The Three-Eyed Man

How extraordinary a voice. Last weekend i stood 20 feet away from Roky Erickson & took it all in. In some valley in the Powys region of Wales. 40 minutes late for the stage. But there he was. An awesome beast. Nothing said. Hard to tell where he was inside, bored scared or confused. But there he was. The breath visable & billowing out of him in the tacky stage light. He was like some dragon with a guitar. The Krakon. The band was nowhere, 2nd rate pub metal, but there he was, Roky Erickson. Life hadn't beaten him. That screaming voice intact, no flaws, everything said.


'Haunt' by Roky Erickson


Roky Erickson Interview-Ksan Radio, 1978

Apartment 21

Sounds good to me Bobbie, i'll be over in 20, i'll bring some gin & Jim Ford.



'Apartment 21' by Bobbie Gentry single on Capital, 1970)

Something borrowed from something blue

'Ello ello ello, what we got 'ere then Mr. Cocker? This has bothered me ever since it was released as a single in early 2007.

Now i don't want to do the slagging on Jarvis, i like the chap, and though he's not belting out the readymade pop classics like he did in Pulp, its good that he's around, in fact, we could do with about 10 more 25 year old versions of him to pump some blood & brains into the popscene if thats possible, but come off, this is a bit of a blatent rip.
I don't see any shared credit for Goffin/Spector on the sleeve. How does this sort of thing go unnoticed? 'Born To Be With You' isn't stuffing up the racks of most 24 hour Tesco's, but its hardly a total obscurity, i've seen it on a couple of jukebox's in a couple of London bars that were trying a bit too hard to look cool. I mean, its a lovely LP, but its got such a fucked up, sad druggy drag foot vibe, who wants to hear that over a 5th afternoon chaser? Oh....yeah, well they may have been on to something there, but...

I know Phil Spector has been a bit distracted lately, but i'm almost shocked it slipped under his increasingly desperate radars. (Starsailor???££??)





'Don't Let Him Waste Your Time' by Jarvis Cocker from 'Jarvis' (Rough Trade, 2005))





'Only You Know' by Dion from 'Born To Be With You' (Phil Spector International, 1976))

Failure

"Lazarus, La's-arus, La's. He directed light. And the light comes from the water. It keeps you alive, la. And the pool is where we have to be. The Liver-Pool. The Mississippi, the Mersey-sippi. In history all the maddest scientists were the best ones and they all stayed close to the water."

-Lee Mavers, AWOL since 1990, interviewed by Paul Moody in 15 April, 1995's edition of NME

'Failure' by The La's (Go Discs, 1989)

Fire & Brimstone

"He had drunk & taken pills since he was a teenager pumping piano in the Natchez honky-tonks;

but he had allowed neither the liquor nor the pills to reign over him. Since the death of his son however, he had grown more extreme, and whisky & drugs were fast becoming as important a part of his life as God & music.

The booze & the pills stirred the hell within him and made him to utter hideous peals. At times he withdrew into his own shadow, brooding upon all manner of things-abominable, unutterable, and worse. At times he stalked and ranted in proud and foul omnipotence, commanding those around him as Belial his minions.

He was the Killer and he was immortal-damned to be, for as long as there was good and evil to be torn between in agony." -Nick Tosches, Hellfire, 1982


'Fire & Brimstone' by Link Wray (Polydor, 1971)

In this picture: Link Wray & his band at the '3 Track Shack' in Accokeek, Maryland, 1971

Lazy Hazy

No time for words


'Pageant Square' by The Kingsbury Manx (City Slang, 2000)

I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been...

1993 was the year on the header of the Melody Makers i used to read in the local public library when everything changed. I was 15 year's old with nowhere to go but this grotty little unit shop on the steep incline of Hall St. called 'Astonishing Sounds'.

15. The best of times, the worst of times. I remember conversations with friends would be based around nothing but the scripts of Tarantino & Scorsese movies. We never said anything heartfelt or serious, those things were laughable, at least outside of song. Violence & death were the worlds funniest gags. Love was somebody elses mystery.

The mile and a half bus trip into town & back from my high school wasn't easy to make in an hours lunchbreak, but i remember doing it for Verves early singles, 'Cherub Rock' by Smashing Pumpkins, 'Gentleman' by The Afghan Whigs, 'Free Range' by The Fall, and 'I Hang Suspended' by the later much maligned Boo Radleys. The B-Side was the one i played most, 'I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer', an LP's worth in 3 minutes.

Where have i been?

Still there.

'I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been...Even Though I Know The Answer' by The Boo Radleys (B-Side of 'I Hang Suspended', Creation Records, 1993)