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Post by ROCKY on Oct 26, 2015 13:55:16 GMT
Excellent book reviews brew. On the first bass player in England, Gerry Salisbury was a jazz bassiest, does that count? You could go back to the Big Band era and find bass' back then. I think Jet was the first bass player with a rock band, or a band that hit it BIG. He had a Framus bass in '58 and then got his famous Fender p-bass in '59. I'll have to see where those guitars are now if they're still around. I remember Jet went home one night and smashed all his stuff.lol Did they say in the book?
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Post by brewmaster on Oct 26, 2015 18:37:49 GMT
Seems apt, as in the USA the Fender bass was adopted pretty early on by the Lionel Hampton band. The first non-jazz bass guitar player over here was probably Barney Smith, who played bass for Rory Blackwell [who inspired Rory Storm to adopt that stage name]
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Post by ROCKY on Oct 26, 2015 22:02:21 GMT
Yeah Leo's first idea was to make an electric bass (1951) so those guys wouldn't have to lug that big damn thing around. Remember Elvis' bass player had his strapped down to the top of their car and it blew off and smashed into a million pieces.lol
Did they mention Jets' '59 Fender bass whatever happened to it in the book?
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Post by brewmaster on Oct 27, 2015 11:02:38 GMT
Good question Rocky. As far as I know Jet was given a Sunburst P-bass in 1960, then it was replaced with a Fiesta Red at a later date. It may be that the Sunburst went back to Jennings [the importers]. The Fiesta Red was handed over to Brian Locking, who replaced Jet in 1962. [Jet playing the Sunburst in the studio] I can't be sure what happened to the Sunburst, but when Jet recorded with Tony Meehan he used a Fender V1, and a [detuned] Jaguar. Anyway, by the time he was approached about doing some musical work in 1975 he had no instruments. He later acquired some more Fenders, including this one Note that Jet retained the "ashtray" and pickup cover.
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Post by ROCKY on Oct 27, 2015 12:38:46 GMT
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Post by ROCKY on Oct 27, 2015 18:56:19 GMT
Found this wonderful interview of Jet talking about the early days. Video taken from the DVD 'From There To Here'.
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Post by brewmaster on Oct 27, 2015 19:47:18 GMT
Brilliant, thanks for posting Rocky Good to see the interviews with Chas Mc Davitt. I remember seeing him on the Empire, and I bought Shirley's bass book. Also good bit from Frank Allen.
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Post by ROCKY on Oct 28, 2015 0:46:58 GMT
yeah Frank Allen saying all he wanted was a Fraums Star bass just so he could hang it on his wall and stare at it. They are usable works of art.
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Post by brewmaster on Oct 28, 2015 10:31:12 GMT
Everyone talks about how "cool" Jet was, and it obviously doesn't come across in his interview, with the ravages of time and alcohol. This video shows the Jet that fans remember....
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Post by ROCKY on Oct 28, 2015 21:00:28 GMT
Yeah that was a Kool video! Probably the pic from that is what Roger Newell was referring to in the video I put up.
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Post by brewmaster on Oct 29, 2015 10:28:39 GMT
I believe it was this indeed photo.....
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Post by brewmaster on May 25, 2016 9:29:58 GMT
A review of DON'T YOU LEAVE ME HERE the biography of Wilko Johnson. What an astounding character, showman, cancer survivor and superb guitarist.
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Post by ROCKY on May 25, 2016 20:36:44 GMT
Great video, thanks for the inspiration brew.
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Post by brewmaster on May 26, 2016 9:24:21 GMT
There was a great documentary about Dr Feelgood,,,,,
....and a discussion about the film...
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Post by pothos on May 26, 2016 10:41:06 GMT
They were a great band.
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Post by brewmaster on Jun 5, 2016 12:11:47 GMT
Just realised that Wilko played a sinister character in Game of Thrones!
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Post by brewmaster on Nov 2, 2016 10:08:45 GMT
I have just finished reading The Searchers and ME. Frank Allen joined the band after they already had several hit records, so the first part of the book charts the parallel cereers of the Searchers on the Liverpool scene, and Frank, down in London, playing guitar in local bands before joining Cliff Bennet and the Rebel Rousers on bass. This section of the book is filled with detail of The Searchers rise within the Merseybeat scene, playing venues such as the Iron Door,the Tower Ballroom, and, of course, the Cavern. I saw the group at the Cavern, and, in my opinion, they were one of the best. They had a unique sound, resulting from the vocal harmonies, the falsetto notes, and the jangly rythmn guitar. The Rebel Rousers and The Searchers met while both appearing at the Star Club, Hamburg in 1962. Frank socialised with the Liverpool lads, and they got on well. Years later Frank would be called as a witness in the Beatles "Star Club tapes" court case. Tony Jackson split from the Searchers [the full details of this and other splits are fully discussed] and Frank was asked to join on bass. At the time the group was riding high with several hits, including their cover of "Love Potion number 9" which was their biggest US hit. Eventually, the hits stopped coming and the group became a fixture cabaret club circuit, travelling the world, still popular with live audiences. It was on a date in Manila that John McNally became reunited with his signature Hofner Club 60, now enshrined at the Hard Rock Cafe. I really enjoyed this very detailed history of one of my favourite groups. Although expensive it is a hefty book, and Frank is a natural, witty writer. For fans of the Merseybeat era, well worth the price.
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Post by brewmaster on Nov 6, 2016 14:01:53 GMT
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Post by brewmaster on Nov 20, 2016 12:17:37 GMT
I have read "Cliffhanger" now [well as much of it as I could stand] and it's a terrible book. It's episodic, the story flits between time period. The writing is bad. The author doesn't know anything about guitars. For example he asserts that the Framus Star Bass was American. He says that Hank still has the original Strat gifted to him by Cliff [he doesn't; Bruce has it] and there is no mention of Jet and the Fender Bass VI; which is like writing a book about Paul and not mentioning the Hofner Violin bass! Although Jet's alcohol problem is discussed in detail, there is no mention of the fact that he didn't actually play on a couple of the records with Tony Meehan. In fact apart from the breakthrough "Diamonds" these records are only mentioned in the discography. Also no mention of Jet touring with the "Jet Blacks" after he stopped working with Tony. All in all, the book seems like it was written from the parts rejected by Wikipedia. A much better biography is Jet Harris: In Spite of Everything
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Post by brewmaster on Feb 9, 2017 11:00:56 GMT
I first saw a copy of Merseybeat while at school. A lad had brought in a copy and passed it around, just as we passed around our latest comics. There were a number of us who were into guitar bands, such as the Shadows, and we were fascinated by the very different image and instruments we saw in Merseybeat. Although too young to visit the Cavern, through the paper we were well aware of the Beatles months before any of us actually heard them, when "Love me do" was released. While we were not the target readership of Merseybeat, it did inspire us to visit the clubs when old enough, and become fans. Merseybeat was unique. While there were several good national music papers, this was for us, for Liverpool. I wish I had kept my copies of the paper, but a few years ago a bound edition was published. This week, I finally got around to buying it, and was really glad I did. The book is a collection of selected pages from various editions on Merseybeat, with a detailed introduction to the scene by editor Bill Harry. Beatles fans will be well aware of the importance of Merseybeat to the group, and it's all here. Record reviews by Brian Epstein? They're here. Bob Wooler's "Rhythmn & News" columns, they're here too. It's well known that John wrote some really funny "Beatcomber" colums; they are included, together with his hilarious additions to the classified ads. There is also a piece from Paul, writing from about their first trip to Hamburg said "it was pretty rough, but we all had a geer time" The other Liverpool groups are not neglected, and there is quite a bit about RSATH, including an article by Lu Walters about Ringo. Even the adverts for local events and businesses evoke nostalgia. Later issues describe the global sucess of the Beatles, and this is reflected by a flood of themed merchandise and novelty items: I managed to get all this for just £4, including postage! Obviously, I'm delighted with the book, a treasure trove for all fans of that era.
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