From the Sun / Bitter Suite

From the Sun / Bitter Suite

by Pete Clemons

The reason for putting together these few words was to recognise and remember a couple of Coventry bands from the mid to late 1960s. In fact October 2nd marks 50 years from when one of them recorded. Information on these bands is understandably difficult come across given the passage of time. But there is one cutting from the archives of Colin Williams featuring ‘From the Sun’ and which I have faithfully reproduced.

‘After exiling itself for the past year a Coventry group – restyled with a new sound – is bouncing back into the city scene.

The five man group ‘From the Sun’ was formed toward the end of 1966 with a ‘soul’ base to its material. But Coventry has seen little of the group, which found itself a ready market for its talents in clubs and pubs all over the North.

About the nearest the five got to their Coventry homes was a fortnightly spot, since last Easter, at Chesford Grange. But that stay away plan is changing. On Saturday night the group appeared at the Walsgrave Inn, where the five are booked to appear again, with the Ray King Soul Band next Thursday.

Present line-up is singer Mick O’Rourke: organ Tony Warner: drums Rick Sparke: bass guitar Reg Sparke and lead guitar Colin Williams. And the three pictured above – at the Walsgrave – are Reg, Mick and Colin.

The group, which writes some of its own material, is switching to a new sound. Colin, who handles music arrangement, said: ‘We used to be a soul group. But now we’re trying out new material with a very free-form basis. It’s a sort of cross between blues and American west coast’.

Bitter Suite was a short lived Coventry band.


As lead guitarist Colin Williams recalls ‘I think we probably got together during the summer of '68, but never, as far as I can remember, did any gigs’.


But here is some information on "Bitter Suite" that I have managed to gather and put together.


The band recorded four tracks at Hollick & Taylor studios in Birmingham on 2nd October 1968. These were titled:


Wild Waters

The Cat

Evergreen Wood

Bride Of The Winds



Personnel on these recordings were:

Alan Payne on keyboards

Mick Keel on Bass Guitar

Kevin Connolly Drums

Colin Williams Guitar

--------------? Vocals



Afraid that the singers name remains a mystery. Nobody seems to remember his name only that he was from Birmingham, and sang with another lad previously, as a duo.


As for the other member of Bitter Suite, Mick Keel played bass in a number of Coventry bands, The Soul Express being one of them. Kevin Connoly played drums for The Chicanes and Alan Payne played for The Flamingoes. Colin Williams would go on to pay for Indian Summer.

....................

Additional material

From the Sun

Psychedelic group or rather blues and free form.

Line up: Mick O'Rourke (vocals), Colin Williams (guitar), Tony Warner (organ), Reg Sparke (bass), Rick Sparke (drums). (The original singer Pete ? was replaced by Mick O'Rourke from The Gazelles.)

Formed towards the end of 1966 as a soul band, but quickly switched to their own material. Colin Williams, who was the arranger described the group as '..trying out new material with a very free-form basis. It's a sort of cross between blues and American West-Coast'.

Mick O'Rourke was also in The Gazelles and The Image.

Colin Williams later in Indian Summer.

From Pete Clemons http://coventrygigs.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/colin-williams-indian-summer.html

"Began following on from Soul sect with R & B and soul, playing in clubs and pubs all over the North East of England. British blues was in its infancy but Colin became more influenced by Eric Clapton and John Mayall (with Peter Green) and Ainsley Dunbar. From the Sun restyled themselves with new vocalist Mick O'Rourke (after original vocalist Pete, had moved on). They went on to forge a new sound. They played local venues like the General Wolf, Walsgrave and Plough with the sound of blues and a more free-form sound. They began playing some of the things that Colin had written and were also influenced by some of the things coming from the west coast of America. They gained a reputation for being one of the hottest and most creative bands in the city.

This photo of Tony Warner is from his daughter Haley Warner.

Photos from Sharron Flanagan

Old Skool - Crokodile Tears

Old Skool - Crokodile Tears

By Pete Clemons

Regardless of whether you enjoyed it or not, schools tend to hold many memories. They are the places where many of your childhood secrets happened. You may have met a best friend at school, got into that first scrape or you may even have had your first crush there. Then there are the pranks you played and the silly stories and jokes.

These are lifelong memories. And as we grow older, perhaps in those quieter moments, we often look back on them with wonder. Something may spark an ‘I wonder whatever happened to so and so’ moment. What are they doing now? A song or a situation may trigger a memory, or someone may say something that has you thinking back many decades to a funny situation, and you suddenly get a daft grin on your face which you have to explain away. I am sure we have all done it.

Well Crokodile Tears, namely Alf Hardy, Jerry Richards and Christopher Sidwell, are back with an album called ‘Old Skool’ that explores this very subject. Even the sleeve show primary song writer, Christopher Sidwell, looking back and reminiscing on a previous life over the landscape where Binley Park School once stood.

Right from the albums opening tune ‘Kids‘, you really do find yourself in a reflective mood. Admittedly it is childlike at times but this album is not all about childhood whimsy. Christopher has attempted to inject some seriousness throughout it all. Tunes like ‘End of an Error’ attempts to remind us of the values we once held. Even the homage paid to one of England’s greatest footballers – Bobby Charlton – contains a strong message. We once smiled about it but if you ever feel the need for a comb over, then you have one. It’s absolutely your right to. And as with all ‘Croks’ songs, humour is not far away either.

There is a great mix of songs on here too. Some of the songs start with the chorus, so effectively back to front, as far as traditional song writing goes. ‘Kosmic Popadom’ was born out of a spontaneous jam. Jerry Richards contributes with an instrumental called ‘Doctor Dee’ and the listener is also treated to a Beatles cover. The one common denominator being that all the songs are deliberately kept on the short side. Most of the tunes are running in at between 2-3 minutes each.

Many of our local luminaires are credited for the albums creation including Keith Fabrique for pre-production and engineering and Paul Sampson, who oversaw the production of the project. In fact this that Paul and the ‘Croks’ have worked together since the band’s debut album around 35 years ago. And the team work certainly pays dividends in producing a consistency of sound across the entire album.

Overall this album is a delight. It’s all a joy and, above all, it is pure escapism. And it is guaranteed to have you recalling long forgotten memories. Also, stick with the album to the very end, and you will even find an additional hidden bonus track.

Old Skool - Crokodile Tears on Deezer

https://www.deezer.com/us/album/71088282

Soft Machine

Soft Machine

by Pete Clemons

As I was growing up, like many, I was often derided for the kind of music that I listened to. You were often viewed as a bit of an oddball if you diversified away from what the normal media offered. It sounds bizarre now but even within the company of your own peers you could have been viewed as a bit strange for exploring other avenues from what they were listening to.

One band who, for me at least, certainly fitted into the latter category, were The Soft Machine. Yet for as long as I remember I have always enjoyed listening to them. For me, The Soft Machine’s music is timeless and this year see’s the current version of the band celebrating 50 years since the release of the debut Soft Machine album.

From their formation in 1966 the amount of personnel changes within the Soft Machine numbers, I am guessing, in the thirties. And a line-up that includes John Etheridge on guitar, Roy Babbington on bass, John Marshall drums and Theo Travis flute are about to take to the road to undertake an extensive U.S. and European tour.

In addition the band have dropped the ‘Legacy’ tag that they have used for at least the last ten years and recorded a new album, ‘Hidden Details’.

Soft Machine evolved from Kent based band The Wilde Flowers during 1966. Their initial line up consisted of Mike Ratledge keyboards, Robert Wyatt drums, Kevin Ayres bass and Daevid Allen guitar although Daevid left the band quite early on. From the start they were a band with no restrictions. Music began as rock based although later recordings drifted increasingly towards jazz.

As described by Robert Wyatt ‘we were musical misfits from Canterbury. At the time the band was formed I was the only drummer around and Mike Ratledge was the only keyboard player around. And there was nobody else around like Kevin Ayres – a unique guy. Had we have come from a big city then things might have been different as there may have been an abundance of musicians to pick from’. They had been ejected from local pubs due to the length of their hair.

They were all very experimental sorts of people and the idea was that they had to get themselves into a zone. Dig into a groove, if you like. With a receptive audience before them, ‘The Softs’ would take them all to another place. Robert Wyatt jokes that the idea was not to stop in case they got boo’d for what they were doing.

The band was influence by John Coltrane and his workouts. They shared this love for a mix of jazz and improvised rock which was not on predictable lines. Wyatt has since mentioned that the name ‘Soft Machine’ came courtesy of Mike. Although it seems that it was Kevin Ayres who got ‘the Softs’ their first deal with Chas Chandler.

And it was through this association that ‘The Softs’ toured the US with Jimi Hendrix during 1968. In fact it became two particularly difficult tours. Even the band’s debut album was recorded during their time in the US. The second tour even saw Andy Summers, later of the Police, briefly joining the trio. Such was the stress that toward the end of 1968 ‘The Softs’ had disbanded with Kevin Ayres skipping off to Spain.

However a month or so later, during December 1968, Robert and Mike reassembled the band with the addition of bass player Hugh Hopper who also doubled up on sax. Together they recorded the Soft Machine’s second album over February and March 1969. This record would be released in the September of the same year.

But the introduction of Hugh Hopper into the band would also be the beginning of ‘The Softs’ moving away from the song based music they had so far created. By April of 1969 Brian Hopper, the elder brother of Hugh, was appearing regularly on stage with Soft Machine playing sax.

At this point I would greatly recommend the heavily bootlegged ‘Live at Paradiso’ album. Recorded March 1969, for me it captures Soft Machine perfectly, right in between their past and what would become their immediate future.

Toward the end of 1969 alto sax and saxello player Elton Dean, who had been a member of the Keith Tippet band, was also appearing with the band as Brian Hopper moved away from the live performances.

During a 1997 interview Mike Ratledge gave an insight into this period: ‘Hugh, myself and Elton were pursuing a vaguely jazz-related direction. Robert was violently opposed to this, which is strange looking back on it because he was passionate about jazz. But he had defined ideas of what pop music was and what jazz was.’

Robert Wyatt has since said ‘To me, fusion jazz was the worst of both worlds. It was rock rhythms, played in a rather effete way, with noodling, very complicated solos on top.’

Regardless of what the private thoughts of this new direction were but Robert stayed long enough with the band to create what many consider their finest hours, this being the albums, ‘Third’ and ‘Fourth’. Robert Wyatt would ultimately leave Soft Machine during the middle of 1971.

Then began a period where a plethora of musicians passed through the ranks of Soft Machine. These would include Marshall and Babbington, from the current line-up along with composer Karl Jenkins who is more well-known nowadays for his classical work.

Yet despite these changes, whoever has been involved with Soft Machine, has consistently provided the listener with a challenge by their unusual jazz structures and free form improvisation. A form of music that simply sounded like no other did. As such I, for one, am really looking forward to hearing the new album. 

Godiva Festival 2018

Godiva Festival 2018

Memories of a free festival………………

by Pete Clemons

Firstly, thanks to all those involved in creating this wonderful spectacle. One of the on stage announcements that resonated with me was how hard the stage crew had been working. Well beyond midnight each evening and they were back on it at 7:30am every morning. We in Coventry are blessed to have this event on our doorsteps.

The Friday evening was, I thought, very flat in terms of attendance. Despite being a glorious evening weather wise, audience numbers were noticeably down on previous years. But as the weekend progressed, the weather picked up, and in came the revellers, with Saturday and Sunday getting a sizeable crowd.

Jimmy Kemp: The opening act for the whole event on Friday evening. Such was the sparseness of audience initially that, at one point, Jimmy mentioned that he had played to more people in the city centre. Which was a pity as, for me, Jimmy was one of the highlights of the entire festival. His set included some own gems such as ‘Perfect Day’ and ‘If I Could Live My Life Again’. Then, instead of plugging more of his own music, he gave us a rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ as he thought we would enjoy it more.

Duck Thieves: From the sublime, we were then treated to a novelty band in the form of Duck Thieves. It has to be said that they were full of up lifting messages and with tunes such as ‘Why Should I Look Like Everyone Else’, ‘Make Babies or Get High’, ‘Dance Like a Duck Thief’ and ‘You Will Never Make it on your Own’ they certainly proved that they could keep hold of your attention. Not only that but they gave you a smile a second.

Matt Cattell: I only really know Matt through social media but he certainly wears his heart on his sleeve. And this enthusiasm has transcended into his song writing. His set was a mix of originals and covers that included several well-known tunes from the 90s such as ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Wonderwall’. To say his audience shared Matt’s motivation would be an under-statement also.

Ollie Bond: I had never heard of him before but what a great account of himself he gave us. With songs like ‘Postcard from Paris’ and ‘Give it All’ he is certainly a singer songwriter that needs serious investigation.

Tony Christie: A lunch time like I never experienced before. I don’t mind admitting that when I first saw him announced I cringed. How wrong I was. This figure in the white suit was pure class. ‘Walk Like a Panther’, Avenues and Alleyways’, ‘Las Vegas’, ‘Reno’, ‘Daddy Don’t You Walk so Fast’, ‘Mario’ and ‘Amarillo’. They were all there and delivered immaculately. Maybe the sun was getting to me but I thoroughly enjoyed him.

The Ellipses: The opening act for the whole Godiva festival two years ago on the main stage. This time an acoustic set on the BBC CWR stage. ‘Voice of the Potential Me’, ‘Easy Going’ and ‘Cold Cactus’ displayed their strong effectiveness for song writing. But then they stick in a medley, which I get why, but I personally would prefer to hear more of their own original material.

Gospability: There is something about a gospel group that is just so uplifting. Even to a heathen like myself. They finished on their take of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Say a Little Prayer’ which had me unashamedly dabbing my eyes afterwards. My sunglasses, saving me, from further embarrassment.

Hazel O’Connor: Not her first time on the main stage. With an audience visibly swelling Hazel and her backing band, The Subterraneans, delivered an incredibly powerful, composed and polished performance. Her set included the classics ‘Eighth Day’ and ‘Will You’.

Neville Staple Band: An extraordinarily brave performance in what must have been the most difficult of circumstances. The atmosphere from the stage permeated within the audience. It was charged in there. ‘A Message to You Rudi’ was given a whole new poignancy. Amongst others, ‘Ghost Town’, ‘Monkey Man’ and other tunes followed. Not quite sure how Neville and the band pulled that performance off. It must have been emotionally shattering.


The thing about the majority of the bands and artists I have mentioned is that, in the main, music is not their full time career. What makes it all the more remarkable to me is that music is a passion that they fulfil in their spare time. And the music they are creating is their own. It is what burns inside them. Many weekends and weekdays they can be found playing the pubs and clubs in the region. So please continue to give them your invaluable support.

The Godiva festival is without doubt the jewel in the crown of Coventry City’s council. It acts as a showcase for much of the city’s amazing talent. And it is quite possibly the biggest stage they will ever appear on. And this, in turn, may even lead to greater things for them. Long may ‘the Godiva’ continue to be an important date on the city’s calendar.