Spurs Music Forum

Is it any good , worth watching ?

 

The last 2 days of Rebellion are a bit of a hazy memory. The drinking increased and the lack of sleep becomes an increasing issue. On Saturday, Peter Hook, down on the beach was very enjoyable. The Rezillos are always good fun and were followed by The Godfathers, who are a bit of a one trick pony, but enjoyable nonetheless. We ended up in a gay bar until the wee small hours and it was only the fact that I was still drunk that got me out of bed on Sunday.

Sunday started late with Altered Images...not worth it, to my mind...and The Buzzcocks. They were ****ing dreadful. The sound, which had been fine for Clare Grogan was so bad that all anyone could hear was the bass and drums. When it got sorted (about 8 tracks in) it was apparent that Diggle was off his tits and that the poppy Pete Shelley era is well and truly over...as is my desire to see them again. Shame.

The rest of the day was spent in the bar or The Empress Ballroom...watching Chelsea (really bad), Peat & Diesel, a Highland Scots band featuring accordion and a lot of kilts (surprisingly good), UK Subs because all our mates are huge fans (the usual fare which I'm ok with but not a whole heap more than that), Ruts DC who were very good (as usual) and SLF, who shook the place to its core. My ears have stopped bleeding but not ringing and won't for a few days yet.

A highlight of the weekend was the train ride home. A weary and disparate bunch - the US rock Journo, Dick Slaughter, 2 members of The Crack, a couple of delightful ladies from Reading, a really, really ****ed up Irish bloke and his long suffering Mrs and Mrs B and I spent an entertaining 4 hours swapping stories on the slow train back to Euston.

All in all a great weekend. I will send the mohican pics later today. To get a flavour of the attendees and the atmosphere around the place...

 

Just spotted this...

I'm the really tall bloke in the middle of the shot, with The Damned written across my back. Mrs B is slightly forward andd to the right of me. 'Pogo Pete' is slight behind me and to the left. His Mrs is about 5' tall and nowhere to be seen.

People ****ing hate standing behind me...and I ****ing hate seeing my bald spot in close up.

 

Overall, yes.
It's hard for anyone to play Elvis convincingly, so you have to suspend your disbelief at times.
It focuses on his relationship with Colonel Tom Parker, who was key to him gaining fame and success, but seemed then to exploit him.
Not sure how true to the real facts it is.

 

Shame no Feargal. You can’t listen to that song without hearing his voice, so you can’t.

 

This randomly came up on Amazon Music My Soundtrack' this morning.
Love this track and JJ's bass is awesome!

 

Hard to tell how much of the sound was also Dave Greenfield's keyboards

 

Everyone I know who has seen the band live, since his departure, is very happy with the band as it is currently constituted.

The rest of the band ****ing hated him and now they are a very happy, tight ship. Band members come and go, if the essence of what made them good remains, it works.

Go and see them live....I promise you'll change your mind.

 

He was one of the key differentiating factors that put the Stranglers on a different level to other punk / new wave bands.
Keyboard players Dave Greenfield and Dave Greenslade became very confusing!! (The latter was also a master on the Hammond)

 

He's the only original member left and that bass carries the sound more than ever...but it still carries it. Like Hooky and Paul Gray or Algy Ward, I'd probably turn up to listen to them play on their own.

I am a bass player and punk produced a number of great ones.

 

I play keyboards but bassists have been my go to music icons, from different genres.
A great bass player can take a band to another level and become THE element that defines them.
Chris Squire or John Entwhistle are obvious rock examples and Stanley Clark, Jaco Pastorius and Percy Jones from Jazz / Jazz fusion.

 

Not seeming quite such a highlight, as this afternoon I tested positive for Covid. I swear it was that ****ed up Irishman...although to be fair, en route home, we stopped off at The Gielgud Theatre to see 'To Kill a Mockingbird', which was a rearranged date that we could have done without and the bloke next to me coughed a few more times than I felt comfortable with.

Anyway, I'm in quarantine...

 

I was at a worksite yesterday and noticed someone coughing a lot ,when I asked him if he had done a test he told me to F*** Off and mind my own business

 

Nice.

Mrs B tells me that Rebellion's Facebook page is full of punters like me, who had managed to avoid Covid until last weekend. I hope they're all ok. Yesterday, I had a sore throat, which is much improved this morning, a headache and my joints ache slightly more than usual. Hopefully it stays at that sort of level.

 

I know you are talking electric bass but 3 of the great upright bassist of all time . Father of modern bass playing Jimmy Blanton, The guvnor Ray Brown and the great Neils-Henning Orsted Pederson.

 

Danny Thompson ,Tina Weymouth and Andy Fraser from Free are some of my favourites
Danny for his work with Nick Drake,John Martyn and Richard Thompson along with his playing with Pentangle, there can't be many folk rock bands where Danny has not sat in for them
Tina for the driving beat in the Talking heads , psycho killer, burning down the house and love during wartime
Andy Fraser with free, he was only 16 when he went on the road with the band and not much older when he co wrote Alright Now , the Bass line of Mr Big on the Free live album always gives me the feels

 

One of the best 'prog' bassists was Jon Camp of Renaissance. Very underrated and was key to their sound. And Tony Levin has been a (literally) instrumental part of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel's work over the years. His Chapman stick playing was revolutionary in its time.
Which brings me to a final shout out to another 'stick-man', Nick Beggs, of Kajagoogoo and slap-man Mark King of Level 42 - both really influential.

 

Mark King, the man with the million pound thumb

 

42 years ago today I received by first wage packet for a full weeks work and in my lunch hour I bought this rather lovely single.

2 Mins and 16 seconds of Pop perfection