Development of the British Blues --- show 10 ---

6-25-2014

Animals                                           1964-66

Georgie Fame                                  1964-66
Moody Blues                                   1964-67

I’m finalizing this show’s verbal entry Monday after an exhaustive weekend of participation in our 23^rd annual Blues Marathon so my apologies if it still seems a little rough; I can’t imagine why I’m still tired!  Anyway, this is some music that I have been immersing myself in for the past two weeks, thoroughly enjoying it and looking forward to presenting it to you.  The Animals have been a favorite ever since they showed up on American AM radio, but Georgie Fame was a newfound treat as I discovered his music, and then there is a smattering of the earliest incarnation of the Moody Blues.

When we did our third show in this series about the British Blues, which paired the Animals and Manfred Mann, I made the determination to go only with what Animals material I had on CD rather than delve into my scratchy old LPs.  This decision has proved to be wise, since plugging the gaping holes in my Animals library has provided the opportunity to again present the band to you.

The only tune in our first set that I was not familiar with from those vinyl editions was Talking’ ‘Bout You.  The song actually was included on their first album (and our earlier show) in about a two minute snippet and was among my two favorites from their first LP (the other being Baby Let Me Take You Home) and was a great example of a song leaving you wanting so much more, especially as the last entry on the first side of the LP.  We heard a seven minute version a month ago when Eric Burdon shared the vocals with Sonny Boy Williamson; still, it was a long period of anticipation before I heard the seven minute original recording from which the short version was taken.  I swear I must have kept repeating the track almost ten times in the car before I even listened to any of the rest.  Similar to Johnny Kidd’s version of Shakin’ All Over, it took almost exactly half a century before I heard the full version.  Yup, I had to use it to start off the show rather than make you wait any longer.  The rest of the set consists of their take on some now-classic R&B and Blues tunes done by the likes of Ray Charles (The Right Time), Little Richard (The Girl Can’t Help It) and a couple by John Lee Hooker (I’m Mad Again and Maudie).  In fact, from the entire eponymous first album, there is only one tune that hasn’t gotten played on these two shows.  Likewise, their follow-up album On Tour was so well represented on our first show that only one tune has not been aired after we today added She Said Yeah, another favorite.  But these are the Animals; I have lots of favorites.  The same can be said for Animal Tracks when we here included Take It Easy Baby.  That’s only three songs of the 34 from the first three albums which we omitted.  Shows why I consider the band to have rarely, if ever, recorded a bad track.  Due to time restraints, that first show ended before their next albums, but we round out today’s show with a few tracks from succeeding releases.

Weirdly enough, I consider it a high tribute that my old Animals LPs are maybe the scratchiest in my library, a condition earned by the amount of time played on turntables of dubious quality combined with being the choice at parties where it was commonplace for my rowdy friends to bump into the furniture that housed the record player.  The good times were almost worth the damage done and must be a part of why it is so endearing to hear these songs again.  CDs, gotta love ’em, they just don’t get scratched easily.

***********************************

Personally, I find  many similarities between Georgie Fame and Chris Farlowe.  To begin with, while I have been familiar with the names since the 60s, I was only aware of one song by each artist; for Farlowe it was Out of Time and Yeh Yeh is likely all I was exposed to by Fame.

  Therefore it was a pleasant surprise that, after purchasing one CD for each of them, I followed my desires for more and was able to make a couple of strong sets for their shows.  They were both close enough in age to have lived through much of the hell that was England during and after World War II and they are both pictured seated in front of a keyboard (I believe Farlowe always had a keyboard player in his band so perhaps it was just a comfortable place to sit!).  Their musics are not truly Blues but rather a combination of R&B and Jazz stylings and definitely not a part of the guitar-dominated trend that was what I had really been used to. 

Because of their proximity in age, many of the names and places appear in both profiles.  Fame also was managed by Rik Gunnell and played his nightclubs.  A 1966 ad for the Gunnell agency lists Fame at the top followed by Zoot Money, Chris Farlowe, The Alan Price Set, and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers as well as some lesser knowns.

Born Clive Powell in Leigh in Lancashire (near Manchester) on June 26^th 1943, he was taking piano lessons by the age of seven.  In the mid-50s, Georgie heard and embraced the music of Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Little Richard.  After leaving school in 1958, he worked days and played in the Dominoes by night.  He left his job to join Rory Blackwell and the Blackjacks but the band quickly broke up.  The Powell family had moved to London in 1959 when he was 16 years old, so Georgie stayed on and was introduced to the musical impresario Larry Parnes, who made him pianist for many of his stable of singers.  Regarding his name change, Fame related, “(It) was very much against my will, but he said, ‘If you don’t use my name, I won’t use you in the show’.”

That year, he toured playing with Parnes’ people and others, including Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran.  In 1961 Fame and three others, the original Blue Flames, were extracted from the larger band specifically to back Billy Fury; then Fury (and Parnes) dumped them in early 1962.  In the meantime, they had already recorded on Vincent’s Pistol Packin’ Mama single.

Georgie soon met his manager-to-be Rik Gunnell, who gave him Sunday afternoons at his Flamingo Club on London’s Wardour Street.  He then reformed the Blue Flames with Red Reese, bassist Ted Makins, guitarist Colin Green and sax player Mick Eve with Georgie’s B-3 and vocals headlining the ensemble.  Fame credited his early audiences at the Flamingo as being both an inspiration to his repertoire and also a great sounding board for his interpretations.  As he told Record Collector, “Until the Mods came in, the Flamingo was a black club.  It was full of West Indians, pimps and prostitutes – Christine Keeler and those – and black American servicemen.  It was their base in London for the weekend.  They could dance all night to Jazz and R&B and they used to give me the latest records.”  If it passed well on their ears, it was likely both quality and authentic.  Through them, Georgie became hooked on the sounds of Jimmy Smith, Groove Holmes and Booker T. and switched from piano to the more robust sound of the Hammond B-3 organ late in 1962.  Another Soulful influence was his 1965 UK tour with the Motown Revue.

Fame was also influential in the UK’s acceptance of Ska and I would like to pursue that at some time, if not Georgie’s music then others’ because it fits our timeline, but his earliest album Soul of Africa and two related singles, J.A. Blues / Orange Street and Stop Right Here / Rik’s Tune, are either hard to find or, more likely, never put out on CDs.  I presume them all to be Jamaica oriented.

After his 1963 signing with EMI Columbia, his next release was the live album Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo from early 1964 and we played a couple of chain gang-related tunes, Parchman Farm and Work Song (including lyrics I was unfamiliar with even existing).  Neither it nor the ensuing three singles fared all that well, but the Blue Flames’ stature as a club band was ever increasing.

Success came in late 1964 when his single Yeh Yeh / Preach and Teach charted #1.  His follow-up single Something (authored by John Mayall and Jon Mark) / Outrage charted in October and his earlier 1965 album Fame at Last hit the Top Twenty.  The year also included a couple of solid EPs – Fame for Fats which grouped together No, No / Blue Monday / So Long / Sick and Tired followed by Move It On Over / Walking the Dog / High Heel Sneakers / Rockin’ Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu.  We included Blue Monday, Sick and Tired and Move It On Over, but I’d really like to hear the rest of that second EP.  1966 saw another UK chart topper in Getaway / El Bandido and the May album Release Sweet Things went as high as #6 in its 22-week run.  This would be the final recording lineup (guitarist Colin Green, Cliff Barton on bass, John Mitchell behind the drums, Speedy Acquaye providing percussion, Glen Hughes & Peter Coe on saxes, and Edward “Tan Tan” Thornton playing trumpet) before Fame disbanded the Blue Flames to pursue a solo career.  Before signing with the CBS label, he took a bold step in recording Sound Venture (also 1966) with the big band backing of Harry South’s Orchestra, reaching #9 and setting the stage for a 1967 tour with Count Basie.

Georgie’s first album for the CBS label was Two Faces of Fame with a live half backed again by South’s ensemble.  There were more successful singles, but when his Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde went to #1 late in 1967, CBS began reigning in his artistic control of content and their choices were obviously based on salability.  The interesting-sounding 1971 collaboration with Alan Price, Fame & Price, was considered a middle of the road Pop waste of time.  He did again put together the Blue Flames in 1974 while with the Island label, but was more successful with jingle writing than his recordings.

Fame had a re-emergence with Van Morrison beginning in 1989 when he began a highly respectable run as the organ player (including a stint as Van’s musical director) on Avalon Sunset and every following Morrison album all the way through 1997 with The Healing Game.  When we took our break for St. Patrick’s Day earlier this year, we used the 1996 album How Long Has This Been Going On, with the shared billing of Fame and Morrison, as a major portion of the show. 

Georgie, once again having earned the respect he was due, still recorded under his own name and shared a duet of Moondance with Van on Fame’s 1991 Cool Cat Blues LP.  His 1995 Three Line Whip allowed him the extra pleasure of recording with his sons Tristan (on guitar) and James (drums) Powell.  Also critically acclaimed was his 1996 release, The Blues and Me.

In 1998, Fame ended his lengthy association with Morrison and signed on with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings as vocalist and organist on several albums.  By 2000, he was under Ben Sidran’s Jazz label, Go, where he put out another well respected album, Poet in New York.

***********************************
The Moody Blues were essentially a throw in for today’s presentation because I generally like to use three bands for a bit of diversity on the shows.  I have never been a fan of orchestrated music when it comes to Rock ‘n’ Roll or Blues and that is definitely what I consider the Moody Blues to be.  I came across a copy of the Days of Future Passed LP at a Flea Market a long, long time ago and felt that I owed it to myself to spend the 25 cents and most likely never even got around to listening to it.  It is just not my style.  But this was an earlier iteration of the band; I always liked their song Go Now, and there had to be some redeeming quality to a band that used Blues as part of their name.  (By that logic, I should go see the Blue Man Group!)  And we have become more expansive as the series progresses as to what was influencing the Blues players.  After all, no one grows up in a vacuum.  And with fourteen bonus tracks added to the original album (representing the entire output of the band before personnel changes), there must be a fair amount to like.  And they do one of my all time favorite Blues tunes that I will play for you every chance I get, Sonny Boy Williamson’s Bye Bye Bird.  Boy, was I disappointed!  Even though Bye Bye Bird was a decent Blues track (and the only one in the CD), it bears no resemblance to the original except that the lead instrument is harmonica.  From the 26 tracks, only Bird and Go Now plus four others were suitable for this show, including two from James Brown’s repertoire.  Still, it makes an enjoyable (albeit short) set and this was before they decided to throw in woodwinds, violins, etc.

The band was assembled in May of 1964, but Ray Thomas (flute, harmonica and vocals) and Mike Pinder (keyboards and vocals) had first played together in El Riot and the Rebels.  They got together again in 1963 in the Krew Cats and, like so many others, honed their skills in Germany, as Thomas later recalled, “We went to Germany and endured the madness and diabolical living conditions of the Hamburg and Hannover clubs”.  Upon their return home, they decided to pool the most suitable of the Birmingham talent.

First addition was Jazz drummer Graeme Edge, who had known Thomas since their participation in Birmingham’s Youth Choir back in the mid-fifties.  Next recruited was Denny Laine

(real name Brian Arthur Hines; guitar, harmonica and vocals), who had been fronting the Diplomats for about a year and a half.  The last acquisition was bassist Clint Warwick.

Now the band needed a name.  There was a brewery that had a few venues that provided playing opportunities for bands and the guys thought they might be able to wangle extra gigs if they used the initials of the beer company, Mitchell & Butler.   As Blues was the current musical fad the second part of the name was chosen and apparently they were all pretty moody, so … More blatantly, they abbreviated the name to the M & B 5.  When the desired response didn’t come through they reverted back to the full name, the Moody Blues Five.

They first played at Birmingham’s Carlton Ballroom, then got a manager, soon acquired a recurring gig at the Marquee in London and ultimately a recording contract with Decca.  Their first single got them a spot on BBC’s Ready, Steady, Go, but it was the second release, Go Now, which reached the charts, and strongly, as it stayed there for 14 weeks in both the UK starting in November (topping the charts) and the US beginning in December (although my trusty reference book tells me it was released in February ’65) peaking at #10.  It was truly an international hit as it charted #8 in Holland and #14 in Australia, selling over a million copies.  Their next single reached #33 and the next one got to #22, but this ensemble never had anything more than Go Now of any consequence, including this July 1965 12-track LP, The Magnificent Moodies.  The band did participate in the 1965 concert for the New Music Express’ poll winners amid the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Seekers, Searchers, Cilla Black, Donovan and Tom Jones.

Though these guys never made a US tour, the band was recorded in concert at the Richmond-on-Thames Jazz Festival and portions were presented on American television’s Shindig program.  Strictly coincidentally, the Animals and Georgie Fame appeared on the same December 4^th show.

Laine and Warwick departed the band by August with Denny going solo and eventually playing in Paul McCartney’s Wings between 1971 and 1979.  By November, their places in the band were taken by Justin Hayward providing guitar and vocals and John Lodge doing bass and vocals, Lodge having been one of El Riot’s (Thomas) Rebels.  Within a year, the altered group would release Days of Future Passed in November of 1967 and massive success ensued.

Regarding the original Moodies, as Graeme Edge put it, “We were tagged one-hit wonders.  We had nine months of glory and then went back to fifty pounds a night on the road.”

***********************************

Key to the Highway

June 25^th, 2014

Talkin’ ‘Bout You

The Right Time
The Girl Can’t Help It
She Said Yeah
I’m Mad Again
Maudie
Club a-Go-Go
I’m in Love Again
   The Animals

Parchman Farm
Work Song

Get on the Right Track
Yeh Yeh
Do Re Mi (Forget About the Dough)
I Love the Life I Live
It’s Got the Whole World Shaking
Let the Sunshine In
   Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames

Inside Looking Out

Blue Feeling
See See Rider
Gin House Blues
Baby What’s Wrong
Don’t Worry Much
Don’t Bring Me Down
Cheating
   The Animals

I’ll Go Crazy

Something You Got
Go Now
Bye Bye Bird
I Don’t Mind
And My Baby’s Gone
   The Moody Blues

Something

Sick and Tired
Outrage
Move It On Over
In the Meantime
Soul Stomp
See Saw
The World is Round
Last Night
Getaway
El Bandido
Dawn Yawn
Ride Your Pony
   Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames

Memphis, Tennessee

Sweet Little Sixteen
I’m Gonna Change the World
Take It Easy Baby
Outcast
That’s All I Am to You
Mama Told Me Not to Come
Squeeze Her, Tease Her
   The Animals