Rise Up Like The Sun by The Albion Band.

What a nice day it is. Firstly, I heard the good news that Van Morrison is returning to Glastonbury Abbey on September 4^th, so that is something to look forward to. Secondly, the weather has improved. Yesterday I spent all afternoon in my yard listening to music. Thirdly I got a new album in the post which I will tell you about. It is not the CD I originally ordered which was Bright Phoebus by Mike & Lal Waterson, a legendary rare album that I was eager to hear. The eBay shop where I ordered it from sent me a message to say it was damaged, and did I want a refund, or order something else? I looked to see what else they had in stock and ordered Rise Up Like The Sun by The Albion Band. I bought this album on vinyl when it was first released in 1978 and loved it. In my view it is one of the classic albums of the Folk-Rock genre. The CD which arrived today also has four bonus tracks which I had not heard before.

The Albion Band was the brainchild of Ashley Hutchings, also in the band are Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks. Richard Thompson is a guest on the album as well, so you have most of Fairport Convention from their golden era of late 60s/ early 70s here. Ric Sanders who later joined Fairport is also in the band. Other members are, John Tams, Phil Pickett, Pete Bullock, Michael Gregory and Graeme Taylor. There is also a star-studded cast of guests, including the wonderful Kate McGarrigle, Julie Covington, Linda Thompson, Pat Donaldson, Martin Carthy and Andy Fairweather-Low. The opening track Ragged Heroes was written by John Tams who sings it with Martin Carthy & Andy Fairweather-Low helping out on vocals. The next song Poor Old Horse is a classic and my favourite song on this great album. It starts slowly but builds relentlessly. I think it was developed from a sea shanty with great chord progressions and chanted backing vocals from seven singers. Afro Blue /Danse Royale is a combination of a John Coltrane jazz piece and a medieval tune. Ric Sanders was responsible for this track, and you can see the jazz fusion influences he brought from his previous band Soft Machine. Phil Pickett contributes some wonderful medieval bagpipe sounds into the mix.

 Ampleforth / Lay Me Low is a traditional fiddle tune leading into a John Tams arrangement inspired by a Shaker psalm. Time To Ring Some Changes was written by the great Richard Thompson. House In The Country is another favourite of mine because it features the voice of Kate McGarrigle. It is an early 20^th century song in the traditional style about homelessness which is still an issue today unfortunately. The Primrose is two variants of a very lively traditional tune which was learned from melodeon virtuoso John Kirkpatrick. The final song Gresford Disaster is an epic ballad tale of a coal mining disaster which happened in North Wales in 1934. I know all about it because I went to college near that coalmine, and we did a drama production based on the story. The four bonus tracks are great and include The Postman’s Knock, a jolly song which was released as a single, Pain And Paradise is another song developed from a sea shanty, it features guest vocals by Viola Wills. There is another version of Lay Me Low and finally another Richard Thompson song Rainbow Over The Hill featuring Linda Thompson on vocals. I have loved listening to this great album again today. I am still determined to find a copy of Bright Phoebus though. When I succeed, I’ll let you know. Have a nice weekend.

A Day Out With Siegfried Sassoon.

Siegfried Sassoon's grave,

On Tuesday I managed to have a rare little trip outside Westbury. Curly and I set off at 11.00 in his van. I suggested that we visit the village of Mells which is about ten miles from Westbury. It is a charming little village. The war memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens who was one of Britain’s most distinguished architects. I think he also designed the Cenotaph in London and many other famous landmarks. New Street has some wonderful little houses, some dating back several centuries. In the churchyard of St Andrews church, I found the grave of Siegfried Sassoon the World War 1 poet. He was also a famous novelist who wrote the autobiographical Memoirs Of A Fox Hunting Man. 

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a military psychiatric hospital; this resulted in his forming a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the Sherston trilogy.

Houses in Mells.

I am not an expert on him by any means, but I do have an interest in the graves of famous people. His family still live in this area. I remember reading in the local paper quite a few years ago about his grand-children being tragically killed in a car crash while returning from a music festival.

The Horner family lived in Mells which is where the children’s nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner originated. The Talbot Inn in Mells dates to the 13^th century and has a fine reputation. It was too early in the day to visit though. The church was also closed which was a bit disappointing because it contains much of interest. The large house nearby called Mells Manor is the home of Raymond Benedict Bartholomew Michael Asquith, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith. His great-grandfather H.H Asquith took Britain into the Great War in 1914 but was forced to resign in 1916.

Wine in Cheddar.

After our visit to Mells we drove across the Mendip hills through many picturesque little villages until reaching Cheddar where I enjoyed a glass of chardonnay and Curly had a cup of tea. As we were leaving Cheddar it began to rain. We decided to head for Weston Super-Mare to see the sea. That was a mistake. We followed the signs for parking in Weston and ended up in a multi-storey carpark. You had to take a lift down to ground level. When we emerged from the lift, we found ourselves in a garish shopping mall. It was horrible, anyway we found the sea-front, but it was really windy. I had to take my hat off before it blew away. The rain was coming down steadily. We went in a fish restaurant and sat in a window seat and observed the rain falling on the empty desolate beach. The tide never seems to come in at Weston. On the bright side the food was nice, and I had another glass of wine. We decided to call it a day and drove home and got to our local pub by 5.00. During the drive I entertained Curly by playing albums by Iggy Pop, Dr Strangely Strange and Fairport Convention. He seemed to like the Fairport album which was Liege & Leif, so I’ll play him more of that sort of stuff next time.

Empty beach at Weston.

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan, 80 Years Forever Young.

 I thought I'd celebrate Bob's 80th birthday today by dusting off a story that I wrote a few years ago that was published in a book called Bob Dylan, The Day I Was There................
The year was 1978 and the times they were a changing. Punk rock had swept the country and the old guard was being pushed aside. It was announced that Bob Dylan was to arrive in Britain for five nights at London's Earls Court. The news was greeted with derision by the new wave but for anyone over 25 this was the best news in years. It was Dylan's first visit to Britain for 9 years, since his legendary appearance at the Isle Of Wight festival in 1969. Excitement spread like wildfire throughout the land. The tickets were to go on sale at various venues around the country one Sunday morning at 9.00.Each person was allowed to buy four tickets. The nearest venue to us was the Colston Hall in Bristol.
The night before the tickets went on sale I began to get worried that we would be at the back of the queue and miss out on the tickets. "I think we should be in the queue now," I said to my friends.

We set off for Bristol with our sleeping bags sure that we would be the first in line at the box office. When we got to Colston Hall we were surprised to see a line of people stretching from the box office to the corner of the street. To our horror when we got to the corner we found the queue stretched all the way along the next street as well. There were already thousands of people camped out to get Bob tickets. This was the amazing appeal of Bob Dylan in those days.
There was a fantastic atmosphere on the streets of Bristol that night as a mini Bob fest was held, people sat on the pavement drinking and chatting and listening to Dylan on tape recorders and the sweet smell of marijuana drifted up Colston Street. Next morning the bleary eyed revelers began to shuffle forward when the box office opened. Finally with a sigh of relief I had the precious tickets in my grasp. We were going to see Bob Dylan!

A few weeks later we found ourselves in the vastness of Earls Court arena, Bob was just a tiny figure in the distance and this was before the age of huge video screens. If my memory serves me well he was wearing a top hat.The band were superb though and included three girl singers who were excellent. I think this was the best band Bob had in his career. It's so long ago now in the mists of time that I can't remember a lot about the concert apart from Bob getting a huge round of applause when he first played the harmonica on Love Minus Zero No Limit, also the crowd gave a huge cheer when during It's Alright Ma,I'm Only Bleeding Bob sang "Sometimes even the President of the United States has to stand naked", this was only four years since Nixon resigned don't forget. I think my favourite song that night was  I Want You which Bob had slowed right down to a haunting  ballad. There were also songs from his brand new album Street Legal which were excellent. I think the last song he did was Forever Young and during this song people started holding up cigarette lighters and candles until there were 15,000 little lights inside Earls Court. It was an amazing sight.The whole concert was a deeply moving spiritual experience.

Then it was announced that Dylan was to end his European tour with a huge outdoor concert at Blackbushe Aerodrome near Camberley in Surrey. It was to be known as The Picnic.Some picnic this was! Once more we set off to see Bob. The official figure of the attendance that day was 165,000 but anyone who was there knows that the real figure was about three times that. It was vast, I think it is only rivaled by the Stones concert in Hyde Park as the biggest concert ever in Britain. As well as Bob, Eric Clapton was on and Joan Armatrading and Graham Parker And The Rumour who were a hot band in those days. All the glitterati were there, during Bob's set Ringo Starr and George Harrison could be seen at the side of the stage. A good friend of mine sent me a bootleg of this concert a couple of years ago.This is the setlist from that amazing night,

My Back Pages, Love Her With a Feeling, Baby Stop Crying, Just Like Tom Thumb Blues, Shelter From The Storm, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Girl From The North Country , Ballad Of a Thin Man, Maggie's Farm, Simple Twist Of Fate, Like a Rolling Stone,I Shall Be Released, Is Your Love In Vain, Where Are You Tonight?, A Change Is Gonna Come, Mr. Tambourine Man, Laissez-Faire, Gates Of Eden, True Love Tends To Forget, One More Cup Of Coffee, Blowin' In The Wind I Want You, Señor ,Masters Of War, Just Like a Woman, To Ramona, Don't Think Twice It's Alright, All Along the Watchtower, All I Really Want to Do, It's Alright Ma, Forever Young, Changing Of The Guards, The Times They Are A Changin'.
It took us hours to find our car afterwards and it was dawn before we finally made it to the main road to head home. There would never again be a concert in Britain like Dylan's concert at Blackbushe which was the hippies graveyard. For me it represented the end of an era. The following winter was the winter of discontent and in 1979 Thatcher seized power and a darkness descended upon the country which she held in the grip of her icy claw. I saw Dylan again in 1981 but it wasn't the same. By then I was disillusioned because if Bob Dylan was the voice of a generation how come someone like Thatcher got elected? For me it was only Glastonbury Festival which kept the flame of hope alive during those dark years of unemployment and poverty. I lost interest in Bob for a while especially when he reached his nadir with the Saved album and then his shambolic awful performance at Live Aid, but in recent years I have returned to playing Bob's records and there is no doubt to me that he is one of the greatest poets who ever lived and anyone who ever saw Bob perform live is privileged.
So thank you for writing the best songs
Thank you for righting a few wrongs
You're a savage gift on a wayward bus
But you stepped down and you sang to us
(Words by Joan Baez)

Bob Dylan In Bristol 1966

Here is a famous iconic photo of Bob Dylan and a story I wrote in 2014 about one little incident in his traumatic year of 1966..I hope you enjoy it.

These days it doesn't take long to drive from Bristol to Cardiff,you merely drive across the Severn Bridge. In the early 1960's though it was a different matter. One had to drive up to Gloucester before you could cross the Bristol Channel, a detour of 80 miles. There was an alternative though. You could cross the river by the Aust ferry.This ramshackle car ferry service was falling into disrepair by 1966 as the new bridge was being built.

On the morning of May 11th 1966 a car drew up and waited for this ferry. Sitting on the back seat was one of the most famous people in the world,Bob Dylan. The previous night at the Colston Hall in Bristol Bob had played the opening date of his British tour and it hadn't gone well. Bob and The Band had crash landed in Britain carrying 4 tons of amplification.Something unheard of in those days. After the first 'folk' half of the show Bob unleashed his new 'electric' sound. The audience had heard nothing like this before. To them it sounded like an attack of mortar bombs and artillery. They didn't like it and boo'ed throughout the concert. Next morning as Bob slumped in the car, his eyes hidden behind his trademark dark glasses he was full of fore-boding about the next concert in Cardiff.
Having to wait for the ferry to arrive Bob got out of the car to stretch his legs and one of his entourage Barry Feinstein took Bob's photo on that rainy morning over 40 years ago. That picture showing the haggard, unkempt and moody Dylan has passed into folklore as one of the most iconic pictures in rock. Dylan who had enjoyed the most fruitful creative periods of his amazing career was now entering burn out. A few nights later at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester an irate fan shouted 'JUDAS!' at Dylan and the rest is history. Bob was proved to be right though, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde became two of the greatest albums in history, influencing the likes of Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Bob had re-invented Rock music. After his UK tour an exhausted Dylan returned to the States and shortly afterwards had a motorcycle accident and withdrew from the public gaze. Not long after the famous photo was taken the ferry across the Severn closed for good. Bob was one of the last people to use it. The boat called Severn Princess was sold. It ended up in Ireland where it was recently discovered derelict and abandoned. It has now been returned to the river Severn at Chepstow where it will form part of a museum and the iconic picture of Bob taken on that rainy morning will be part of the exhibits. It is also the cover of the Martin Scorsese biopic of Bob called No Direction Home.

The photographer Barry Feinstein (See picture)who took that famous photo went on to have a very successful career and he died recently which is why I am repeating this story.