Callum Pickard 2019

Callum Pickard 2019

By Pete Clemons

July 2018 and, after seeing them play live at the Old Grammar School, they left me feeling convinced that it was only a matter of time until Callum Pickard and the Third Look would gain a far wider audience and get far greater attention.

However, within weeks of that gig and to my disbelief, the band were no-more, and it was all over for the Third Look.

But now, after several months away, Callum Pickard has re-emerged and is playing live once again. Gone is the dreamy pop and in comes a whole new direction. The improvisation has been replaced by planned and more premeditated, but not predictable, song structures.

For this new venture Callum has built a new band around the familiar faces from each of his previous bands. And it is clear he still enjoys hearing some brass in the mix. Although this time the band make a greater use of programming and sequencing.

From the Third Look you have the familiar faces of Laurence Pettit - Synths, Acoustic Guitar and backing vocals and Jon Pudge - Flugelhorn and Trumpet.

Then, from his earlier band, the now ironically named ‘For Absent Friends’, you have Chris Lings on Drums, Matty Wishart, Guitar and Dan Grealy on Bass. Completing this exciting new septet is Bill Cameron on Saxophone.

In his time away from the live scene Callum has not been idle. Far from it in fact. He has, for at least the last six months, been busy immersing himself in an album which still has some way to go until it can be released. As I understand, though, the album will comprise of new songs and reworkings of old ones. But with guest appearances by members of ‘War on Drugs’ and ‘The 1975’, this alone should certainly focus some attentions when it does see the light of day.

Additionally, Callum has been increasing his skill set by adding drums to a growing list of instruments he is prepared to improve upon.

For Sunday’s Sound: in bloom gig ‘an evening of brand new music’ held at The Tin, Callum and the band more than rose to the occasion by presenting four new songs. Bar Key, Follow the Sign, Time Lies and Translated Radio. And how well they came across. To these ears at least the band felt comfortable, they appeared to enjoy themselves and any rehearsals had certainly paid dividends as the music flowed effortlessly.

And this new-found confidence may also yield a spin off as there is also some talk of resurrecting ‘For Absent Friends’ for a one-off gig. The dusting off, of some old tunes, just for old time’s sake.

Caravan - Recent Output

Caravan - Recent Output

By Pete Clemons

Rock band Caravan continue to celebrate their 50th year of existence. You may remember them for their 14 wonderful and varied studio albums and the rather splendid live recording with the New Symphonia Orchestra.

Caravan’s music was initially influenced by a loose form of jazzy rhythms but that disappeared as the band developed. Textured harmonies and, at times, extended and complicated work outs became a staple. Their songs can be catchy, sometimes display humour yet, at the same time, be deep and abstract.

The last twenty years has seen Caravan’s discography produce an abundance of live, demos, re-recordings and other, unused material. Some of the releases have been outstanding, some of them not so.

For anyone remotely interested in Caravan, they did have a large underground following, and who has yet to hear this stuff, I have listed below a selection of what I consider essential listens. Almost as important, in my opinion, as the bands original studio albums.

All Over You (1997) – Completely new and, it must be said, a brilliant set of re-workings of some of Caravan’s finest moments such as ‘Place of my Own’ and ‘For Richard’ in an almost acoustic format. The band at this point was Pye Hastings, Geoffrey Richardson, David Sinclair, Jimmy Hastings and Richard Coughlan.

All Over You…Too (2000) – A similar project to above but featured the reformed band of 1999 that included, Doug Boyle on lead guitar and Jim Leverton on bass. The energy and vibrancy, contained within these versions, is quite startling. Even a track like ‘Ride’ from the first album has been given a complete transformation.

Songs For Oblivion Fishermen (1998) – A live album containing archive BBC recordings that spanned the period 1970 to 1974 and was mastered from original archive tapes. As for the album’s title, Pye Hastings explained: ‘I have always been intrigued by misunderstandings and Chinese whispers and the title is an example of this. It stems from a conversation I heard in my local pub about these Bolivian street musicians - obviously I misheard’.

Ether Way (1998) – Another set of live recordings from archive BBC recordings that spanned the period 1975 to 1977 and featuring the band line ups from the ‘Cunning Stunts’, ‘Blind Dog’ and ‘Better by Far’ album period.

Green Bottles For Marjorie (2002), (‘Green Bottles for Marjorie’ was, as I understand, the early working title for what became ‘If I Could Do it All Over Again, I’d Do it All Over You’ tune) - This album contains Top Gear sessions from 1968 along with an In Concert recording from 1971 and a track recorded on the John Peel show in 1972.

Live at the Fairfield Hall 1974 (2002) – Originally released as a double LP in Germany and France under the title of ‘The Best of Caravan Live’, this concert remained unreleased in the UK until its CD release during 2002. This concert was performed by the line-up that released the Cunning Stunts album.

In addition, I would also recommend that you check out the various re-issues of official studio albums, for the bonus songs that they contain. Each of the 2001 CD releases contain at least three extra tracks of demo’s or working titles from the period of the main album they feature on.

Finally, Steven Wilson's 40th anniversary deluxe 2011 release of ‘In the Land of Grey and Pink’ album. In addition to the main event it also contains recording sessions, archival stuff from Sounds of the Seventies and a Paris Theatre concert hosted by John Peel.

The above CD’s I mentioned CD’s may be quite difficult to locate. However, with the number of digital outlets available nowadays, I am sure they would not take much time to track down on the ether.

I admit that it may seem strange have, in some cases, multiple versions of the same songs but the thing about Caravan, is that they never played to a script. Each version of every song Caravan perform, brings with it, its own uniqueness.


2019 sees Caravan appearing in selective gigs that continue the celebration of the bands 50 years of existence. Who knows how many more years exist. But one thing is for sure. Their legacy will live on forevermore.

Georgie Fame at Warwick University

Georgie Fame at Warwick University

by Pete Clemons

One of my own personal favourite sounding musical instruments is that of the Hammond Organ. For me it has a wonderful rich and warming tone. Additionally, it seems to exemplify the 1960s.

And one of the foremost British exponents of this instrument is Georgie Fame. Now well into his 70s Georgie Fame still tours from time to time, clearly enjoys himself and, in his words, will continue to for as long as he can.

Just recently Georgie performed at the Warwick Arts Centre where he wowed us with his, still, fine voice and his incredible talents. He also enlightened us with his anecdotes.

Georgie made no secret of how he was influenced by the likes of Ray Charles, who he saw play live during 1962, Jimmy Smith, Booker T Jones along with many of the artists who played on the Blue Note label during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In fact, it was during 1966, after hearing Booker T play, that convinced Georgie to buy his first Hammond. And it is that very instrument that he is playing this evening. The Hammond was even connected to the integrated amplifier / rotating speaker cabinets, rarely seen nowadays, but were famously known as Leslie cabinets. Named after the guy who invented them.

Georgie, born Clive Powell, was discovered by composer Lionel Bart who introduced him to Larry Parnes who, in turn, renamed him Georgie Fame. At the time, Larry Parnes, was one Britain's top rock 'n' roll impresario’s and tended to rename all his ‘discoveries’. This led to Georgie becoming the house pianist on the ill-fated Eddie Cochran UK tour during 1960.

Georgie Fame and his band the Blue Flames found chart success with the 1964 hit 'Yeh, Yeh'. Georgie informed us that ‘Yea Yea’ had begun life as an instrumental. Words were added later and, when released, the song shot to top. That fame led to a tour of Sweden. As their plane taxied on the runway George noticed a Beatles style reception. Lots of screaming girls had gathered at the airport. Unknown to Georgie, actor Roger Moore had been on the same flight. Back then Roger was famous for his role in the TV series The Saint and, of course, the reception was for him.

Another chart hit followed during 1966 with ‘Get Away’. Georgie explained how this tune had been written for a Benzol petrol promotion and how he had been given two weeks to produce the song. However, in his mind, he put the task to one side. After playing a gig in Bristol the tune was written overnight while travelling back to London. It was presented the very next day which happened to be the final one of his deadline.

Georgie revealed about the time he had to split up the Blue Flames. Drummer Mitch Mitchell took the news badly. By coincidence, and at the same time, Chas Chandler got in touch and invited Georgie to go see his new discovery, Jimi Hendrix, perform in a London club. Jimi was looking for a drummer. Georgie took Mitch with him.

Georgie was also full of praise for producer and label manager Denny Cordell. As Georgie set about forging his solo career Denny was a massive help. He described him as very helpful and very hip.

As we moved into the 1970s and 80s, Georgie spent much of that time in cabaret or as a guest on television shows. Georgie recalled that during the 1980s he was a guest of American singer songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. At that time Hoagy was himself in his 80s. Clearly proud of the experience, Georgie even got to play some of Hoagy’s compositions for an album using Hoagy’s own piano. He even toured the UK with a New York band.

During the 1990s Georgie joined Van Morrison both on tour and in the recording studio. Georgie also became a founder member of Bill Wyman’s rhythm kings.

Joined on stage by his son’s James Powell on drums and Tristram Powell on guitar, it wasn’t purely an evening of anecdotes. Each story touched on was accompanied musically with a selection of tunes from that period, and more. All in all, it was an enthralling evening of pure class and style.