... Stupefaction ...: Pink Floyd

Showing posts with label Pink Floyd. Show all posts

Jul 16, 2013

Stupefied: The Twink (Pretty Things, Pink Fairies) Playlist

Twink, far right, with Tomorrow

This week's edition of the Stupefied Playlist© is brought to us by a true legend of the UK's sixties psychedelic underground, Twink! Otherwise known to his mother as John Charles Edward Alder, Twink has seen action recording with such luminaries as Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Pink Fairies, Syd Barrett, and Stars, amongst others.

As a fully paid up groover in the scene around Ladbroke Grove, and after taking part in the legendary UFO club in central London (ground zero for UK psych) as a member of Tomorrow, Twink was asked to join The Pretty Things, and took part in the recording of their now-classic album, S.F. Sorrow. As a solo musician, his first album, Think Pink, included musical support from Mick Farren (of the Deviants, see his playlist here), and Steve Peregrin Took (of Tyrannosaurus Rex) - this led to the formation of the initial Pink Fairies line-up.

An aside: Legendary record producer, and UFO Club founder, Joe Boyd, was obviously inspired by the title of Tomorrow's most well-known song, "My White Bicycle," when he entitled his 2006 memoir, White Bicycles – Making Music in the 1960s. It's an excellent book, by the way.

Over the years, there have been many reunions of his bands, in different combinations, and under different names. He's also collaborated with a few folks like Nik Turner of Hawkwind - they released a live album back in the mid-90's as The Hawkfairies. For a good idea of his lengthy discography, have a look at his Wikipedia page here.

Never far from a recording studio, you can keep up with, and say hello to the man,

on his Facebook page.

Thank you, Twink!

01. TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS - THE BEATLES

02. STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER - THE BEATLES

03. INSTANT KARMA - PLASTIC ONO BAND

04. MY SWEET LORD - GEORGE HARRISON

05. ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER - JIMI HENDRIX

06. HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO - THE YARDBIRDS

07. LA WOMAN - THE DOORS

08. WHY - THE BYRDS

09. WHITE RABBIT - JEFFERSON AIRPLANE

10. EXPECTING TO FLY - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD

11. UM UM UM UM UM UM - MAJOR LANCE

12. MY GUY - MARY WELLS

13. WALKING THE BOOGIE - JOHN LEE HOOKER

14. MY BABE - LITTLE WALTER

15. GOIN' DOWN SLOW - HOWLIN' WOLF

16. SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN - CHUCK BERRY

17. BLUE MOON - ELVIS PRESLEY

18. JUST A DREAM - JIMMY CLANTON

19. PEACE TRAIN - YUSUF ISLAM/CAT STEVENS

20. REVOLUTION - THE BEATLES

May 5, 2013

Movie of the Week - Stamping Ground: Holland Pop Festival (1970)

The 1970 festival Stamping Ground was also called the "Dutch Woodstock". It that took place in Rotterdam, with attendance estimated at 350,000.

01 - Santana - Gumbo
02 - Al Stewart - Zero She Flies
03 - Canned Heat - Human Condition
04 - Canned Heat - So Sad
05 - T-Rex - Pavillions Of Sun
06 - Jefferson Airplane - Saturday Afternoon
07 - It’s A Beautiful Day - Wasted Union Blues
08 - Family - Drowned In Wine
09 - Country Joe - Freedom Is A Constant
10 - Dr. John & The Night Trippers - Mardi Gras Day
11 - It’s A Beautiful Day - Open Up Your Hearts
12 - Flock - Big Bird
13 - The Byrds - Old Blue
14 - Jefferson Airplane - interview Thompson, Kanter & Grace Slick
15 - Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
16 - Jefferson Airplane - Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil
17 - Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
18 - Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets
19 - Santana - Savor - Jingo

Hat tip to Dangerous Minds

Dec 30, 2012

Stephane Grappelli: An Appreciation by John Medd

Big thanks to UK reader (and writer) John Medd for contributing this nice appreciation for Stephane Grappelli - co-founder of The Hot Club of France, and tops in that ever under appreciated subgenre of jazz: jazz violin. Take it away, John:

Source

By the late 1960s/early 1970s the artist formerly known as Stephane Grappelly (he changed the spelling mid career as he was tired of people pronouncing it ‘Grappell – eye’) was playing to ever diminishing audiences. His best years, seemingly, were behind him. Grappelli’s friend Django Reinhardt, the gypsy jazz guitarist who he'd formed the iconic Quintet of The Hot Club of France, had died in 1953 leaving Grappelli to make a succession of lacklustre albums, often with disinterested musicians.

But in 1973 a very strange thing happened. Grappelli was asked to play the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK. At first he was reticent thinking he was too old - he was 65 - and that nobody would turn out to hear a pensioner playing jazz. He was wrong on both counts. Very wrong. Not only did they love him, but he was the hit of the festival. Overnight he’d found a new audience, a younger audience, who lapped up his intoxicating gypsy jazz stylings.

His appearance at Cambridge was a turning point. All of a sudden the white haired, flamboyant shirt wearing fiddle player was in demand. And everyone wanted to play with him; not least classical virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, with whom he would go on to make some six albums, notably Strictly For The Birds and Tea For Two. They played every major concert hall in the world from Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall. And who can for get their legendary television performance on the Parkinson chat show?

Photo by Murdo MacLeod, via The Guardian

But it was in 1979 when he met UK guitarist Martin Taylor that Grappelli really got his second wind. Taylor was introduced to Grappelli by another jazz guitar great, Ike Isaacs. When Taylor was asked to deputise for Grappelli’s then guitarist who was injured, Grappelli was so impressed that he asked Taylor to stay. Taylor’s love of gypsy jazz meant he was the ideal sparring partner for Grappelli - who must have seen more than a glimmer of the young Django Reinhardt in Taylor’s playing (Taylor would later go on to form his own band, Spirit of Django, where he kept the gypsy jazz flame burning).

Grappelli made several albums with Taylor over a ten-year period and much of their output remains some of Grappelli’s most satisfying recordings of his 60+ year recording career. From 1983’s We’ve Got The World On A String to 2003’s Reunion, the pair seemed able to read each other’s minds; such was the brilliance of their playing together. I remember seeing them perform in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in the late 80s, where I shook Grappelli’s hand, and I will never forget his spell binding performance that evening.

He never retired, always saying that he would ‘play ‘til the final curtain.’ He died in 1997 after a hernia operation.

John Medd

www.johnmedd.blogspot.com

Editors note - In case you thought Grappelli was just an old jazzer, check out this version of "Wish You Were Here" from the Experience Edition of the famed Pink Floyd album:

Aug 22, 2012

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play on TOTP (1967)

The audio has been updated by the uploader as the original is a bit ropey.

Aug 4, 2012

Movie of the Week - Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here, released in September 1975, was the follow up album to the globally successful The Dark Side Of The Moon and is cited by many fans, as well as band members Richard Wright and David Gilmour, as their favorite Pink Floyd album. On release it went straight to number one in both the UK and the US, and topped the charts in many other countries around the world. This program tells the story of the making of this landmark release through new interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason and archive interviews with the late Richard Wright. Also featured are sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson, guest vocalist Roy Harper, front cover burning man Ronnie Rondell and others involved in the creation of the album. In addition, original recording engineer Brian Humphries revisits the master tapes at Abbey Road Studios to illustrate aspects of the songs construction.