John Martyn RIP

Death seems to be on my tail just now, the latest is neither a family member, friend or collegue but is a musician I greatly admired.

From www.uncut.co.uk

John Martyn passed away this morning (January 29), aged just 60, Uncut has learnt.

A cause of death has yet to be confirmed, but a post on his website johnmartyn.com reads: “With heavy heart and an unbearable sense of loss we must announce that John died this morning.”

Martyn, who started his career aged 17, was a major figure on the London folk scene in the mid-Sixties. In 1967, he released his first album, London Conversation, and a further 21 would follow during his 40-year career.

He is perhaps best known for his 1973 album, Solid Air. Among his other career highlights are 1977’s One World, notable for “Big Muff”, a collaboration with Lee “Scratch” Perry, and 1980’s Grace And Danger, recorded during the break-up of his marriage.

In September 2008, Island Records released a retrospective 4CD boxset, Ain’t No Saint, to mark his 60th birthday.

In 2008, Martyn was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, while in January this year, he received an OBE.

Martyn last toured the UK just last November, revisting his Grace and Danger album, after successfully touring Solid Air the year previous.

He was due to headline three shows at the Fifestock festival in March.

For a full obituary, click here.

May You Never – John Martyn

Hurt In Your Heart

When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
Give me a call.

Darling, that’s all that you have to do
Show me a sign
A word or a line
One stitch in time
To save this poor heart
From breaking.

When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
I’ll still be your friend.

Right to the end of our river
And further still
This hurt it will mend
And I hope you’ll remember all the time
Hope you’ll remember every line
Hope you’ll remember
All the love, all the love, all the love.

When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
Just say my name.

You don’t have to say it loud
I’ll still feel the same
I’ll still be true
Waiting for you
To come sailing through
Cos I you know you can.

When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
When that hurt in your heart has gone
Give me a call.

Marilyn Fallon

I am once again reeling from the news of a shock passing.

My good friend and best man at my wedding to Fiona Jim Fallon has lost his wife.

Marilyn passed away this morning 4 weeks to the day of the passing of my Fiona.

It is a cruel world and one I at present cannot comprehend.

God Bless and thanks for all the good times

Auntie Fiona

 

Nicola (above) our 10 year old niece has written the poem below about her Aunt Fiona.

We all handle grief differently, I only wish I could channel my feelings in such a creative way.

A shimmer of gold in the grass is my Auntie’s feet scuttering past

Life is not a human race I feel her hand on my face

From my eye I shed a tear I feel my Auntie standing near

But most of all she is in my heart and we will never part

Now she is with everyone she loves soaring up there as free as a dove

Why do the best people have to go, she was called to be an angel though

When times were rough even fun she was rocking you as if  she were your mum

I loved her and always will, now she’s not feeling ill

But the time came to say goodbye and one day I will join her in the

SKY

I will always love her

xxx

You don’t always have to see to

BELIEVE

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nicola Porteous January 2009

Two Angels Side By Side

The Beatles In Scotland

For obvious reasons Christmas was a non event this year, Fiona did enjoy what turned out to be her last day with us outwith hospital and despite being in pain put on a brave face in order that out two nieces had a great time.

With her being rushed to hospital that night any presents were slung aside and the tragic events that followed resulted in them being ignored.

Today I found the strength to sift through them finding homes for Fiona’s presents either as a keepsake memory or for use by someone else.

The only present which I am showing interest in is the book below which was given to me by Fiona’s sister Jane and her family who signed it “With Love Christmas 2008″ it will be cherished as the last good memory relating to Fiona.

One day’s reading and flicking does not produce a suitable review, however, I am looking forward to reading it in full in due course.

Here are the comments from Amazon

Review
One of the most audacious additions to Fab Four literature. –The Herald

A handsome hardback custom built for the Christmas stocking of every Rock Dad north of Berwick. –Sunday Times

Product Description
The Fab Four: George, John Paul and Ringo, a quartet of working-class kids whose magical songs and revolutionary influence still inspires four decades on. More has been written about The Beatles than any other rock group in history and every moment of their lives has been captured, celebrated and analysed. It is difficult to imagine that there remains anything new to say, but lifelong Beatles fan Ken McNab reveals for the first time, in intimate detail, the pivotal part Scotland played in the genesis of the group and the extraordinary connections that were fostered north of the border before, during and after their meteoric rise to unprecedented fame.McNab follows The Beatles as rough and ready unknowns on their first tour of Scotland in 1960 and again, in 1964, as all-conquering heroes. He also discovers that the momentous decision to break up the band was made in Scotland. The personal association to Scotland is highlighted too with details on the McCartneys’ lives in Mull of Kintyre and Lennon’s childhood holidays in Durness. With these new and previously unheard stories, “The Beatles in Scotland” will appeal to any Beatles fan. It’s a fantastic celebration and a uniquely Scottish magical mystery tour. This book contains eyewitness accounts and previously unheard anecdotes from the band’s Scottish tours. You will discover the truth about McCartney’s Kintyre drug busts and Lennon’s Highland car crash. McNab pays tribute to the Scots who helped create the myth of the Fab Four including legendary photographer Harry Benson.

About the Author
Ken McNab is a lifelong Beatles fan and well-respected journalist with Scotland’s Evening Times. He lives in Glasgow with his wife and children.

You can purchase the book by clicking HERE

You can read an interview with author Ken McNab HERE

UNSEEN film of the Fab Four at the height of Beatlemania is set to fetch £12,000 at auction.

The 150 seconds of John, Paul, George and Ringo was shot at the Four Seasons Hotel in St Fillans, Perthshire, where they stayed during a 1964 tour.

They’re also seen standing next to a “Haste ye Back to Scotland” sign at Gretna. (as per the book’s front cover)

From The Daily Record 24th January 2009

Click HERE to view the video clip

Here is Roddy Frame from Aztec Camera with his great cover of The Beatles’ “In My Life”

“In My Life” – Roddy Frame MP3

 

 

Life’s for Sharing

Great advert from T-Mobile filmed at Liverpool Street Station

Robert Burns

Today is the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns tonght I will not be partaking in the traditional meal of haggis, neeps and tatties but will instead  settle for Haggis Pakora from The Ashoka in Johnstone!

The Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and canna eat,
and some wad eat that want it,
but we hae meat and we can eat,
and sae the Lord be thankit.

For more information on Rabbie The Bard click HERE

In the meantime here are Eva Cassidy  and the more traditional Steam Jenny with versions of two of The Bard’s best known works.

My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose – Eva Cassidy

Scots Wah Hae – Steam Jenny

The Pain Remains The Same

The cards have stopped arriving, the flowers are wilting but the pain remains the same.

To Those I Love and Those Who Love Me

When I am gone, release me, let go.  I have so many things to see and do.  You mustn’t tie yourself to me with tears, be happy that we had so many years.

I gave you my love, you can only guess how much you gave to me in happiness.  I thank you for the love you each have shown, but now it’s time I traveled on alone.

So grieve a while for me if you must, then let your grief be comforted by trust.  It’s only for a while that we must part, so keep the memories within your heart.  I won’t be far away, for life goes on.

So if you need me, call, and I will come.  Though you can’t see or touch me, I’ll be near.

And if you listen with your heart, you’ll hear all of my love around you soft and clear.

And then, when you must come this way, I’ll greet you with a smile, and say “WELCOME HOME.”

Eminence Front – The Who

The sun shines
And people forget
The spray flies as the speedboat glides
And people forget
Forget they’re hiding
The girls smile
And people forget
The snow packs as the skier tracks
And people forget
Forget they’re hiding.

Behind an eminence front
Eminence front – It’s a put on.

Come on join the party
Dress to kill
Won’t you come and join the party
Dress to kill.

The drinks flow
People forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they’re hiding
The news slows
People forget
The shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they’re hiding.

Behind an eminence front
Eminence front – it’s a put on
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to kill
Dress yourself, dressed to kill.

Another World

I need another place
Will there be peace?
I need another world
This one’s nearly gone

Still have too many dreams
Never seen the light
I need another world
A place where I can go

I’m gonna miss the sea
I’m gonna miss the snow
I’m gonna miss the bees
I’ll miss the things that grow
I’m gonna miss the trees
I’m gonna miss the sound
I’ll miss the animals
I’m gonna miss you all

I need another place
Will there be peace?
I need another world
This one’s nearly gone

I’m gonna miss the birds
Singing all this songs
Been kissing this so long

Another world x4

Antony and the Johnsons

The Live Album

Great article from www.mojo4music.com

Why Live Albums Rule!

Excitement, hits, bum notes, heckling: the spirit of rock’n’roll is alive and well in the grooves of the live album, says MOJO’s Stevie Chick.

IT WAS A TIME BEFORE the Internet – before file-sharing and downloading left much of the rock discography only a mouse-click away – and I was a budding rock obsessive, haunting the racks of Big Star Records, my local second-hand vinyl emporium, poring over sleevenotes and tracklistings, planning a voyage of discovery across a mysterious classic rock canon.

My preferred point-of-entry was the Live Album, a strategy inspired by a summer spent obsessing over my dad’s battered copy of The Who’s Live At Leeds: a scrappy faux-bootleg housing a sheaf of photocopied Who memorabilia and six sonic monsters that the band struggled to control. It was the epic, excursive My Generation that really sent me, Pete Townshend’s riffs leading the group through a series of high-drama instrumental vignettes the studio version had never even hinted at.

Live At Leeds convinced me of this: a Greatest Hits compilation might contain a group’s most famous tracks, but Live Albums delivered the same, only louder, wilder, and with longer solos. Ergo, Live Albums were objectively, unquestionably better.

At their best, Live Albums freeze the moments we all wish we’d witnessed: unexpected cover versions, guest appearances, performances that utterly eclipse the studio originals. Moments like Nina Simone and a gospel choir re-interpreting My Sweet Lord as a twenty-minute anti-war hymn before an audience of GIs at Fort Dix military base on 1972’s Emergency Ward; like the feverish interplay between drummers Clyde Stubblefield and Nate Jones throughout a thirteen-minute Cold Sweat off James Brown’s Say It Live And Loud: Live In Dallas 1968; like Aretha Franklin walking Ray Charles onstage for her encore on At The Fillmore West, trading verses with him throughout the sinfully funky gospel of Spirit In The Dark.

Live Albums possess an unguarded intimacy, the warts’n’all the studio aims to airbrush away. The Rolling Stones of 1970’s Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out played loose and dropped plenty of bum notes, but there’s a ragged violence to Jumpin’ Jack Flash that punches harder than the chart-topping studio take. Candid between-song banter is always a highlight, be it Lou Reed excoriating rock critic Robert Christgau on his Take No Prisoners set (“What does Robert Christgau do in bed? Is he a toe f****r?”), or George Clinton’s confession that he’s “higher than a motherf****r” on Funkadelic’s Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan.

The greatest Live Albums feel like key scenes from a Rockumentary; their performances aren’t just another night on the tour, but landmarks, milestones, moments that illuminate the artist’s legend somehow. The revolutionary chaos of MC5’s Kick Out The Jams – and the frenzied parties at Detroit’s Old Grande Ballroom that the album documents – was so crucial to the mythos of the group that it remains the definitive MC5 album – detuned guitars, feedback and all.

In the hilarious music video for Yo La Tengo’s Sugarcube, Bob Odenkirk (playing headmaster of an imaginary School Of Rock) lectures his students on the ‘Foghat Principle’, that your every fourth album must be “Double Live”. While Foghat Live was, in fact, the blues-rockers’ seventh release, and a single disk at that, the Foghat Principle seemed to rule the Classic Rock era, when cutting concert albums was a staple of a touring rock band’s career. Today, groups like Pearl Jam and The Who sell soundboard recordings from every concert via their fanclubs, while British company Concertlive have hooked up with artists like The Raconteurs, Brett Anderson and Roots Manuva to sell recordings of that evening’s performance at the merchandise desk minutes after the gig’s finished. The Live Album as we once knew it, however, now seems a rarity, and recent efforts by multi-platinum rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis are little better than tepid Greatest Hits packages with crowd noise tacked on.

Illicit live recording, however, still thrives, with modern technology offering digital recording devices that are easily hidden from venue security; indeed, most of us could adequately bootleg a concert ourselves on a mobile phone. The advent of the internet, however, means these modern bootleggers are more likely to be sharing their recordings with fellow fans for free, rather than trying to turn a sneaky profit on a stack of Xerox-inlaid C90s down the local flea market.

Not so the mysterious collector who, earlier this year, pressed up 100 copies of a previously uncirculated Velvet Underground show at New York City Gymnasium, 1967, and sold them on ebay. Claimed to be John Cale’s final gig with the band, its authenticity has been questioned by fans, with one web site suggesting the tape might be the work of an imaginative Velvets covers band; but the searing 19-minute Sister Ray sounds like the real thing to me.

To some, the interest stirred by the discovery of a 40-year-old recording of a pop concert might seem puzzling. But for those of us with a fascination for rock’s evolution, such recordings are precious relics, offering the invaluable opportunity to listen in on history being made. There’s very few of us who could claim of such epochal gigs, “I was there”; but at least, sometimes, we can better imagine how it must have sounded.

Stevie Chick

Young Man Blues – The Who (Live At Leeds) MP3

Angel Eyes

“Angel Eyes” is one of my favourite songs with in my view Ella’s being the definitive version, sorry Jane and all other Sinatra lovers, here however is a modern take on the song by the great and upcoming Karrin Allyson from her 2002 album “In Blue”

Angel Eyes – Karrin Allyson MP3

Karrin Allyson BIOGRAPHY