The Big Picture By Bap Kennedy.

Sunday evening and I'm listening to an album I bought about twelve years ago. I bought it through the late lamented Wavelength Magazine run by Simon Gee. Bap had signed a few albums for them. Before buying this album all I knew about Bap Kennedy was that he was in a band called Energy Orchard many years ago who had recorded an excellent version of Van Morrison's Madame George. I also knew he was the brother of Brian Kennedy. The reason I bought the album was that I had the great pleasure many years ago of meeting Carolyn Cassady and I often wondered what she was doing these days and lo and behold,up she popped on Bap's album. The opening track Rock And Roll Heaven begins with a few seconds of Brian Wilson style harmonising and then goes into a driving country rock beat with Bap name dropping nearly every dead singer that ever existed. The Truth Is Painful  is a slower introspective song with some nice whistle playing by Kieron Kelly and guitar by Paul Toner. Moriarty's Blues is what I came here for. It's a nice slow jazzy song. Moriarty as you know is Dean Moriarty the hero of Kerouac's On The Road and in real life Neal Cassady. His wife Carolyn reads a short extract from her book Off The Road and it is very nice to hear her voice again. Sadly Carolyn as well as Bap is no longer with us What a great lady she was.

Streetwise displays Bap's dry dark humour and Too Old For Fairy Tales has a country feel to it. Milky Way was co-written with another Belfast troubadour called Van Morrison. It is a wonderful song with a great instrumental break in the middle of it. You can hear Milky Way below if you scroll down. Alison Limerick provides some nice backing vocals to Loverman. There is a West Indian feel to Fireworks. The legend that is Shane MacGowan makes a small contribution to On The Mighty Ocean Alcohol . There are some very witty lyrics to The Sweet Smell Of Success. The best is saved for last with The Beautiful Country. It is a song only the Irish could write.

On the liner notes I see that a lot of the album was recorded at Wool Hall Studio's which is only four miles away from where I am right now. Van gave Bap the use of his studio. Bap also thanks Van without whom the album wouldn't exist. That shows what a nice person Van is under his gruff exterior. This album is highly recommended. Sadly Bap died just over a year ago and didn't achieve the recognition his talent deserved. A friend of mine sent me another great album by Bap called Howl On. I might write about that album on another evening.

Bap Kennedy Milky Way

Van Morrison - Cyprus Avenue - 9/23/1970 - Fillmore East, New York, NY (...

Jackson C. Frank- Blues Run the Game (1965)

Way To Blue. Nick Drake & Van Morrison.

I finished reading the excellent Pink Moon by Gorm Henrik Rasmusson this afternoon. A great read and written in a very poetic style which you would expect as the author is a poet. Well done as well to the translator Bent Sorenson for translating it in to English so sympathetically. As a huge Van Morrison fan one thing that struck me is the similarities between Van and Nick especially as regards such early Van albums as Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece. It is apparent that Nick was a fan of Astral Weeks. It is well documented that he gave it a lot of plays. When Nick was at Marlborough College he formed a band called The Perfumed Garden and part of their repertoire was St James Infirmary and Parchman Farm. As any Van fan will tell you, those songs have both been recorded by Van and often figure in his live act. The book tells us that Nick was a big fan of Mose Allison, as is Van to this very day. Georgie Fame was somebody else who Nick admired who went on to become a band member and close friend of Van’s. Also, Nick & Van do not appear to have any interest in explaining the songs. It is left to the listener to find meaning in the songs for themselves.

Another thing I noticed was they both were great admirers of William Blake. Nick & Van obviously recognised a kindred spirit there. Finally, I couldn’t help noticing how much rain is mentioned in the lyrics of both singers. They both seem to see rain & water as cathartic experiences.

I wonder if Nick hadn’t died so tragically young if Nick & Van’s paths might have crossed. I think they would have understood each other. Both seemed to have an underlying melancholy, and ambivalence about performing live. My own guess about the source of Nick’s unhappiness is that he inherited his mother’s sadness. After buying the Songs Of Molly Drake album last year I can see the same underlying depression that Nick suffered from in the words of Molly’s songs. I think it was her husband Rodney who gave Molly the stability she needed. Nick wasn't so lucky. Anyway, I’m now playing my Way To Blue album by the great Nick Drake. 

Nick Drake - Way To Blue

Long Gone Lonesome Blues By Thomas Fraser.

It’s another dark and gloomy day. I’m listening to an album called Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Selections from the Thomas Fraser recordings. I first heard of him when listening to the Mike Harding Folk show on the BBC. I thought I would tell you about Thomas Fraser because his story is one of the most extraordinary in the history of music. I gleaned the following information from the very informative booklet that accompanies the CD. It was his grandson Karl Simpson that provided the notes and compiled the CD

Thomas Fraser was born on the isle of Burra in the Shetland Islands in 1927. His first instrument was the fiddle. Later, he was given a guitar from which he became inseparable and would cycle all over the island with it strapped across his back. He also learned to play the banjo, mandolin & piano and taught himself to yodel which was to prove very useful. He also played records non-stop on the family gramophone. His favourite singer was Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman. Thomas would imitate Jimmie’s style until the resemblance became uncanny. After leaving school he became a fisherman and when ashore he would play at local weddings & concerts although he was very shy about singing in public. He got married in 1955 and bought his own lobster boat The Lark. From our point of view the most exciting thing is that in 1953 he bought the first reel to reel tape recorder that the island had ever seen. Soon he was making his own recordings of music by such people as Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, Hank Williams, The Inkspots & Big Bill Broonzy. These recordings were made for his own pleasure. He had no intention that they would have a wider audience.

Fate dealt him some bad luck in the 1970’s. Firstly his uninsured boat sank after running onto rocks and Thomas was fortunate not to have drowned. Then in 1977 another accident at sea left him with serious head injuries. His recordings ceased, and he died in 1978 at the young age of 50.

Word began to spread about his home recordings and his nephew Bobby released some home-made cassettes, but this didn’t satisfy the demand. People began to realise that Thomas Fraser represented the authentic sound of country blues. The pure music that wasn’t commercialised by Nashville. Finally, his grandson compiled the CD of 25 songs from more than 500 that Thomas had recorded. I only have one Thomas Fraser CD but since it was released in 2002 I believe there has been several more. He now has fans all over the world and there is even an annual Thomas Fraser festival in the Shetland Islands. I highly recommend this album.