Digging Deep Into Beau’s Latest LP ‘The Magic Of Public Relations’
Born in 1946 in North England, Trevor Midgley has always loved words and word-play, reflected in stage-names too: C.J.T. Midgley first took the stage in The Raiders, who laid four tracks in a BBC studio while in their teens. (They had a roaring reunion in Leeds in 2001.) As Beau, he released two albums for […]
Sir Lord Baltimore: Revisting The Works of America’s Original Heavy Metal Band
If we traveled back to a time when media reaction was singular rather than pandemic (bringing back the true meaning of viral!), hindsight might provide an interesting panorama or even perspective. The year 1968 just happened to be a leap-year, and diverse characters such as Celine Dion, Kylie Monologue (sorry, Minogue), Thom Yorke and Hair […]
An Insiders Look at 12-String Guitar Maestro and Poet Beau’s ‘Damascus Road’
To celebrate the exact day in April 1969 when Beau (i.e. Trevor Midgley) released his debut album for John Peel’s legendary Dandelion Records (Medicine Head, Stack Waddy, Gene Vincent etc.), comes the digital release of Damascus Road fifty years down the highway. He also appeared on the highly-collectable sampler album of that label, There Is […]
Pearls Before Swine, Tom Rapp & The First Dawning of American Psych Folk: Revisiting’City of Gold’ & ‘Beautiful Lies You Could Live In’
Pearls Before Swine are placed in the liner notes somewhere between the Incredible String Band, Mimi & Richard Farina, Tim Buckley…and Love. Some have likened one of these albums to alt-country but that’s only a fraction: for most the biblically-named Pearls Before Swine are really the vehicle for Tom Rapp and the first dawning of […]
Looking Back At Johnny Winter and ‘I’m a Bluesman’ Reissue
One of the important comeback albums in blues-rock this century has just been reissued in the UK by a label devoted to his catalogue. Johnny Winter’s I’m A Bluesman (Talking Elephant Records TECD334), first released by Virgin/EMI in 2004 to acclaim (one of seven Grammy nominations in his career), the title was a sharp riposte […]
Incredible String Band – Ducks on a Pond (ALBUM REVIEW)
[rating=9.00] The Incredible String Band’s evolution is well-documented from its origins fifty years ago on the Edinburgh folk scene with Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer, the joining of Mike Heron for the debut in ’66 then leaving of Palmer for India and a solo career, to the expansion of the successful duo to a quartet […]
Manny Charlton – Sharp/Sharp Reloaded (ALBUM REVIEW)
Looking more American than Colonel Sanders these days in cool (weather-wise) Hawaii shirt and trade-mark moustache, Manny Charlton is now an ex-pat in Texas who was born in Spain in 1941 but started his career in Dunfermline Scotland. Homeland of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Teargas (from which SAHB grew), Beggars Opera, Writing on the […]
Peter Ulrich Collaboration – Painted Caravan (Album Review)
[rating=8.00] Some bands become known not due to corporate record label exposure but word-of-mouth reputation. From this platform, individual members gain kudos and experience to branch off into solo work. Here is a case of the parent band itself being a collaboration of individuals who have other projects, and as the years go by may […]
Love, Poetry and Revolution: A Journey Through the British Psychedelic And Underground Scenes
With the emergence of CD box sets, two specialties seem to be rising to the top like natural selection. Perhaps one’s a direct result of the other, who knows, but we now have the best label compilations (Island, Vertigo, Harvest, Dandelion, Dawn etc.) along with current labels compiling genre anthologies. Just released by Grapefruit Records, […]