the background was pretty cool too – an extended version Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel.

What’s not to like about Simon and Garfunkel? Folky guitar, intelligent lyrics, flawless harmonies. I have all five of their original albums, plus sundry live stuff, box sets, unreleased material, even their 70’s collaboration, My Little Town. It's music I continually come back to, a bridge to my childhood, to adolescence, to the care-free days of youthful summer through to shadowy evenings of judgement.

Ignoring the false start as a teenage duo – Tom and Jerry - their career lasted about six years. Following their unsuccessful first album Wednesday Morning 6am, Paul Simon went off to England to play as a solo artist. Here he wrote (and recorded) many of his greatest songs learning from the greats of the British folk scene. But the phenomenal success of The Byrds and Mr Tambourine Man, opened up a demand for folk-rock and,unknowingly, the duo began to take off. Back in the States, their record company remixed the acoustic The Sound of Silence and added bass, drums and an electric lead and – eh viola! – a number 1 record was made.

And so followed The Sounds of Silence, Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme, Bookends and finally Bridge Over Troubled Water. Add some non-album singles and that was about it. The Graduate doesn’t have new material on it not found elsewhere (apart from an abridged acoustic version of Mrs Robinson)...

For Emily (Wherever I may find her)

Some of Simon’s best imagery populate this touching love song. He generously allows Garfunkel to sing lead. And he does it well. So good is their live performance of this song that the version on the UK Great Hits album is pretty much definitive. Simon says he wrote this about an imaginary girl, an imaginary situation and the loss of hope of ever finding her. Kind of stole my idea 50 years before I had it...

April Come She Will

A deceptively simple song, using the months as a backbone to the story of a love affair that starts, grows and dies. Simon at his folkie best. 

Blessed

Oh Lord, why have you forsaken me? // I have tended my own garden too long.

The forlorn cri de coeur at the end of this stylish whinge always gets to me. About how the writer has been ignored, rejected whilst other groups (The Blessed) have been favoured in his place. In the final line there is a sort of epiphany as the writer realises that the fault lies more with him than others or Fate. 

The Sound of Silence

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again

If he wrote nothing else, Simon would be up there amongst the rock gods with this epic. Ridiculously quotable, endlessly thought-provoking, it was a major song before the illicit re-working by Tom Wilson of Columbia Records. The added beat, bass and electric guitar however, propel it to a different, higher plane. 

The Boxer

In the clearing stands a boxer

And a fighter by his trade

And he carries the reminder of every

Cut that made him cry out in pain

“I’m leaving! I’m leaving!”

But the fighter still remains.

FFS - how can other writer in the popular music sphere fight against this? Thing is, Simon could write tunes too. With his left hand he had talent, with his right abundance.

Scarborough Fair

There is some dispute about whether Simon nicked his arrangement from Martin Carthy. Maybe, maybe not. But Simon and Garfunkel's version pisses on all other versions. Yes, even Nana Mouskouri's version. If you don't like this then you have no soul. From the tune, the counter melody, the delicate acoustic guitar, the harpsichord, the close harmony - lovingly sung, this is the perfect tune to be drifting aimlessly around in a pool to in a Mike Nicholls film.

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Notable others - Overs, The Dangling Conversation, The Only Living Boy in New York, Mrs Robinson, Homeward Bound. Basically most of them. Yeah, Leaves That are Green, Bleecker Street. Loads. Old Friends. I am a Rock. Kathy's Song. Red Rubber Ball (huh? Look it up). The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine (for those who have a tendency to W).

Tim

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This doesn't happen often...

As you know I love Vivaldi and especially his oboe concerti...

But I've just found this gorgeous piece by Tomaso Albinoni (1661 - 1751). Oboe Concerti in D Minor op 9,2 largo. It adopts the canon format (repeated cyclical sequence) of his most famous piece - Adagio in G Minor. And then, and then, the oboe comes in, lyrical and plaintive. It's rare these days that I find something so beautiful. I close my eyes, listen, and everything is fine with the world.

Love this piece.

Thought I'd share it with you. 

Move over Vivaldi. Let Tomaso take over.

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