Northern soul smiles

Ha! Last night at the Brighton Festival we went to see a show about the story of Simon and Garfunkel. I would guess the average age of the audience was 65 and not a Bob Zimmerman frame in sight I never even particularly liked them in the 60s (a bit too wimpy for a Captain Beefheart fan) but I have since learnt to appreciate the sheer quality of Paul Simon's songs. I have to say the tribute duo did them justice. I'm just growing old but perhaps not as disgracefully as I thought I would .....

 

Northern Soul eh? Remember it well, in and around Leeds it was a big deal, back in the day.

 

I went to one of the monsters of rock festivals at Donington , Rainbow & Judas Priest & Saxon were there , must have been about 82 I guess , saw Motorhead at Leicester de montford hall on their Ace of Spades tour , great stuff

 

I remember going to see Bill Hailey and the Comets in Leeds...double base player was actually stood on top of it playing!!
Don't remember much Northern Soul, must have been during marriages heh heh

 

I'll have you know I don't have senior moments, ...I have senior hours!
BUT I do remember 1st record I ever bought Deck of Cards by Wink Martindale... Nurse..lie down...dark room..bigger tablets..tighter jacket..

 

I have always been a rocker,came in via Deep Purple, Black Sabbath ( 1st album) etc. We used to go to Northern soul and even reggae nights with the lads by us and they used to come to our rock nights.It looked kinda weird with us rockers,long hair and flares and even weirder when they were head banging,lol.

Jeez someone older than me, Wink Martindale, now thats a name from the past. My first record was gonna be Lazy Sunday by the Small Faces but the little record shop locally had sold out so I got Valerie by the Monkees instead,mmmmmmmm yes I know, I had just got a player and HAD to get something,lol.

 

I'd like to say my first record I ever bought was something cool like Deep Purple in rock , but unfortunately it was pinky & perky's greatest hits

 

lol,love it

 

cool man. have to say I am not so much into prog these days but there used to be a pub in Birmingham in 70/71 where they played Sabbath, Crimson, Mac( agree about Genesis and Peter Green, tho saw him a few yrs ago and was disappointed with him now), Tull,Beggars Opera, great days. Purple and Sabbath turned it round for me tho and I prefer a more metal sound now. Occasionally catch One man and his prog on Planet rock and it doesnt work for me now. King Crimson, Atomic Rooster and Family excepted. Funnily enough I am a massive Queensryche fan ( Geoff Tate era) and i believe they play them on that show sometimes. mmmmmm

 

Even though I'm from a time when I saw Black Sabbath in the back room of a pub in London and Hawkwind, Edgar Broughton, Mick Farren and The Deviants seemed to be playing somewhere every week I was never really a big heavy rock fan. I loved the guitar work and the noise but the music often left me cold.

Having said that I reckon Edgar Broughton's Wasa Wasa is one of the great underrated albums. Very much of its time but I loved it and still think it's an underrated piece of work. Heavy on guitar effects and a sub-Beefheart vocal with a political undercurrent and I think that political aspect has remained with me since then and still drives everything I write. It never made me any money but that was never a concern anyway.

For some reason it was bands like Fairport and Steeleye that really got my attention. As much as I enjoyed the energy and sound of a rock band with the folk rock bands lyrics could be understood, the sound was clearer and it was simply more fun