BEAT SCENE – ISSUE 70 – SPRING 2013

The latest issue of Beat Scene is out now and, as always, a must for readers of the Beat Generation.

Not surprisingly with the recent attention brought by the film adaptation of On The Road - and being Beat poster-boy - Jack Kerouac features heavily but there are also plenty of other articles and reviews including a look at “The Last Beat” Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg’s Heavy Soul Jell Roll recordings, and a beautiful piece on Carolyn Cassady. Inextricably linked to the Beats via her marriage to Neal Cassady and relationship with Kerouac Carolyn is still around. Resident in the UK for the past 30 years Alan Wilkinson’s article shows she’s now Anglicised to at least the degree of watching snooker on the telly and criticizing the England football team, “They don’t seem to move together”. 

For ordering details and more news visit Beat Scene. 

DATE FOR THE DIARY: TUESDAY 25th JUNE - DAMO SUZUKI, ANDREW WEATHERALL and TOY at THE HEAVENLY SOCIAL

I’ve praised Idle Fret before for their interesting club/gig line-ups but the one in a couple of weeks really promises something out of the ordinary.

Damo Suzuki, former vocalist of Krautrock legends Can, is the main attraction. Damo travels the globe performing with his “sound carriers”: namely, sympathetic artists in the local area who he joins on stage to perform an improvised set, making each show totally unique.

His sound carriers this time are Heavenly Records’ psychedelic shoegazers TOY and the nautically themed instrumental quartet Listing Ships who mix “guitar histrionics, electronica and jazz rhythms”. What all of those artists playing together will sound like I have no idea. Could be brilliant, could be a disaster, but it will certainly be an experience.

If that wasn’t enough, the mighty Andrew Weatherall is the main DJ for the evening, supported by renowned illustrator Luke Insect (that’s his handiwork above), Idle Fret's Darren Brooker, and myself. In keeping with the unpredictable nature of this event I haven’t a clue what sort of set to bring to the party.

Tickets are available in advance for a tenner from We Got Tickets, or come along on the night to The Heavenly Social, Little Portland Street, W1 for £12.50. 7pm until midnight.  

ART BRUT at THE SCALA, LONDON

Proving a picture paints a thousand words is this photo of a sockless Eddie Argos taken by Darren Brooker (@IdleFret) last Wednesday. Tells most of what you need to know and saves me writing yet another Art Brut live review.   

The band were celebrating their tenth birthday with a sell-out show and the release of their career spanning collection, Top of The Pops. As you can see it was a boisterous affair. 

For all Argos’s insistence Art Brut are now a “classic rock band” they remain perennial pop dreamers. Music and being in a band is to them something magical: dreaming of being on Top of The Pops, of playing huge arenas, having school kids on buses singing their songs. It’s at the core of pop bands; even shouty slightly daft ones.

They've made four albums cataloguing drunken escapades, fumbled sex and, of course, the love of pop music but it’s their live shows where they excel with their infectious wholehearted delivery. I’ve maybe seen them ten times and every single time they’ve played as if it was their first and last gig and were having the most fun known to mankind. By the end Argos implored everyone to form a band. “I can’t sing, Jasper Future can’t play guitar, just form a band! Promise me you’ll form a band!” If you believe the show of hands there is nobody at the Scala now not in a band. It did seem like a good idea.

(For previous - and far less lazy - Monkey Picks Art Brut gig reviews see Electric Ballroom or  Bull and Gate).

POSTER ART 150 – LONDON UNDERGROUND’S GREATEST DESIGNS

London After Dark by Fred Millett (1968) 

A current exhibition at the London Transport Museum commemorates 150 years of London Underground by showcasing 150 posters commissioned throughout the past 100 years. Their first commissioned poster was in 1908 if you’re wondering about the disparity between dates.

Selected from an archive of thousands the posters they differ in emphasis. Some celebrate the bright lights, culture and major events in the capital; others encourage passengers to venture out to the (then) leafy suburbs; etiquette advice is given to travellers; and more than a few suggest using the Underground is an experience in itself (that’s true enough).

As well as showcasing London and travel, the art demonstrates the graphic styles of the eras they were designed. It will come as no surprise some my favourites shown here are either from the '60s or from the '20s (which strongly influenced the '60s style).

Uxbridge by Charles Paine (1921)

Art Today by Hans Unger (1966)

Hearing The Riches of London by Frederick Charles Herrick (1927)

Poster Art 150 is an exhibition within the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden until 27 October 2013. Entry to the museum costs £15 for unlimited visits for a year. The complete poster archive can be viewed on-line here.

FLASHBACK ISSUE 3 - MIGHTY BABY: FROM MODS TO MECCA

Across a mammoth thirty seven pages in the new issue of Flashback, Richard Morton Jack recounts how mod superheroes The Action evolved into bearded underground spiritualists, Mighty Baby. Picking up the story in 1967 with The Action's introduction of Ian Whiteman and Martin Stone; on to the Rolled Gold period; the departure of Reggie King; the making of their wiggy psychedelic Mighty Baby album; the mellower A Jug of Love; and finally how their religious believes became incompatible with their lives as gigging “rock” musicians.

Members of the band are interviewed as are some who worked with them and the article features rare photographs and press cuttings. It’s the first time, to my knowledge, Mighty Baby have been covered in depth and it’s long overdue. Covering the changing mood of time well there’s also good little snippets of information that’s new to me such as Marc Bolan’s reaction when Ian Whiteman played him the Action Speak Louder Than... tracks. “So what? I can do better than that.”

The Mighty Baby piece is the big selling point and I wouldn’t have forked out £9.99 without it but Flashback and an impressive publication. At 210 glossy colour pages with in-depth articles (Malcolm Jones on producing Syd Barrett and Pete Brown on the recent Graham Bond box-set being another two highlights) plus incisive and honest reviews it feels more like a book to keep than a disposable magazine. 

For more information and ordering details visit Flashback.

MAY PLAYLIST

Ten favourites for the merry month of May.

1.  Mahalia Jackson – “I’m On My Way” (1958)

Barbara Dane’s version was the big R&B club hit a while back but Jackson’s vocal on this and the rest of her Live at the Newport Festival performance is on another plane.

2.  The Rivingtons – “Old Time Love” (1962)

We have The Rivingtons’ “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s The Word” to thank/blame for giving us The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” but this honking, big voiced doo-wop stomper is their finest moment.

3.  Lee Hazlewood and Duane Eddy with his Orchestra – “The Girl On Death Row” (1960)

The first single issued under Hazlewood’s name and such an eerie record.  Written for a film which had its title changed on release to Why Must I Die?

4.  The Supremes – “A Breathing Taking Guy” (1963)

If you’re looking for a salacious Motown book Mark Ribowsky’s gossipy The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success and Betrayal should satisfy. Which Supreme had to be talked out of installing a mirror on their bedroom ceiling by Berry Gordy?  

5.  Clydie King – “Missin’ My Baby” (1965)

If Clydie’s unbelievably sexy voice doesn’t melt you then you must have a heart of stone.

6.  Little Richard – “Get Down With It” (1967)

An irresistible thumping R&B shouter from the shy and retiring Mr. Penniman.  

7.  Orchestra Harlow – “Freak Off” (1967)

Reminds me of a Latin Boogaloo version of “The Work Song”, which doesn’t sound like a hugely enticing prospect I’ll grant you, but this is worth hearing.

8.  Bob Dylan – “If Dogs Run Free” (1970)

I’ve been playing all Bob Dylan’s studio albums in order, one per day. It’s been interesting to hear them in that way – through all the peaks and troughs. Most I know like the back of my hand but the lesser played ones have thrown up some interesting moments (and some excruciating ones) like this crazy beat poetry jazz number on New Morning.

9.  Billy Paul – “Magic Carpet Ride” (1971)

An suitably uplifting soul-jazz workout of the Steppenwolf single. The full-length version on Going East is the one to get.     

10.  Paul Messis – “I Hate The World Around Me” (2013)

Much dirty water has flowed since I last heard and enjoyed an album of such authentic angsty teen-garage punk as Messis’s Case Closed. Out now on State Records. 

BUCKINGHAM PALACE RIDEOUT 2013

Today saw the annual Buckingham Palace Rideout organised by the New Untouchables and Bar Italia Scooter Club. After gathering in Carnaby Street an estimated 400+ scooters cruised the West End, went up The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, through Westminster, along the Embankment and eventually ended up in Shoreditch for chat, music and refreshments.

It was difficult to take photos that gave a sense of the amount so this is just a small selection of individual scooters. My preference is for them to look more-or-less unadorned but as you can see that’s not a view shared by everyone. In case you’re wondering, my is the green SX150 in the final photograph.

This was the first rideout I’ve done for years and really enjoyed the buzz of creating such a spectacle in the capital. With hundreds of Mods and Scooterists plus thousands of German football fans over for the Champions League Final there was a good atmosphere in town. Even the weather wasn’t too bad. Thanks to the organisers and marshals who did a sterling job in keeping everything running so smoothly. No easy task I’m sure.