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Greetings devoted…this month’s column contains so many tropical tidbits that the reader is advised to sit under an umbrella while perusing the following ( a tall cool drink wouldn’t hurt matters any either): first and formost ( sic): it seems that for the second time, MICK TAYLOR will be replacing a deceased guitarist. This time the star-crossed PAUL KOSSOFF in Back Street Crawler…WAYNE PERKINS and ALBERT LEE have also been mentioned as possible replacements, but Mr. Taylor seems in the lead…and speaking of stand-in guitarists, BRIAN CONNOLLY of SWEET told RATW recently that originally PETE TOWNSHEND was going to play on Sweet’s version of ‘My Generation’ ( from the British ‘Desolation Blvd.’) and that it was ultimately more a matter of timing than anything else that prevented Pete from lending a windmill guitar chord or two to the frenetic proceedings…recent visitors to the RATW interview couch include RUSS BALLARD, BOB WEIR, DONOVAN, BAD CO., GENESIS, LYNYRD SKYNYRD and a host of others • ( we ran out of couches)…sleeper groups for May include the DOCTORS OF MADNESS, LE MMY’ S MOTORHE AD, AYERS ROCK, WIGWAM, ETHOS, BROKEN GLASS and STEVE GIBBONS…watch for more club appearances as bands return to smaller fees and closer contact with their audience…a quick scan of artists working this scene includes BEBOP DELUXE, DR. FEELGOOD, ROBERT PALMER, DONOVAN, and THE SUTHERLAND BROTHERS…Bands We Haven’t Heard From Dept. – but – currently treading the boards abroad are MANFRED MANN’S EARTHBAND, NUTZ, JESS RODEN, COLOSSEUM II, CARAVAN AND WIDOWMAKER, ARIEL BENDER’S ( nee LUTHER GROSVENOR) new band, the lad’s first sonic connection since MOTT…featured vocalist for the band is STEVE ELLIS…on the gentler side of the guitar, BERT JANSCH has a new collection of friends including exLINDISFARNER ROD CLEMENTS…seems the two GENESIS trap tappers PHIL COLLINS and BILL BRUFORD went hunting for blondes and found bands instead recently
in Sweden, Phil with an outfit called TOBBEN and ERO and Bill with ABSOLUTE NOWHERE ( hopefully a location, not a direction) on an LP called ‘In Search of Ancient Gods’… it’s based on the works of ERICH VON DANIKEN and purports to contain actual sounds from outer space ( like…’Kirk to Enterprise’)…We here at RATW were dead chuffed recently to receive a letter from STEVE HARLEY in Helsinki, Finland where COCKNEY REBEL reportedly melted all the snow around; ( latest reports are that Harley & Co. have achieved complete emotional empathy with their audiences in Great Britain as well…) huzzahs to Steven and the lads and hurry back to the U.S. soon…ANDY BOWN is currently tickling the ivories for STATUS QUO on their British tour and headed this way…major new vinyl releases from Britain feature CHRIS SPEDDING, SMOKIE, and BACK DOOR…I can’t Believe My Ears Dept. – how’s this for a concert line-up? THE WHO THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND, LITTLE FEAT, OUTLAWS and THE STREETWALKERS…yep, ‘Who Put the Boot In’ as the tour is called will play three dates – London, Glasglow and Swansea ( no, not the whole cities) long live dedicated musicians…this
month’s TROUPER AWARD goes to electric JOHN WETTON currently of URIAH HEEP, formerly KING CRIMSON, ROXY MUSIC, FAMILY, etc. etc. etc….while on stage recently, he was subjected to a severe shock and fell to his knees while playing…revived, he returned, collapsed again and did the last part of the set…he’s currently healthy and holding down Uriah Heep’s bass spot and
acting as spare generator…ANDREW 1
McCULLOCH ( GREENSLADE, KING CRIMSON) has an idea for a band relying heavily on synchronized tapes (Waal, again?)… Irish hocksters THIN LIZZY, who absolutely destroyed the Reading Festival in England last summer, are in America at this
very moment plotting the same thing ( Thin!
Lizzy Borden took his axe…) promising new band in 1975, JUDAS PRIEST, back with a new album titled ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’…the long awaited collaboration album featuring MIKE MANTLER, CARLA BLEY, ROBERT WYATT, TERJE RYDAL and others is finished…titled ‘The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Stories’ it’s an album that grabs you by the throat and holds your attention; it’s said to be Robert Wyatt’s best singing ever…VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR finished delivering another emotion laden
creation from the depths of the mixing board, titled ‘Still Life’…new I-Don’t-Believe-It group of the week: STEVIE WINWOOD, MIKE SHRIEVE , STOMU YAMASHTA, KLAUS SCHULZE and AL DIMEOLA will perform truly international music at London’s Royal Albert Hall…an album follows…the Chameleon In Retirement, PETER GABRIEL, will submerge into the fangs of New York in June and July to produce an album with Bob Ezrin (you can’t keep a good wraith down)…ELP are said to finally be ready for the road and studio after
hopefully they’ll keep the taxman from the door…Nice Flash Dept. – PETE BANKS, guitarist from YES and FLASH is forming a new band with ex-NICE bassist LEE JACKSON lastly, we here at RATW would like to take a moment to express our great sorrow at the loss of three great musicians – PHIL OCHS, DUSTER BENNETT and PAUL KOSOFF – they paid the ultimate dues for you and me…
NewsYou Can Use…
News Dissector, WBCN FM-Boston
You can’t use most of news that comes your way. In fact, it’s hard to keep the daily dose of names, places, and developments straight, much less digest its meaning. News stories break like waves over the beach of our collective consciousness, rolling in with information, and then washing awareness away as the headline recedes. Occasionally some insight remains like so much drift wood –hard to hold on to unless you take the trouble to seek it out. As the Stones understood years ago, nobody wants yesterdays papers.
At the same time, we are living in a time of great change and exciting possibilities. There is news that we desperately need to understand, to absorb into our bloodstream, to use to transform ourselves and our society. That’s what this column will be about news you can use, some guidelines to the art of reading between the lines, and some resources that most folks do not know about which spotlight specific issues that are often treated in superficial and misleading ways by the Establishment press.
THE MUSICAL NEWS:
By way of a brief tribute to the late Phil Ochs, may I call your attention to a
proliferating number of records with political themes. They are being released on such labels as Paredon and Rounder; Folkways and Olivia. These are not the sorts of records that get a lot of radio play or find their way into most of the big record stores. Yet there is one store I know of that distributes a fine catalog of a wide range of such music which is available by mail. Write to Bread and Roses Community Music Center, 1724 20th Street NW, Washington DC 20009.
EVENTS TO WATCH FOR:
A number of major alternative events are being cooked up for this year’s bicentennial. On July 4, the People’s Bicentennial Commission (PBC) is planning a massive rally at the Capitol in Washington. The theme: ‘Economic Democracy’…Meanwhile, up the coast in the City of Brotherly Love, a coalition of leftist organizations will be joining the Puerto Rican Socialist Party for a major mobilization to press for the independence of Puerto Rico. The slogan: ‘A Bicentennial Without Colonies’…and in New Orleans, promoter Bryan Lukas is reportedly rounding up some of the biggest names in the music business for a major benefit for the United
Nations. Lukas says the rock concert, which he hopes will featurethe Stones:The Band and the four ex-Beatles will take place in the New Orleans Superdome. While only ‘a closed audience’ of media, record and movie industry representatives will be able to get into the live performance, it will be simultaneously beamed to closed circuit audiences around the world. According to the promoter, Peter Fonda will emcee the event_ Says Lukas: ‘The concert is designed as a birthday party for the U.S. and we’re inviting the world.’ The projected date is july 24th. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NEGLECTED NEWS STORY?
Some of the most important and intriguing news stories are barely covered by the American media. Writing in Harpers, M.I.T. Professor Edward Diamond polled a number of prominent people about those news stories they considered the most neglected. Among the responses: The massive dismissal of teachers across the country and the impact of cutbacks in education; Just what were we doing in Angola, and what was the extent of U.S. collaboration with South Africa?; Is 8 percent unemployment really inevitable?;
and what was the full extent of questionable or illegal domestic-political payoffs. Notes Diamond: ‘The mass amnesia of Senators and Congressmen about bundles in the $15,000 to $50,000 dollar range rivals that of postwar Germany where no one could be found who remembered the Nazis.’ Among the reasons for a lack of analysis or follow-up on many of these stories is a tendency for the media to rely on official sources. I would be interested in which story readers of this publication consider to be the most neglected. You can share your pick with me by writing: News Dissector, WBCN 5005 Prudential Tower. Boston, MA 02199.
That’s news.
