People from Andy's formative ....... Part 4 (Part 3)

Continuing the discussion from People from Andy's formative ....... Part 4 - #100 by M1EYP.

Previous discussions:

1 Like

Gentlemen.

Before I was licenced I learned to be very careful about discussing three topics in public or on air
Sex
Religion
Politics

Dead musicians who made appalling music may be discussed if it helps come to terms with a misspent youth.

Just my upside down view.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

7 Likes

Yours or his, Ron? :wink:

2 Likes

Brian,

You can decide on that.

There is no doubt I should have made more of my youth so it was certainly misspent. It wasnā€™t entirely wasted in that I managed to avoid listening to a lot of dreadful rubbish that was being passed off as music.

However this thread isnā€™t about me. The title says it all.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

2 Likes

A colleague once said after the birth of his daughter:
ā€œIf she has just a little bit of him, he is already scared.ā€

73 Armin

6 Likes

For many people, any music that they donā€™t like is ā€œdreadful rubbish!ā€ Iā€™m with Glod in ā€œSoul Musicā€: ā€œWhat an artist really, really wants is to be paIdā€!

1 Like

Absolutely Brian. It annoys me when I hear people slating music that is not to their taste - almost always the music in question is actually rather good, regardless of oneā€™s own taste.

Iā€™ll be perfectly content if I never hear another country & western tune ever again, but I recognise the quality of those recordings and the exceptional session musicians utilised on so many of them.

6 Likes

Anyway, Astrid Gilberto has left us.

I first heard her singing The Girl From Ipenama on a Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto album (vinyl) my sister had. Iā€™d been taken by Oscar Petersonā€™s Night Train album weā€™d bought for my dad for his birthday. But Oscar Peterson didnā€™t fit my hard rock image so I kept the fact I liked it quiet. Then my sister had this Stan Getz album which I also liked. Roll on a few years and I picked up the same album on CD. On that Astrid sang The Girl From Ipenema and Agua de Beber.

She had a pretty mesmerising voice and sang with a gentle and hesitant style. Bossa Nova played by excellent musicians and a lovely singer, whatā€™s not to like? Though she wasnā€™t a singer. She was the Portuguese translator for Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim with Stan Getz. She ended up singing because nobody else was available and a star was born.

Her style led to thousands of lovely laid-back ladies singing Bossa in her sensual style. And as a professional dirty old man, thereā€™s nothing more sensual that a pretty girl singing songs in Portuguese. Iā€™m sure you agree.

The Girl from Ipenema (with the fabulous Stan Getz)

Agua de Beber

And a modern version of Agua de Beber by a mainly US group but with the sensuality turned up past 11.

3 Likes

She was a marvellous singer, with great technique underlying that surface simplicity. I prefer her version of Aqua de Beber to the modern one, which sounds forced by comparioson.

2 Likes

If you hear vibrato, youā€™re hearing something other than genuine Brazilian singing.

EL

3 Likes

Robbie Robertson. The Band were a little before my time and I only recently discovered their music and how influencial they were to Clapton and Winwood - eg Derek and the Dominos. I didnā€™t believe they were Dylans backing band until I saw photos!

4 Likes

I forgot to reply to this one Fraser. I see lots of musicians quote The Band as a big influence. Iā€™ve listened and donā€™t like most of what Iā€™ve heard. Itā€™s one of those things, talented people playing the stuff I donā€™t take a shine too. Bit like Bob Dylan, heā€™s written some great songs which are best when performed by other people! :wink:

3 Likes

Bernie Marsden unplugs 59 Les Paul at only 72.

Bernie was a great guitarist and wrote one of the best rock songs to ever chart with Whitesnake, ā€œFool For Your Lovingā€. Heā€™d been in various bands like UFO and then was involved in two of the bands from the fallout of the break up of Deep Purple including Paice Ashton Lord (with Tony ā€œResurrection Shuffleā€ Ashton and then Whitesnake with Paice, Lord and the old love snake himself, David Coverdale. He played in many blues/blues-rock bands and as a solo artist after he left Whitesnake.

I saw him play a few songs as a support act to Joanne Shaw Taylor in Glasgow in 2014 and over the years Bernie had become a chunky monkey. He opened with his other famous Whitesnake song ā€œHere I Go Againā€ and I remember saying to Mrs. FMF as he walked to the mic ā€œI see David Coverdaleā€™s let himself go somewhat.ā€ I do remember we where near the front in a small venue and Bernie looked at Mrs. FMF probably wondering why she was laughing so hard.

Anyway, the best of the two versions of ā€œFool For Your Lovingā€ by Whitesnake, Bernie plays the lead guitar solo and is in the red T-Shirt. Neil Murrayā€™s bass playing and tone is sublime. A 43 year old song that sounds as fresh as when I first heard it.

Playing his 59 Les Paul. 59 sunburst Les Paul is the ultimate classic Les Paul and this was on sale for just one day for $1.3million

3 Likes

Thinking about it, maybe the vocals arenā€™t to everyoneā€™s liking. I have their Anthology album which I quite like with sings like ā€œCripple Creekā€ and ā€œTime To Killā€, the latter referring having time on your hands, not alluding to a Bond movie. :grinning:

Canā€™t argue with thatā€¦ and itā€™s not been played to death on the radio, which is probably why it remains as fresh as when it came out. Again, Whitesnakeā€™s Greatest Hits is a worthwhile buyā€¦ okay, download if you really must!

3 Likes

My band Manatees opened for Jim Kirkpatrick on a show a few years ago. Jim played with Bernie a lot. Anyway, my abiding memory of the evening was Neil Murray asking me if he could borrow my music stand!

3 Likes

Oh noes! Actor David McCallum dies aged 90.

David McCallum had many acting roles over his career but the one that stands out to me is of course, Illya Kuryakin the uber-cool spy in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He also starred in TV series The Invisible Man, Outer Limits, N.C.I.S and lots of other roles.

For me it was The Man From U.N.C.L.E. the epitome of 60s style with itā€™s camp and tongue in cheek portrayal of spies Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughan) and Illya Kuryakin (McCallum). With computers and kitsch bads guys nearly always with some faux East European/Russian/Asian accent and gadgets and gizmos. Oh and girls. A sheer stunning number of smoking hot 60s ladies all treated as glamour adornments, but hey it was the 60s. I remember watching it with my sister in B&W so that was before 1969 and hence Iā€™d be 7/8. I didnā€™t know what it was but even they I knew there was something about the women in it because it was one of the few things that my dad would come and watch with the pair of us. He wasnā€™t interested in Danger Man or The Saint or Department S which had a lower babe content :wink:

McCallum was cool personified as Kuryakin and Iā€™ve just had 30mins watching clips from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. You may find it hard to believe but I had forgotten that it has one of the ultimate TV theme tunes of all times, how could I ? Seeing it now on Youtube and itā€™s like the last 54 years havenā€™t happened. Iā€™m sat with my sister and father watching it.

David McCallum as Kuryakin with typical girls from the show.

I watched The Invisible Man seriesā€¦ he had an LCD watch in 1975-ish which was truely wonderous stuff. But his later stuff, Saphire and Steel and N.C.I.S. I never watched. Well how could they compete.

The wonderful theme tune and some kitsch clips

ā€œOpen channel Dā€ was your famous saying :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Another one gone. Ah, the days of big hair, short skirts and trouser suits! ā€œSapphire and Steelā€ was cool but serious and somewhat strange, I enjoyed it, but yes, it wasnā€™t a totti-fest.

2 Likes

Being a decade older than you Andy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was quite an attraction for me. As you say, not PC nowadays. Certainly ā€œof its timeā€. :grinning:

3 Likes

Seen on Glasgow Green

2 Likes

Saw Alex Harvey at Clifton College of Education, Nottingham, circa 1973, a great performance. Numbers performed included ā€˜No More Mr Nice Guyā€™ & ā€˜St Anthonyā€™ from memory.

2 Likes