North Fork Sound Top 20 - May 1st 2011

Van Der Graaf Generator

1. Van Der Graaf Generator: Elsewhere

2. The Feelies: Way Down
3. Tuneyards: Es-So
4. The Creatures: You!
5. Peter C. Johnson w/Princess Diana: I Still Miss Someone
6. King Tubby w/Lord Creator: Kingston Dub Town
7. The C & C Boys: Thread The Needle
8. The Ravens: A Simple Prayer
9. Scanner: Get Some Sleep Tiger
10.The Bongolian: Give It To Me (On The Left Side)
11. The Chimes: Zindy Lou
12. Chet Atkins: Oh By Jingo
13. Greg Brown: Mercy Mercy Mercy
14. Jackie Edwards: Invasion
15. King Curtis (feat. Jimi Hendrix): Instant Groove
16. Gene Maltais: Crazy Baby
17. Them: Gloria (live)
18. Chris Isaak: Notice The Ring
19. Martin Newell: Stella And Charlie Got Married
20. Steve Earle: Meet Me In The Alleyway

North Fork Sound Alb O' The Week

The Tunnel: Fathoms Deep

North Fork Sound Legend Of The Month

Genesis P-Orridge

Last Week's Listener Favourites
? & The Mysterians: Cheree
Albert King: I'll Play The Blues For You (Pt. 1)
Albert Lee: One Way Rider
Billy Swan: Love Me Tender
Blind Boy Fuller: Shake It
Bo Diddley (w/Jimmie Vaughan): He's Got A Key

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan: Everything Is Broken
Brinsley Schwarz: (It's Gonna Be A) Bringdown
Canned Heat w/John Lee Hooker: I Feel Good

Celia Green

Celia Green: In The Extreme
Divinyls: Pleasure And Pain
Fairport Convention: Who Knows Where The Time Goes
The Flaming Lips: Ice Drummer

Fraser Anderson

Fraser Anderson: Little Glass Box
Gary Lucas & Gods And Monsters: LuvzOldSweetSong
Gary Lucas & Gods And Monsters: Swamp T'ing
Guy Evans & John Anthony: Maniac & Braniac Project, Track One
Janis Ian: Society's Child
Jerry Lee Lewis: Hello Josephine
Jewlee: Slow Ocean Return

Johnny Seaton

Johnny Seaton (w/Danny Gatton): All Messed Up With A Raw Deal
Legend: Nothing Wrong With Me
Lydia Marcelle: Everybody Dance
Miles Davis: Sweet Pea
Pulsars: Das Lifeboat
The Saints: (This) Perfect Day
The Sex Pistols: God Save The Queen
Southern Culture On The Skids: Daddy Was A Preacher, Momma Was A Go-Go Girl
Steve Reich: Music For 18 Musicians (Section VII)
The Techniques: Queen Majesty

Tiny Bradshaw

Tiny Bradshaw: Train Kept A-Rollin'
Tom Waits: Hold On
The Who: Daddy Rolling Stone

Van Der Graaf Generator

Van Der Graaf Generator
Nokia Theatre dressing room, NYC
June 21 '09

It's 33 years since Van Der Graaf Generator last played NYC, so when Peter Hammill played the opening phrase of 'Man-Erg' from their grand opus, 'Pawn Hearts' on his piano, you could just feel the collective consciousness of the crowd exclaim "YES!" Although sax-player Dave Jackson is no longer with them, Peter, drummer Guy Evans and organist Hugh Banton have filled out the sound to become - in Peter's words - "the heaviest band in the world - whose members are seated!" and 'Over The Hill' from last year's exquisite 'Trisector' proved it. The crunching organ riffs, devilish bass-pedal work, subtle time-shifts, yelps, growls and dark poetry all brilliantly anchored by Guy's deft percussive flourishes were brought to bear to the delight of all who, in turn, blessed the band with standing ovations after several songs. This was very much a VDGG crowd and they'd come from all over. I met a fellow who traveled from Springfield, MI ("30 hours by bus, each way") and, while strolling around Times Square with Guy just after soundcheck, he was approached by half a dozen people including a couple who'd seen the group's show at Near Fest in Bethleham, PA just 2 days before and were going to see them again in Chicago next week. Guy told me he's enjoying playing with the band again and that they'd had a great time in Japan last year. As he went off in search of a vegetarian restaurant, I took refuge in the best old-school dive left in the city, Jimmy's Corner, a bar on 44th owned and run by acclaimed boxing trainer and cut-man Jimmy Glen, where I ordered a couple of Jack and cokes and wondered which friend I'd like to be my +1. Fortunately, abstract artist, ex-Girls and current Pothole Skinny guitarist, Mark Dagley picked up after seeing my ID and said "hi Howard, I suppose you're probably in town seeing Van Der Graaf Generator" so that was a good enough greeting for me to offer him the spare! We both had a blast and with any luck, this tour will prove to be enjoyable and successful enough for the band to come back long before another 33 years goes by

Van Der Graaf Generator
Peter Hammill, Guy Evans, Hugh Banton
Nokia Theatre, NYC 6/21/09
photo: ht

La Chasse

photo courtesy:
http://www.themarqueeclub.net/

La Chasse was a ‘private’ drinking club on the first floor at 100 Wardour St. By the time I became a 'regular' (1972) it was practically on its last legs. It was owned by Jack Barrie, who also ran the Marquee Club, a few doors down the street. The seedy little one-room dive played host to (mainly) music biz luminaries ranging from Charisma Records’ chief and bon vivant, Tony Stratton-Smith to not quite so luminaries like Crackie and (one-eyed) Noj (Van Der Graaf Generator’s intrepid road-crew) with musos like Lee Jackson (formerly of the Nice, then of Jackson Heights), Lindisfarne, Phil Collins (most of the Charisma artists roster, in fact), folks like George Peckham, Bob Hill, John Anthony and other record producers, studio personnel, groupies and all kinds of ligger wrapped in between. In a recent article for the Mail Online, David Bowie said of his song The Bewlay Brothers, “I do believe that we finished the whole thing on that one night. It's likely that I ended up drinking at the Sombrero in Kensington High Street or possibly Wardour Street's crumbling La Chasse. Cool.”

Cited also as the birthplace of Yes (John Anderson met Chris Squire there), it was a short stroll from Trident Studios so, after work if I had any money in my pocket, I’d knock on the door, someone would unlock it and Roger would pour an over-priced Southern Comfort which I’d chase with a beer. I’d watch and listen, nursing those drinks for as long as possible. Talk would invariably be about new records, upcoming tours, untrustworthy managers, road stories, "got any skins?" etc. and later, the place would fill up after the Marquee had closed. When I say “fill up”, if the room had 30 people in it, it would be WAY over-crowded, as it was little more than an average sized living room, which is probably what it once was. And since everybody smoked back then, the atmosphere would be thick and cloying. I went there to feel ‘part of’ a scene (however low-rent), and was under the impression I'd been given a ‘membership’ because I worked at Trident, London's grooviest studio. It took me a while (in my naïveté) to realize Jack had certain designs...on me, so occasionally, I’d spend time trying to fend off his nefarious advances. One night, a nice-looking gal with an indecent figure dropped a fiver on the floor and, in picking it up, made it quite clear she wasn’t wearing any knickers. Even Roger saw it from his side of the bar and nodded to me as if to say, “you’re in there". Turns out he was right, and the resulting experience in a crowded bed-sit in Queensway was splendidly squalid. Alice Cooper’s ‘Under My Wheels’ was always getting played on the jukebox, along with other classic pop & soul hits of the day. I heard a rumor that Keith Moon fell out of the window onto Wardour Street, a floor below, but I don't know if it's true. Maybe it was the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's 'Legs' Larry Smith. I’m pretty sure I read once that Moony and Viv Stanshall (also from Bonzos) had been drinking at La Chasse the night they roamed the West End, dressed like this:-

Keith Moon & Vivian Stanshall
photo: Barrie Wentzell
courtesy http://www.vivarchive.org.uk/

Trident Studios

John Anthony
Jamaica '83

As soon as I left school, I went to as many concerts as a person with hardly any money could afford. Audience were a band I saw all the time, mostly at The Marquee. (Their sax player, Keith Gemmell, has a new solo album out, Unsafe Sax. I play it on the radio a lot). My frequent companion, John Hopson worked at Pye Records' recording studios with the folk like Status Quo and Mungo Jerry. This seemed like a much better way to spend one's life than hauling cartons of tinned tomatoes up and down flights of stairs, so I applied to Morgan Studios in Willesden Green, Basing Street Studios near Portobello Road and Trident Studios, deep in the heart of London's seedy Soho. I got their addresses from a Music Week annual directory borrowed from my friend Gary Umbo at Harum Records, a record shop across from the Tesco I worked at in Crouch End and chose these particular studios because they were listed in the credits of many of my favourite records. I never heard from Morgan, Basing St. Studios said they'd put my letter “on file” and Trident asked me to call to arrange an interview regarding a recent opening. To date, my 'career' had consisted of being a waiter at The Highcliff Hotel in Bournemouth, where I saw Free and, later, Derek & The Dominos at the Town Hall) and a shelf stacker at a chemist in Tufnell Park. Now I was currently unemployed, having told Tesco's to 'stick it' after they wouldn't give me the weekend off so I could see the Rolling Stones at a festival in Pontoise, near Paris. That had proven to be an unwise choice because the minute my friend Gary and I got to the station in Paris, we saw a wave of people walking towards us, and one of them told us the festival had just been canceled. I interviewed with studio manager, Penny Kramer, a few days later and landed the job of tea-boy for £12 a week and all the overtime I could handle, starting immediately.

On my first day, Atomic Rooster were downstairs, cutting tracks for their 3rd album 'In Hearing Of'. Band-leader, and ex-Crazy World Of Arthur Brown organist, Vincent Crane, had long, greasy hair and his wife sat by his side like they were joined at the hip. He used to sit in the reception area rolling his cigarettes but while he was always pleasant and never rude or arrogant, he never seemed very happy. Their singer, Pete French, had just joined the band and compared to Vincent, was a barrel of laughs.
The same day at around lunchtime, I got a call in my office (the kitchen) and a request for some teas and coffees in the mixing room (whatever that was). I took the tray with its cargo of 6 or 7 mugs of hot beverages to the first floor, pushed the heavy door and entered the suite where Aubrey Small, a Beatle-esque, psychedelic, folky prog-band from Portsmouth were sitting around on chairs and the couch, while two guys were behind a desk, one sitting, one standing. The guy sitting was Ken Scott. He was the engineer and the fellow standing was the producer, John Anthony and, as I handed out the drinks to one and all, I couldn't help noticing that the producer's penis was hanging out his trousers. I was invited to stick around and listen to what they were doing. I saw this as an opportunity to learn what went on in a 'mixing room'. Buttons were pressed, (tiny) knobs were turned, tape rolled. The song 'Country Road' played and the mixing process was quickly explained in a simplistic fashion. As the track ended, I was asked if I had any questions. Well...plenty, actually, but the only one I could think of was, "is it really necessary to have that out while you do this?" John answered, "well.... when it gets hard, we'll know it's a good mix". (Cue: much muso mirth all round).
There...my first day, my initiation. I can't remember my first days at the chemist's, or the hotel, or Tesco's. But I can remember my first day at Trident like it was yesterday. Later that week, David Bowie came in to start on 'Hunky Dory' with Ken Scott co-producing, and not long after that JA started 'Nursery Cryme' with Genesis's new drummer, Phil Collins and new guitarist, Steve Hackett.
Favourite sessions ('71-'72): Bowie (fascinating), Van Der Graaf Generator, (first album credit - "Brightest Hope: Howard"), Marc Bolan (charming, super-friendly), Genesis (clever, trippy), Larry Lurex (Freddie Mercury), Harry Nilsson ("Take 54"/understatement), John Kongos (great productions from Gus Dudgeon), Audience (brilliant), Lou Reed (dazed genius), Lindisfarne (booze), Mott The Hoople (rowdy) and any session that had Rick Wakeman on it. Least Favourite: Elton John (arrogant twat), Queen (deafening).