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Post by ginnie on Aug 18, 2008 18:06:01 GMT -5
I'll have to check that out. It's rare to know anyone that's even heard of Alex Harvey in my part of the world. They had a moderate following in the UK in the 70s and early 80s. Their audience in the US and Canada was smaller, but I wouldn't say they were very obscure. I remember as a teen in the 70s, hearing SAHB on the radio from time to time. Rock magazines at the time like Circus and Cream were quite fond of the band. Alex was a very colorful figure and made for interesting press. G12/Davy (from Scotland) who makes an occasional appearance here is a big fan. I agree that they SAHB are deserving greater attention. I bought Circus and Creem regularly in those days. Plus NME, Melody Maker, and sometimes Hit Parader. Circus and Creem also gave a lot of attention to Lou, Iggy, Bowie, Genesis and other acts who weren't exactly setting the world on fire at the time. Lester Bangs was a terrific writer. Here is his "Metal Machine Music" review: www.rocknroll.net/loureed/articles/mmmbangs.html |
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Post by kinkfrank49 on Aug 18, 2008 22:36:13 GMT -5
If you liked Creem and Les Bangs, you'll like this story: I met the dude, when I was just graduated from high school in El Cajon, California. He was at a club called the Park Place to see a band called Kings of Rythm which featured a superb guitarist, who I knew by reputation at the time (and later lead guitarist of Glory, the Beat Farmers, and now a good friend, Jerry Raney). Anyway, I was 18, there to see this guy who could play better than Clapton or Hendrix, and my sisters are going nuts because of this cat sitting at a table, my age, who was a 'rock critic' and knew every band in the country (though he was like me a just out of high school kid). I got introduced to Lester Bangs and he was there to see Jerry, and knew all of the best lead players in San Diego, as I did from playing in a group. He also knew and talked to an audience of about 8 people during breaks about bands in San Fransico and LA that he had seen and knew quite a lot about the LA music biz for a guy 18. I met him another time at a place called Spirit in San Diego, a year or so later, but didn't get to talk, he had a press pass or something that time. It didn't surprise me that he was soon writing for the Stone and Creem. He developed quite a style, as the link shows, it's sort of the written word freeform feedback equivalent of the album he was reviewing. He had some personal problems later on in his life, but was a hell of a knowledgable guy and for some of the satire and smart-aleck tone in his stuff, he knew about rock music.
Now, I am retired, play in a jam band and write CD reviews (Turbula.com) and am having a lot of fun; it's nice to remember the old days, too-that was over 40 years ago.
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Post by ginnie on Aug 19, 2008 18:26:14 GMT -5
Great story kinkfrank49.
If I remember correctly, Lester had a love/hate relationship with Lou Reed.
I remember a weird interview with Lou who had a female/male/thing person present. I think it was Lester Bangs doing the interview. Let me check the web...
...can't find it..
I wish I had all my Creem and Circus mags - I must have had hundreds of them. That's how I found out about Iggy, VU, the Dolls and even Guy Peellaert for that matter.
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Post by kinkfrank49 on Aug 19, 2008 19:10:58 GMT -5
Another Lou Reed related story: there was a band in El Cajon called Iron Butterfly in about '67 and they had this great guitarist named Danny Weiss. He was a gay cat (first I ever met who told everyone he was) and first guy I met who was an open junkie. They had several guys I knew in the band at various times, but got a label deal and made a debut record that got some attention but sold poorly with Danny on it. If you ever get a chance, pick up 'Heavy', that disc. Some of the songs from it are on the greatest hits of Iron Butterfly CD.
Anyway, Atlantic signed the band to a big record deal and cleaned out the band, except for two guys, and made InaGaddaDaVida, and hit the motherlode, despite it being IMO a piece of junk. Danny got a paid apartment on Wilshire Blvd in LA, a band built around him, and $50,000 according to what I heard (the band was Rhinoceros, it was a failure). I expected Danny to be dead from the heroin by about 1970, but two of my friends went to a Lou Reed concert at one point in the late '70s and there he was on lead guitar in the tour band. They had gone to high school with him before he dropped out, and were totally amazed. About the same time, I read in the Stone that Lou Reed was working on his live act and taking guitar lessons, and I always wondered if he was taking them from Danny. That guy could play like Satriani back before 1970, just a blur of notes, but he was a strange cat.
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Post by ginnie on Aug 19, 2008 19:50:13 GMT -5
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Post by kinkfrank49 on Aug 20, 2008 17:02:32 GMT -5
Wow, Ginnie, thanks for those links. It's great to know Danny is still around. The Rhinoceros page and Googling Iron Butterfly kicked out three other dudes from the old days. Greg Willis was IB's original bassist and played with Jerry Raney in Glory, and sold me my '58 full scale Melody Maker-at the time the same rig Jerry was playing. Jack Pinney was the drummer in the same band, and the original drummer in IB, later played in Buddy Blue's band the Jacks, I have known him and his sister since first grade, great guy. The Rhino article says Jerry Penrod ended up driving a bus in San Diego but he had a band, named Penrod, on a record label, and played in a club headlining around '69 or so when I was in one of the other bands on the bill; it was probably Spirit in SD since I wasn't 21 yet. I think he got that deal as part of being outed from IB when the big label signed them (it doesn't say it in Rhinoceros' webpage, but these cats got bought out because they owned the name 'Iron Butterfly' and had published an album). Jeez, these are going way back to my roots, it's a lot of fun to talk about. During this whole time, I was the guy who was constantly talking about doing Kinks tunes.
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Post by ginnie on Aug 20, 2008 21:09:46 GMT -5
You played in Spirit?
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Post by kinkfrank49 on Aug 20, 2008 22:10:49 GMT -5
In my dreams :-)-they are probably one of my ten favorite all time bands. This Spirit was a club in San Diego that had a deal where you could work if you were under 21. They served liquor but only on certain days, like none on Fridays, so if you had a band that booked there and were underage you could work with some good local or touring acts-Penrod played in the local Sports Arena opening for a major act before playing there. Then, on Saturdays, they served liquor. Later on they switched to all over 21, but I was 21 by then.
My bands were very local, I had a drummer that guested with us that played with Its a Beautiful Day (a San Francisco band that had a couple of big albums) in the studio, but he wasn't our regular guy. For a while, the last version of the band I was leader of had a guy named Danny Means on the other guitar; he went on to play in the bay area with some of the top bands and owns his own studio in East Bay. He knows Steve Vai and has done a lot of studio work. No other well-known connections. Most of my band days were spent in clubs making enough money to pay for my gear and my day jobs were driving a truck and teaching guitar lessons.
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Post by kinkfrank49 on Aug 30, 2008 0:51:24 GMT -5
I just was sent advanced copies to review of the 40th Anniversary Reissues of the first six Creedence albums by Fantasy Records. Each has three to five bonus tracks that include live cuts from the period ('68-'71), alternate takes and covers of R&B songs. This may predate a lot of the folks on this board, but they were a seminal US rockabilly/roots band that put out a burst of music then faded due to personnel differences after six straight platinum discs. I haven't played their stuff much in the last few years, but this project is going to be a blast from the past. Their leader John Fogerty had a 25 year running war with the prez of Fantasy, but the prez made a mint, left, and now they are back on the label.
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