Jerry Lee Lewis – 1964 Coventry Matrix Hall

 

Jerry Lee Lewis – 1964 Coventry Matrix Hall

By Pete Clemons

During 1964 Jerry Lee Lewis toured extensively in the UK. He had been struggling for any success back home in the States. He had recently moved from Sun to Smash Records (Philips in the UK), and Smash had a plan to get him back on track again. Shortly before touring the UK, Jerry Lee had recorded what many were sure would be his comeback hit: 'I’m on Fire'. But sadly the single failed to set the charts alight.

During the tour Jerry Lee Lewis gave what many called 'outstanding performances', among them a Manchester TV Special and a concert at The Matrix Hall in Coventry. Gene Vincent, The Animals, The Paramounts and The Nashville Teens, who were Jerry's backing group, all appeared on the bill.

Here is how the gig was reported at the time:

Jerry Lee Lewis can be seen in action at Coventry's Matrix Hall on Saturday night, and it is likely that among his repertoire will be his new Philips single 'I'm on Fire' coupled with 'Bread and Butter Man'.

Jerry Lee, who is getting on for 30, sounds like a teenager on the disc which should prove a firm favourite with his many thousands of fans up and down the country. Hundreds of them, as reported on here recently, are travelling from far and wide to see him in Coventry.

Many people don't realise that Jerry Lee's first ideal was to become, not a rip roaring fire tongued pop singer, but a preacher. He studied a the bible institute at Waxahachie, Texas but was sent down, he claims, 'for rocking the accompaniment to a religious song'.

Jerry Lee's special singing style, I suppose, developed a few years later when he began incorporating boogie and blues of the South with country music.

Today one of the fastest recording artists, Jerry is married to his third cousin, Myra Gale Brown, and has two children – a son by a former marriage, and a baby daughter born in August last year.

He lives at Oora Lake, Memphis and his spare time interests include motor cycling, duck hunting and fishing. Jerry Lee Lewis can play, and I mean play – not mess about with, almost any instrument.

He has never learnt to read music but is a master of improvisation, and almost any tune gets more tuneful when caught between the keys of a piano and the nimble fingers of Jerry Lee.

From his piano he drifted almost automatically into entertainment. It started with him tickling the drums or playing the violin in local clubs. Soon he was sitting in whenever a group happened to be a man short.

Nowadays his style incorporates the boogie and blues with the country and western, but somehow he still fits in with the contemporary scene. That's why Coventry's Matrix Hall will be packed to capacity on Saturday night. The new Jerry Lee disc is in the shops now.

Full concert 1964

Moonbears - Four Sides For Red

 

Moonbears - Four Sides For Red

(Coventry band)

by Pete Clemons

 

 On Bandcamp 

On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheMoonbears/

On YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DhwgV68_XD3F5JwGmNDfg/featured

Quadrilaterals can be simple or complex. And this four sided double album is no exception. Thankfully, nothing on this record comes across as remotely anthemic. Neither are there any of those catchy hooks to draw you in.

Moonbears imaginations must have been working overdrive to dream this opus up. The strength of Four Sides For Red lies with the non standard and the unpredictable compositions. The emphasis of the tracks is placed on feel rather than technique. The album is choc full of improvisations yet, at the same time, no one appears to be at the centre of it all. This is a total group album.

Moonbears music swirls and flows between the feverish pulsing of jazz rock and a halcyon filled shade of pop. Grand sweeping melodies are bifurcated with saxophone and the dreamy ardour of unhurried keyboard.

If you are unable or unwilling to reconcile your traditional listening ideas then you might not get much out of this work of art. But open your mind a little and you will be rewarded greatly. It is an album that seems to challenge conventional song construction and adds loose improvisations and instrumentals. Sometimes at the same time. It is not a quick hit. It is more a slow release and needs to be absorbed.

Getting Four Sides For Red released has been a labour of love with love being the operative word. It has taken, what seems like an age, to get it into the wider world. Not least of all because of the pandemic. But love is a powerful thing and with it being a central and important theme to the albums completion they got there in the end. I suspect it contains some deeply personal lyrics but interpretations of words can take you in many directions

My take on Moonbears are that they are more than a band. They are a commitment. Chances are taken. They are not rock and roll, not jazz, not pop. Just music, intense music. The musicians involved seem to know instinctively what is required. You kind of get the most action with the least number of people. There appears to be no rules within the band, just different styles. They come across as free thinking with no boundaries. The music develops from many different areas. They are certainly comparable to nothing in these parts. The absolute opposite of homogeneous.

In conclusion, it takes a little self endeavour to get into Four Sides For Red. But the benefits are accessible to anyone who takes the time to listen to it. It is an album for the fullness of time to come and not simply for the moment.

Blue Beat comes to Coventry 1964

 

Blue Beat comes to Coventry 1964

You tend to associate Blue Beat music as an influence for the Ska scene that took off in Coventry during the late 1970s. And indeed it was.

But I hadn't really considered that the genre had reached the ears of music loving public of Coventry much before that. But how wrong I was. Yes we had the reggae boom of the late 60s. I clearly remember reggae singles being heavily played in the youth clubs at that time.

So imagine my surprise, while researching for something entirely different, an article I came across in a column in a Coventry newspaper from 1964.

The article was reviewing the latest Blue Beat releases. Admittedly, these records were not from the Blue Beat catalogue itself. But the discs themselves were by heavy weights from the scene which found them released by the Decca, Columbia and Ember labels.

The article is reproduced below:

Blue Beat has come to Coventry. For some time it's lively rhythm has dominated the scene in many of London's West End night spots, and now this infectious message is spreading. Local record shops report encouraging sales and many of the Blue Beat discs are now available.

Perhaps one of the most commercial singles in this style would be 'Cross My Heart' a Decca release from The Exotics.

The eight Exotics are West Indians – seven of them were born in the West Indies but one, tenor player Jimmy Sampson, is a product of that fab beat city, Liverpool.

'Cross My Heart' is an up tempo number, full of vigour and musical colour, and benefits from the vocal sounds of singer and pianist, 22 year old Owen Gray.

Columbia Records offer 'Little Girl' coupled with 'The Bluest Beat', a combination of the sounds of Ezz Reco and the Launchers and Boysie Grant and Beverley. The disc is a follow up to the Launchers 'King of Kings'.

Boysie Grant was responsible for the vocal on the last one and this time he is helped out by Beverley. Ezz and his group thump out the rhythm while Boysie and Beverley call and answer each other throughout the song.

The whole thing has a deliberate thudding beat in a slow-medium tempo and yet manages to steer clear of over commercialism.

Ember Records have released two Blue Beat discs as a start to a new series of rhythm and blues extended players. Entitled The Fabulous Blue Beats' – volume one and two – the records were taped in a seemingly ideal atmosphere of a cool cellar in the heart of Soho.

Out of the gay laughter and rings of cigar smoke came titles like 'I'm the Loneliest Boy in Town' and 'Tan Tan Blues'. Story songs, city songs, these are examples of pepped up sounds with modern overtones that still retain the old tradition of the blues.

I have played these two EP's over and over again and enjoyed them. However the one tune that really impressed was the lengthy ever swaying 'Tight Like That' on volume one.

The Beatles 1964 'Jugglers and Acrobats' film. Paul Fox.

 

The Beatles 1964  

'Jugglers and Acrobats' film

by Pete Clemons

Those with long memories will remember, when visiting the cinema, that in addition to the main event you also had a support film. At least that's how I remember it. On more recent visits to the cinema I have noticed that you only seem to get the feature presentation.

Back in 1964 a short film was made especially to accompany The Beatles film 'A Hard Day's Night'. And that warm up film was called 'Jugglers and Acrobats'.

'Jugglers and Acrobats' featured a young Coventry man. The then 20 year old Paul Fox. A professional juggler, Paul learned his trade from his father, popular Coventry entertainer Winston Foxwell at an early age.

And this had not been Paul's first film part – he played with Dirk Bogarde in 'The Password is Courage' when he had a small role as a juggler.

Along with his father Paul made the short film which will be shown on the Rank circuit in support of The Beatles film. And this included the Coventry Gaumont.

This is how 'Jugglers and Acrobats' was more recently reviewed:

Harold Baim takes another look at a slice of life and even back in 1964 he felt that the variety circuit was maybe not as vibrant as it once was and looked at the dying arts of juggling, acrobatics, spinning plates and uni-cycling.

This film was made to accompany the cinema distribution of the first Beatles film 'A Hard Days Night'. It shows some of last jugglers and acrobats from the Variety Circuit.

The film has a script as some of the performers are learning the basics when they are actually accomplished performers some of whom have been practising their art since they were children, others learning skills that were passed down through generation of circus performers.

You could not help marvel at some of the performers like Veronica Martell who juggles at great speed but also does an amazing hat flip routine.

The circus is still going but variety clubs have declined and here is a chance to see these performers display their circus skills.

How different from puppets are the Juggles and Acrobats who practise year after year to reach a pitch of perfection and proficiency. Winston Foxwell teaches his son Paul the rudiments of the craft. It's hard work for both of them. The boy just doesn't seem to catch on at all. Much to the dismay and disgust of his father. Young Foxwell, or 'Fox' as he is professionally known, has to learn that if at first you don't succeed then in this particular business it really is a case of try, try again. The concentration demanded is head breaking. Dad's patience becomes exhausted. Without the watchful eye of his old man, he may do a little better. He does a little more than better.

Winston Foxwell, master manipulator, taught his son Paul. Winston Foxwell describes juggling as 'the propelling of one of more solid objects through the air so skilfully that none of the fall to the ground'. I'd say easier said than done. This boy is really something; only twenty-one now but one day he'll be the greatest, of that there is no doubt.

Today jugglers and acrobats are unfortunately becoming harder to find. There are those who strive hard to keep the ancient art alive. And I for one hope they will never entirely disappear from the scene.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1726190/