Dermot Murphy R.I.P.

by

photo supplied by Peter Gladwish

Peter Gladwish… RIP Dermot

Linda Day… Oh no bless him x

Terry Drinkwater… Sad news.

Andy Caine… Very sad! X

Mark Harris… How sad

Jon McCallion… Very sad news.

Pete Prescott… Very sad. Lovely guy. X

Phil Gill… Oh that is sad news, he was a nice chap.

Pauline Richards… Oh dear. Have known him years. So sorry for the children

Russell Field… The gentleman bassist. Top man. Funny as hell.Very sad indeed xx

Ken Hatch… Lovely guy and a good bass man, sad news.

James Westlake… He filled in for us when Ken was away, great bassist.

Liane Carroll… Oh no. Very sad. So sorry to hear this xx

Keith Brian Goodall… One of the best

Martyn Baker… Oh what a shame he’s gone now. He was a fabulous bassist, and as lovely a bloke as you could meet.

Mark Pepper… So sorry to hear this sad news , love to Steve, Ben and Sophie xxx

Lloyd Johnson… R.I.P. Dermot….from a fellow Ore Youth club member…

Andy Knight… RIP Dermot, good Bass Player and not bad with a golf club

Jane Hartley… Lovely man and musician. Love to the family xx

Trevor Spears… Good friends since our early teens in Hollington, played lots of gigs together he will be missed, RIP mate!

Kathy Harding… What a shock to see this today, such a lovely man xx

Stuart Moir… Star man with Centre Page, played with us for many years and we even got him into singing lead vocal on one song, always a reliable bass harmony as well as one of the best local players

Chris Howard… So sorry to hear of Dermot’s passing, a great guy he took my place in Centre Page when I left the band. R.I.P.

Barry French… So sad, we have lost a real character of the Hastings music scene. A versatile musician & a lovely guy. Barry & Ness.

John Harper… Very sad news. We’ve lost a kind & so modest a gentleman of the music scene. He always seemed to underestimate his abilities although he was such a talented & versatile bass player. A truly lovely guy.

 

Do you remember the football pools?

by

Alan Esdaile… Do you remember the football pools? Having to be very quite on a Saturday when your dad was listening to the results.

Paul James… Ahahahahahahaha my stepdad always played the pools, never won anything

Gerry Powell… Forfar 4, Fife 5 . . . . my dad did them in the 60’s and let me do a line. Still do a line “on-line”. Spot the Ball was also introduced by Littlewoods and at work as a syndicate we did it weekly in the early 70’s and I came away with over £400 which went a long way to pay for my first new car, a Ford Escort Mk1 1300E in Daytona Yellow. I had to do 500 “x’s” in a small square template and around 8 others did the same so we did not duplicate. It worked.

Kevin Burchett… my dad was in a syndicate at British Gypsum when i was a teenager i think there was a bout a dozen in the syndicate and they won dad ended it up with £290 it was quite a lot of money in them days and we all got new bikes from Lappys in queens road and we rode them home to netherfield

Yvonne Cleland… Oh yes! Every Saturday. Didn’t dare speak!

Mick O’Dowd… Yep! Always brings to mind the old Spike Milligan sketch( I think) or it might have been Michael Bentine reading the results.

Helen James… Had to check them with my Dad

Alan Esdaile… Michael Bentine, Mick.

Peter Howard… I used to pick a line for my Gran. She won £100 in about 1969 but my Grandad wouldn’t let her cash the cheque because he didn’t want the bank manager to know his wife did the pools

Dave Nattress… Indeed, my parents did it for years and it was a major operation with several companies holding their own draws. Littlewoods in Liverpool? I think was Mega and another was called “Zetters” – I think – only recall this because it was a strange name/word. Parents won a few quid now and again. Spot the ball I recall also.

Lyn Humphrey… I also recall having to be quiet at 4.50 pm. Just after I started my first job, my Dad won first dividend, & we began dreaming….only to find out that the small pools companies paid out far less. His share was two grand, which was still nice, but not life-changing (& I was so looking forward to life-changing).

Mark Eason… Not “quite” a memory of mine being “quiet” back then.

Karen Sweatman… My dad promised to take us to Disney if he won. I was old enough to realise that 37 and a half pence wasn’t enough. My sister wasn’t and cried for hours

Dave Nattress… Hi Lyn old friend, well, we’re about as old as each other are we not!  My parents won a few small amounts not life-changing for me either.  Still life’s been good enough without riches so far!

Pete Prescott… I remember my dad doing the football pools every week.

Joe Knight… About 1983 i stopped

John Warner… Got 8 draws once received £125, sick.

Lyn Humphrey… Hi Dave — Yes, I too have managed without the riches thus far, but I wouldn’t mind trying some…..though I’m not sure what life-changing would be, now!

Mick O’Dowd… My parents promised me a train set if they won. 10 years of waiting for a train that never arrived (Where’s Sarah Harvey when you need her!) I finally bought my own when I started work.

Pete Prescott… Oh yes. Dad would spend ages on it.

Alan King… but did he let you ‘check the pools; ?

Wendy Weaver… If you listened carefully you could predict the result by the inflections in the announcer’s voice. We use the same numbers we used for the pools on our lottery ticket – not a lot of luck still. I won £30 on the pools and bought a Sega Master System with it. Graham and I used to stay up half the night trying to beat one another at Sonic the Hedgehog

Tony Court-holmes… so would my nan never won a penny

Kevin White… My Mum and Dad used to do the pools every week, Dad used to collect the money from door to door on Wednesday or Thursday night in the Hollington area on behalf of Vernons pools. I used to go with him when I was little. I remember they had, what would have been a massive win one week, i think it was about £125.000 but unfortunately for them, so did half the country, they ended up winning 19/6 when it was shared out between all the other winners, that is Nineteen shillings and sixpence. Or about 97.5 new pence in today’s money.

Andy Guainiere… Yes, always a big night for dad with the pools coupon.

Colin Bell… Having to be quiet after watching Mick McManus and Kendo Nagasaki punch the crap out of the other wrestlers (well pretend to!)

David Francis… I remember waiting for Doctor Who to come on and we couldn’t talk because my dad was reading his pools coupons watching the Scottish third division Forfar 5 Fife 4 etc

Steve Thorpe… I had to get the pink edition of the Evening News which had the results of the football and horse racing in it.

Kev Towner… I was always really disappointed that the scoreline: Forfar 5 – East Fife 4 never came up!!

Yvonne Ellis… Very fond memories of this

Oliver Leonard… I think they still exist do they not?

Mick O’Dowd… Port Vale 1. Coventry lost! Apologies to Spike Milligan!

Chris Pook… I used to do a ‘pools round’ in Ore Village in the eighties. Some people would do one line with the same numbers every week and others would stretch to 4 lines with random numbers. Nice little job once a week for about £3!

Samantha’s Club – New Burlington Street. What clubs and venues do you remember in London? Tiffanys Club and Gullivers People chat.

by

img245

All images supplied by Colin Bell

Colin Bell… I was looking for something in my archives (I must organise them one day!) and came across this. I was struck by the artwork and how creative it was then. Samantha’s was in a basement off Regent Street and I was introduced to it on a night out with Clem (from the Foundations) and Jimmy James, from memory  it was around late 1969 early 1970. A great place with soul bands appearing and the D.J. ‘booth’ was the body of an E Type Jag (very swinging sixties). Drinks 2/6d! You could get well pissed for a coupla quid! I was lucky enough at that time to have the use of a mate’s flat in Berwick Street Soho, ideally placed to go to all the great clubs. Many hours spent at the Marquee, Whisky-a-go-go, the Flamingo, Middle Earth and Hatchetts in Piccadilly, a great club over 3 floors with a chill out bar level, a restaurant with a glass wall overlooking the ‘disco’ floor. I’d be interested to hear any memories of this period from other Smart members? Great times and great memories…………..

Alan Esdaile… Happy days in Wardour Street at The Marquee. Also the Speakeasy. Also remember auditioning bands at Tiffanys nightclub in Shaftesbury Avenue and a club in Piccadilly with the disco on the top floor, mirrored lift and the club had records stuck to the wall. 100 club, Roxy, Ronnie Scotts etc.

Peter Fairless… Went to some dodgy, some good clubs in London. Some were very dodgy but very good! Can’t remember all the names but most of those listed above.

Steve Gage… My mate Ray was a bouncer at Samanthas where are you now mate??? 🙂

Mick O’Dowd… Went to The Q Club in Paddington after seeing James Brown at The Rainbow in the 70’s I think. JB turned up after we got there and jammed with the band. Awesome!

Read moreSamantha’s Club – New Burlington Street. What clubs and venues do you remember in London? Tiffanys Club and Gullivers People chat.

SMART SOUNDS by Colin Bell reviewing Shape Of The Rain: Riley Riley Wood & Waggett, 3CD Digipak

by

RILEY RILEY WOOD & WAGGETT    Shape Of The Rain
Who? I hear you cry, well  in this instance I would echo that myself. I like to think after 50 + years in this business that even if I don’t know their work I will at least have heard of them, but I must confess not this time. So let’s investigate, come with me back to the end of the 60’s/start of the 70’s. Many bands had dropped their previous incarnation’s and gone ‘psych’ ‘prog’ ‘freakbeat’ ‘experimental’ etc etc. To cater for these ‘underground’ bands, the major Record Labels all created offshoot labels, EMI had Harvest, Pye Had Dawn, Philips had Vertigo, Decca had Deram and bringing up the rear was RCA with Neon. Now I have this particular quirk that remembers Record Labels (I used to file my mobile disco records by label) so I DO remember Neon but for another long forgotten band in Dando Shaft. In operation for just over a year from 1971 -2 the label only had 11 releases of which SOTR was number 7. Hailing from an area of the country bounded by Sheffield and Chesterfield the band came together originally as a Everly Bros style duo of cousins Keith Riley (lead vocals/guitar),and Brian Wood (guitar vocals before being joined by Keith’s brother Len Riley (bass) and Iain ‘Tag’ Waggett (drums).  The band’s name changed constantly, The Gear (inspired by their covers of Liverpudlian bands and Beatlesque sound) The Reaction was another and it was at this point they recorded a brace of demo’s and a local record shop owner David McPhie took an interest (he also represented Sheffield’s own Joe Cocker) and duly became their manager. With a name change to the more contemporary Shape Of The Rain all was set. This 3CD package covers their 1971 album RRW&W, a host of demo’s, outtakes, alternative versions, the demo’s for the aborted second album, a 50 minute live show from May 1970 and more. Disc 1 contains the original album kicking off with ‘Woman’ which, as noted in the sleevenotes, is a riff heavy pop/rock number sounding in structure very similar to Atomic Rooster’s ‘Devil’s Answer’ (co-incidentally issued on the same day!), this was issued as a single but didn’t trouble the charts at all, But this didn’t bother Neon, singles ‘weren’t cool man’ this was the dawn of the album…much cooler…er..man. After all the man in charge at Neon was Olav Wyper who in his previous life had been at CBS where he had dreamed up the much lauded sampler ‘The Rock Machine Turns You On’. Why am I banging on about labels? because that’s where the problem with the success or rather lack of it for Shape Of The Rain lies. They were a good sounding band, they wrote their own material, and where they didn’t ,had excellent taste performing material by The Byrd’s and Love. Now as any reader of my reviews, column’s etc will know Love is a band really close to my heart. Shape Of The Rain were clearly heavily influenced by the prevailing West Coast Sound, track 7 ‘Dusty Road’ is a prime example as is the following track  ‘Willowing Tree’s. And this is my point about success, had SOTR been on RCA’s main label there would have been more emphasis on promotion and put frankly money spent. To be fair even the band admit they were ‘musically confused’ but being hidden away, on a albeit ‘cool’ underground label served them badly. Their music is hook laden, delicate and contains some stunning arrangement’s, the Press of the time were impressed comparing them favourably to the like’s of Traffic and Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman took them to his heart as a big fan. So you had a commercially adept band hidden away on an obscure label, it was a no win situation as the fans of the ‘underground labels’ were looking for something more esoteric than SOTR and the main label fans of RCA were being treated to Bowie, Sweet etc i.e. the commercially successful acts of which SOTR could have been one. They have also been compared to Badfinger which I think is a fair comment, good hooky melodic songs and credibility to boot. The songs written for the second unreleased album show a growing confidence ‘The Very First Clown’ and ‘Listen To Your Heart’ being two examples.

The 3rd disc in the set is the previously mentioned ‘live recording’ taped at Manchester University (supporting Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) and given the recording restraints of the time is remarkably good, it captures the band in fine form (love the ‘Hendrix’ licks) mostly made up of new material at the time it did include a great version of ‘Willowing Tree’s from the Riley, Riley, Wood & Waggett album. And what about that album title? hardly jumps off the sleeve does it? I have a horrible suspicion somebody said something along the lines of ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash’ that’s cool man lets do that with this album. enough said! Eventually the band transferred to the main label and carried on til the mid 70’s before going their separate ways. Its a fact that there is more 60’s & 70’s music available to listen too today than there was then, incredible but true, so many albums never saw the light of day for so many reasons and some rightly so but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Shape Of The Rain and plugging a gap in my musical knowledge. Grapefruit Records have done their usual sterling job on the presentation of the set and the 24 page booklet contains many evocative photo’s and pictures of vintage poster’s and sound quality is excellent. Enjoy.

Til next time….please all stay safe and well……Colin

For more information go to https://www.cherryred.co.uk

Tag Waggett… thanks for your kind words and thanks for an excellent review. Tag Waggett ( drummer) SOTR

Colin Bell… Hi Tag, good to hear from you, i hope i did your album justice, stay safe & well

Bill Griffiths… the first eight live tracks were recorded at Alfreton Hall on 2nd May 1970 on a Tandberg 1541 mono recorder and a Shure microphone . I was fortunately able to find a position at the back of the hall in an elevated position above the audience. the hall itself is not large being the remains of a former stately home of the Morewoods family, now a wedding venue. A couple of tracks were not included on the cd, possibly to leave room for the Manchester set.

Tony Davis… Really interesting piece Colin. As you say many lost bands of the late 60s and early 70s are now coming to light and bringing hidden gems to life.

Colin Bell… Thanks Tony, the review i posted yesterday of the 3CD set of bands covering The Beatles has some great stuff on it, which may well interest you, Cheers.

Barn Dance with The Ranchers and The Macalmans – Hastings Pier 24th September 1977

by

I think it should be The Ranchers? Anyone tried barn and line dancing? Also includes pancake tossing?

Nigel Ford… I’ll refrain from suggesting there might have been a lot of tossers there…..

Pete Fairless… Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Modes-Mode plus St John’s Wood – Hastings Pier 2nd November 1968

by

Modes Mode

12189584_773915822753877_1160523402404041670_n

photo supplied by Amanda Hawkings, ad supplied by Sarah Harvey

Sarah Harvey… November 2nd, 1968. No information regarding this group….anyone else?

Mick O’Dowd… New one on me perhaps St Johns Wood members might remember.

Ray Harper…  Saw Modes Mode at The Continental more than once and Eastbourne Town Hall. They played blues and soul music in particular Curtis Mayfield. I thought they were from Brighton but they are not listed on Brightonbeat .com site. Great band though.

Amanda Hawkings… The drummer in Modes Mode was my cousin Clifford Grensted. The manager was my uncle Brian Grensted.  They were based  in the London area. The photo was taken in Stanmore, I believe.

Mike Mitchell… That’s a fabulous suit on the right there.

Lil Fuller… Brian Grenstead ( “Mr.G”) was our neighbour in Stanmore ..we lost touch when we left for Australia in 1970. He lived around the corner but our back garden  in Tintagel Drive backed  onto his… think He was Manager of  Modes Mode then ..in the late 60’s ??? He was always wonderful to our late Mum Sheila and Us Kids and we have  many Happy Memories. Fond Regards to His Family from Old Neighbours  The Fuller’s  … now in Adelaide …Down Under  xx

Mick Gilfrin… Yep went to the E/B Town Hall gig. Does anybody remember the free fest @ Cow Gap Beachy Head 1967 ish. Skin Alley were top of the bill

Colin O’Donoghue… They were looking for a new singer and I went to about 3 gigs with them in Brian’s van and did a few numbers. They were from Stanmore – soul band – Otis Redding, Sam & Dave etc. I particularly liked The Action and these guys were similar.

SMART SOUNDS by Colin Bell reviewing Looking Through A Glass Onion – The Beatles Psychedelic Songbook 1966-72, Various Artists, 3CD

by

LOOKING THROUGH A GLASS ONION (The Beatles Psychedelic Songbook 1966-72)   Various Artists

What a great concept this 3CD set is, congratulations all at Grapefruit Records. Right from the first Beatles album issued other bands rushed to make cover versions of their songs and make a quick buck. Remember ‘Girl’ St Louis Union’ & ‘Michelle’ The Overlanders for instance, But as The Beatles became ever more experimental with ‘Rubber Soul’, ‘Revolver’ & of course ‘St. Pepper an increasing number of bands also experimenting with their own sounds started making all sorts of covers in a myriad of styles. This new collection focuses on the psyche/rock/baroque/ efforts of the established and newcomers alike. Kicking the whole proceedings off on Disc1 is Camel turning ‘Mystery Tour’ into a prog rock 6 minute opus, a great start. But it’s track2 Deep Purple’s version of ‘Help’ that makes cpmplete sense of the compilations title. Deep Purple deliver ‘Help’ very much in Vanilla Fudge style all heavy and ponderous and equally wonderful. So not only do you peel back the layers (like an onion) of a bands take on The Beatles original you are also peeling back the Vanilla Fudge approach by Deep Purple! That makes it sound complicated but its not, its very playful and a source of delight throughout the whole 3CD set. You not only get to hear all the different takes of the original songs, there being some 68 tracks there are some songs covered by more than one artist. Thus you can also have the fun and enjoyment of comparing for instance ‘I Am The Walrus’ by Affinity, Spooky Tooth, Lol Coxhill & Octopus. This all makes for a huge amount of listening pleasure and in a lot of cases a voyage of discovery unearthing bands i’ve never heard of amongst the more familiar names to be found. But never fear you will not be left in the dark about a band that’s completely unfamiliar to you, Accompanying is a superb 40 page booklet with mini-biogs on each track, as someone who writes in a similar fashion i stand in awe of the author’s (David Wells) knowledge and research. I’d love to have the space to write and indeed the time to guide you through every track, but that not being possible here are some personal highlights. Disc1 the aforementioned Deep Purple ‘Hush’ Affinity ‘I Am The Walrus’ Kippington Lodge ‘In My Life’ ‘Sounds Nice ‘Flying’ & Orange Bicycle (a band i’ve worked with several times) ‘You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight. Alongside these you will find more well known tracks by The Tremeloes, The Hollies & Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers. Disc2 Spooky Tooth ‘I Am The Walrus’ The Frugal Sound ‘Norwegian Wood’ The Majority ‘A Hard Days Night’ Bo Street Runners ‘Drive My Car’ familiar names on this disc include Plastic Penny, Big Jim Sullivan, Don Fardon, Stone The Crows & The Shadows. Disc3 Jason Crest (again a localish band i’ve worked with) ‘Come Together’ Affinity ‘A Day In The Life’ The Eyes ‘Good Day Sunshine’ The Ice ‘Day Tripper’, again more familiar names include Circus, The Sorrows, Hardin & York, Tomorrow & finishing the whole collection off the one and only Dame Vera Lynn! Could the list get more eclectic! Running to nearly 4 hours its incredibly good value for your money too. With things being the way they are at present we are missing out on ‘live’ events and locally we have of course had our treasured Beatles Day in the past, a shared event we all miss. This package gives you the opportunity to have your very own ‘Beatles Day’ in the comfort of your own home savouring all these different bands playing your favourite fab four songs. When i was writing my syndicated newspaper column i used to grade new releases 1 – 5 stars, a practice i eventually dropped. Was i still grading i would, with no hesitation whatsoever give this the full 5 stars. Seldom have i had as much fun stepping through the looking glass and discovering so many gems as i have done here. Stay safe everyone. Enjoy.

For more information go to https://www.cherryred.co.uk

Til next time…………………Colin

 

Colin Bell… I forgot to mention when i wrote the review there will be a new 2CD collection of local band (Tonbridge) Jason Crest released in the next few weeks, First time ALL their recordings in one package. They played Hastings Pier and other local venues in the late 60’s early 70’s. I’ll review the comp in due course. Take care everyone.

Headlights, Smokestack Lightning & The Executives – Hastings Pier 23rd Sept 1978

by

26234_385823798709_1310593_n1

11223747_757884817690311_1838911129038997945_n

poster supplied by Mick Mepham,  ad supplied by Sarah Harvey

12049637_1700783603487763_7191930747374180206_n

The Executives supplied by Mick O’Dowd,

Flyer supplied by Lynn Gale

Alan Esdaile…. Mick O’Dowd promotion

Mick O’Dowd… Headlights were a brilliant band and I had already promoted them at The Caves( Those were the days!) and was so impressed that I put them on my first Pier Gig. Does anybody have any info or pics of them? I thought they could have gone on to greater things as did another of my promotions, Smeggy & The Cheesey Bits who morphed into King Kurt!

James Sadia… One pound!! blinkin extortion!

Chris Boorman… Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated!

Mick O’Dowd… I  know how to rip-’em-off James!

Gavin Martin… Executives- not the Roy Carr (untaggable) band?

Lynn Gale… Hubby dug the above flyer out

Mick O’Dowd… The Executives were a Brighton based band. I believe they were signed to the Attrix label.

John Gale… 42 years ago today, along with an extract taken from my 1978 diary. It’s been edited for bad language. In the afternoon I went down to Tiffer’s House and helped load SSL’s equipment onto the pier for the gig tonight. Arrived with Executives but Headlights didn’t arrive until later.  Executives went down really well. Smokestack were brilliant though. Steaming through their set of covers. Tiffer drumming like Keith Moon (who died recently), I lost my voice from singing along, didn’t see Headlights play, was a great night “

Ken Copsey… I guess we still owe you your roadie fee and highly partisan review!