Tony Visconti

Tony Visconti

by Pete Clemons

Born in New York, the producer and bass player has long become a legend in the field of popular music production.

Tony Visconti first came to London during 1968 after a chance meeting with fellow producer Denny Cordell. After moving to the UK, one of the first albums he had a hand in producing was ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ by The Ivey’s, later to become known as Badfinger.

There then began a partnership, for Tony, with Marc Bolan which lasted right from the outset of Tyrannosaurus Rex for seven albums including the classic ‘Electric Warrior’ when the band were now known by the truncated T. Rex.

At the same time Tony was still playing bass and had teamed up with David Bowie. After a short spell in David’s band The Hype, Tony continued work with David by appearing on his ‘Space Oddity’ album then playing bass on and producing his ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ album. Tony would team up with Bowie again around the time of ‘Diamond Dogs’ in 1974. This continued with production work for the ‘David Live’ album and subsequent albums up until and including ‘Scary Monsters’.

Again, and in parallel to his work with David Bowie, Tony Visconti was working with artists and bands such as Osibisa, The Strawbs, Sparks, Ralph McTell, Thin Lizzy and Mary Hopkin.

The 1980s saw Tony’s services were still in high demand, and equally as demanding, as he was now working with Hazel O’Connor, The Boomtown Rats, The Moody Blues and a host of others.

The 1990s were relatively quiet in terms of production but the 2000s saw an upturn for Tony’s services. David Bowie and Tony would join forces again during the early 2000s for David’s four final studio albums.

And now at almost 75 years old Tony has teamed up once more with Woody Woodmansey, drummer on ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ in Holy Holy. Named after a failed single from the very early 1970s Holy Holy have been creating the authentic sounds of David Bowie’s early songs since 2014.

‘We’re not a tribute band; we are the real deal’, they claim as they are performing songs from the 1969 to 1973 period. Opening this tour with ‘The Width of a Circle’ the seven-piece band go on to perform ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ album, which was never done at its time of release. They then follow that up with the ‘Ziggy Stardust’ album in full.

After recording a live album from Shepherd's Bush Empire, during 2015, Tony played it to David Bowie. And apparently the man himself was ‘just grinning from ear to ear’ in acknowledgment.

Admittedly vocalist Glenn Gregory does not ooze the sensuality of the creator of those songs. I don’t think for a minute that is what the audience expects. Woody Woodmansey’s hand speed is, at times, electric. And the twin guitars capture Mick Ronson’s licks perfectly. Between them Holy Holy give truly faithful renditions of David Bowie’s music and are well worth catching if, at all possible.

Gary Numan

Gary Numan

by Pete Clemons

There is no denying that, at the age of 60, Gary Numan is riding the kind of high that, arguably, he has not experienced since he burst into the music scene with his ‘Replicas’ album over 40 years ago.

I recently witnessed evidence of this where, together with the Skaparis Orchestra, he performed a two hour set to a capacity house at the Symphony Hall Birmingham.

This particular extravaganza was one of just 6 exclusive gigs that also took place in Cardiff, Newcastle, Manchester, London and Glasgow.

As to be expected the set list was heavily weighted towards Gary’s more recent and highly successful albums ‘Savage’ and ‘Splinter’. However, the past was not forgotten as he delved into his back catalogue pulling out a song from each of ‘Replicas’, ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Telekon’ albums. And this was my own live date with Gary since those days.

Additionally, Gary brought with him his biggest and most extravagant light show that he had taken on the road for over three decades. And this had been designed specifically for these special orchestral performances.

Arriving at the venue Gary tweeted ‘Birmingham Symphony Hall. I’ve not been here before but it’s really quite impressive. This show is nearly two hours long so we’re bringing the stage time forward a little tonight’.

Gary’s obvious excitement over the prospect of this tour had clearly spilled over into his huge and loyal following. Chants of ‘Numan, Numan’ rang around auditorium as soon as he hit the stage. And this continued in between tracks until it hit fever pitch with the onset of ‘Are Friends Electric’.

Still sporting his jet-black hair and eye liner, the one obvious difference from 40 years ago was that Gary now frequently moves. Whereas once, he had this deadpan, almost robotic like, demeanour when delivering his songs, he now has a repertoire of several shapes into which he contorts his body in heavy rotation while, at the same time, stalking around the stage like a caged creature. And this loop of expression continued throughout the entire gig with very little spoken interaction between himself and his audience.

In addition to the orchestra Gary was surrounded by his regular band. This comprised of a drummer, a keyboard player, a guitarist and a bass player. And between them the sound was dense and heavy. But at the same time the sound became distinctly different when an old tune was approaching.

Another delving into the past came by way of support act, keyboard and viola player Chris Payne, a name you may recognise from the hey days of the touring principle and living ornaments tours. Chris delivered a spectacular and very enjoyable aural, if not visual set, from a pair of keyboards and lap tops.

Gary mentioned that he had often felt that his music has had, at times, a filmic quality. And, that with The Skaparis Orchestra joining them for these six shows, that mix of hard electronic and soaring cinematic atmosphere would finally come fully to life. And so it did, to great effect.

Throughout the gig, I genuinely couldn’t help but feel pleased that for Gary Numan, after all this time, and throughout his highs and particularly his lows, things once again appear to have come together for this one-time pioneer.

The Strawbs - 50th Anniversary

The Strawbs - 50th Anniversary

by Pete Clemons

Thinking back to the late 1960s when I was becoming a teenager, apart from the normal chart music, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues and Beatles albums and such like, I distinctly remember being totally captivated by 3 LP records of less familiar bands. These were Music in a Dolls House by Family, It’s All About by Spooky Tooth and the first record release by The Strawbs. Although, as I was not aware of at that time, technically, it wasn’t the band’s first album release. That had been an album recorded with Sandy Denny which was abandoned to the vaults. It would, however, see light of day some years later.

Family and Spooky Tooth have both long since split although the charismatic lead vocalist of Family, Roger Chapman, still performs the occasional gig. As does ex Family drummer, Rob Townsend, who turns out for The Manfreds. Remarkably however, The Strawbs are still going strong, and still lead by the bands founder and primary song writer Dave Cousins who continues to produce wonderful music.

The other band members at the time of the first LP, guitarist and vocalist Tony Hooper and double bass player Ron Chesterman had both left the band by 1973. Having said that, Tony Hooper did return for a while from the late 80s through to the early 90s. Ron Chesterman sadly passed away during 2007.

April 2019 will see the band celebrate their 50th anniversary in the United States. But consistently year after year The Strawbs have gigged almost continuously throughout that time either with a full band or acoustically. And it is equally impressive that, for the last 45 years or so, Dave has had guitarist Dave Lambert at his side.

At this point I am not even going to attempt to give a potted history of The Strawbs. It is far too complicated a tale to tell and, besides, it is all out there on the internet to see. Some wonderful work has clearly been done cataloguing the bands history.

However, I would just like to acknowledge this fine debut record because, for me personally, it has been like a life-long friend and has never been far from the record player / CD player. Even today the songs within it have never dated and retained the beauty I first discovered soon after it was released during May/June 1969. On its release Melody Maker called it ‘thoughtful arrangements offset the songs, which are reminiscent of the Moody Blues style’.

The opening track, ‘The Man Who Called Himself Jesus’, even for someone like myself who has never really understood the notion of religion, is immediately compelled to listen. The lyric is so sympathetic to the situation in many ways.

‘That Which Once Was Mine’ – and it’s opening line of ‘If in some capricious moment’ – I wouldn’t have even known what the word capricious meant back then. ‘Pieces of 79 and 15’. Again, there is no way I would have known what that song was all about. Even today, I am still not totally sure. The closest I came to a greater understanding was when I came across an interview with Dave Cousins where he explained that ‘it centred around Tony Hooper’s bizarre experiences in his several, extremely seedy, London flats’. The mind can only wonder.

So, it clearly wasn’t the lyrics that drew me to this record. Maybe it was the music then. As with Nick Drake albums, this album had arrangements added to it, to greatly enhance the songs. Great credit therefore must go to producer Tony Visconti and Gus Dudgeon who recorded it.

‘Oh, how she changed’ / ‘Or am I dreaming’ / ‘Where am I’ / ‘Tell me what you see in me’ – are just totally intoxicating songs for someone of such a tender age. They were written with pure love, passion and whimsy. Or at least that’s how they come across to me at least. And, they capture perfectly, the vocal talents of both Dave Cousins and Tony Hooper. The Preserves Uncanned set, that featured many early recordings from the band known as the Strawberry Hill Boys, and who went on to become The Strawbs, also contained several stripped backed versions of songs that would crop up on The Strawbs debut record. The difference in them is stark and revealing.

As for The Strawbs developing into an electric band, which of course they did during the 1970s, Dave Cousins was clearly looking toward the future as early as January 1969 when, in an interview, he mentions this ambition for the band as well as introducing a drummer.

Do I have any criticisms of the record? No nothing major, only that, as good as the song is – and it really is, I always felt that ‘The Battle’ felt slightly out of context with the rest of the album. The song, as I understand, is about a game of chess. But maybe it was intended to be included as a way of adding some shade dark to all the light.


During their 50 years together, The Strawbs have produced many fine and varied albums. So powerful are some of the lyrics I have seen them reduce people to tears. But the stories and messages within that debut record certainly left a huge impression on me. Maybe it was a simple case that it happened to snare me at such a vulnerable and innocent time in my life, who knows. Whatever the reason though, I am just so thankful that it did happen. It remains today, when called upon, something that’s guaranteed to make me feel a whole lot better about things.