Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets

Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets

by Pete Clemons

There wasn’t much chat from the stage. But there was an awful lot of enjoyment and plenty of smiles. After around the third song Nick Mason gave a brief introduction of the band and mentioned that he was not going to keep getting up from his drum stool after every song to explain things. If you had any questions, ask the person standing next to you. Although I did hear him mention that, if it all goes wrong, you can blame the Australian Roger Waters band.

This was a rare and unique opportunity to experience Pink Floyds celebrated and significant early body of work played live. It included songs from albums ‘The Piper At The Gates of Dawn’ and ‘A Saucerful Of Secrets’.

In interviews leading up to this gig Nick Mason had mentioned that ‘We’re not a tribute band’ and ‘It’s not important to play the songs exactly as they were, but to capture the spirit’.

And it really was great fun indeed. Particularly, from a personal point of view, a unique opportunity to hear songs that I had never heard live before. I clearly remember from my youth, songs like ‘See Emily Play’ and ‘The Scarecrow’. But my own live experiences of Pink Floyd came a few years after the Syd Barrett era. Like many, Pink Floyd has been with me for a great deal of my entire life and this was an unmissable opportunity.

Syd Barrett was, once, very much the leader of this group. His distinctive lead guitar gave Pink Floyd their early identity. His song writing gave them success in the singles charts during the first half of 1967 and ten of the eleven songs on the groups debut LP were his.

In addition to Nick Mason on drums the five-piece, known as Saucerful of Secrets, also includes Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, former Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt, The Blockheads guitarist Lee Harris, and music producer and composer Dom Beken.

The set list, listed below, was from a time well before ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. And there was a wonderful tip of the hat towards Richard Wright who was remembered when the band played a version of ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ that concentrated on the ‘Celestial Voices’ section.

Interstellar Overdrive

Astronomy Domine

Lucifer Sam

Fearless

Obscured by Clouds

When you’re in

Arnold Layne

The Nile Song

Green is the Colour

Let There be More Light

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (truncated version)

See Emily Play

Bike

One of These Days

Encores:

A Saucerful of Secrets (truncated version)

Point Me at the Sky

The enthusiasm generated by the musicians on stage clearly filtered through to the audience who loved every second of this concert. Nick Mason was right about not playing the songs exactly as they were, because they were not. And I felt that it made the gig all the more better for that. It wasn’t quite the same vibe you got at happenings 50 years ago; those days are sadly long gone. Everybody was stood up for starters and audiences are not quite as laid back nowadays as they once were. But that didn’t detract, it was merely an observation. This was indeed a wonderful celebration.

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

by Pete Clemons

One album that music lovers never seem to forget the release of was that of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. It was just one of those seminal moments that you never forgot. Once heard, it seemed to get under your skin. I personally cannot remember any major hype to it. It just seemed to appear in the shops, however, behind it all and known only to those closest to him at the time, was a story of sadness and despair that took years for Mike Oldfield to shake off…….if he ever did.

Mike Oldfield was born in Reading during 1953. He had 2 elder siblings, Terry and Sally. A fourth child was born after Mike but sadly he passed away at a young age and this, quite naturally, had a lasting effect on Mike’s mother.

Both Terry and Sally Oldfield were involved with music. Terry became a composer while Sally played the folk scene. Seeing Mike’s interest in guitar, Sally showed him the three basic chords. From then on Mike became self-taught and very quickly became a quite gifted player. Sally and Mike formed a duo called The Sallyangie who cut an album for the Transatlantic label in 1968. Mike then formed his own, short lived, band called Barefeet.

During 1970, and still aged only 16, Mike became a member of The Whole World who were Kevin Ayres backing group. They played in Coventry a couple of times. Initially Mike played bass but then moved to lead guitar. They produced two albums with Mike playing on the classic ‘May I’ during 1971. After Kevin Ayres disbanded The Whole World instability crept into Mike’s life and he retreated deeper into music. As they shared flats, Kevin had lent Mike his tape player and Farfisa keyboard. Experimenting with this kit Mike almost immediately came up with his minimalistic opening chord sequence for what would become Tubular Bells. He also created the framework for his future epic.

With sections of the ambitious fifty minute composition mapped out, Mike hawked his tapes to record companies like EMI and CBS who both promptly rejected them. In parallel Richard Branson was looking for business opportunities. He had already set up a mail order company that involved importing LP’s and selling them on for 10%-25% less than anywhere else. And he was ready to expand.

Mike Oldfield became a session player at The Manor recording studios in Oxfordshire. The studios were being run by producer Tom Newman, who had discovered the Manor in Oxfordshire that Richard Branson had invested in it, and fellow producer Simon Heyworth. Mike Oldfield practically forced Tom and Simon to listen to his tapes. The pair was instantly captivated. And in turn, took the tapes to Richard Branson’s business partner Simon Draper, who they knew had a better ear for music than Richard.

Simon Draper and Richard Branson invited Mike Oldfield to their houseboat and offered to give Mike a week of free reign to complete part one of the album in between any sessions he had been assigned to. So November 1972 saw Mike begin the process of completing the first phase of his project. Part two being completed slightly later.

To begin the process Mike ordered in a lot of instruments. Additionally, John Cale had just finished recording at the Manor and the instruments used for his sessions were due to be collected. John had used some tubular bells and just as they were about to be picked up Mike asked for them to remain. It was an inspired decision.

The albums sleeve was created by Trevor Key and Mike loved the artwork. So as not to spoil its effect Mike deliberately asked for his name to be kept in small script. Tubular Bells release was May 1973. It was the first of three simultaneous releases on the Virgin Record label but Tubular Bells was given the distinction of being the first official release with catalogue number V2001. Almost every instrument had been overdubbed by Oldfield. And his completed work had everything. Suspense, humour, tension but above all it kept your interest throughout.

After the albums completion and release Mike was a mental wreck and didn’t want to know about it. Despite this Richard Branson insisted that the album had to go out live. And Mike Oldfield agreed to just one concert. The QEH/Royal Festival Hall was booked for June 1973. Amongst others Virgin label mates and members of Hatfield and the North and Henry Cow were drafted into the live band. As was guitarist Mick Taylor and drummer Steve Broughton. Mike did not enjoy playing live and some pre gig nerves had set in. The concert itself received a huge standing ovation that Mike felt was underserved. He himself had felt that the gig was awful.

Back in 1973 records sold mainly through word of mouth, radio shows etc. So Tubular Bells was not an instant hit. Instead it was a slow grower. John Peel gave the LP a huge boost when he devoted a whole show to it playing the whole album. Bit by bit the album crept up the charts during July August and September 1973. Another boost, particularly for the American market came in late 1973 when segments of Tubular Bells was used by a cult film called The Exorcist. That exposure certainly helped Tubular Bells hit number one in America. By the end of 1973 sales of the record had far exceeding expectations. Richard Branson, it seemed, had had major reservations that the album, one track over two sides, contained few vocals. As it turned out, he need not have worried.

Mike Oldfield was now being pressurised for a follow up record despite the fact that he himself didn’t want to capitalise on the albums success. Mike didn’t want to do a follow up so quickly. During this period Mike became very low and remembers seeing his mother, and her saying something to him to the effect of, ‘you know what it’s like now don’t you’.

Despite all the difficulties Mike did create a follow up. Hergest Ridge was released during 1974 and was soon dubbed as ‘son of Tubular Bells’. This album didn’t capture the imagination of its predecessor. However Mike’s third album ‘Ommadawn’, released during October 1975, did go a long way to dispel feelings that Mike Oldfield had peaked with his debut release.

Fast forward to July 2012 and the memorable opening ceremony for the Olympic Games and Danny Boyle had the great vision to include Mike Oldfield’s masterpiece within it. For the first time, it seemed, Mike felt comfortable about his magnificent piece of work.

COVENTRY VIRGIN RECORDS ALBUM CHART August 1973

Published in Hobo (Coventry Music and Arts Magazine)

1   Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

2   David Bowie - Hunky Dory

3   Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

4   Faust - Tapes

5   Santana - McLaughlin

6   George Harrison - Material World

7   David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

8   Genisis - Live

9   Clifford T Ward - Home Thoughts

10 Roy Wood - Boulders

11 David Bowie -  Ziggy Stardust

12 Cat Stevens - Foreigner

13 Terry Riley - Rainbow in C

14 David Bowie - Man Who Sold the World

15 Lindisfarne - Live

16 Alan Hull - Pipedream

17 Mott the Hoople - Mott

18 Genesis -  Foxtrot

19 Pink Floyd - Meddle

20 Beatles - 67-68

In October 1973, Tubular Bells was No2 to the Rolling Stones Goat's Head Soup in the Coventry Virgin Store Charts.

In February 1974, Tubular Bells was once again No1 in the Coventry Virgin store's album charts.

It fell out of the chart in March 1974 but was No2 again in June 1974, second to Gong.

Coventry Virgin Records Charts from Hobo (Coventry Music and Arts Magazine June 1974). The graphic was drawn by Wandering John guitarist - John Alderson.

White Noise – St Johns Church (Delia Derbyshire)

White Noise – St Johns Church

 (Delia Derbyshire)

By Pete Clemons

The people who designed and built those wonderful medieval churches centuries ago, along with the relatively more modern structures, could never have imagined that, years later, what they built for worship would provide incredible acoustics for electrified music.

Not what they were intended for I agree, but I am certain that those who sometimes devoted their entire lives too, would somehow be pleased. In fact electricity had not even been discovered when St John’s Church, at the end of Spon Street, was built. Yet this 14th century marvel recently played host to an electronic music icon.

To get David Vorhaus, along with his musical partner Mike Painter, to play there was an incredible coup for Synthcurious who, in conjunction with The Tin Arts Centre, are staging a series of electronic music events in and around Coventry.

David Vorhaus was a member of the ‘band’ White Noise who he belonged to along with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Together, and during some now well documented late night sessions undertaken at the BBC workshop in Maida Vale, they created the now legendary White Noise album ‘An Electric Storm’ released during June 1969.

David plays a Kaleidophon, an instrument that kind of looks like a slim guitar or bass guitar, the playing of it is similar, but is in fact an electronic bit of kit that he designed and developed himself……..from plastic drainpipe.

I remember David demonstrating his then new invention of the Kaleidophon on the Tomorrows World TV programme during the mid-1970s, several years after his initial involvement on the White Noise project. During the demonstration David described how the instrument was actually voltage was being played and how the idea was formed as a reaction to the keyboard. And how the ‘stings’ were made from ‘linear carbon resistance materials’. The Kaleidophon was fitted with different switches for different functions such as speed and pitch.

In David’s own words….
“I made the ribbons for the Kaleidophon using thermal paper which has a carbon underlay with a wax coating. I got hold of some of the material before they put the wax on and, amazingly, its resistance was quite linear. Obviously paper wasn’t robust enough so I got them to put it on plastic. Eventually these were made for me by the French Space Agency because the person who worked for Ozalid in the UK, who made the original strings for me,

died and took the manufacturing secret with him. The triggering is activated by pressing on the strings and the fingerboard is velocity-sensitive so you can hit it harder to get a louder note or a different effect. There are controllers at the bottom for the right hand and other devices such as chromatic switches to make it behave like a fretted instrument. It can also be semi-fretted, which corrects you if you’re close to the right note but still lets you do slides. The instrument itself generates voltage control, but I can feed it into my CV-to-MIDI converter and use it to control just about anything”.

Making up todays version of White Noise and accompanying David this evening, is Mike Painter on Theremin – an antenna which picks up your hand movement and, in turn, amplifies those movements and sends it to a speaker. And between them, and for just over an hour they created the most incredible sound that simply grabbed your attention.

They delivered, in an almost pitch black setting, a pre meditated but also improvised set of pieces of music. I didn’t notice a set list but one of the tunes was, I think, introduced as Picasso Rocks. There was also a unique version of ‘Love Without Sound’ (Thanks Ian Green for identifying that) which was fitting as it was a track from the Electric Storm album that David wrote together with Delia Derbyshire whose honour and birthday was being celebrated.

I am certain that she, and all those who built St Johns Church, would have approved.

The Rolling Stones in Coventry

The Rolling Stones in Coventry

by Pete Clemons

Rock and roll is for the young people. The outpouring of musical creativeness and energy is, I agree, a factor of youth. Yet four men who, between them will have a collective age of 295 when they hit the city and play this gig, have created a real buzz in Coventry.

Having seen The Rolling Stones on several occasions, but never in my home city and certainly not within walking distance of where I live, I am as excited as anyone about the bands forthcoming visit to the Ricoh Arena on June 2 - which, by the way, coincides with drummer Charlie Watts’ 77th birthday.

Yes, I have read all the arguments and heard the comments as to why you should or shouldn’t bother with it all and, yes, they have not had a UK top ten single for getting on for forty years. And a part of me really does agree with those arguments. But for me at least, it’s not about what they do any more it is, in fact, all about what they are and what they represent. And having asked myself the question ‘would I regret not going?’ an almost instant message is returned ‘what a stupid fucking question, of course you would’.

It’s incredible really to think that what began as a chance meeting on the Southern Line almost 60 years ago combined with a shared love of the American R and B scene, a sound that would dominate their early releases which then moved onto their more eclectic period of the second half of the 1960s that also included experimentation through to country that then shifted through a rock period, the tax exiled years, the commercial highs and lows and the solo years remotely continues today. This is apart from all that early heavy touring and the incidents that arose out of all of that.

Having said that it’s easy to, not so much forget about, but to overlook the role guitarist Brian Jones played in the early success of the Rolling Stones. Brian grew up in a musical family and had the talent to play almost any instrument. When rock began to experiment in the 1960s Brian was one of the few who could shift with ease through those developments. He played marimbas on ‘Under My Thumb’, introduced the mellotron on a lot of ‘Satanic Majesties’. He was on the strings on ‘Two Thousand Light Years From Home’ and gave ‘We Love You’ that Arabic riff.

Based on those previous experiences of seeing The Rolling Stones live in a mix of cavernous buildings, sports stadiums and the fields of country estates, I expect to see Mick Jagger sporting a huge grin, dressed in his brightest finery prowling and exploring the width and breadth of the entire stage and giving very little outward indication as to his age. I will undoubtedly hear Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood bouncing off each other as they interact and weave their way through a set that will contain some spine chilling guitar riffs. And I will notice the normally calm and collected Charlie Watts sat behind his basic drum kit occasionally giving the impression he is actually enjoying it all. I will also get a huge sense of a band that care deeply for each in a way that only a family does. There will also be an abundance of insignia around the stadium that bears Mick Jagger’s mouth and tongue in that now worldwide familiar logo.

Of course, The Rolling Stones of today are more than just the core band. They will have exemplarily backing musicians and vocalists joining them on stage enhancing the sound. That said they may still play a few stripped back tunes. At least that was what happened on the Bridges to Babylon tour when part of the set went right back to basics and reminisced about days at the Marquee.

Whatever your thoughts, there is no escaping the fact that The Rolling Stones are just wonderful performers. They may not be as relevant and as fast as they once were but they are still as tight and as engaging. They interact with the audience, and the audience, which will no doubt span the generations, will respond. Coventry will love every second of them, of that I am confident.