SUMMER DAYS REFLECTION SONGS

The following albums seemed to choose themselves to be my soundtrack this summer, together with the memories and thoughts they uncovered while I listened. Handing you over to them right now...

Jimi Hendrix Experience / Axis: Bold As Love

I first became aware of Jimi Hendrix in the late 70s, when a friend brought to school a recent compilation 'The Essential Jimi Hendrix'. In those days, albums were carried around the playground like badges of honour, and of course, to appear cool! As so often has been the case, before hearing anything, just catching an image of an artist can trigger something in me. That day, the image of Hendrix on that cover seemed to freeze me in the moment. Here was a real 'cool' dude, looking right back at me! What would the music of this guy sound like? Of course, I didn't dare ask, best to appear like I already knew, '...oh, Hendrix...cool, man!' It was all part of the game, but at the same time I was also thinking that it might be worth checking out this Hendrix character and making it soon!

I found a cheap reissue single 'Purple Haze' b/w 'Foxey Lady', and with my mind sufficiently blown, I was on the hunt to hear more. Strangely, considering it was Jimi Hendrix, this proved to be difficult. The local record shops could be quite hit and miss sometimes and they seemed to 'miss' for me at that time with Hendrix. However, one afternoon just a few months later, I happened to be at the house of another friend. This friend had an older brother, but more importantly, this friend's older brother also had a sizable record collection, which we were now set to plunder. Oh, but you may have already guessed, the older brother wasn't there at the time...

Jimi Hendrix / Axis: Bold As Love (slight digression)...

It was also on this particular afternoon that I heard The Velvet Underground for the first time, via the '1969 Live' album. It's all coming back now. 'What Goes On'! What a trance-out! Those words, what did they mean and should I even care? 'Waiting For The Man', 'Sweet Jane', 'Rock 'n' Roll', 'Heroin', each of these songs went through my mind in quick succession and sent it soaring. This was unchartered territory. Lou Reed was certainly direct and hid nothing. It's hard to believe now, but I bought my first Velvet Underground album ('Loaded') a few weeks later from a John Menzies shop. JOHN MENZIES! See what I mean about the hit and miss of record shops in my area? Strange days indeed.

Jimi Hendrix / Axis: Bold As Love (slight return)...

From the pile of albums my friend pulled out The Jimi Hendrix Experience 'Axis: Bold As Love'. To cast your eyes over that cover for the first time. Wow, very colourful, but the sounds I heard when 'Axis' hit the deck were extraordinary, otherworldly, but also strangely comforting and I could picture what I was hearing. Three songs, 'Little Wing', 'If 6 Was 9' and 'Castles Made Of Sand' really stood out.

'Little Wing'. Real beauty and tenderness in just 2 minutes 24 seconds. A wonderful arrangement and a lesson to songwriters that 'less is more'! The opening verse, even now, leaves me starry-eyed, yet torn between prolonging the bliss and in a rush to hear the guitar solo! Oh, the agony! Being a sentimental old fool, it's also a song I associate with my time living in Manchester a little while later. 'Fly on Little Wing...'

'If 6 Was 9'. Imaginative title! A rallying call for freedom and individuality with a poke at the 'straights' too. This song resonated with my then angry teenage self, 'I'm going to wave my freak flag high...' Oh yeah! Later, when I got into The Doors, 'Five To One' reminded me of 'If 6 Was 9'. Another song with similar sentiments that also had a lasting effect. Numbers in the title too! Ah, but 'I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now...'

'Castles Made Of Sand'. This song reflects the fragility of life and its unexpected turns. It appears all rather depressing but for the optimistic twist at the end. The girl in the third verse, who feels she has nothing to live for, suddenly cries out in wonderment from the edge of the shore '...look, a golden winged ship is passing my way...' and this ship, well, '...it just kept on going'... A metaphor for life worth living. I like that...

'Axis' still continues to fascinate me. It's also one of the few albums I have more than one copy of. You know sometimes, those CD reissues with replica sleeves are good ideas! Then there's the temptation of mono and stereo versions. Not always, but most definitely in the case of 'Axis', these are sometimes worth comparing. Ah, you saw me coming your way again, Mr. Marketing Man!

'Gold and rose, the colour of a dream I had, not too long ago...'


Sendelica / An Introduction To...

I had begun listening to FdM's recent 'An Introduction To Sendelica' back in May, when the sad news of Pete Bingham's passing was announced.

I only met Pete once, briefly, just after Sendelica's full-on set at the 2013 'Summer Fruits de Mer All-Dayer' in London. 'I bet you enjoyed that!', I remarked, which Pete returned with a knowing smile! For the next few years, up until I closed Heyday, we were in touch. I'd place orders with him for new Sendelica releases, of which there were plenty! His work ethic was sound. No matter the size of the order, each one was dealt with promptly, professionally and solely, by Pete. I admired that. It was often pointed out to me how well Heyday packages were sealed ready for delivery, but I have to admit it took a fair amount of time to gain access to Pete's parcels too! I admired that as well. He was dedicated to every venture.

I much preferred the band's 'atmospheric' offerings over the live 'wig-outs' or cover versions, although a couple of 'variations', on Pink Floyd and Funkadelic were interesting and appear on this set. Yes, I liked to 'press play to drift away' when listening to Sendelica, it gave me the opportunity to appreciate the band's musicianship and arrangements more.

'Introduction...' is an interesting cross-section of the band's varied output with almost a full disc of cover versions and another complete with live recordings from the Crabstock and Sardonicus events, but for me, it's the middle two discs of 'Random Rarities' I've listened to most.

The first 'Random Rarities' begins with two early recordings, 'Mr. Floyd Walker' and 'Dawn Of The Dub', both new to me, but together they set the scene perfectly for this mostly ambient/trippy disc. The band's contributions to FdM's 'Strange Fish' collection are also included and good to hear once more, this time side by side for full effect! The 24 minute 'Strange Fish' is made up of various passages that feature mostly just guitar and bass, but eventually a distant and lonesome sax drifts in to add further atmosphere. It's not a seamless arrangement of pieces, but the overall effect remains calming.


'80% Neon Bridge Of Sighs’ follows, with the guitar playing now even more emotive. The sax again deserves a special mention. Here, the playing 'flows' again, compared to when used in more 'heavier' Sendelica pieces. On those I found it would often jar with me. I still get a sense of an underlying tension, distress even, in the choice of voices sampled for this quite mellow work and often wondered why they were used. I've never been 'bright' enough to figure out the title either. All very intriguing, but I'll keep trying!


Next lands 'Mothership', ah, 'Mothership', the previously unreleased and extended(!!) demo for 'Occhiolism', now just short of half an hour in length. I'm more than happy to lose myself in this musical expanse and emerge each time from it feeling quite humbled! It's an overwhelming listen, which is the definition of occhiolism, in a way, I suppose? Not wishing to be too critical, but the inclusion of an unreleased alternative mix of 'Ziggy Stardust' to close out the disc does spoil its overall mood, but hey ho, these are 'random' rarities!

The second disc appears to be an even more 'random' selection, beginning with another track new to me, the demo of 'Clever Meat'. I'm fascinated by the groove on this one, there feels an urgency to it and yet no hurry at all. The gentle 'Lightstar' from 'The Cromlech Chronicles' has long been a favourite of mine, but what's that I hear once more? Ah, that lovely lonesome sax! Lovely too, is the haunting glockenspiel mix of 'Arizona Spree' conjuring up perfectly in my mind a hot deserted landscape. There's a real cinematic quality to this track - Roll over Morricone, and tell Ry Cooder the news! Some tasteful guitar playing too, just back there in the mix, listen closely...


Hearing 'Return Of Maggot Brain' carries extra poignancy now, in light of Pete's passing, and has become, to my mind, the centrepiece of this entire collection. For the recording of Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain', George Clinton requested guitarist Eddie Hazel to play as if he'd just been told his mother had passed away, but then discovered that in fact, she was still alive. To express in music these extremes of feeling and in one solo too...well! Hazel's solo is emotional enough to hear, but listening again now to Pete's interpretation, it makes me feel his loss all the more. Thank you Pete, both for the music and all you brought to FdM too. Rest easy.


Pink Floyd / Live From The Los Angeles Sports Arena April 26th, 1975

A year or so ago I was given a box of Pink Floyd CDRs. Well, who was I to refuse such an offer? The discs spanned the years 1967 to 1977 and were mainly audience recordings of live performances. Listening to shows from the early 70s, I found it interesting to be able to trace the evolution of some of the band's more 'epic' songs, later to grace 'Atom Heart Mother', 'Meddle', 'Dark Side Of The Moon', 'Wish You Were Here', even 'Animals'. It also brought to my mind a quote of Syd's I'd once read, where he linked the music of his former bandmates back to their student days...

"Their choice of material was always very much to do with what they were thinking as architecture students. Rather unexciting people, I would've thought, primarily...but the choice of material was restricted, I suppose, by the fact that both Roger and I wrote different things."

I think he made a keen observation there: much of the music after Syd is structural, more rigid, and deliberately constructed, compared with his much looser, art-school-influenced flights of imagination. I continue to enjoy Syd's Floyd, but over time, I've come to appreciate the rather more 'grand' 70s efforts by the band a lot more than I ever used to. Certain tracks such as, 'Echoes', 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', and even 'Atom Heart Mother', become almost monumental in some of the live performances found in this treasure trove of a beat-up box. However, I've since discovered a glaring omission! It came to light only recently when from the official archives appeared 'Live From The Los Angeles Sports Arena, April 26th, 1975'. Now restored by Steven Wilson, this show was originally recorded by renowned US taper Mike Millard and was justified in being regarded as one of the more famous unofficial live recordings. I've been listening to it repeatedly, it is indeed a fine performance and a welcome addition to my stash!

The show begins with a taster for 'Animals' - 'Raving And Drooling' (early 'Sheep') and 'You've Got to Be Crazy' (early 'Dogs') - musically there, or almost, but not lyrically. Abridged sets for 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Dark Side Of The Moon' then form the bulk of the performance and, ahem, rather modestly, there's 'Echoes' for the encore! I doubt that the band was ever more powerful! Admittedly, this was the standard set throughout 1975 and I'd heard a few shows already, but the quality of the 'L.A.' performance here makes all the difference.

As an aside to Syd's previous quote about songwriting, I think the playing style of each member here reflects their individual personalities. The ever reliable Gilmour, plays with exactness and precision. The gentle, unassuming Wright, who may be out to the side of things, but listen more closely and he's everywhere in the music. Then there's the steady, diplomatic Mason at the back, playing only what's required of each song. However, it's the no-nonsense Waters that leaves the biggest impression. There's some quite formidable bass playing here, getting right down there under each song, but up high in the mix, making it difficult to ignore as it drives both the band and the whole show! Hey, I'm not even his biggest fan either, but credit where it's due etc...

Highlight? It's the 'Dark Side Of The Moon' section. The feelings these songs have always evoked in me, particularly regarding time, are even more keenly felt now with the passing of time. No prizes for guessing which song I'm referring to here and especially these lines!

'You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today,

And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you'

and

'Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time'

Too true, all too true...

'Eclipse' is another such song. It reminds me of 'See Me Feel Me' in the way it succeeds in reaching deep inside while the music and words rise all around...

'All that is now, all that is gone, all that's to come'...

Much here to ponder on, eh?

I can't ignore here either, the haunting 'Great Gig In The Sky', sombre 'Breathe', Us and Them' and 'Brain Damage', all still succeeding in turning me inside out! Roger Waters has since dismissed the lyrics on 'Dark Side Of The Moon' as being very much like 'upper fifth form' or 'sixth-form poetry', oh, really? Well, sir, you don't fool me!

It's really been quite a summer for the emotions...