The Kinks

The Kinks were on BBC4, here in the UK, last night (15th July 2011) in four documentaries: 'Kinkdom Come: Dave Davies', 'The Kinks at the BBC', 'Brothers in Arms' (about rock bands fronted by brothers) and 'Imagine: Ray Davies - Imaginary Man'. All except 'Brothers in Arms' are being repeated on Sunday night, starting at 11:50pm. I am not sure if these are available in the US.

The documentaries look at the extremely complex relationship between the brothers, Ray's influences and the enduring influence of the band. These are interspersed with a lot of performance footage of the group.

My favourite album is the most well known, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Ray's lyrics are often very sentimental combined with despair at unnecessary modern developments. At one point in the 'Imaginary Man' documentary he asks, "Why are there so many big buses in London? Why can't they replace them with more smaller buses?"
 

Although often in the shadow of the Beatles, The Who and the Rolling Stones, there cannot be a rock group in the world that is not influenced by the Kinks' You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night. Reflective and profoundly English songs like Waterloo Sunset certainly had an influence on British progressive rock bands like Genesis, King Crimson and ELP. Pete Townshend famously said, "Village Green is the Kinks' Sergeant Pepper". From him, it was high praise indeed. 

Originally posted on 16th July 2011

Specialist Subject: UK Progressive Rock from 1968 to 1978

Mastermind BBC 1, 29^th September 2010

Simon Martin, Occupation: Regional Manager

Specialist Subject: UK Progressive Rock from 1968 to 1978

1. Which Canterbury band formed in 1972, by Phil Miller among others, was named after a motorway road sign?

2. Who was the co-founder, main songwriter and lead vocalist of Van der Graaf Generator?

3. Which keyboard instrument pioneered by Henry Chamberlain and deriving its sound from prerecorded tapes of various instruments was used by many prog rock musicians?

4. Which Welsh band lead by Micky Jones and Deke Leonard had four top 40 albums in the '70's including Back Into the Future?

5. What is the real first name of the Barclay James Harvest keyboard player Woolly Wolstenholme?

6. In 1972 which Jethro Tull album reached the top of the American charts and number 5 in the UK?

7. What is the name of the central character on the Genesis concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway?

8. Which band was formed in 1972 when Peter Bardens teamed up with three members of Phillip Goodhand-Tate’s backing band?

9. Who replaced Darryl Way in Curved Air in 1973 before leaving the band the same year to join Roxy Music?
10. Which band was formed at Cambridge University in 1968 by Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson?
11. What was the title of the first Emerson, Lake and Palmer album to be released on the band’s own label Manticore?
12. Which subsidiary label of Decca named after a sound system released music by Caravan, Camel, Moody Blues, Egg, and others?
13. What is the surname of the brothers Derek, Ray and Phil who formed Gentle Giant after their previous group Simon Dupee and the Big Sound folded?
14. The two main founders of Atomic Rooster, Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer, had previously been members of which band?
15. In which venue was Rick Wakeman’s album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur premiered on ice in 1975?
16. Who was King Crimson's lyricist until 1972, his work with Robert Fripp included In the Court of the Crimson King?

ANSWERS 1. Hatfield & the North 2. Peter Hammill 3. Mellotron 4. Man 5. Stewart 6. Thick as a Brick 7. Rael 8. Camel 9. Eddie Jobson 10. Henry Cow 11. Brain Salad Surgery 12. Deram 13. Shulman 14. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown 15. Empire Pool Wembley 16. Pete Sinfield

Originally posted on Monday 14th March 2011

Glory Daze

Last night the first episode of Glory Daze was shown on E4 at 9:00pm – 10:00pm. TV Times described it as an ‘American comedy starring Kelly Blatz, Matt Bush and Hartley Sawyer’. The soundtrack included a number of re-recorded British singles from the nineteen-eighties. Among these was It Can Happen by Yes. The following is from the Radio Times website:

Glory Daze (Pilot episode, 1 of 10, series 1, US 2010) It's 1986, a time of big hair and rolled-up jacket sleeves. A group of hormonally challenged freshers, away from home for the first time, are trying to adapt to life at a Wisconsin college. It's a world of false bravado and frat-house initiation, and one in which every embarrassing act is witnessed. Glory Daze is a riotous amalgam of Revenge of the Nerds and The Sure Thing. Gags include tasered testicles and public nudity, but the show is a lot more enjoyable than that might sound. This is partly down to the eager young cast of crazies (especially good is the bizarrely accented bongmaster) and partly to the phenomenal soundtrack, which ranges from the enjoyably familiar (The Pretenders, Talking Heads) to the "Hey, I remember them!" (Trio, Freur). Radio Times reviewer - Mark Braxton. 9:00pm - 10:00pm, Thursday 03 March 2011, E4

Directed by: Walt Becker

Cast: Kelly Blatz as Joel Harrington, Matt Bush as Eli Feldman, Hartley Sawyer as Brian Sommers, Drew Seeley as Jason Wilson, Julianna Guill as Christie DeWitt, Callard Harris as Mike Reno, Tim Meadows as Prof Haines.

Originally posted on Friday 3^rd March 2011

Rick Wakeman on Just a Minute

F

ormer Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman made his first appearance on the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute today at 12:04pm - 12:30pm, Sunday 13th February 2011. The Radio Times described it thus, “Nicholas Parsons hosts the stopwatch comedy panel game as Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth, Shappi Khorsandi and Rick Wakeman are challenged to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.”  The subjects for each round were:

(i)                   Dear listener

(ii)                 How can bankers make amends?

(iii)                A rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle – started by Rick

(iv)               My best impression

(v)                 The price of milk – Rick was speaking as the buzzer sounded

(vi)               Through the telescope

(vii)              Page three – Rick was once married to a page three girl, but this was not mentioned

Although this was the first episode of a series of 8 (series 59), it was a repeat. However, it may be available as a podcast. At first I thought, “Oh, No,” as I would prefer to hear Rick’s keyboard playing to hearing him as an affable personality. Nevertheless, he was his usual quick-witted self and he showed a good sense of humour as it was possible to hear him laughing a lot in the background.

Originally posted on Sunday, 13th February 2011

Alice Cooper on Desert Island Discs

A

lice Cooper on Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4

Broadcast on 21^st November 2010

1.       Happenings Ten Years Time Ago by The Yardbirds

2.       I Get Around by The Beach Boys

3.       I’m a Boy by The Who

4.       Time Out by Laura Nyro (Eli and the 13^th Confession)

5.       21^st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson (In the Court of the Crimson King)

6.       Been Caught Stealing by Jane’s Addiction

7.       Work Song by Paul Butterfield Blues Band

8.       Ballad of a Sin Man by Bob Dylan

Kirsty Young: “That was King Crimson and 21^st Century Schizoid Man. So, Alice Cooper, how long have you been married?”

Originally posted on Monday, 24 January 2011

Rock On the Box

R

ock, never mind progressive, music is poorly served by television here in the UK. However, on Friday 21st January 2011 on BBC 4 TV, we had:

09:00pm Legends:  Thin Lizzy - Don't Believe a Word. Described in TV Times as a, "New documentary profiling the Irish rock band, which began with singer-songwriter Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell and drummer Brian Downey, and took its name from The Beano." This offered a number of interesting insights including Phil Lynott’s love of being a rock star contrasted with Eric Bell’s wish to concentrate on the music, Brian Robertson’s mercurial talent, Tony Visconti’s controversial involvement in Live and Dangerous, Midge Ure describing himself as Lizzy’s worst guitarist, and Scott Gorham’s desire to remaster a number of albums in collaboration with Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott.

‘Talking heads’ include Lizzy manager Ted Carroll, Melody Maker journalist Harry Doherty, Decca A&R man Frank Rodgers, a clean shaven Eric Bell, Phil Lynott from the archive, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Brian Robertson, Bob Geldof, Lizzy tour manager Frank Murray, Midge Ure and producer Tony Visconti. Musical clips include Whiskey in the Jar (197), The Rocker, Nightlife (1974), Wild One (1975), Jailbreak (1976), The Boys are Back in Town (1976), Fight or Fall (1976), Rocky (1977), Dear Heart (1974), Dear Lord (1977), Dancing in the Moonlight (1977), Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) (1979), Do Anything You Want To (1979), Got to Give it Up (1979), Cowboy Song (1976) and Still in Love With You (1974).        

Archive footage of Phil Lynott in interview is almost too painful to watch, especially where he extols the virtue of heroin as creating a distance between himself and his problems. These struggles may have been the result of Thin Lizzy being on the cusp of massive international success, while events seemed to conspire against them - such as Robertson’s hand injury before a big US tour. As is often the case in these documentaries, Lynott comes across as being loyal to his friends and they to him: Brian Downey remained from the early band, Orphanage, enduring racist taunts directed against the lead singer; Midge Ure describes how he could not have been selected as stand-in for his guitar-playing ability; and Lynott was almost desperate to make a Lizzy album with Gary Moore. Tragically, despite the mutual loyalty, none of the long-term cohorts could work with Lynott by the end.  

There is an interesting article on Phil Lynott and the Thin Lizzy Deluxe editions, released through Universal, in Classic Rock magazine, February 2011.     

10:00pm Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009). A moderately interesting documentary chronicling the band during their 2008 tour.  

11:55pm Classic Albums: Black Sabbath Paranoid. A documentary exploring the group's influential second album.

12:50am Bruce Springsteen's The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Nominee for documentary with most convoluted title.

02:20 am Bruce Springsteen: Darkness Live.

3:20am - 4:20am Legends.

Originally posted on Sunday, 23 January 2011