Fred Neil, Bleecker & Macdougal.

It was Bob Dylan who ignited my interest in the 1960s scene in Greenwich Village. Jack Kerouac added to it of course. Jack was once asked what it felt like to be famous and he said, “It feels like old newspapers blowing down Bleecker Street”. All this sort of thing added to my romantic view of the area. I think that is partly why I enjoyed the film Inside Llewyn Davis so much. In the past I have bought albums by and written about many artists associated with this time and place, such as Karen Dalton. Tim Hardin, Dave Van Ronk, Tim Buckley and Phil Ochs. I think it was after I wrote my review of Phil Ochs several months ago that a facebook friend suggested that I also check out Fred Neil. Finally, I did and looked on the internet to see what CDs were available. I opted for a CD on the Electra label which contained Fred’s first two albums Tear Down The Walls & Bleecker And Macdougal,

I must admit I was initially a bit disappointed with Tear Down The Walls. I didn’t think it was any great shakes. Released in 1964 it isn’t a solo album, but by a duo comprising of Fred and Vince Martin. I think Vince Martin was a much lesser talent. I was interested to see that John Sebastian plays mouth harp on the album. He later became world famous as a solo artist and member of Lovin’ Spoonful. Also, Felix Pappalardi plays bass and I remember him as a member of rock band Mountain in the 1970s. After two listens I did not think any of the tracks particularly grabbed my attention. Fred Neil wrote six of them. If I had to choose, I would say that the title track is possibly the best. It is the kind of protest song that Peter, Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton or Pete Seeger were singing at the time. There are some cover versions here, but I don’t think they are that great. Their version of Morning Dew isn’t a patch on Bonnie Dobson’s original, and I have heard better versions of Lonesome Road, most recently by Bill Callahan. To my ears the best thing about the album is Fred Neil’s distinctive voice and the excellent bluesy guitar and harmonica playing.

The second album Bleecker & Macdougal is a different kettle of fish altogether, a vast improvement. It is Fred’s first solo album released in 1965. As well as Sebastian & Pappalardi, there is also electric guitar on this album which was sacrilege to many of the folk purists of the time, so this album could be considered as one of the forerunners of Folk-Rock. The title song opens the album in fine lively rock influenced style. A lot of the songs are steeped in blues, such as Blues On The Ceiling, Sweet Mama, Yonder Comes The Blues and Gone Again. I think Candy Man became a minor hit for Roy Orbison. Mississippi Train is very rock influenced with electric guitar to the fore. The harmonica intro reminded me of The Beatles, I Should Have Known Better.

The outstanding tracks for me are A Little Bit Of Rain with very emotional singing accompanied by subtle guitar strumming, The Other Side Of This Life which is very melodic with superb vocal delivery. The Water Is Wide which is a traditional song with the same roots as Carrickfergus which all Van Morrison fans will know. I think Handful Of Gimme could show Fred Neil’s growing dislike for the music business. Maybe Fred shared Jack Kerouac’s windblown view of the fame game. Although I am pleased that I bought this CD, I have a nagging underlying feeling that I haven’t heard the best of Fred Neil. Maybe I should have bought his 1967 album which contains The Dolphins which I know from Beth Orton’s and Tim Buckley's cover versions. (I just found a video of The Dolphins on youtube which I have shared below. It is the only know footage of Fred performing on stage) That album also has his version of Shake Sugaree by Elizabeth Cotten which I wrote so glowingly about recently. It also contains Fred’s own song Everybody’s Talkin’ which Nilsson covered and was chosen for the soundtrack of the film Midnight Cowboy ahead of Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay. 

I bet Fred was pleased about the success of that song, because it must have been the royalties from that hit which allowed him to step back from the music industry, live in Florida permanently and pursue his real love which was dolphin conservation. He co-founded the Dolphin Research Project in 1970, an organization dedicated to stopping the capture, trafficking and exploitation of dolphins worldwide. He progressively disappeared from the recording studio and live performance and sadly died in 2001. He had been suffering from skin cancer. He has left a small but great legacy and influenced many people, so I am pleased that I discovered the work of Fred Neil.

Bob Dylan, Karen Dalton, Fred Neil. Cafe Wha? Greenwich Village, 1960s.

The Dolphins- Fred Neil, Vince Martin & John Sebastian | August 2, 1976

Bridget Riley.

Monday morning: It is colder today, only 2 degrees C, but on the + side there isn’t a cloud in the cobalt blue sky. I haven’t written anything for a few days, so I’ll write whatever comes into my head, just to say something. I have only been awake for ten minutes. The clock in my bedroom isn’t working because I’m too lazy to put a new battery in it, but these days I always seem to come downstairs at 9.30, regardless of when I went to bed. I'm thinking about Bridget Riley. The simple explanation is because the last thing I did last night was watch a documentary about her on BBC 4. I watched it twice actually. It was on BBC2 on Friday evening as well. I found it by accident when I reached for the remote to get away from that Children In Need annual thing. I think I watched it twice because I wanted to understand what Bridget was all about. She is an incredible lady, 90 now, but still full of energy and keen to find out where her art will take her next. 

I’ll tell you the little I know about Bridget Riley in case you haven’t heard of her. I won’t look on Wikipedia or google though. In the documentary she was interviewed by Kirsty Wark. There were others who talked about her work such as Tracey Emin who was full of praise for Bridget. I think Bridget first came to be noticed in the 1950s, but it took her a while to develop her own vision and style. She was influenced by a French artist called Georges Suerat who had a technique called pointillism. Bridget became associated in the 60s with an art movement called Op-Art. The Op is short for optical I would presume. Some of her paintings cause optical illusions in the eyes of the viewer. She paints squares, triangles, circles, curves and stripes, beginning mainly with black and white but developing later with bright vivid colours. Some of her ideas were stolen in the swinging sixties by the fashion world of Carnaby Street and places like that. 

Bridget has been commissioned to paint huge murals, for places such as museums and entire corridors of hospital wards. Although the work is quite mathematical in design, you can see how it is based in nature. For instance, many artists have painted a view of the sea, but in Bridget’s work you can actually experience the movement of the sea. Other works have the shimmering effect of heat. I’d love to go to a Bridget Riley exhibition to experience the paintings for myself. I also think that understanding Bridget’s work could be a lot easier than people think. The bright colours could simply be a celebration of the joy of being alive. I bet a lot of people leave a Bridget Riley exhibition feeling happier and more optimistic without knowing why. If an artist can achieve just that one thing, then their work has been worthwhile.

ps, I stole the illustrations from Google Images. I hope nobody minds.