Sunday 31 August 2014

At home with the Lennons, 1967

Another picture of domesticity, but one that was to come to an end soon afterwards. It is the Spring of 1967 and John Lennon is putting his feet up at the family home he shared with first wife Cynthia and their son Julian in Weybridge, Surrey.  

Surrounded by the traditional framed pictures and ornaments are the tell-tale signs of someone who has turned on to a new way of life, but has not quite let go of the old one. He's reading a copy of the counter-culture newspaper International Times and the cabinets are festooned with promotional stickers for Captain Beefheart's new album.

John's mind was clearly miles away from here. But while Paul McCartney was living in the heart of London, close to Abbey Road studios, John was cut off from all that and was going through what Cynthia described as his 'neurotic phase'. 

She said, "He didn't know where his life was going and he was fed up with being a Beatle. He'd spend a lot of his time in bed with a notepad. When he woke up he'd write a few words down and then maybe go over to the piano. He was basically dropping out. Everything he was doing outside the home was pretty high-powered."

As Derek Taylor attested, John also seemed to spend a lot of time taking acid, even once remarking one morning, as he was driving Taylor in his psychedelic Rolls Royce, that he had it for breakfast. 

1967 marked a real turning point for The Beatles. Having unveiled their crowning achievement as a band, Sgt Pepper, in June, they had shed the final layers of their moptop image and were in full experimental mode musically. 

Though they were forced to keep the whole Beatle gravy train on the rails, they had become disillusioned with it all. They had stopped touring, so it was only in the studio where they were still in any sense a band. 

As it was, they "battled on against overwhelming oddities" through 1967 and 68 with Magical Mystery Tour and the White Album. John's pursuit of something to make sense of his life brought about his fateful meeting with Yoko, the encounter that would lead him to, as he said, "break up a happily married state of boredom".

with son Julian, 1967

As Philip Norman writes in his biography of Lennon: "All four Beatles, kaftaned and beaded, sat at the yogi's feet to listen to his Buddhist wisdom. This was mysticism in an easily digested, tabloid form, instantly appealing to young earthly gods for whom real self-denial was unthinkable. 

"His route to spiritual regeneration involved no special training, no memorising of complex prayers or incantations, and next to no personal inconvenience. It was bliss without the effort. "

John wanted to take Yoko, but since the pilgrimage included wives, he had no choice but to take Cynthia. They stayed in a village on the banks of the River Ganges (Rishikesh) looking towards the snow-flecked Himalayas, though their living conditions were far from spartan. Their bungalows had hot water and western plumbing, and a handful of two-rupee notes bought extra home comforts, from chocolate bars to booze and hash. 

For all the Beatles, it was an enforced slowdown from the lunatic pace that had not let up for seven years, since they left Liverpool for Hamburg and their careers suddenly took off. Day after day, there was nothing to do but sit and think.

"John seemed happy, strumming guitars with Paul and George in the balmy sunshine and even holding hands with Cynthia. She was convinced their difficult marriage was entering a new phase of companionship and mutual tolerance. What she didn't know was that John was all the time receiving postcards from Yoko, which his minders had strict orders to forward to him in plain brown envelopes so she would suspect nothing. Often they consisted of a single thought, in Yoko's tiny, arty script: 'Watch for me - I'm a cloud in the sky."

Also on the blog:

The Beatles retreat from the madness of the road to create Revolver

Laserium - cosmic laser concerts at the Planetarium
























In a galaxy far, far away, there existed a time when UK rock music fans could treat themselves to an evening at The London Planetarium for what was described as 'The new cosmic laser rock concert'.

It was a fairly simple concept - take a bunch of rock and classical tracks and set them to entertaining laser visuals. Sit everyone down in a darkened room and project the images on the Planetarium dome. It was, of course, tailor-made for anyone who happened to have smoked a jazz woodbine before the show. The visual effects were probably a bit primitive by modern standards, but it was a novel idea at the time. It was a real treat to hear the music played through a good sound system too.

The music was a mix of American rock (Joe Walsh, the Doobie Brothers), popular classical music (The Planets, the Blue Danube) and generous helpings of prog rock (Yes, ELP, Utopia, Genesis). I went to the London show on two or three occasions in the late 70s and also went to one in New York around the same time (he 'Eye See The Light Show').

The Laserium idea was actually developed in 1973 by an American filmmaker, Ivan Dryer. The Laserium shows played in 46 cities worldwide and were viewed by over 20 million people. The Los Angeles show continued until 2002, a run of 28 years. 

I have managed to find some footage from the original shows, including this one, the opening number of the 'Laserock' show, Automation Horroscope, by Nektar.

 

Although the original shows at the London Planetarium only lasted for a while, from about 1977, the Laserium franchise is still going, though they tend to be held in larger theatres nowadays in special events. Here's some vintage footage of those early Laserium shows and how they were put together.

And here is a radio advert for the London Planetarium show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N51Y1UVvpy8

Sunday 17 August 2014

At home with the Bolans, 1971

For a time in 1971 and 1972, before he was overshadowed by Bowie and the other Glam Rock bandwagon jumpers, Marc Bolan was unquestionably Britain's biggest pop star. In my archive I found these black and white photos which capture Bolan and his T. Rex band mates Mickey Finn, Steve Currie and Bill Legend as they are about to release the album Electric Warrior.
A version of this photo was given as a poster with copies of Electric Warrior
The photos were taken by Kieron 'Spud' Murphy, who was also responsible for the original photo used as the image for the cover of Electric Warrior.

That photo, taken at the Albert Hall, Nottingham on 14 May 1971, can be seen on the wall behind Mickey Finn in the lounge photo shown here.

These interior photos and the colour photo below were all taken at the flat in Clarendon Gardens, Maida Vale, London, where Marc lived with his wife June Child.

The band photo with Marc in the foreground was given away as a poster with early copies of the Electric Warrior vinyl LP.

Following on from the success of Hot Love, the Electric Warrior album contained the hits Get It On (Elton John plays piano on this clip from Top Of The Pops) and Jeepster, which cemented Bolan's new rock style and created the greatest teen music craze since Beatlemania.

The album was produced by Tony Visconti and benefits from the background vocal talents of Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, otherwise known as Flo & Eddie, fresh from their exploits with Frank Zappa. The template for the T. Rex sound, with the characteristic raw crunch of Bolan's guitar and the band's behind-the-beat groove, was set on this record.
My vintage copy of Electric Warrior
But not everyone was taken in by Bolan's new direction. DJ John Peel said his close friendship with Marc and June effectively ended because Peel was reluctant to play the new T. Rex single when it arrived at Radio One.
Marc and June Child

Peel didn't specify which single it was, but having been such a strong supporter of the band in its previous form, Tyrannosaurus Rex, he had to ask himself whether he would have played the record if he and Marc were not friends. He concluded that he wouldn't have. Bolan froze him out from then on.

Peel obviously felt that Bolan had sold his soul to the screaming teens. I'm sure a lot of other fans from the Tyrannosaurus Rex period felt the same.

Whatever the merits of Bolan's new direction, it was a hugely successful one and in 1972 the run of hits continued with Telegram Sam, Metal Guru, Children of the Revolution, Solid Gold Easy Action and 20th Century Boy.

But as the photographer in the colour shot here (not credited so I can't name them) says, Marc was extremely vain and convinced of his own genius. 

As his fame increased, so did his cocaine usage. Tony Visconti is adamant that his music suffered as a result.

Visconti noted that while Bolan was still able to write hit songs, he didn't have the musical vocabulary to break beyond the singles market and was incapable of taking direction from those around him. It was only a matter of time before his star burnt out.

As their careers progressed, Bolan was compared with David Bowie, who had his own ideas about how to carve out an identity with glam rock imagery.

By 1973, Bowie soon overtook Bolan, through the sheer breadth and brilliance of his music, whereas Marc wasn't able to maintain the quality and the momentum. His run of Top10 hits came to an end in 1974.

In that initial burst of Glam Rock in 1971 and 72, though, Bolan vied with Slade as the UK's most popular chart act. Electric Warrior stands as a still vibrant and vivid snapshot of the time.

Here is a live studio version of Jeepster which I think captures the spirit of the T. Rex sound. There's some contemporary footage included at the end of the video too.

The poster from Electric Warrior
Here's Cilla Black duetting with Marc on Life's A Gas from the Electric Warrior album



And while we're celebrating this music, let's have some more. Probably my favourite of the 1972 singles. Children Of The Revolution. Mickey Finn is a riot on this.

Here's an article from the Daily Telegraph that summarises Marc's life and career, warts and all:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4728611/Behind-the-glitter.html

Also on this blog:

Alice Cooper - Back when he was genuinely scary

Slade - Glam rockers back at No.1 

1974 - Sparks and 'Kimono My House'