The Pineapple Thief - 'How Did We Find Our Way' : 1999 – 2006’

 

The Pineapple Thief - 'How Did We Find Our Way' : 1999 – 2006’

by Pete Clemons

Record buying is very different nowadays from when I was a youngster. Back then you had huge record companies chucking obscene amounts of money attempting to get singles and albums into the charts.  Groups were given vast amounts of money up front. Back then it also felt like the whole country enjoyed and, took an interest, in the music scene.

I began this piece with the words 'record buying'. Even that term is alien nowadays. You don't even have to buy music now. It is there in the ether for free. We are now in a world where 'platforms' allow you, for a cost, to stream fresh air. The artists effectively give their life's work to these 'platforms'. In return the artist receives a miniscule of a penny/cent for each download or stream. What on earth has gone wrong!. How did we get to this point?. How was this ever allowed to happen?.

Pop music in its early days, I guess, was taken for granted. A positive of today, that I have noticed, is that music fans, despite their low numbers compared to the past, are more dedicated and passionate. But of course that leads to endless debates, for example, which line up of a band was the best, the amount of reissues, box sets and such like.

Nowadays, and with all its pitfalls, it is increasingly difficult for a band to make any kind of income through music. The music business has become more of a cottage industry. A band, may begin by releasing enough CD copies to satisfy an initially low fan base (although this model now appears to be old hat). The financial risk belongs to the band. They are the ones putting their own money, time and effort in.

New music and a follow up album may appear and that initial audience has hopefully grown. If that happens some of those newly acquired fans inevitably begin to examine the back catalogue.

This increased interest demands re-releases of albums in a multitude of mediums. And so it goes, release by release, until who knows what develops and in how long a time-frame.

Who could possibly begrudge a band or musician that 'makes it' nowadays. And gets to a point where they can a modest income (feel free to take 'makes it' with the pinch of salt that phrase demands).

One such band who have gotten to the point where each new release considerably outsells the previous one is The Pineapple Thief. And of course that continually growing audience has taken more than a passing interest in the bands early days.

 And that interest has fuelled enough energy for a lavish box set titled 'How Did We Find Our Way' : 1999 – 2006’ which focuses on the bands humble beginnings with a release in 1999 called 'Abducting The Unicorn' through to the bands 'Little Man' in 2006. So essentially it covers the first 5 official album releases. But of course there are lots of extras.

This box set has been produced to the highest qualities of sound currently available. It also contains what looks like a magnificent book. It is a complete one off release that, I think, is very good value for what you are getting.

I, for one, hope this box set sells out. And that looks quite possible at the moment. It is particularly great for the legions of fans new to the band and who might be having difficulty sourcing the early music. It is nothing more than The Pineapple Thief, (active now for almost 25 years), deserve.

Much has changed over the course of The Pineapple Thief's existence. None more-so than when, possibly the most sought after drummer of the modern era, Gavin Harrison, hooked up with the band. This was long after the release of any of the music included within this box set.

Commercially, bringing Gavin in was a brilliant move. But it was one that in an ideal world, and where music fans are not turned on by celebrity, would never have happened. Or would it?. Did the music improve?. It certainly developed an edge. This release, I suspect, will only reignite and re-energise that debate. After a quarter century The Pineapple Thief are certainly a band with a contrasting career.

Once the listener, particularly those new to The Pineapple Thief, immerse themselves in these 5 albums and all its extras they will find that it is not only their eyes that will light up. Indeed, all their senses will have been illuminated.

Pete Waterman - Oct 1974 Interview

 

Pete Waterman - Oct 1974 Interview

by Pete Clemons

Pete Clemons interviewed by Pete Waterman

In more recent years Coventry's Pete Waterman has tended to take a back seat as far as the popular music of today goes. Today he appears quite content to give his opinions on rail related matters. Additionally he can be found helping with the build of a new OO gauge model railway which was recently displayed at Chester Cathedral as well as being featured on TV.

But there was a time, well before he became a household name, when Pete was known as Coventry's 'King of Philly' - a nickname earned because of his following as the top soul DJ and his visit to Philadelphia during 1974.

At that time, the then twenty-seven year old Pete, had lived in Coventry all his life - sung in the Cathedral Choir, worked in rock groups and as a DJ - and is the biggest local music personality.

An interview with Pete, conducted during October 1974, recently came to my attention and so I decided to transcribe it. I found it all quite fascinating:......................

Q. When did your career as a D.J. begin to develop?

P.W. My days as a D.J. began quite simply in the early 60's it was before the time of disco equipment as we know to-day. It consisted of one turntable only. They needed somebody to change records fast - and I could change records faster than anyone else. The main cause of my interest in soul was John Lennon. I met Lennon when I was working at Matrix Ballroom in Coventry. Reg Calvert, who owned about 6 ballrooms in the area, was so keen on the Beatles that he booked them on 60 different dates. I was working the deck when this guy with Levi Jeans cane up and asked me in an accent I'd never heard before whether I had any Miracles records? any Marvellettes? any Motown? Well this guy sold me right away - I mean Levi jeans in 1962. All I could say was that I'd never heard of them. He went to the van and gave me 'Way Over There' and 'Shop Around' by the Miracles, 'Mr. Postman' by the Marvellettes and 'Finger tips' by Stevie Wonder. Then there was the Beatles themselves - really incredible, numbers like 'You Really Got A Hold On Me'.

Q. Your trip to Philadelphia this year was the culmination of a career developing steadily over the years and finally put you on the map nationally. How important is this national recognition to you?

P.W. My work until recently has always been in Coventry -in 1968 I started working at the Locarno and been packing them in ever since! That is apart from a spell at the Birmingham Locarno. It's much more important for me to be known locally on a friendly basis where people can come up and say hello. That's why the growth of local radio is so important. National fame means people just stare at you.

Q. Philadelphia has recently taken over as the worlds No. 1 music city at the moment. How did your visit come about and how did you fare over there?

P.W. I went over to Philadelphia in April this year and spent some time working with Gamble, Huff and Bell of Philly International. The trip was completely on the spur of the moment. I just packed my bags, flew to the U.S.A. and presented myself to them. Bell with a letter of introduction I had secured from C.B.S. over here. The fact that I was English helped a good deal - first in getting in and secondly for a wider experience. I had the advantage of being able to visit both black and white stations -which are very different!

Q. Music is in a rut here. Where do you look for a breakthrough? and do you see any sign of this?

P.W. There was no sign of the Beatles before they broke. At the moment we are suffering from a whole series of one record artists - 'Top of the Pops' has lost the influence it had. What I do see from my work in the ball-room is a big swing back to dancing. The Bump will be bigger than the Twist, mark my words.

Q. Coventry and towns north seem to be leading the soul movement. Is this what is happening? and why are the provincial areas leading the Capital?

P.W. Certainly that's true -more black acts break in the North. Manchester and Birmingham are the two centres where the record companies aim at first. 'Year of Decision' by the Three Degrees and 'The Sound of Philadelphia' by M.F.S.B. are cases in point. Where soul records sell in the south only after they're national hits. It's all tied up with the move back to dancing. In the Middle and North of England we have what I'd call a ball-room tradition where people dance till they sweat. They don't have the sophisticated clubs and smart discos of London where they go dressed to kill. South of Watford the people are into James Brown and Al Green - but that's it.

Q. Pete, it's been a long trail - you're reaping some of the rewards in a bigger way now. What does the immediate future offer?

P.W. I've got a series of programmes scheduled for November on B.B.C. Radio Birmingham - the story of modern music. When Dave Simmonds goes on holiday I'm filling his Radio One spot for two weeks. Then I'm writing a bock on Philadelphia and my experiences -it should be out early 1975. Embassy, (the subsidiary of CBS) have asked me to put an album together for Christmas, the 'Pete Waterman Philly Story' or some such thing. Then I'm setting up my own label - Cricket Records - in about a month's time. Initially I'll be licensing records from America but later hope to record my own artists before too long.

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

This is the audio for Pete Waterman's Radio interview with Pete Clemons on the Coventry Music Scene-  Here on Sound Click

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14607163

The following is an article Pete Waterman wrote for our Hobo magazine in 1974 - he'd just been to a Three Degrees concert and met the ladies - 

PETE WATERMAN'S SOUL ARTICLE (1974) from HOBO - Coventry Music and Arts Magazine

As you know by now our small shop (The Soul Hole) has now moved to the top of Virgin Records in the City Arcade. Our new shop will, we hope, bring more people into the faith. We had a good time at the shop in the I AM boutique but the stock was getting too big for our small shop. The move will not, we hope, change the service that we are so proud of. The new shop will give us more room to serve and talk. Also you can stand up! (The Soul Hole was originally in the cellar of the I AM boutique with a low ceiling!!)

THE THREE DEGREES
Anyway, down to business. As most of you know by now, I spent the 5th and 6th of March with the Three Degrees. Sheila, Fay and Valerie. On Monday the 5th I went to the Mayfair Hotel in London to see the girls do their own thing. The girls got on and did When Will I See You Again. The first thing that took our breath away was their see through dresses, but they are far from just good looking foxes. At dinner I sat with Peter Winfield (for all those who don't read sleeve notes) Peter is the cat who played keyboards for BLOODSTONE on both Natural High and their new album. For all the foxes and cats not into our faith, Pete also plays for COLIN BLUNSTONE, and writes for a National rock paper.

Pete is a soul freak, like myself and we both agreed their harmonies were the tightest we'd heard for some time. The voices were fantastic, Sheila takes the lead most of the time. The next in line was Dirty Old Man, this was fantastic, with the girls showing they can handle the audience with fun and firmness. Then they did "A Woman Needs Love" proving they can sing ballads as well as up tempo Nos. Their footwork was as good as any I've seen before, and if any in the audience weren't sold on that, the next was they're single Year of Decision. It had everybody on their feet shouting for more. But it was all over, Pete and the Colin Blunstone band went off to record the Old Grey Whistle Test, and I went to the girls bedroom to have a natter to them about their early years for all the people who knock our music- God knows why!

Just as a boost to our egos, David Bowie was there to pay homage to the three ladies of soul. It seems that Rock stars are getting back to their roots with Bowie telling me that he is soon to be recording with top black acts in the states and John Lennon saying Ann Pebbles I Can Feel the Rain is the best record for two years.

New Sounds to Look Out For

The Ojays new single is a track off their latest LP (as are all the new Philly singles) and is called For the Love of Money. The Intruders - I’ll Always love My Mama (2 Pts)

Trammps new single is a track off the 1970 British Motown company, picking the slower track. USA Marvin Gaye scores with his controversial single You Sure Like to Ball taken from the Let’s Get it On album. A new single soaring up the American charts from the M.F.S.B. band on Philly International is called Tsop, taken from the TV series Soul Train.The end five bars feature the 3 Degrees.

LP of the month - too many really to pick one but look out for Blue Magic and import Out Here on my Own Lamont / Dozier. Superb LP’s. Next Billy Paul single The Whole Town’s Talkin’ .

Also check out - Rock me Baby - George McCrea / Help Yourself - Undisputed Truth / Dancing Machine - Jackson 5 / I Lied - Bunny Sigler / Mighty Mighty - Earth, Wind and Fire / Be Thankful For What You’ve Got - William Devaaughn / Chameleon - Herbie Hancock / Sagittarius - Eddie Kendicks / If You’re Ready - Staple Singers / Got To Get You Back - Sons of Robin Stone / Pepper Box - The Peppers

See ya soon. Keep the faith right on -

Pete Waterman (1974)

From the Coventry Telegraph 1974 

ANOTHER PIECE FROM HOBO 1974 

In 1974, we reported in Hobo reported that "Dave Simmons, Radio One DJ on the Saturday Soul programme, dedicated last week's programme exclusively to the Philly Sound, thanks to the efforts of of our own Pete Waterman, who has just returned from the very place with a hoard of interviews and information about the Philly Sound. Pete was interviewed throughout the program by Dave and the interviews Pete himself did were broadcast.. Next issue, if Pete gets it together, we will have an article for Hobo on the Philly sound from the expert!" We didn't that second article but we did his review of a Three Degrees concert.

Coventry Automatics / The Specials 1978

 Coventry Automatics / The Specials 1978

by Pete Clemons

Coventry band, The Specials, began around the same time as the Rock Against Racism movement which began to organise itself during 1978. And, according to Jerry Dammers, anti racism was intrinsic to the formation of the band.

One of the earliest gigs by the newly named Specials was at an Anti Nazi League gig held at Warwick University. It is interesting to read feedback from that gig. Reports within the appraisal appears to be conflicting as to how it was all viewed. Which I guess was typical of the time as universities were still coming to terms with the punk rock movement and its spin off's:...........

At Westwood on Saturday you had the opportunity to view the most promising talent that the city of Coventry has produced over the last year or so. The charge was a modest 50p and the band described were The Specials, only recently and, formerly the Coventry Automatics.

Events at Monday night's Anti Nazi League concert highlighted some of the difficulties Warwick University Student's Union is now facing over the question of open gigs.

Three bands took part; God's Toys, Squad and The Specials. Scuffles began during Squad's performance, but did not escalate until their last number, when a minor disturbance broke out among thirty or so fans.

This continued for some time until stewards formed a wall in front of the audience to prevent them from leaping onto the stage. An eye witness remarked 'The stewards showed remarkable restraint under extreme provocation'.

Arts Federation stewards calmed things down before the arrival of the main group, The Specials, a New Wave/Reggae band. However there were numerous surges towards the stage as well as repeated attempts by members of the crowd to entice individual stewards into acts of violence. The Specials contributed to the uneasy atmosphere by singing 'You're gonna get your f... ing heads kicked in', which brought immediate verbal retaliation.

One of the group shouted 'Why don't you continue throwing paper planes at us, you know they split our heads open?'. The band returned for an encore which added to growing antagonism as some of the crowd began to threaten stewards. The lead singer of The Specials then challenged the audience 'Come and kick the seven bells of shit out of the bouncers'.

When the band finally left the stage the audience quietened down and began to drift away. The entertainments steward was instrumental in keeping order. He made clear his disgust with the situation. He criticised the choice of band and 'the type of music which encourages these people'. He added 'I detest trying to control these little kids who should still be at school'. However he praised the ANL stewards who were doing a good job.

Entertainments officials at the concert estimated about 620 people were present, of which about fifty per cent of whom were non-students.

Conflicting opinions exist as to the nature of the night's proceedings. A spokesman for Warwick University Against the Nazis, stressed that there was really no trouble at all, it had been a good evening, and everyone had enjoyed themselves.

The porter for the night concurred that it was 'One of the quietest nights we've ever known, crowd and incident wise'. He continued 'I saw no trouble at all'.

However the Arts Federation house manager, claimed another side to the evenings entertainment. 'Two of our stewards refused to wear Anti-Nazi League tee-shirts. They were worried'. He added that 'After a gig by The Dependants and Hardtop 22 gig I was forced to take out life insurance for my lads, because they refused to work otherwise. He also accused a former Warwick student, and general secretary as being responsible for some of the charges towards the stage.