Duncan Browne's Journey - and comparisons with Nick Drake

One of my absolute favourite songs from the summer of 1972 was 'Journey' by Duncan Browne. It wasn't a massive hit single - number 23 in the UK charts - but it's one of those forgotten gems that evoke a more innocent time, driven by some nifty acoustic guitar playing. 

He released an album in 1973 called Duncan Browne. It contained Journey and several other similarly pretty and sometimes melancholy songs, such as My Only Son.

Browne accompanied himself on Spanish and electric guitar and there was some piano accompaniment from John 'Rabbit' Bundrick and bass and drums by Argent's Jim Rodford and Bob Henrit on some tracks. 

The mood evoked was not dissimilar to Nick Drake and there are clear parallels in how their careers progressed, or rather how they didn't progress.

Like Drake, Browne came from a well-to-do background. His father was an Air Commodore. Browne had initially planned to join the Royal Air Force himself, but chose instead to follow a musical path. He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, developing skills as a player and an arranger that would serve him well later.

Duncan's 1973 vinyl release

His first break into the music business came in 1967, when Andrew Loog Oldham signed Duncan to his Immediate label. The resulting album, Give Me Take You is a fine example of the classical and medieval-influenced folk music of the period. 

It didn't sell though and Duncan focused instead on work as an accompanist and arranger for the next couple of years.

In the early 1970s, Mickie Most signed him to RAK Records and the first fruit of this new patronage was the single 'Journey'. It was the surprise hit of the summer in 1972, a quirky tune with a bright and breezy lyric:

"Pack up your sorrow, put away your evening star
But don't change your clothes, I like you just the way you are"

and: "Soon we'll be sailors, sailing on the salty sea
Where the waves of the world would be the one and only company"

Artist and label were taken by surprise at the single's success, it seems, because it was many months before an album was ready for release. By then, the momentum had been lost and the Duncan Browne album was another commercial failure. 

Which is a shame because it's a fine album. The songs have a distinctive character and the guitar playing is excellent.

Clearly, the competition among singer/songwriter/guitarists was intense in the early '70s. It's not hard to see why artists like Richard Thompson and John Martyn succeeded. It's less clear why talents like Nick Drake, Dave Evans and Duncan Browne didn't. 

With Nick, we can say he failed at least partly through his own refusal to play live; his shyness and lack of stage banter (in marked contrast to John Martyn, for example) making it hard for him to tough it out on the gig circuit.

Duncan did at least try to gain a wider audience. He toured and gave interviews on the back of 'Journey'. He appeared on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test in February 1973, playing two songs from the album - the opening track Ragged Rain Life and My Old Friends. 

Watching the clip of Duncan, it's easy to imagine how it could have been Nick Drake up there being introduced by Bob Harris. I wonder if the BBC approached Nick. He did do at least one radio session for John Peel's Top Gear show in 1969. What a shame he didn't do a Whistle Test session, so at least we would have film of him performing.

As with Nick, Duncan's recorded legacy is fairly slim. One of his most engaging songs from the early 70s was the 7-minute B-side of Journey, called In A Mist. It displays his natural dexterity as a guitarist and conveys the story of a love lost, reflecting on the nature of fidelity, commitment and possession. It is open and beautiful in its melancholy, just as Nick Drake's songs are.

Again, the low sales of the Duncan Browne album convinced him that he was better suited to being a backing musician and arranger for others. 

It's not such an unusual choice for musicians who, for whatever reason, find themselves fated to be a sideman. Like Mick Ronson, who most often played second fiddle or arranger for other artists (Michael Chapman, Bowie, Ian Hunter, Dylan even). 

In the late 1970s Duncan tried again. He had a hit single in the Netherlands with The Wild Places and formed the band Metro with Peter Godwin; sales were modest. 

In keeping with the more polished stylings of Metro, his solo album Streets of Fire at the turn of the 1980s had hints of Dire Straits, especially in the opening track Fauvette. The pattern of commercial failure remained intact though.

His biggest commercial success came later, when David Bowie recorded the Metro song Criminal World on his massive selling 1983 album Let's Dance. By that time though, Metro had disbanded. Later in the decade Duncan was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 1993, aged 46. 

Duncan Browne sustained a reasonable career as a musician without ever making the big time. And perhaps he was content with that. He certainly hasn't enjoyed the same posthumous success as his contemporary Nick Drake.

Also on this blog:
A Visit To The Annual Nick Drake Gathering

Nick Drake: Better Album Programing Might Have Helped

 

When Tangerine Dream's Phaedra outsold Tubular Bells

Sometime in 1974 or '75 I was watching 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau' on British TV. They were filming a cave dive. It was beautifully shot and was complemented by the mellotron and early synthesiser sounds of German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream. 

I recognised the music as a track from their album Phaedra. It was one of those perfect combinations of music and visuals. I wish I could see it again, but I'm not sure the tapes are still in existence.

Froese, Franke and Baumann - Tangerine Dream

The track was called 'Mysterious Semblance at The Strand of Nightmares' - a beguiling if rather unsettling title, entirely in keeping with the other-worldly atmospheres evoked by Tangerine Dream. 

The Phaedra album became massively popular in the UK in 1974 on the strength of late-night exposure on John Peel's Radio One Top Gear programme.

Peel was the only national radio DJ playing progressive music in the early 1970s, be it Pink Floyd, Soft Machine or so-called 'krautrock' bands like Can, Neu and Faust. 

An advert from the NME in 1974

This new psychedelic synthesiser music was a popular complement for those late night sessions. The advert that appears here, from the New Musical Express in 1974, shows what a phenomenon Tangerine Dream were at the time. 

The ad says, "No airplay, few reviews, yet Phaedra has already hit the top 30 only two weeks after release - faster even than Tubular Bells."

John Peel said, "I have been introducing Top Gear for 6 years and during that time we have had sessions from Cream, The Who and Hendrix. 

"We were the first to broadcast Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Family, the Fairports and King Crimson. 

"Yet we have had more mail about Tangerine Dream than any other group."

For their 1975 UK tour in support of the follow-up album, Rubycon, Tangerine Dream had the inspired idea of playing in some of the UK's most impressive ancient buildings.

The concert at Coventry Cathedral in October 1975

The first show, at the new Coventry Cathedral, built on the site of the bomb-damaged ancient cathedral -  was filmed. A short film made by Tony Palmer was shown on the BBC at the time. The original sound recording was dubbed using recordings from later in the tour, with overdubs added at The Manor, Virgin's Oxfordshire studio. Some of this appeared on the live album Ricochet. The film linked to above is the closest I can find to the original concert.

The musicians often worked spontaneously on stage, improvising around pre-agreed thematic changes. The technology has advanced massively since those early days of monophonic synthesisers and sequencers. But the music created by Tangerine Dream in the 1970s, along with the solo albums by Edgar Froese, Chris Franke and Peter Baumann, have stood the test of time. Tangerine Dream were the progenitors of the ambient and space musicians now featured on streaming services such as Hearts of Space. Highly recommended if you like to use music to be transported to another dimension.

See also on this blog:
Music While You Work From Home - A Guide

A visit to the Annual Nick Drake Gathering

What is Led Zeppelin's best acoustic song?

NickDrake - better programming might have helped

 

October 1970 - Janis Joplin found dead in Hollywood

MM front page Oct 10, click to expand

Three weeks after the shocking loss of Jimi Hendrix on September 18th 1970, the rock world was once again in mourning for one of its biggest stars. Janis Joplin was found dead in her Hollywood apartment on October 4th, at the age of 27.

According to the Melody Maker front page report, Janis had been recording during September with the 'Full Tilt Boogie' band, for the album that was released posthumously as Pearl, in January 1971.

An appreciation of Janis by the writer Geoffrey Cannon, said, "It's hard to sit down, a fortnight after trying to say something adequate, quickly, about Jimi Hendrix, and try to catch something of what Janis did - it's too soon."

Cannon said there was a connection between the deaths of Joplin, Hendrix and Brian Jones. "It's a question of how much you can give of yourself without being swallowed by your myth...It's as if a certain kind of star has made a racing car of their own mind and body, so that every night in performance, they slide round the chicane at 120 in a state of total concentration...

"We used to wonder how people like Jimi and Janis could stand the strain. Now we know - they couldn't."

Even though she lived life on the edge as a frequent heroin user, watching Janis Joplin perform, you were never in any doubt she was totally committed to the music and wanted to give the audience a whole-hearted experience. Sometimes she tried too hard and the results could be disheartening. Her soul revue band, that became the Kosmic Blues Band (my personal favourite of her bands) premiered at the Stax-Volt Christmas show in Memphis, going on after all the other local bands (Booker T & The MGs etc) had played, and they couldn't match up.

But watch her at work, at Monterey (with Big Brother & The Holding Company), at Woodstock (with the Kosmic Blues Band), on the Festival Express tour or singing 'To Love Somebody' on the Dick Cavett Show, she was a powerful musical force and a hell of singer.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham supported Janis at a gig at the San Jose Fairgrounds in 1970.

Nicks' memory of the gig is Janis yelling and swearing at her to hurry up and get off the stage. But once Janis hit the boards herself, any animosity was banished. "This woman who was screaming at me only moments before suddenly became my new hero," said Nicks.

"Janis put herself out there completely, and her voice was not only strong and soulful, it was painfully and beautifully real. She sang in the great tradition of the rhythm & blues singers that were her heroes, but she brought her own dangerous, sexy rock & roll edge to every single song."

'Full Tilt Boogie', the band that appeared on Pearl, were the musicians who accompanied her on the Festival Express train tour of Canada with The Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Delaney & Bonnie and the Grateful Dead in the summer of 1970. The movie of the tour is well worth watching, for the candid scenes on the train where they are just playing for their own amusement between stops on the tour.

"Next time you throw a train, invite me," she said. 

The MM story carried tributes from various musicians. Duster Bennett said, "So much of life was in her voice - the pain, despair and ecstacy. She could say it all for you."
Singer Maggie Bell said, "I'm absolutely choked. She had so much to say - the first girl who really started into hard rock."
Guitarist Stefan Grossman said, "Janis was a gentle girl and one of her last acts was to help finance the tombstone for the blues singer Bessie Smith. In her own time, Janis was the 'blues empress."

Some more highlights from her career, check out youtube.

Duetting with Tom Jones on 'Raise Your Hand', 1969

Maybe on US TV, 1969

Here's the song Move Over from Pearl, played live on the Dick Cavett Show, June 1970

Also on this blog: Jimi Hendrix - The Last Interview, September 1970

Jimi Hendrix - the last interview, September 1970

Jimi in London the day before he died

"I'm happy - it's gonna be good."   That is how Jimi Hendrix signed off his interview with Roy Hollingworth that appeared in the September 5th 1970 edition of UK weekly Melody Maker.

With hindsight, the optimism he expressed about his future is hugely poignant given that only a few days later, aged just 27, Hendrix would be dead.

Whichever way you look at it, Jimi's death from an overdose of sleeping pills on September 18th was a sad and tragically sudden end to his story.

As the MM article said back then, Hendrix was rock's most influential guitarist. Then as now, he remains the guitarist considered by many as the greatest of all time.

But he was a troubled soul and by 1970 he had lost much of the creative momentum built up during the making of his masterpiece 1968 album Electric Ladyland.

The MM interview, click to enlarge

In this interview with Melody Maker, he acknowledged he had taken his music as far as he could in its present form and how he hoped to make more mind-expanding and spiritually uplifting music in the future.

On the 50th anniversary of his passing, there will be plenty of speculation about what might have been - whether he would have gone in a more jazzy direction; the rumoured collaborations with Gil Evans and Miles Davis. In the same way that Jeff Beck reinvented himself as a jazz fusion player, Hendrix could easily have moved away from his blues roots - and he planned to.

In his own words, Jimi saw his return to the UK in the summer of 1970 as a new beginning. It was widely acknowledged that he had lost his way creatively and his life seemed to be increasingly a tale of drug busts and legal issues of one sort or another. Jimi himself said as much. "It's all turned full circle. I'm back to where I started. I still sound the same, my music's the same and I can't think of anything new to add to it in its current state."

Jimi in his pomp, 1967

As a new decade was beginning, he saw it as a cut-off point for the revolutionary 1960's music culture. "This era of music sparked off by The Beatles has come to an end. Something new has got to come and Jimi Hendrix will be there."

Jimi wanted a big band, he said: "full of competent musicians I can conduct and write for. It's going to be something that will open up a new sense in people's minds. They are getting their minds ready now. Like me, they are going back home, getting fat and making themselves ready for the next trip."

Jimi looked increasingly unwell in 1970

That Hendrix needed to get himself together physically is clear. In his last photos, he looks tired. The Who's Pete Townshend was most vocal about his shock at the state Hendrix was in, thin and withdrawn, the effects of the drugs and alcohol, the travel and constant hassles having aged him.

As Charles Shaar Murray wrote in his excellent Hendrix book 'Crosstown Traffic', "Hendrix's dope consumption, which was fairly monstrous even at the best of times, was escalating dramatically."

Jimi's perspective on it was that, in his utopian vision of "a new form of classical music", you didn't necessarily need drugs.

"You know the drug scene came to a big head. It was opening up things in people's minds, giving them things they just couldn't handle. Well music can do that you know, and you don't need any drugs.

"It's going to be a complete form of music," he said of his ideas for a musical reinvention. "It could be something along similar lines to what Pink Floyd are tackling. They don't know it, but people like Pink Floyd are the mad scientists of this day and age."

Hollingworth asked Hendrix when he would start to form this big band. He said people wouldn't have too long to wait and that his Isle of Wight performance might be the last of that type with the three-piece format.

The MM's review of Hendrix's performance late on the Sunday night at the IOW concluded: "We're convinced that Jimi's trouble stems from internal conflict between his blues roots and a desire to progress. He has the technique to play a mass of different sounds, but his confidence seems to ebb and he gets confused when he wanders into the freestyle freaky effects, so revolutionary back in 1967.

"All it needs is some nice new songs, some rehearsal and bingo. As it happened, the miracle and magic worked towards the end of his two-hour set, with the air of a medley of hits. The magic was there all the time with the talent of Hendrix, Mitchell and Cox. They just need a little time...and they'll get it all together."

Jimi's hair was a little tamer now, observed the interviewer, Hollingworth. Did he feel he was a tamer person? He said no, maybe now and then he got a spark of maturity, but he reckoned he was a better guitarist than he used to be. "I've learnt a lot, but I've got to learn more about music. With the big band, I don't want to be playing as much guitar. I want other musicians to play my stuff."

He said he would not be doing so many live gigs. "I'm going to develop the sound and then I'm going to put a film out.

"It's so exciting - it's going to be an audio visual thing that you sit down and plug into - and really take in through your eyes and ears.

"I'm happy - it's gonna be good."

Remembering Jimi - friends and associates talk about him

Kathy Etchingham talking about her time with Jimi

Planet Rock broadcasts live from Jimi Hendrix's restored old flat at 23 Brook Street

Also on this blog: 

Five Days of Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-verdict-on-5-days-of-high-drama-at.html

Jimi Hendrix releases Band of Gypsys
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2019/02/june-1970-hendrixs-band-of-gypsys-album.html

Five days of high drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

Melody Maker's extensive coverage of the festival

There are many stories and legends that grew out of the aftermath of the 1970 Isle of Wight music festival. 

There was the invasion by French anarchists; the stage meltdown by promoter Rikki Farr ("you go to hell!"); the way Joni Mitchell won over a restless crowd; the remarkable performance of Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix's last UK show, The Who playing on until dawn, ELP's breakthrough and many others. 

It was five days of high drama. The festival was undoubtedly a triumph musically, but the bad vibes on the fringes were such that they curtailed the development of commercial festivals for several years afterwards. The free festival agitators were a powerful lobby and at the IOW they made life hell for the promoters even before the event began.

MM's verdict

In the UK music paper Melody Maker, the week after the IOW, the central editorial reflection (seen here >, click to read it) was that the festival "may well be the last occasion for a long time on which more than a quarter of a million kids come together to hear some rock and roll."

"There can be little doubt that the events of last weekend will have a chastening effect on any other promoter considering putting on a similar event.

"What kind of lunatic will want to risk having to deal with the French, Algerian and American revolutionaries who raised such hell?"

And yet even with all of that to contend with, the festival was a musical triumph, attended by many of the top performers from Europe and America at the time. Clicking on the links below will take you to clips of some of them.

Saturday's highlights included a more than two-hour set by John Sebastian, joined by his Lovin' Spoonful colleague Zal Yanofsky. Once again it seemed, as at Woodstock, Sebastian was on stage because no one else was ready to go on. 

"With that unique mixture of whimsy and open-hearted fun, John first shouted, "Just holler 'em up and I'll play whatever you want to hear!" 

Shawn Phillips followed on before Rikki Farr announced "a lovely surprise" and the arrival of Joni Mitchell.

the acts reviewed - click to view

An audience member was having a bad acid trip near the stage. Someone yelled, "Help!... we need a doctor" and as the MM noted, "suddenly, with terrifying swiftness, the good vibes turned right around."

Joni dealt with this and an attempted stage invasion with admirable poise. She brought the audience back onside by the sheer beauty of her songs - not to mention the genuine frustration she expressed at the bad vibes. You can read more about this in a separate piece I wrote.

A particular treat for the audience was the appearance of jazz giant Miles Davis, with a new electric band that included Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette.

"Miles took the stage in a red leather jacket and silver-studded jeans and boots - at 44 years old as hip as anyone there."

The response to this new style of jazz must have been very encouraging for Miles, who took a lot of criticism from traditional jazz fans back in America for his radical change of style. Makes you wonder what music would have resulted if Miles and Jimi Hendrix had got together, as it was suggested they might. 

"The group's use of rock rhythms was far more evident than before, but they proved beyond any doubt that they are capable of making it as subtle, as complex and as rewarding as any conventional jazz rhythm," said the reviewer. The word fusion had yet to be coined in the context of rock and jazz, but you only have to listen to Dave Holland's bass playing during the 36 minute set by Miles to know that he had an intimate knowledge of rock and soul bass lines. 

Another of the artists destined to divide opinion was keyboard wizard Keith Emerson, with his new band Emerson Lake & Palmer, who made their debut at the IOW festival.

The MM said, "It's quite likely there are some of the rock fraternity who don't approve of Keith adapting classical themes, his displays of virtuosity and touches of showbiz. 

"ELP let off two cannons in the penultimate number. The arrangements were long and adventurous. There were no long blues guitar solos. In fact, they were wide open to criticism.

"But they didn't half play good," said the reviewer.

"The applause was almost as deafening as the cannonade which blew the spectacles off a man sitting in the firing line."

The stage lights dimmed just after midnight on Saturday and The Doors wandered on and proceeded to play a rather more muted set than the previous band. The reviewer noted, though, that they sounded better than when they played London's Roundhouse in 1968. 

"We want the world and we want it now! screamed Jim Morrison at one point, but it was not evident what he would do if circumstances arose which would make this possible," said the MM.

The Who played all night

"And now, a nice rock band from Shepherds Bush - the 'OO," announced DJ Jeff Dexter. 

Pete Townshend cheered up the English contingent, saying "We come home and find ourselves playing to a load of bloody foreigners causing trouble."

The Who played on well after 4am and as they reached the climax of Tommy, they turned huge spotlights on the crowd. It was a euphoric moment, to judge from the film.

The Raver gloating about his luxurious experience at the festival...

Keith Moon had arrived at the IOW with Viv Stanshall the night before the Who's appearance, to apparently "dig the acts and drop egg yolks into reporters' hard won cups of tea."

Peter Frampton was also backstage with his girlfriend Mary, as were George and Patti Harrison. 

'The Raver' columnist in Melody Maker had a rather more comfortable festival experience than his colleague Michael Watts (see article below) who drew the short straw and was given the assignment of spending the weekend on 'Desolation Hill' with the great unwashed.

..while Mike Watts was slumming it on Desolation Hill

The Raver meanwhile, was roughing it at the former home of Alfred Lord Tennyson, now a three star hotel at Freshwater. 

Ian Anderson is said to have given one of the finest individual performance of the entire five days at the festival. "Jethro Tull emerged triumphant as one of the most entertaining of all the bands," said MM.

"Cocking his knee, grimacing, leaping, screaming, muttering, gibbering, sneezing, he looked like a brilliant but demented 18th century German music master.

Ian Anderson: brilliant but demented

"When Ian wasn't amazing us all with his flute, which leapt from the explosive to the beautiful, there was also the fine guitar of Martin Barre and some brilliant drumming by Clive Bunker to enjoy. One of the greatest assets of Tull proved to be the gifted piano playing of John Evan."

"Yes - it has been a long time, hasn't it?" said a cool, casual, but seemingly happy Jimi Hendrix. He was probably referring to the last time we saw him play in Britain, rather than the one-hour plus delay while one drum kit, a guitar and bass were set in working order.

"But it was nice to see him again, even if the sound was terrible - somehow there is always something wrong with the machinery of rock when Hendrix plugs in. Noel Redding's replacement, Billy Cox, proved a good bassman, but Mitch Mitchell, long a favourite drummer, was disappointing. He was hampered by a distorted PA and his playing seemed somewhat stiff."

One last look at the genius of Jimi Hendrix

The audience response was muted, probably because many were asleep, but slowly things started to improve. Jimi's guitar picked up. 

"They may be having an off-night but he is still incredibly good," said Peter Frampton, one of the crush in the VIP and press enclosure.

"Okay, we'll start all over again," said Jimi. "Hello England."

"Suddenly there was life on stage and Jimi showed why he is one of the all-time greats by some superb blues playing and singing on Red House."

As it turned out, this was Jimi's last show in the UK. A friend of mine attended the festival specifically to see Hendrix, but was asleep when he came on. Sadly, there would be no next time. September 18th 2020 will be the 50th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death, at just 27 years of age. 

Rory Gallagher and Taste

Earlier in the weekend, there were two stand-out performances, from Taste and Chicago. Taste were already popular, and starting with What's Going On they ran through their repertoire "with undiminished adulation from the crowd".  

Rory Gallagher, it was noted, "is technically excellent with the ability to play long passages at high speed." They were called back for four encores.

Chicago's set began at dusk on Friday. Guitarist Terry Kath made a big impression. "His guitar was fast and fluent. He looked like the kind of guy who would go down among the audience and personally sort out anyone who messed with his music. A girl actually screamed during one electrifying high speed guitar solo."

No such thing as a Free lunch

Free's set mid-afternoon on Sunday was well received: "Paul Rodger's tough, hairy voice and the obvious sensuality of Paul Kossoff's guitar were the outstanding points." 

But the reviewer said the time of day wasn't ideal for them: "It was a little too close to lunchtime to feel that funky."

"Their number one hit All Right Now really got the crowd moving, although the few who stood up to dance were soon on the ground again after a volley of Coke cans."

For a run-down of all the others artists appearing at the festival, check out the cuttings accompanying this piece. 

 

On this blog, see also:
Joni Mitchell Tames The Tiger at the Isle of Wight

Jimi Hendrix - The Last Interview

Who's Next - Lightning In A Bottle