winds of change and the scotch of st james

In spring 1965 a new club opened in what looked like a fairly typical West End public house. "The Scotch Of St James" was to become the centre of London for the next year or so, where rock stars and anyone who was anyone gravitated to the place as a matter of course.
Some of the northern groups had made the pilgrimage south to the city during the Beat Boom of 64 and like the other London bands, hanging out in between gigs in the West End (or Soho) where "The Scotch" was located (13 Masons Yard to be precise) was part of the off duty schedule. Just yards away from the unassuming exterior of "The Scotch" was the art gallery John Lennon first met Yoko. In very short time Masons Yard had become the bohemian hotspot of the West End. A couple of hundred yards away Soho begins proper where properties at the time were easy to get and affordable to rent. Hendrix on first arriving in the UK is said to have had his first flat near the market in Berwick St.
Jimi had first arrived in London at the beginning of September 1966 and took little time in making straight for the in-crowd and first played at "The Scotch" on 24 September. As someone once said the Swinging 60's was really just about 400 trendy people with everyone else looking on. It's a dead certainty that those 400 had ended up in "The Scotch" at one time or another during 1966.
Chris Welch, journalist with Melody Maker at the time -

"Many groups shared apartments and flats for a while, including The Animals. But not for long. You can imagine the fights and rows after a hard days' night revelling and jamming. But to make sure he didn't miss any of the action, Eric Burdon got his own flat above the Scotch of St James, one of the West End's trendiest night clubs, where he could literally drop in and catch Jimi Hendrix jamming and share a brandy or three with The Rolling Stones and The Beatles".

By December 1966 the original Animals had split, with now Burdon entranced by Hendrix and the ever evolving London scene he mixed with at the club, had changed his musical ideas away from driving r&b beat and by 1967 formed the New Animals and his version of the new psychedelia in California, moving there that year. By June 1967, Hendrix, Burdon and many of the musicians and bands that had hung out at the "The Scotch" less than 12 months earlier were now lining up at The Monterey Pop Festival along with the American bands of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Mammas and Pappas etc and marking the first real sign of the Summer Of Love and that Love Generation.
Monterey was to be Hendrix's debut in America with the Experience, who along with The Who, had been recommended to the organisers by McCartney when the Beatles declined an offer to play the festival. Which was hardly surprising given The Beatles were by now a studio concept only.
That year Hendrix released - Are You Experienced and Axis Bold AS Love, The Beatles - Sgt Pepper, The Rolling Stones - Her Satanic Majesties Request, Eric Burdon and the New Animals - Winds Of Change.
Burdon's barmy take on psychedelia and probably the lesser known of the bunch had him reciting poems and beat like pros against sitars, guitars and all manner of stuff on one side with a heavier psyche blues rock on the other. The idea of it was crazy. The idea of it also being born in it's embryonic form in some small West End bar 10 months earlier was completely crazy.

Eric Burdon & the Animals - Winds of Change has just been re-released on 180 Gram Vinyl (and CD) as a mono edition. We're also reliably informed by the Audiophile LP Round-Up in Record Collector that hearing it on a record deck with a specialist mono cartridge makes all the difference.
Oh yeah and where the dickens do you get one of those from? Anyway the album is available from Sundazed

The photograph at the top of The Scotch Of St James was purloined from Kathy Etchingham's website who was Jimi Hendrix's girlfriend at the time and also has some rather fun stories taken from her book.

the beatles deconstructed

Warning: This is a bit of a music nerd post... but fun if you're a recording geek.
To end the week where the resurfacing of the 60's generation featured, quite unintentionally it should be said but just occurred through the current and planned releases for September 2013. This Friday's post looks at the growing enthusiasm on YouTube for the posting of 'isolated' tracks from top artists. It's always intriguing to find out just what they were up to back then, and in most cases it's pretty damn amazing.
So what was once the hallowed knowledge of only those involved in making the music, their techniques are being now laid open to us all by various methods.
Sometimes original tapes are accessed and broken down channel by channel,
or to varying levels of success by software such as Audacity being able to separate the sounds from one another,
or as in the case of The Beatles, the job's been made considerably easier by accessing the left or right channels of the remastered original stereo recordings.
Anyone who has the stereo recordings of their albums will immediately notice how the 1960's stereo was created by separating certain instruments to the left or right hand channels of the playback, although with Beatles albums it was only ever 'Abbey Rd' originally made in stereo.
The Beatles had always been a Mono recording band but the remastering of their recordings by George Martin and team were to place the instruments of these once mono recordings into a stereo path just as they would have been done by the late 60's.
Consequently this has made the job of isolating the vocals and instruments a lot less complicated task for anyone with some smarts.. and the software.
So lets go back nearly half a century to the grandfather of all psychedelic recordings "Tomorrow Never Knows" and hear some of these isolated tracks. (There is some bleed from the backing on the tracks.)

First off just the vocals by Lennon. This is referred to as 'Take 1' and wasn't used as the final version but it's so near to the original it matters little.

Now here's part of the track with just Ringo's superb drum beat and McCartney's pulsing bass line, this would have been constant throughout the 3 minutes or so.

Now the Tape Loops which you may be surprised to hear runs nearly all the way through the recording. It's said these were constructed by McCartney, and with his interest in John Cage and other avante garde composers of the time it would seem most likely.

To put all that in context John, Paul, George and George Martin talk about the making of the piece.

And finally for those who have to hear the full recording after all that, here is what is said to be a "Lost Music Video from 1967" to go with the final track.
It's doubtful this was actually recorded as a promotion or planned to be used but does have some authentic shots of Lennon and McCartney around 1967 (although used before) and it does have that 60's avante garde/abstract feel about it. It's likely this was put together some time after the making of "Tomorrow Never Knows" which was for the 1966 'Revolver' album.

lot 46154 : the white album

It was thought that The White Album No.A0000001 never existed...
but it does and it's being auctioned by Heritage Auctions at the moment. Just start your bidding at $10.000 and this rare vinyl is yours providing you have bottomless pockets to outbid the rest of the Beatles/Vinyl/Art/Antique dealers, or whoever else holds their nerve.
It currently belongs to a guy who bought it from a guy who bought it from a Capitol Records executive in San Francisco, on April 2, 1989, and there's a letter to prove that in case your wondering.
Here's where you place your bid for the "precious"... 46154 (and not the above form, because you'll find that is a jpeg)

And here's a rather good little clip giving you some background on what 1968 and The White Album was all about.
source:Paul Gallagher at Dangerous Minds

lennon's 'yer blues' unplugged

Just when you thought that everything that could be said that was new, fresh, or unusual about The Beatles' later history was already out there, along comes 'The Beatles: Unplugged', a bootleg CD so good that the folks at Apple and EMI ought to be kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. This disc (which is sort-of subtitled "The Kinfaun-Session," referring to George Harrison's Esher home) pulls together the 23 songs that Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney recorded as works-in-progress at Harrison's home in May of 1968. Most of the songs from the session were eventually heard either on The Beatles [White Album surfacing with new lyrics as "A Jealous Guy," etc.) or B-sides ("What's the New Mary Jane"), and on various bootlegs.
uploader GeoBeatles

Despite the groups internal bickering throughout the album ending with them virtually recording their own tracks in isolation like a series of solo recordings, there's no sign of the temperamental behavior during this embryonic session. It's a fascinating insight into part of the process that made one of the 20th Century's iconic albums and of the songwriter.
Here's Lennon's 'Yer Blues' stripped back to it's vocal and acoustic guitars (with Harrison) sounding less aggressive than it's final cut for the album with it's caustic lead guitar later added along with the rest of the groups parts.
The complete 'White Album; Unplugged' can be heard > here

we buy white albums

January 7 – March 9, 2013
Middling Reception: February 7, 6-8pm
Closing Reception: March 7, 6-9pm
Soho, 41 Grand Street. New York

"On January 7, 2013, Rutherford Chang will begin work on We Buy White Albums, as part of Recess’ signature program, Session. Session invites artists to use Recess’ public space as studio, exhibition venue, and grounds for experimentation. Pursuing an interest in exhaustive cataloguing, Chang has collected over 650 first-pressings of the Beatles’ White Album. He considers the serialized first-press, an edition running in excess of 3 million, to be the ultimate collector’s item, and aims to amass as many copies as possible. Over the course of his Session, Chang will create an archive, listening library, and anti-store to house and grow his collection of the Beatles’ iconic record.

Chang will create a record store that stocks only White Albums. But rather than selling the albums, he will buy more from anyone willing to part with an original pressing in any condition.

Visitors will be invited to browse the collection and listen to the records. The artist will digitally record every album played during the Session period, as well as document each gatefold cover and disc label. At the end of the Session, Chang will press a new double-LP made of the accumulated recordings and images layered upon each other.

The album covers are weathered, often with marks or writing from previous owners, and the vinyl discs are usually scratched or warped. The character of each copy, distinctly shaped by its history, is told through the physicality of the media. This phenomenon, at the cusp of extinction due to digital technologies, is made apparent by the identical yet unique multiples that comprise Chang’s collection."

recessart.org

And below Chang has taken a recording every time someone listens to one of the records to create new layered audio works.
These are 100 copies of the album in 100 different states. The playback will skip, stutter and degrade in various degrees. Here they are overlayed in one continual play of side one of The White Album.
It's rock and roll but not as you know it.

it was 20 years ago today...

..well actually it was 45 years ago this year, and on June 1st to be exact, that Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released to the world.
This November 2012, artist Peter Blake's original artwork for the insert in that iconic 12" LP sleeve was sold by Sotheby's auction for £55,000. The Senior Specialist of Modern British Paintings at the auction house, commented:
“Sir Peter Blake’s collage is a tangible slice of rock history. Sgt Pepper had a huge impact on the cultural landscape. It was the first concept album, when music, story, image and studio expertise all came together.
It's a small note but it was also the first time any lyrics were printed on a record sleeve, which sounds almost impossible but true.
So in the summer of 1967 one whole load of people sat down around their record players and heard Sgt Pepper for the first time, and most of those people would have heard it with their friends. Because that's what you did in 1967.

But its 45 years later today.. and it's the polar opposite. Rock bands don't make concept albums.
Tracks are received in any order when they're downloaded, which is how most music is obtained now. They're then mixed up according to how the individual wants them so a concept in the running order can't be easily planned for an album.
Artwork is irrelevant on downloads so no artist really needs to get involved with a rock band in the first place.
Groups of people do not usually sit around and just listen to music for entertainment.

So maybe the comments left on YouTube are the modern day substitute for the shared experience on a piece of music, except that you just might be joined by some net troll who you'd have certainly not invited into your group of friends.
In a recent blog by influential DJ Greg Wilson (here) said he'd recently been inspired to set up a listening group by John Cunnick at Seattles 'Helix' underground newspaper who'd referred to young people in 1967
"would sit for a couple of hours, not talking, hardly moving, living in music".
Well, illegal substances aside it was a very common activity for many years, to escape the parents or the rest of the nerds at college or work or where ever and get together with the people who had the shared love of the music you were into, or you trusted would have a similar taste.
Maybe the times are a changin'.. and to quote Mick Farren in his excellent new book 'Elvis Died For Somebody's Sins But Not Mine'..

"The thing to remember neighbours, is that we are hardly typical. We go the trouble of reading a music paper. That shows a devotion over and above the call of duty. It could be that rock and roll is sliding out of the preeminent position it has enjoyed for so long. It could be that the world is simply waiting for some thing new to appear, born from the waves like Aphrodite. If the latter's the case it is one hell of a long time coming"

And that neighbours was written for the New Musical Express in 1975!
So remember all things come around. Don't forget to share your music in 2013.

Band misunderstands 'concept album'

There's lots of ice in Sweden. Vinyl records have made a big comeback in Sweden.
I know let's make a... (will someone turn the heating down)

vinyl scratch

In 1958 John 'Duff' Lowe joined a group with 4 local lads and after back room practicing and playing some local gigs on the 12th July that year went off to record a song in a small studio in the living room of a Victorian terraced house. It was a special one off acetate recording costing under a pound and likely to wear out if it's played too often with an old stylus. But the 78rpm acetate was carefully passed around the group until they eventually called it quits months later and it ended up left with 'Duff' because like with all young men life changes and they all moved on to new things. There's nothing special about capturing a young mans youth on a recording.
Except in 2012 that very acetate became the rarest recording of all time and was estimated at £200,000.
The full line up of the group being John Lennon (guitar/vocals} George Harrison (guitar, and then only 14 years old !), Paul McCartney (bass/vocals), John 'Duff' Lowe (piano), Colin Hanlon (drums).
Fortunately you don't need to pay nearly a quarter million to hear The Quarry Men play Buddy Holly's 'That'll Be The Day'.

leave my kitten alone

August 5th 1964 and the Beatles recorded a song that was intended but never released on their upcoming album Beatles For Sale.
"Leave My Kitten Alone" was first recorded by Little Willie John in 1959 and Lennon with his instinct for good rock and roll sang the lead on the song that eventually came to light in 1985 when it was remixed for the Anthology 1 compilation.
Why it was never included on the 'For Sale' album is a bit of a mystery, maybe it threw the balance out with who took the lead. 'For Sale' had 4 to Lennon, 3 McCartney, 1 each for George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the other songs had the group backing or sharing vocals. One more lead by Lennon meant someone would not be included.
Maybe it was decided not to include another song written by someone other than Lennon and McCartney. There were already 5 by other writers on 'For Sale' including Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry.
Whatever the reason it's a shame more fans never got to hear this version at the time with Lennon producing a full throat rock and roll vocal at his best. This is the unreleased original rough mix from 1964.

The same day just two years later life was to change for Lennon. And big. He was quoted as saying "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus" in a newspaper article some months earlier and had gone completely unnoticed in England. But in the USA it was dragged out as front page news to Lennon's and the groups dismay as they toured the country. Wrong time, wrong place.
Thousands if not millions in the States burnt the records and Lennon spent the rest of the tour apologising and for years ahead looking over his shoulder.
Now if only he'd said "In Britain, The Beatles were more popular with teenagers than the church" which is what he meant in the first place and was probably true anyway, things would have been very different for him then and in the future.
Sometimes you just need to Leave That Kitten Alone.

beatallica

The Beatles + Metallica =

The Battery of Jaymz and Yoko

Masterful Mystery Tour