Van Morrison: Royal Concert Hall Nottingham 18/3/2025.

It had been eight months since me and my niece Lee saw Van one sunny summer’s evening at Westonbirt Arboretum, and now the long dark Winter was finally over, the sun was shining and suddenly it was the Celtic Spring. Time to cut loose and blow a fuse around the regions again, so the day after St Patrick’s Day I got on the train, the train, the train for Nottingham to see the Belfast Cowboy once again. I had chosen Nottingham because it was a chance to catch up with Dave my old friend of over fifty years. I remember watching Van with Dave at Glastonbury 1987, one of his greatest ever performances. Another reason I was keen to see Van again was the glowing reports of his recent concerts in Belfast. The days of big pre-concert fan gatherings in England seem to be a thing of the past, but in Wetherspoons we met John who I last saw at Cheltenham Jazz Fest two years ago. (The food in Wetherspoons was disgusting by the way. I will never go there again). Outside the concert hall it was also nice to have a quick chat with another Vanatic James who I hadn’t seen since Liverpool Irish Fest in 2018.

We had great seats near the front in Row E. Promptly at 7.30 some of the band Dave, Sam, John, Neal, Chris & Matt shuffled on stage and started playing some instrumental numbers. I quite enjoyed it at first because they were funky and reminded me of Booker T & The MGs. I expected after a couple of tunes Van would come on and start the show, but they played for what seemed ages to me, and it became apparent that this was meant to be a support act. I got quite bored after a while, and then there was an interval. After what seemed an eternity, the band returned, and Dave Keary announced ‘Mr Van Morrison!’. “Thank god for that”, I thought to myself. 

The opening song was Only A Dream from the Down The Road album of 2002, with Van enjoying himself blowing saxophone in front of the eight-piece band who were Dave Keary (Guitar), Sam Burgess (Bass), John McCullough (Keyboards), Neal Wilkinson (Drums), Dana Masters (Vocals), Jolene O'Hara (Vocals), Christopher White (Sax & Reeds), and Matt Holland (Trumpet). 

Dana & Jolene.

Next up was Back On Top which has never been one of my favourite Van songs, but Matt made himself noticed on trumpet and Van blew his harp. The audience gave Days Like This a warm round of applause when they recognised it. I don’t like Broken Record very much and find it a bit irritating. All was forgiven though with Down To Joy which is the new single from Van’s forthcoming album Remembering Now coming out in June and eagerly anticipated by most Van fans because it is nearly all brand-new original songs. Down To Joy was featured in the Kenneth Branagh film Belfast and the band gelled together and performed it superbly in Nottingham. I much prefer it when the band all play together like this and not playing individual solos one after another. 

Chris & Matt.

I never tire of hearing Enlightenment which is one of my favourite spiritually uplifting Van songs. When Van says in the lyrics ‘Enlightenment, don’t know what it is’ I don’t believe he means that because enlightenment is always being NOW and feeling the silence, which Van has sung about for decades. As Van says, ‘Wake Up!’. During Ain’t Gonna Moan No More Van just stood still, serene as the Buddha surveying the audience as the band all took yet more solos. Cleaning Windows/ Be Bop A Lula is a fun song from the classic Beautiful Vision album. I have gone off the ‘read my Christmas Humphreys book on Zen’ lyric though ever since finding out that Humphreys was the prosecutor in the Ruth Ellis murder trial and sent Ruth to the gallows. What sort of Buddhist is that?. Van then donned his electric guitar for the great hypnotic Green Rocky Road. Dave Keary also played some awesome guitar and Chris excelled himself on a reed instrument that I’m not sure what you call. 

I’m not that keen on Symphony Sid, but it gives Dana a chance to exercise her tonsils. I didn’t recognise the Sam Cooke song Laughin’ & Clownin’, but John told me what it was later. The upbeat Wild Night brought the audience to life and then it was Moondance which the audience enjoyed, but I have heard too often, and I’d heard enough solos for one night thank you very much. I’m not tired of hearing Wonderful Remark though which was one of the evenings highlights for me. Then it was Precious Time, a jaunty little song where Van reminds us that we are all going to die. Thank you, Van. However, Van tells us that the fire's still in him and the passion it burns, ‘til hell freezes over and the rivers run dry, so that’s good. I don’t know why, but when Van changed microphones and sat at the piano for the epic Vanlose Stairway his voice suddenly became stronger and clearer. I wished the crew had put the piano sideways on to the audience because with Van facing the audience from behind the piano you could hardly see him. That is a minor quibble though to another highlight of the show. 

For somebody fast approaching his 80^th birthday Van’s voice sounds incredible. The Nottingham audience instantly recognised Bright Side Of The Road and applauded loudly. I knew the show was coming towards a close when Van sang the Sonny Boy Williamson song Help Me which has been in the repertoire since the year dot. Van left the stage but soon returned to send the crowd home happy with the rousing Gloria. Van then departed for good. The band played on, but I was heading for the exit. I had heard enough solos for one evening. Later in the pub I think we all agreed that it was a very enjoyable show, but didn’t quite reach the stellar heights we know Van is capable of. I had been hoping for Summertime In England which he had performed in Belfast, but you have to remember Van’s age and I thought he probably wanted to save some energy for the next night in Birmingham. So, thank you Van Morrison, and a big hand for the band. PS, thanks to John C for  the great photos.

A big hand for the band!

Happy St Patricks Day: The Foggy Dew - Sinéad O’Connor & The Chieftains.

Pauline Boty, The Only Blonde In The World

I am really pleased to see that there is a programme on  BBC4 tonight called Pauline Boty, I am the 60s. I am glad that she is finally getting the recognition she deserves. To celebrate the occasion I thought I would  dust off this piece I wrote about  Pauline back in 2019..............................................................................A couple of days ago when I was researching a piece about Adrian Mitchell I read that he and his wife had adopted a child who was the daughter of their friends the artist Pauline Boty and Clive Goodwin. This aroused my curiosity because I hadn’t heard of Pauline Boty before, so I looked for info about her. What I found was quite fascinating for me because I have always been interested in people who had a brief flirtation with fame and then disappeared into obscurity, or made an important contribution to the arts and have been unfairly overlooked. Pauline was one of the founders of the British Pop Art movement along with the likes of David Hockney and Peter Blake who both went on to be world famous, but Pauline has been largely forgotten. Another thing I have noticed about Pauline is that she was extremely beautiful. This might have been to her detriment because she might have only been noticed for her looks and not for her work.

Pauline was born in 1938 and after attending art school in Wimbledon where her classmates called her ‘The Wimbledon Bardot’. She studied stained glass design at the Royal College Of Art. She wanted to study painting but couldn’t because admissions for women to that course were limited due to the institutionalised sexism of the times. That didn’t stop her painting in her spare time though. She was a bit of a polymath. As well as painting, Pauline also published poetry, acted, and also was a leading light in a group called the Anti-Uglies who protested against the brutalism of post-war British architecture. Pauline was one of the artists featured in a TV programme directed by Ken Russell in 1962 called Pop Goes The Easel. She acted at the Royal Court Theatre, appeared in Armchair Theatre on television, danced on Ready Steady Go and was one of Michael Caine’s girlfriends in the film Alfie. When Bob Dylan first visited Britain in 1963 it was Pauline who showed him around London.

Colour Her Gone.

It should be for her art that Pauline is remembered. I have looked at her work on the internet and am most impressed. Her paintings are bright and exuberant and sensual. There are two pictures featuring Marilyn Monroe called The Only Blonde In The World and Colour Her Gone which particularly caught my eye. There is another one as well called ironically, It’s A Man’s World which celebrates her femininity. I also liked a picture called 5 4 3 2 1 which took its title from a song by Manfred Mann. If there was an exhibition of her work near me I would certainly go along and see it.

Pauline’s life ended tragically young. After a whirlwind romance she married Clive Goodwin. In 1965 she became pregnant. During a pre-natal test it was discovered that she had leukaemia. She refused chemotherapy because it would harm her child and she died at the age of only 28 just a few months after the birth of her daughter.  Her daughter also died tragically from a heroin overdose in 1995.

After she died Pauline’s paintings were stored away in a barn on her brother’s farm where they remained, gathering dust for over thirty years. Pauline’s place in British art was largely forgotten until recent years. In 2013 a retrospective exhibition of her work was finally held in Wolverhampton and later Chichester. It is due to the sexism in British art that she has been overlooked for so long. The same applies to literature. The leading figures in British writing in the 50’s were called The Angry Young Men, what about the angry young women?. Also, the other day I looked in a poetry anthology I have called Children Of Albion published in 1969 which features 65 poets of the era. There are only five female poets in it, what a disgrace.

In the 1960’s, because of her looks everyone was in love with Pauline Boty. I read this by Sabine Durrant who said in 1993, “Even now, grown men with grey hair in dark houses in Notting Hill cry at the sound of Pauline Boty’s name.”

Postscript: Five years after I wrote this piece I am very pleased that Pauline is finally getting some recognition. This week I was watching the first episode of a new series on BBC by historian Simon Schama called The Story Of Us which looked at what shaped Britain since 1945 and Pauline's work featured quite heavily in the episode. I hope this might lead to a major exhibition of her work.

The Only Blonde In The World.

1972, Lindisfarne & Loon Pants.

I had a few little coincidences in the last week or so. One rainy afternoon I decided to pass the time by tidying up my bureau where I keep all my paperwork, bills etc. I came across some of Kim’s old photographs and among them I found this card on which she had written June 13^th 1972, Swindon, Lindisfarne. It was signed by two members of the band Lindisfarne who were Alan Hull who wrote most of their great songs and Ray Laidlaw who was the drummer. (See picture) This was about six years before I first met Kim who would have only been sixteen in 1972.

I don’t remember her ever mentioning to me that she once saw Lindisfarne and got their autographs. Looking at this card brought back some great memories for me because I was also a big fan of Lindisfarne in the early 1970’s. I had their first two albums Nicely Out Of Tune and Fog On The Tyne which were both classics of folk rock containing such songs as Lady Eleanor, Winter Song, Clear White Light, We Can Swing Together, and Meet Me On The Corner. I must admit though that I started to lose interest after the third album Dingly Dell. I saw them play live several times during those heady days of the early 70s. I was a few years older than Kim and at college when the Students Union organised a coach trip to Liverpool Locarno to see a double bill of Lindisfarne and Genesis. The two bands toured together because they were both on the Charisma Records label. 

The main thing I remember about that night is our friend Linda sat on some chewing gum which stuck to her loon pants, “Oh no, I’ve ruined my loons”, she exclaimed in her Yorkshire accent. It seems really funny now looking back on it. (If you don’t know what loon pants are, see picture) Also, Lindisfarne were on the bill at The Great Western Festival in 72 which was the first ever big music festival I went to. Another memorable event was in 1974 when The Who headlined at Charlton Athletic football stadium and Lindisfarne were one of the support acts. They were also there at Knebworth in 1980 headlined by The Beach Boys which was the last time all the original Beach Boys performed together on stage. 

Anyway to get back to my story, the very evening of the day I came across the card in the bureau, which I think was last Friday I was flipping through the channels on the telly to see if there was anything worth watching, and lo and behold, on BBC4 there was a documentary about none other than Alan Hull the genius songwriter of Lindisfarne. It seemed uncanny. This was followed by a concert from 1978 called Rock Goes To College featuring Lindisfarne (See video below). Then to my further astonishment I looked on the internet to see if Lindisfarne are still going, and they are, although there is only one original member Rod Clements still in the band. I was amazed to see that they are playing just down the road from here at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford On Avon in October. 

It seemed fated that I should go, so I looked at the website. It is a tiny little theatre of only 300 capacity, although purpose built with splendid acoustics. There were only a handful of seats left but I managed to get one of them. I’ll tell you all about that in October. There are a lot of gigs, concerts and festivals before then though starting on 18^th March with Van Morrison, so lots to look forward to, have a nice weekend. Cheers.

Lindisfarne Lady Eleanor live 1978

R.I.P. Bill Fay.

Bill Fay in 1970.

I was very sorry today to hear that Bill Fay has died at the age of 81. As a small tribute to Bill I thought I'd republish this review that I wrote five years ago..................................................................... Today I have been listening to a CD that arrived a couple of days ago. It is simply called Bill Fay. It was first released in 1970 and it has taken me fifty years to discover it.  It was just over a week ago that somebody put a link on Facebook to an article in the New York Times. It was about an American songwriter called Joshua Henry who had set out in 2010 to find a long forgotten English singer who had made an album that he and his father loved. This singer was Bill Fay and nothing had been heard of him since 1971 when he had been dropped by his record label.  Ever since Joshua Henry tracked down Bill Fay and persuaded him to return to the recording studio he has made three albums. The latest called Countless Branches was only released in the last two weeks. Since his re-emergence from obscurity Bill Fay’s songs have been championed by such people as Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilko. Bill has even been persuaded to join Wilko on stage for a song and has made an appearance on BBC’s Later With Jools Holland. He has no intentions of touring to promote his latest work though. It seems that Bill didn’t mind the decades of obscurity because he was content to write songs and record them at home purely for the love of making music.

All this aroused my interest, because as you know I love finding long forgotten great music. I looked on YouTube and I liked the first song I heard called Be Not So Fearful which was included on his very first album. (I have shared that song to blogger if you want to hear it) I decided to see if this album was still available, looked on eBay and there it was. It had been re-released in 2008 on the Esoteric Label. Two days later it popped through my letterbox. Van Morrison fans might like to know that it was an ex-member of Van’s group Them Called Terry Noon who discovered Bill in the mid 60's. He had moved from being a musician to management, spotted Bill and brought him to Decca. One of Decca’s labels was Deram who had a subsidiary label for ‘progressive’ music called Nova and it was on this label that Bill Fay was released in 1970.

There are thirteen songs plus two bonus tracks from an earlier single release. I won’t go through the whole album song by song, because I won’t be able to think of anything to say about some of them. The opening track is called Garden Song and is like an ode to the joys of gardening with such lines as ‘I’ll wait for the rain to anoint my face’. It starts quietly but builds to a crescendo of instruments. It sounds like a whole orchestra was used on this recording. The Sun Is Bored also has huge swirls of orchestration which was quite the fashion of that era. At times I was reminded of an album called A Salty Dog by Procol Harum or McArthur Park or Scott Walker. Sing Us One Of Your Songs May has a military style drum beat intro before a deadpan spoken delivery of a melancholic anti-war song. Gentle Willie is also a song with a pacifist sentiment. Methane River is a great song, but the vocals are almost drowned out in places by a cacophony of trumpets. It’s a shame because there are some nice woodwind sounds during the quieter passages. The Room, Goodnight Stan, Cannons Plain and Down to The Bridge are all excellent songs. One of the bonus tracks Screams In The Ears is an account of going to a horrible party. Some Good Advice had echoes possibly of Nick Drake.

Bill Fay now.

I enjoyed the album very much indeed. My only complaint is that I think it is over-produced on some songs. Less is more.  Bill and just his piano would have been sufficient for some of the tracks. I think if it was recorded these days it would have a more stripped-back sound. Apparently, it was the follow-up album called Time Of The Last Persecution that led Joshua Henry to track down Bill Fay. Maybe that’s the album I should have ordered. There is no doubt though that Bill Fay is a very talented singer-songwriter and I am pleased that at the age of 76 he is finally getting the recognition he deserves.

Be Not So Fearful by Bill Fay.