I missed so much of the show today, and unfortunately, I wasn't familiar enough with the songs to recognize them on my own. But, as usual, it was totally awesome and if you are a musician I hope you didn't miss it. Jonesy had Chris Spedding on and it was a GREAT, GREAT interview-- or discussion, rather-- with the producer of three tracks on NEVER MIND THE BULLOCKS: NO FEELINGS, PRETTY VACANT, PROBLEMS, plus loads of other stuff.
12:25PM
I heard these announced, I didn't hear the tracks. I think the Captain Beefheart might have been a Spedding cover.
John Cale, MR WILSON (for Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, they said)
Captain Beefheart, CLICK CLACK
Eno, NEEDLES IN A CAMEL'S EYE
?, POGO DANCING
Spedding was talking about playing violin and being in band class in school. Bill Haley turned him on to rock and to guitars. In 1956 he was 12 years old in Sheffield, and he was a Teddy Boy.
Then he and Jonesy played ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, and Spedding was like "oh no- I didn't know I'd be put to the test!" But they did it great! They actually sounded really great together although neither knew the lyrics.
The Duke
Then they played a Chuck Berry song I didn't know, but it was pretty awesome.
Spedding had a band called The Sharks. He said he'd missed session work and that's why he's not a shark anymore.
The Sharks, ?
(I missed some stuff in here. Everyone thinks Mercury is still retrograde because all the drivers today are just trying to kill each other! I get more phone calls when stuff is bad than good... The life of a witch...anyhow, I missed a lot here.)
Dave Sampson and the Hunters, ?
They talked about English comfort food (for Jonesy it was "Marrow and Nips, made by his Gran... that's marrow served with parsnips and turnips) and they talked some more about music they grew up with. I missed a lot here, too.
The Duke: HB Toyota, a motocross movie
Spedding played with Bryan Ferry in 1977. Spedding said Ferry is really cool. Spedding played guitar on the next track.
Bryan Ferry, PRICE OF LOVE
Then a really cool reminiscing about Kings Road and all the shops near Westwood's. I wish I had been able to write faster all the places he named and described. Jonesy said he used to nick stuff whenever he could because he grew up with a tin bath and outdoor toilet in a tenement building. He said he'd watch the telly and see all this stuff that he wanted. He said now he realizes that was wrong, to view things that way.
Jonesy used to go into this one shop where no one was ever around. He stole stuff like clothes and some other stuff. He didn't know about drugs then and didn't know that they were all in the back shooting up. That's why no one was watching the store. He tried to apologize and make amends later but Jonesy said the guy was all laid back and "whatever." But Jonesy was very adamant about "coming clean." He said would have bought the guy another velvet rhinestone suit! Hehehe.
?, ANGEL EYES
??
Little Richard, LUCILLE
and a few more songs that I either did not know or did not hear.
Then they talked about how Spedding got the Pistols' producing job. He said that everyone was trashing the Pistols but no one had heard them!!! He offered to produce a demo as long as MacLaren brought along cash to pay for the studio. The old skinflint paid for the recording, but Spedding never got any money for the work! They both agreed that Spedding had gotten off easy in not getting stuck with the bill for the studio!
The Duke
Jonesy said that Spedding was the real guitar on the record, and that he was just "the face." He said he was coming clean. (Jonesy was doing that a lot today! I wonder if looming 50 is leaning heavily upon his conscience?) Spedding laughed. (But I didn't hear a heavy denial? I don't know.) Jonesy sure can wield the axe now, says Spedding.
Jonesy asked if Spedding had ever nicked anything from Ferry or any other artist? Spedding said he'd never been able to, because he'd always get caught right away so he quit trying. Jonesy was cracking me up today. He said that one time he stole a Strobe tuner from the Roxy Music kit truck. He said if he ever met Ferry he'd offer to make it up to him. Strobe tuners were the first tuners, and they were huge. Neither of them thought that Ferry missed the tuner, and perhaps didn't even know what one was.
They played another song together and spun a few of Speddings' tracks, which I mostly missed and didn't hear the announcements.
Billy Fury, NIGHT OF A THOUSAND STARS
Chris Spedding and The Hunters
Spedding was a Womble (spelling?). It was a television show with hand puppets. It became very popular and turned into a thing like at Chucky Cheese, I gather from the description, except real people in big furry suits playing pop songs. And they had records, so I guess kind of like the Chimpmunks a little bit, too. Spedding was only a Womble two times. He was "Wellington Womble."
The last song was
REMEMBER YOU'RE A WOMBLE
Great show!
It's worth checking out Spedding's website. http://www.chrisspedding.com/ He's had a really amazing career.
And he is so awesome... well, except for his trashing of Jimmy Page. He calls him a "lesser Clapton." But you know, I get into the Jimmy Page arguement with almost every musician I have ever known. Everyone loooooooves Jeff Beck. Sorry, but whenever I listen to Beck I feel like I'm in music school trying to figure out what the free resolution of the minor feckin' seventh chord is.
And Clapton, sorry, but boooooring... Well, at least post-Yardbirds.
Anyhow, I will try to get the stats on the re-broadcast, if I am able to listen then. I hope you were able to listen, because he and Jonesy were talking about, and spinning, the music that --a very young-- Spedding and Jonesy's parents were listening to---and also a lot of the people whose music we love, like Roxy Music.
This is what I mean, friends, about Jonesy's show. All these fifties songs, and Billy Fury and stuff, take on a whole new meaning and even sound different in this context, this uniquely British youngster context. And then Jonesy spins the Bryan Ferry version of an Everly Brothers song, and even though I have been listening to Roxy Music for years, all of sudden some aspect of the music that I'd never heard before jumps out at me. It was like a little tour of personal musical roots and I loved it.
I loved remembering music I had never heard before.
GOD SAVE JONESY!
No comments:
Post a Comment