A Lark Ascending

I will do, Aggie. Thanks.

There's a great Harry Beckett solo on the extended version of 'Venceremos' on this Working Week 12" single: One of the few singles I bought in the 80s!

I always forget that one. I recall being disappointed by it when it came out - seemed a bit insubstantial (not surprising as it was soundtrack music). When you are 17 with very limited resources, every track has to count on an LP, because it's going to be another month before you can afford another! I like it more now - inhabits that dreamy Floyd world of the start of the 70s. [i'm almost sure it was cheaper than the standard album in '72; as if they were wanting to indicate that it was not part of the major sequence)

'Atom Heart Mother' and 'Meddle' were the current releases that still define what I like best about PF - I also had 'Relics' (which I loved) and 'Umma Gumma' (great live album, strange studio album that kept you curious but went on a bit in places) but they were already old music by that time. Although I liked 'Dark Side' when it came out there was just a sense that they'd scaled back; I think the musical snob in me reacted against their massive popularity from '73 and I stopped listening. Got to enjoy the first two albums much, much later (though I've never bought into the Syd Barrett idolatry) and 'Wish You Were Here'. In fact I think I like WYWH as much as AHM and Meddle - a return to nice, long slow-burn tracks. I've still never heard 'Animals' or 'The Wall'. Whatever happened to the album they intended to record on kitchen implements? The abandonment of that project and then the massive success of the more conventional 'Dark Side' could be seen as an indicator of the general scaling back of musical ambition in the mid-70s (some might say 'greater realism'). Ironic, given the counter-culture/alienation/anti-corporate nature of the lyrics.

Very sad. Saw him many times and he appears on so many great records, not just jazz ones. You could recognise his light, feathery sound instantly.

Good luck all three of you in your future projects and thanks for the very fine music.

My favourite was when he was promoting his Horace Silver tribute album, 'Yeah!' Went something to the effect of 'if Horace Silver had been British he'd have called the tune 'Perhaps' or 'Maybe' or 'Possibly'.'

Or the seemingly friendly old man who, on learning you are a jazz fan, invites you back to his castle to hear his ultra-rare Lee Morgan LP, 'The Impaler'.

Sounds like a great weekend, sidewinder. I wish Nikki Iles would record more - the 'Printmakers' sextet she toured with last autumn (including Norma Winstone, Stan Sulzman and Mike Walker) was superb. Her website says she is doing another trio record in the autumn for spring release. I've often thought that if the BBC put on a 45 minute jazz club series with Alan Barnes as compare, jazz could capture the general public's imagination again. You're never in any doubt that it's all about having fun.

Stapleton (always seems odd punching his name in!) seems to be one of those workaholic types - as well as playing, writing and (I think) teaching, he's put together a very professional label, drawing to it some marvellous current talent. I also like his determination to make his way from Wales rather than shifting to London. The previous record is worth getting too...marvellous guest vocal from Julie Tippetts at the end, doing a rare bluesy piece, something she is brilliant at. I believe Dave S. studied with Keith. Re: Steve Melling - try and get to hear the title track of the New Jazz Courier's 'Brazilian Thoroughfare' - he does a particulary striking solo on that.

A welcome week of rain with some wind. Much needed after a very dry spring. It had become so dry I spotted gazelle and giraffes crossing my lawn last Saturday. Hoping for another week of this and then - ping - four weeks of sunshine with a nice heavy downpour at about 3.00 a.m. each night.

Now I got 'The chap who wrote the Bible'. Not sure if that meant the one who dreamed it all up or King James I.

I got Geoffrey Chaucer.

I love that! How was Dave Newton. His solo sets were always high points at Appleby; that and the great jams they used to put on in the evening where he often held down the piano chair.

Thank you, Bill! It was your posting of the 'Only the Blues' album (on as I type) that sent me in search to Fresh Sound. I know some feel listing albums listened to is pointless but I find it an endless source of interest, alerting me to things I'd otherwise miss.

Very sad. A champion of a wide range of music - big advocate of Janacek over here.

If only we'd been blessed with a Peter King visit! Swanage is definitely worth checking out this year. The ubiquitous Alan Barnes as usual (premiering his 'Swanage Suite') plus interesting performers such as Back Door Too, Jim Hart Quartet, Keith Nichols, Liam Noble, Denys Baptiste, John Law, Gilad Atzmon, Dave Stapleton and Tina May - as well as Stan and Peter. A veritable cornucopia of UK jazz and right by the seaside too ! Looks like it's pretty well sold out: Swanage Jazz Looks like Appleby of old! A pity it wasn't a week later! It would be an ideal holiday jump-off point.

John Cameron

Which one? William or Harry? Surely not Bonkers Daddy?

Here's one I had back in the day. Came out in '69, think I bought it late 70. Seems the word was already a marketing term by then. Track list is interesting: Side 1 1. Touch: Down At Circe's Place (4:47) 2. John Mayall: Where Did I Blong (3:08) 3. Savoy Brown: Train To Nowhere (4:05) 4. Johnny Almond: Voodoo Forest (3:32) 5. East Of Eden: Communication (3:23) Side 2 1. Genesis: In The Beginning (4:08) 2. The Moody Blues: Nights In White Satin (4:19) 3. William R. Strickland: William R. Strickland Is Only The Name (4:37) 4, John Cameron Quartet: Go Away, Come Back Another Day (4:59) 5. Keef Hartley Band: Not Foolish, Not Wise (3:50) Only two of the regular suspects.

Love in a G.U.M. clinic! Well, not quite. Strange, disquieting stories, all about musicians.

In the end, from my perspective, it was all just very enjoyable pop music, often so well crafted that it's still fun to listen to 40 years later. Whilst I can see that worrying whether something is prog or "psych prog" (not sure what that is or was) might matter to some I just enjoy it for the tunes and the colours and, above all, the nostalgia.

............... Good post, Robert I beg to differ with a lot of your points though.(Ive not included all.) .... About the lines Ive parsed - probably half those bands you mention are in fact PROTO-prog, not prog proper. Charm - most certainly. But about the whimsey and lightness of touch -there is actually not over-much of that in prog (of the period you detail.) Yes, ocassionally there is Lear/Carollian nonesense-type prog lyric (to give example, Gryphon "Flash In The Pantry",Stackridge "Snark",Yezda Urfa "My Doc Told Me I Had Doggie Head", Crimson "Catfood") but whimsey was really to the fore in the UK POPSIKE of late 60s, not prog. Prog lyrics tend towards darkness/seriousness.Subjects of (dark)fantasy/mythology, social concerns,nature. Even something as silly-sounding as Genesis' "Willow Farm" has more sinister overtones on re-thought (and connected to the bigger picture of that particular epic.) Sure Caravan is full of lightness, but Caravan were at the later point where prog melded into the more overt playfulness of Canterbury and one or two more subgenres.(I suppose Family has light elements but, admittedly contrary to most progheads pidgeonholing, Ive never really rated them Prog. They seem more Queen/Supertrampish to me.) Out of curiosity, what example of lightness can you ascribe to VDGG??? When you talk of lightness/frolicksomeness in INSTRUMENTAL prog a good example is Bo Hansson. His music stands out unique from the rest of progdom because of this un-ponderous composition. Prog was more-than-often dark. Lyric-wise, one of the darkest lps I know is not some abrasive punk or noise band like Swans, but Procol Harum's "Home". You have to remember that 'prog' is a retrospective label. I can recall the term 'progressive' being used around 1970 but the diminutive came later - used either mockingly by the unsympathetic or defensively by musicians/fans trying to stress that they weren't taking themselves too seriously. The bands and musicians who were later compartmentalised into particular genre boxes were, at the time, part of a broad swathe of rock music that we selected from as it took our interest. In 1970-72 I was buying the Moody Blues alongside Chicago, King Crimson alongside Fairport Convention, Genesis and Yes alongside Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, Caravan alongside Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Others had Clapton, Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and all manner of things in the mix. They all seemed part of the same rich tapestry. Therein lay dark and light, whimsy and attempted seriousness, the gazelle-like and the turgid. The idea of 'prog' as a genre comes later - partly a historic term used to tidy up the period, partly a term used by the next generation of bands to describe their music. I think that's what often happens. The sense of a definite genre is a second-generation thing. The first period is much more messy (and, dare I say, interesting). Might look different from abroad*. * abroad = beyond the British Isles

Good luck Alex. Would have liked to make Derby but sadly I have to wrestle with coal mining in 19thC West Yorkshire tonight!

No rain since the start of June. An unusually dry spring and early summer. Expect the heavens to open in 2 1/2 weeks as the school holidays start!