Get Yourself Together

VILLAGE GREEN MACHINE NEWS – GREAT OLD MUSIC – GREAT OLD FILMS – GREAT OLD COMEDIES

Last week, I promised a review of mid 70's chart act and 40 year old English institution, Steeleye Span. The review is a little further down this blog.
I have to tell you, it is a wonder the review, or indeed this blog are appearing at all, as on the way to Birmingham Town Hall, while driving at 40 mph I looked up and noticed a line of cars right in front of me. I jammed the brakes on full, stopping two feet from the back of the car in front. Women drivers, they're all the same.
Understandably a little (lot) shaken I made my way to the Paisley Arcade office to pick up my manager for the show, expecting bucketfulls of sympathy.

Mark Lemon

"Do you make a habit of driving round blind bends at 40 mph" was the sum total of the sympathy I received. He drove both of us to the show, our conversation a little tetchy as the 8.00 show start time passed. My nerves were still near to being shredded, as actually the car incident was really no joke, and I could have been seriously hurt. Still, never mind I thought, I'll have a quick drink. I had a slight disagreement with the Town Hall bar staff over the price of drinks, which concluded quickly with my remarking "no way". Further ruffled thus, I decided the best course of action would be a few moment solace in the disabled lavatory. (When I went to college, I used to find inexpressible mental relief having closed the door behind me in the disabled toilet, a space of solitude and near bliss, a safe womb like cocoon, a sterile smelless concrete casm where no human eyes could prey, no breaths nor voices be uttered, no observations made, utter heaven). The disabled loo at the Town Hall more or less faces the bar, its staff and throng of customers. I opened the door wide to enter, and a lady was sitting on the toilet, her legs spread wide apart and stomach showing. "I'm most terribly sorry" I spluttered, utterly mortified. I tried to close the door but hadn't opened it wide enough in the first place to get enough swing for the door to shut; or was it that the disabled toilet is a vacuum, thus any attempt to shut the door hastily results in some air suction matter- a sort of implosion- meaning the door wont shut. Anyway it didn't, so to my horror I realised I then had to open the door on the poor woman again in order to have another attempt at shutting it, which I did, with equally unsuccessful results. Still, anything to avoid queueing up with all those old men. Some of them can be a bit funny, you know.

So imagine my relief this evening at having only to take my mother out to the hotel bar. A few feet away from us, a couple were struggling with their luggage. My mother said, at the top of her voice- "He looks all right, but I don't think much of his wife". Then a rather overweight member of staff walked past, "What A Shame".
Still, a little later, my mother reassured me on any anxieties I may have concerning the future life of the human spirit, beyond this world, with her observation that "When you're dead, you're fucking dead". This was indeed fortuitous and calming reassurance, as I have spent most of this evening struggling with the instruction manual for my new carpet cleaner. As any friend of mine will tell you, I'm a practical kind of guy, but I read the assembly instructions for half an hour before realising the thing was already assembled.

Do you know, without my manager and engineer, I'd only be selling a few hundred downloads and a handful of hard copy albums.

Paul Weller

Still, I find myself buoyed along by my mother's other observation this evening that "either of us could be dead within the next 5 minutes", so with this this in mind let me make haste to tell you this weeks Village Green Machine news.

There isn't any.Yesterday, I stayed in bed until 6PM. I'd had a couple of Barclays, obviously I'm not up to it anymore. I fell asleep until teatime, waking up for breakfast with an horrendous headache, a condition alleviated only by my dressing up as Paul Weller, LIKE I USUALLY DO. Now I know some of you won't like this, but I asked someone I know, nothing to do with Village Green Machine, to inflict some pain upon me. Knuckles were dug deep into the tender part of my neck, it sends shivers of pleasure over me to just think of it. It was bordering on agony, I was loving it. Lo and behold, my headache evaporated as sexy endorphins coursed through my body, carrying my headache away, off, off into the mists of oblivion, its resting place being only the doorsteps of those few who have not already purchased England's Dreaming Spires, or downloaded that veritable treasure trove or some of its constituent parts. Described by Mark Lamarr as "Such A Great Album", it is available from all major download sites, and on CD from us at villagegreenmachine.com. Also, the EP Psychodrama is available from the website shop, featuring 2 tracks exclusive to that same EP, which are "Believe In Love" and "Battling To Survive" respectively. This is a CD single as well as download. Played on R2 and R6.

Other VGM news. Really boring, but I'm getting a new head put on my snare drum over the next few days. At the moment I am itching to sort the live issue out.
Yes, the website is being completely redesigned. It is now up, being more functional and more up to date. A lot of work has been done on this. Bournville High Street with its oak timbers and red telephone boxes will be featured , this is where we live.

Also, we have been filming. A Part Of England, solo, me playing Epiphone electric.

Anyway serious news is that, having gone through many recordings, we have taken notes on all production outstanding, and have begun to finish up ie complete all the songs recorded after England's Dreaming Spires. First project to complete was Shake and Shimmy, its a very brief 60s r&b blast, very rock & roll influenced with a Bo beat and Fuzztone, and I recorded the vocals on the proviso that whatever I sang would have to be kept as the final take. Not, necessarily easy as I had not sung the song, even once before. I knew the tune but the lyrics were all new, actually the timing slips behind the beat, but it sounds like my singing has moved on since the England's Dreaming Spires sessions. Phil May here I come. I have been singing to a lot of r&b. Practice wise, I mean. So, this song to me seems '65 Pretty Things meets a whole '66 psychedelic merry-go-round freakout in the middle, it is over by 2.10 if that, it is really dead exciting and dead good and I kid you not. A fab blast for the second LP. Thank God it sounds allright, with idiots like U*'s plugger telling me I- get this- need to do something original. I'm not on about Steve, my nephews mate. But this other bloke. Some bands need all the help they can get. This week we also got onto finishing another track lined up for the second album, called Have You A Wife. This is the tale about my visit to Crouch's (I kid not) 1970s style menswear traditional clothing outfitters, where the outfitter agreed with me that "yes, I had a very large……head." I left with merely a Breton cap, but almost left half a stone lighter. Anyway this experience – and my serial consumption of Are You Being Served, which I bought a boxed set of a while ago, instructed my song. Not to mention the influence of Aftermath era Rolling Stones, and a strong falsetto Tiny Tim influence.

Carry On Camping, part 2. Its really good! But the plot gets more complex in the second half. My manager will tell you, I have to have the plots of Carry On films explained to me. Its really bad! I have watched Whatever Happened To Baby Jane over 20 times, I am now finally getting the hang of it. Soon, I will tell you what happens in part 2 of COC.
I do love it, its a great film – one to store on DVD alongside your French arthouse productions.

Have just enjoyed The Black Windmill, a 1974 Michael Caine film.

Now, last thing this week, let me tell you about a fab, northern soul track I have just found. It is entitled I Want To Know, by Sugar Simone. It is just fantastic, like one of those really great records you love the very most. I've played it 5 times today. I like it as much as Brown Sugar and Telegram Sam already! I hope we can put a link to it at the bottom of this blog but if not, oh well. Its one to tell my acquaintance Dean Kavanagh about on Facebook. Do you know of him?

My other musical preoccupation this week has been, the brilliant MOJO compilation album from a few years back called Soul Of '65. It has Billy Nicholls, The Searchers singing brilliant pop/psych obscurity Popcorn Double Feature, P.P Arnold's If You Think You're Groovy, and tracks by early psychedelic- and brilliant- Status Quo, John Mayall, The Small Faces singing Get Yourself Together, The Poets, Jump and Dance by The Carnaby, in fact 20 spotless tracks. Just the best compilation ever, in fact, it should be reissued or commercially released. There seems to be a lot of obscure Pye stuff on there, just these great 45s. There's 'Circles' by Les Fleur De Lys, you are either with me or you are not on this, if not, do check these sounds out as they are above most other music,

Cheers,
Mark.

---

Here's the Steeleye Span review I did for the Birmingham Post:

Steeleye Span

At the Birmingham Town Hall

A British folk music institution. Drawing on traditional folk music as a primary source, Steeleye cleverly integrated contemporary rock influences, enjoying high profile success around 1974-5. They are most wideley remembered for hits All Around My Hat, performed at the Town Hall as an encore, and Gaudete, the life changing Latin acapella number which certain audience members cried in vain for as a final encore.

Steeleye Span

Set stalwart Thomas The Rhymer was however played, with guitarist Ken Nicol accurately replicating the 70s rock guitar sound of Tim Hart who sadly is now seriously ill. Steeleye have enjoyed many fruitful lineup changes over the years, and continually adjust their ever expanding repertoire. 70s era bassist Rick Kemp was back onboard after a serious neck and shoulder injury, displaying a highly advanced, fine musicianship shared by every member, including the colourfully eccentric drummer Liam Genocke. Superlative classically trained violinist Peter Knight did not appear in his womble costume, I believe I am correct in saying the violin playing on Remember You're A Womble is his. Allegedly three members of the band appeared on TOTP dressed as the furry fiends.

It is Maddy Prior, however, who in truth remains the centrepiece of the band, despite obvious endeavours to give equal representation to the respective talents of other members. Still beautiful with long centre parted hair and flowing crimson robes, she dances like a girl. It is her clear bell like voice, however, which still magnificently identifies Steeleye most markedly.

Steeleye Span belong to a thriving underground tradition, and remain one of its most high profile purveyors.

Mark Lemon

---

---

Get Yourself Together, and the Steeleye Span interview were written by Mark Lemon for the Letter From England blogzine at Village Green Machine

---

Lets Dust Off The Hidden Classics

Village Green Machine this week, well there’s me drooling over something I can have, and indeed do have, which is a gorgeous black 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. It sits just across the room from me, a little dusty. These guitars for a certain kind of musician, represent the ultimate. Of course they go far back into the hallowed annals (no cheap jokes) of pop history, do you know I was perfectly normal until I started watching smutty 70s comedies, but now I spend my life tittering, yes tittering at picture postcard comedy sketches, such as the opening scene to the first Steptoe film where the old man scoops up a load of horse manure, loading it into a bucket with his bare hands. After which, of course, he tucks into his sandwiches. I enjoy the story unfolding as Steptoe and son enjoy the ribald delights of a 1970’s strip club, where Harold cops off with the stripper, and the old man meets another absolutely smashing dolly bird. Who happens to be the drag act. He doesn’t realise this, ofcourse. Harold and the stripper fall in love immediately and decide to marry, daddy dearest does everything he can to disrupt and destroy the marriage.

Steptoe and Son

But not before they lose the wedding ring, which, they realise, must have landed in something soft when it flew out of the window, since it made no sound when it landed. After a very smelly wedding ceremony, they jet off, with the old man Steptoe, for a romantic honeymoon in Spain. Except the old man gets food poisoning, and has to go home, near death he says, therefore Harold must go with him. Leaving his wife in Spain, with the tour host, who happened to be an old flame of hers. Of course all Steptoes rely heavily on the pathos of the younger man, the son, who is continually frustrated in every endeavour by his possessive father. Harold wants to rise above his social position, but the old man ruins every attempt he ever makes, be it to become an actor, or a ladies man, or a politician or intellectual of some kind. And usually old man Steptoe succeeds in the very thing Harold actually fails at, and usually it is the old man’s fault- indeed he normally causes his son’s disasters, while triumphing himself. Perhaps the very peak of 1970s comedy, Steptoe and son remains an iconic comedy, with brilliant sets, always clever writing, and great performances always by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett. Apparently both were straight actors, Corbett described as a British Marlon Brando prior to becoming somewhat typecast by his role in Steptoe. Brambell was gay and drank heavily, apparently blowing out a performance of Steptoe in Australia leaving his acting partner at the mercy of a comedy hungry crowd, juggling to entertain them. They were reputed not to get on outside the series as well as within, a suggestion denied by the Steptoe inner circle. A film was made about their real life relationship, which I have yet to see, but which allegedly casts the actors as virtual enemies. Sad to think they are long gone, great to remember how good this entertainment was, how amusing and endearing, and how typical of its era and country of origin.

All of which has little to do with my 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. It is taking ages to get the 60’s style pickups fitted, but it will be sorted soon and I can’t wait to get onstage with the guitar. You have to have the right pickups fitted, and the right compressor pedal to get that great sound. I am told a 12 string Rickenbacker put through a Vox AC30 amp is the most sublime sound known to human kind, soon I will be finding out- it is going to sound great live.

I am very happy to be playing live again, warming up recently with a few open mics in Birmingham.

Next day. The Patrick Kavanagh open mic was enjoyable, I like the people who run it, I like the audience reaction. Some of the performers could be really good live in a proper gig situation, I can see things. Come and say hi if I’m down there again. I will be doing more open mics soon, will be updating my activities on the front page of the website- what is coming up soon will be there on the front page and will be up to date. Of course the open mics are just an entree into doing live work proper, but, they are worthy and fun.

Dennis thanks for your comments on the Action single ‘Shadows and Reflections’. It is an incredible record, shame radio 1 were playing Pinky and Perky at the time, and Englebert Humperdink instead of picking up on the many commercially failed brilliant 45s around at the time. Pop history could have been quite different, and better. Its a wonder Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd ever got into the charts.

This week have been listening to Booker T and the MGs Green Onions album. Their music has great atmosphere, Green Onions needs no introduction, I like the story that someone asked the keyboard player how the levers on the Hammond were set to get that incredible sound, and he apparently replied ‘you mean those things move?’. I enjoy the bands moody restraint, and superlative dynamics. Always just the best instrumental band, peerless I think. Apparently one of the guys was killed, shot in a burglary incident at his home. I find it interesting that Steve Cropper, their legendary guitarist, was voted greatest guitarist of all time in a guitarists magazine some while ago. To be honest I wouldn’t have thought the readers of such a publication would have had such good taste, but there we are!

Mark Lemon

I found deeper levels to music as I discovered the studio albums by my favourite, mostly 60’s artists. Obviously, the Beatles and Rolling Stones made many strong albums, much of the material below the surface of public consciousness. Strange and extraordinary to think many have never heard Revolver, or Aftermath, or Beggars Banquet. Or the Kinks Face To Face, and Village Green Preservation Society. And what about all the great early Monkees albums, they made several killers, and some good later albums. There was good stuff on Hollies albums, and Manfred Mann albums. And The Bee Gees, made ridiculously good early albums which are not far short of The Beatles best, or even of Brian Wilson, in my opinion.

Latterly, cult obscurity Would You Believe by British songwriter Billy Nicholls lifted me into a chemically enhanced state without any chemicals- and of course The Pretty Things fantastic SF Sorrow also emerged quite recently as a strong selling set. A commercial flop at the time, its extraordinary psychedelic experimental songs are now respected very highly by those in the know. An essential acquisition. They were as good as The Beatles, you know. Talking About The Good Times….that song is top flight British psychedelia and there were others on SF Sorrow, maybe extra tracks which were the best Brit psych, which may not have been on the original album but are on my CD. It is as good as it gets and a highly recommended purchase.

I mentioned The Zombies Odessey and Oracle in my last Letter From England, it is a delicate yet hip, English sounding album which has plenty of breathy space, and tastefully arranged songs, a set which like SF Sorrow is now regarded as a classic, and like SF Sorrow, flopped at the time. Maybe it was overshadowed by the brilliant but some might think overblown charms of The Beatles Sgt Pepper. Its failure robbed The Zombies of the recognition they deserved and broke the band’s spirit to persevere. They had no resolve to continue and sadly disbanded. But, as they say, ‘the good will out’ and ‘Odessey’ is now highly acclaimed, with recent performances by (most of) the band of the entire album. It is beautiful. It is English. And, I think both by default. I cannot believe how great it is, being Mr Paul Weller’s possible favourite album. And remember, he’s considering there putting it above The Beatles, The Small Faces, Miles Davis, Curtis Mayfield. That’s how good it is.

Odessa by The Bee Gees, I think a 1968 LP, is another album which was no great success at the time, but which is a substantial body of top class songs and music. Again, it is now recognised as being something special.

My run down of at the time flops now highly regarded would not be complete without comment on The Kinks Village Green Preservation Society.
It is this album and its vibe, and Odessey and Oracle, along with the early Floyd singles which inform most the Village Green Machine aesthetic. Village Green Preservation Society uniquely reflected, in wry humour and affection, on a passing England.

The Kinks

People think Ray Davies came from a middle class background, this is rubbish. He is a highly intelligent, politically and socially conscious man, who in 1967/8 was on the fringes of the great social upheavals of 1960s Britain. He could see the old order passing, the breakdown of social class, at least the breakdown of the rigidity of the categories of working, middle and upper class. He was part of the new world, of the rebellious new society of the young, which has taken 40 years to become the new orthodoxy. Evidently he had mixed feelings about the passing of the old, which provided rich pickings for satirists The Beatles.I cannot help but feel Ray was more saddened by what he saw slipping away. The 60s must have been tumultuous times, a period of excitement as old mores were abandoned and new freedoms adopted. Did everyone really want all that freedom? Did Ray? Was there a down side? Of course there bloody well was but I will leave blasting hippydom and its far reaching consequences to another blog. The title song on the Village Green Preservation Society album is a catalogue of delightful Englishness, and although I live in humdrum suburbia, that Englishness is only a stones throw away from me. Walking distance away are the Jacobean mansion Lady Bradford’s Hall, with its restored gardens and teashop, next to the sublime high art Victorian church. Outside is the village green. This is where I live, and these are the places I love.

Mark Lemon

Village Green Machine

---

Lets Dust Off The Hidden Classics, is one of Mark Lemon’s Letter From England blogzines for Village Green Machine

---

THE CHURCH IN THE GARDEN

VILLAGE GREEN MACHINE NEWS
- plus OLD MUSIC, CLASSIC COMEDIES AND FILMS

Hi, we have had a few weeks break from real music business activity however are now refreshed and ready to rejoin the foray. A number of new songs have been recorded in recent weeks, without drums, things like ‘Valentine Rd’, acoustic Dylan meets The Monkees and The Lilac Time, in a song about, pertinently topically and poignantly, a soldier away at war writing back to his partner. Does he ever get back? I am leaving that to the listener to decide, in this fab new number.

Yeah I know it sounds proud, but it is a good one. Then there’s, a major new one called Rushall Churchyard which we have spent ages producing and recording. In the background are the influences of early Jefferson Airplane, Peter Green, and possibly the quintessential Englishness of Odessey and Oracle era Zombies. However I think the Zombies parallel is mostly coincidental. After all this is my song about strolling in an English churchyard- with a ***** but lets not go there. I have sung multi tracked harmonies like I did on the first track of the first Jacobites album. You may know I record in a church hall, sometimes I sit in the church. I may have walked around it in the dark. So those are 2 recent projects. VGM is moving into a new phase soon, suffice to say for now we have not stopped recording and producing and, are currently shaping up the second album. I now consider The Zombies Odessey and Oracle to be the finest British album ever recorded.

They say there’s a book in everyone – I think so, if you imagine what a detailed no holds barred account of anyone’s life would read like. It is upon this kitchen sink premise that I intend to write future songs. I would like to write autobiographically, and in a detailed way about things I have experienced. No shortage of songwriting source material there! Isn’t the stuff of life a good source? I have never copied other lyricists, ever. OK maybe a few times early on, but that’s folly. None of that has survived, even in my memory. I think I want to keep writing a personal paragraph in this blog, as well as the reviews and pop history since this is a personal blog, after all.You get someone as neurotically self shielding as Bob Dylan, and wonder at it. Then you get the unwise vulnerability of the later Lennon. But friends of mine read this so its a way of saying hi to them, and of course a blog is something which has mostly parameters set only by its writer- it can go anywhere, or not go anywhere its writer chooses.

And so, right now let me turn to music, which for me started with my father bringing home a pile of throw out demo 45s from the hospital radio where he worked as a presenter and actor. Ludicrously valuable freakbeat 45 I Don’t Want You by The Anteeeks was in that pile of records, which I chose as a favourite 45 for my guest spot on the Mark Lamarr show. It is pure 60s garage, in fact if you look for it on myspace there is a page especially for this great track. Fuzz guitar and Vox organ are part of this driving anthem, a total classic. Another song in this pile of records was The City Never Sleeps At Night, by Nancy Sinatra, another big favourite. There were records by The Stones and Beatles, and Searchers. I remember at school, we had a dance class at which a teacher played a CBS 45 by Paul Revere and The Raiders, maybe ‘Let Me’, which was ridiculously exciting to me as a child. At a school disco there was I Want To Hold Your Hand. I do remember being horrified by the amount of attention I attracted at this disco, as I made these badges which I pinned on my purple flares, with pictures of pop heroes on them. I just went mad when The Beatles came on, I’d never heard them before and I thought they were so great.One time I went to my father’s friend’s house, who was a BBC engineer. He played me Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly on his posh hi-fi, and I was totally ecstatic. I know now it was the sound of the lo-fi degraded drums going through all the valves and reverb, which made it sound so incredible.
Then I discovered T Rex. I was just a little kid. Telegram Sam and Metal Guru blew my brain off into another orbit, and it felt like the end of the world when my 45 of Metal Guru got broken on the stone floor. I loved Little Bit Of Love by Free. Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones. These records had an incredible groove, which still informs what I do. I adored The Sweet, and other great 45s by the likes of Mud, Suzi Quatro, and Mott The Hoople. Later, I was excited when I heard about The Sex Pistols. Their records delivered, more joy. I bought a lot of punk /new wave 45s by The Ramones, X Ray Spex, Generation X, The Stranglers, Elvis Costello and many more. How well they stand up today. I used to record Jimmy Saville’s radio 1 show, where he played the top 10 of however many years previous, which is maybe where my 60s infatuation began to be reinforced. I spent my Saturdays in record shops, all my pocket money went on 45s, many of Jimmy’s oldies became mine.
Meanwhile I got into disco, courtesy of Radio Luxembourg, a crackly intermittent broadcast which I tuned into to hear the latest disco charts. I still like the best disco records- it is a much maligned genre to this day I am sure, but records like I Feel Love, Young Hearts Run Free, and You Make Me Feel (Might Real) by the great Sylvester, not to mention Chic and many others, still hold up for me today as being great pop. I bought the first rap records released in the UK, namely by Curtis Blow, and Sugarhill Gang. Again, they had a great groove. Growing up in the 80s I remember saying how rap was the most exciting thing around, I think I was right. I loved the grooves, still do and am influenced by the rhythmic side of rap. However I did not like the gangster side of things when that really emerged. It was always underneath I suppose, but a certain rap band changed the face of rap and took it down a road I turned off a very long time ago. I will always dig the beats, though. Around this time the 80s kicked in, quite healthily at first with the genius of Dave Wakeling’s Beat, 2 Tone, and a generally fresh atmosphere after punks explosion opened everything up. I bought various pop 45s, but later could only count the Jesus and Mary Chain and The Smiths as really worth bothering with. By the late 80s I had begun to play music myself, playing with Dave Kusworth’s great Rag Dolls, and then Jacobites. After this, I became infatuated with 50s rock & Roll. I had flat top hair, wore a 50s suit for a while. I saw a great theatre play about Eddie Cochrane’s last tour, which had a live band featuring Joe Brown. I think he played on that last fateful tour, in ‘61. It was a tour with Gene Vincent. The play and especially the 50s music- sounding as it did, replicated brilliantly in an old theatre, was such a thrill. I went back to the cheap seats night after night. I bought a load of 50s compilation albums by all my favourites like Eddie, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, and Sun era Elvis. Was influenced by the Elvis ‘68 TV special. I learnt to play all the guitar solos from these primitive sounding early singles, sitting up night after night alone with a couple of cans of Special Brew and 10 B&H, putting the needle back to the start of the solo again and again as I learnt the parts. It was an essential musical grounding. It taught me how to play guitar, and improved my bass playing a lot.

The Small Faces

Then, along came The Stone Roses. I was friends with their producer John Leckie, who was a fan of my early demo which he heard a while before The Roses. My demo had backwards guitars married with dance beats, before The Roses. I remember speaking to John’s wife one day, she said ”The Roses have broken”. Fools Gold had hit the charts in a big way. John rang me every week for a long time. He said he would come to see me play live even in Wolverhampton’ lol, but I could not keep a stable lineup together at this point, and as the Roses legend mounted, so his interest in producing me seemed to wane. I was 18. It was a tough pill to swallow, but, it ultimately forced me to learn to produce my own records, which I am happy happened. Of course, I loved The Roses. They were doing what I had been doing, more or less, a couple of years earlier, albeit with a House inspired aesthetic. John and I talked about them, our discussions influenced my own production techniques on stuff like England’s Dreaming Spires. He asked me what I thought of The Second Coming. He seemed to agree that the adoption of blues melody in the songs meant something was lost. Anyway I saw the band 3 times, the first couple of times was incredible. Spike Island was great, whatever anyone else says. But the second album was a patchy affair. The gigs were too, the ravers had gone leaving a student following but the bubble had truly burst. I liked a few records by Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, early Primal Scream and The Charlatans especially.
But change was in the air, with the advent of grunge. Plainly people like Dinosaur Junior and Lemonheads were influenced by Jacobites, and worked with Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks from Jacobites, but grunge did little for me. It was only when the Nirvana acoustic album came out that I saw Cobain’s talent for what it was.There were copycat suicides. What a mess. PS I believe firmly music should be life affirmative, it should be uplifting and certainly if it is not, we have to start asking questions. That said, songs tend to emerge from life’s less happy experiences. Can I just say this here- I am in love with The Small Faces,
Steve Marriot and Ronnies bass playing, and such cool clothes and hair WOW!!! What a class act, what sophisticated sounds, what great dynamics, an incredible whole musically. This, and a great songwriting team and fantastic production, sound wise. This is where my loyalties really lie. Love to Steve and Ronnie.

Back to grunge, I was and am a big fan of Neil Young, grandaddy of grunge with his Live Rust album. I used to play real heavy like Neil back in those days, but the air cleared for me somewhat with Britpop. Oasis were a revelation, I like the best of the rest such as Common People by Pulp, and occasionally a Blur single. There were other good singles around the fringes, and some crap but I think it was overall not a bad time. Oasis were incredible. Listen to Morning Glory, its opening music states unequivocally who the greatest band in the world were at the time, who were the top dogs. Not all easy people, but songs like Sad Song for me confirm George Martin’s claim that Noel Gallagher was the best songwriter of his generation. Sad song and Rock & Roll Star had melodies as good as Joni Mitchell, and they were Noel’s. Suede were a great, earlier band. Supergrass and Dodgy were way above average.
The Stairs made a great retro 60s record called Weed Bus – you should hear it, just fantastic. See Youtube?? Sorry the chronology is a little muddled here. The Stairs and Suede were pre Britpop, I think. After this there seemed to be a void. OK Travis made the odd good single, there were always a very few good records about. But it was only when The Strokes came out that I turned on to modern music again. I’m a fan, and White Stripes are an important band for me. I appreciated Franz Ferdinand up to a point. I liked The Hives. There was a major shift in the pop aesthetic, with bands like Kasabian emerging, and the 80s becoming chic. I like early 80s primitive electro, I am still intrigued by the earlier electronic shenanigans of Kraftwerk. I am fond of The Human League, and even Soft Cell.
But, however fascinating the shifting tapestry of pop may continue to be, nothing has come along which fascinates me as much as the primitive, reverb drenched sounds of 50s and 60s music. POP music. It has been recognised by top record producers that digital sound leaves something lacking to many ears, I was amazed when I heard my stuff firstly purely digitally, then through valves. The difference is enormous. The crips clarity goes, when you record through valves. I don’t like crisp chilly clarity one bit. And so with my vintage reverbs, valves, and ribbon microphones, and natural room ambience, I make my musical statement. Also we are now experimenting with reel to reel tape, and tape overload. Sounds great. I believe in having a great song to start with. You need a good concise structured song. It has to have great melodies and lyrics. Then, good musical hooks, good sounds on all the instruments, and good production. I hope I can deliver always this to you. The second Village Green Machine album is provisionally titled Life With The Lid Off. It is very strong.

The Killing Of Sister George

Sorry I never got to do a comedy review this week, but will hopefully review 70s classic The Rag Trade next week.
A favourite film of mine is The Killing Of Sister George starring the peerless Beryl Reed, and the lovely Susan George, with Coral Brown playing the predatory lesbian role. I watched this on rotation while on holiday in a caravan in Wales recently. Beryl played an incorrigable rough and ready dyke, who in the film starred in a really corny 60s TV soap about country life. Throughout The Killing Of Sister George we are treated to eminently banal snippets of this dreadful afternoon trash, in which Beryl is a country doctor visiting patients on her scooter. The television company want to oust her from the soap, so the plot of the film proper evolves along the lines of Beryl’s removal as a character. She is a drunk, hilariously jumping into a taxi with two beautiful young nuns whom she heartily fancies,

Sister George

and although the camera does not show it, she has a good old grope of them. They apparently thought it was a diabolical visitation, as becomes apparent when TV company power witch Coral pays Beryl a visit at her flat, to reprimand her outrageous conduct. The nuns had got their mother superior to write a letter of complaint to the head of religious broadcasting. Coral doesn’t fail to notice Beryl’s very attractive younger housemate played by Susan George, who mentions her poems to her. Coral feigns an interest, out of sheer wanton lust for that young ladies ravishing body! Coral wears couture clothes, and is steely and manipulative. Beryl makes the huge mistake of inviting Coral to a lesbian club where she and her younger girlfriend are in fancy dress as Laurel and Hardy. This footage of the 60s lesbian underground, with dolly bird beat group and smooching females is central, and fascinating. It is here that Coral tells Beryl she is to be cut from the soap in which she acts. Coral takes the younger woman back to Beryl’s flat and seduces her, in a graphic way which is still faintly shocking now, and must have had film censors apoplectic at the time (1968?). Beryl Reed’s character, in this plot which has an underlying lesbian sado/masochistic thread, and is peppered with dumb entertaining prostitutes, is very much that of a rumbustious, though basically loveable roguish dyke and one feels very sorry for her when eventually…ah but that would be telling. PS I think this film must be iconic for the lesbian community, especially bearing in mind Susan Georges appearance in lacy black underwear and then, the sex scene. And I think it must have been singular and groundbreaking at the time. What I like most is the believability of it, its very realistic depiction of the idiosyncratic everyday catastrophes of life which we all eventually experience. I hardly need tell you how much I dislike the ridiculous formulaic films we are constantly bombarded with on British night-time TV, which are lies. They are absurdly removed from reality, relying on the manipulation of emotion. I prefer something real, the grit of everyday life in film I find humanising, since I can empathise.

This film and Entertaining Mr Sloane also starring Reed are certainly two high points of 60s film for me, unlike The Knack (and how to get it) starring Michael Crawford and Rita Tushingham. It soon curries disfavour as the most notable feature is the systematic, literal demolishing of a very attractive art deco house. To me, it all smacks of 60s avant garde drama, (sixth form drama group vibe) its experimental trickery now light years in the past. However, it does feature some great clothes and cars in black and white, although I doubt it will ever be more than a period oddity to me.

---

The Church In The Garden is just one of Mark Lemon’s Letter from England blogzines found at the Village Green Machine website.

---

Marrakesh Express gig at Bilston’s Robin 2

A recent highpoint for me was the Marrakesh Express gig at Bilston’s Robin 2. A Byrds/Crosby Stills Nash & Young tribute. Superb renditions of the Byrds singles catalogue, as well as more obscure material reminded me, with an emotional punch, who my favourite band are. Detail was carefully observed, without slavish adherence to detail heard in a certain other tribute. There is a fine line between playing it like it was, and obsessively overdoing the small print, overemphasising the music’s characteristics. Marrakesh Express did not cross that line, delivering the compressed 12 string Rickenbacker sounds much as they were originally recorded. Excellent harmonies and Tambourine Man style bass sounds featured throughout, the bassist being in fact one of the very best players I have ever seen. This dandified fellow was perhaps allowed freer reign on the latter part of the show, devoted to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. His mastery of dynamics, timing and melody, combined with soul to make Marrakesh Express a must see for serious musicians and fans of The Byrds and CSN&Y. The band’s harmonies and general delivery made this latter half of the show a pleasure for me, someone who owns a gorgeous original heavyweight vinyl copy of Deja Vu, but who is not an aficionado of the band. I once had a very interesting discussion with Bobby Elliot of The Hollies about Nash’s metamorphosis from Hollies pop harmonist to equal footer in one of America’s very biggest late 60 ’s bands, but that’s another article. Suffice to say for now that Marrakesh Express present CSN&Y’s music with a joyous delivery, and who could possibly ask for more than that, except that Marrakesh Express could also be Diesel Park West. Well, they are.

- An extract from Mark Lemon’s Letter from England blogzine for Village Green Machine

I Love The Music

OK I will write this blog, was not going to attempt it tonight as I rather feel my brain is taken apart, I’m coming off Tamazepam again, and large great chunks of flying faeces are hitting the fan with horrible regularity in my life, and especially in the lives of those close. (PS Which impacts on me. What touches those close to us seems to touch us very much). I came to the conclusion recently that life, is about making hay while the dark clouds amass above us. Because, they never stop for long. Or to put it Lou Reed’s way, ‘make a point of having some fun’. Things can go along quite well for a good while, but I think life’s ever shifting kaleidoscope regularly turns to monochrome and this is why my new philosophy, is to take this into account and put some splashes of colour into life’s mix from now on. I mean, all sorts of shit is going to happen. I used to be the sort of person who thought my life a horrid mess because the sky was never free from clouds, whereas everyone else’s life seemed relatively sunny. Sorry for obvious metaphors. Whereas now, I have no reason to assume my life is particularly bleak. I now think most people’s lives are, frankly rather bleak, and that therefore lets all make hay, and sun, as a deliberate policy amidst the grey skies.

Thank you Marcus Rossi, an extremely clever, good looking, intelligent man who writes for Shindig! Magazine, for the following review of England’s Dreaming Spires, my LP available now from villagegreenmachine.com:

VILLAGE GREEN MACHINE
England’s Dreaming Spires
Paisley Arcade CD
www.paisleyarcade.com

‘Shindig!’ Out now!

Village Green Machine is to all intents and purposes a one-man operation, the man in question being the estimable Mark Lemon: and a man of considerable taste and refinement he is.
England’s Dreaming Spires, as its title readily suggests, taps into a very specific and cherishable vein of UK popsike. However, while Marks unadorned English singing voice betrays a loving debt to Syd Barrett and often calls to mind David Gedge of The Wedding Present, oddly the finished product utilises a considerably broader palette than one might expect. The super-clean guitars and splashy drums, deliriously awash in a bath of reverb, are closer in essence to Joe Meek than George Martin, while Marks lyrics throughout are sharply observant, wholly contemporary, insightful and witty.
You Make Me Feel That Way, Rollercoaster and The Whole Of My Heart, all effortlessly immediate, would be hit records in any truly civilised society, while My Eccentric Cousin is what 65-era Dylan would have sounded like sharing a travelling rug with Phil Spector in a rainy Birmingham bus shelter.
Marco Rossi

Thanks Marco.
One thing is for sure, I always use 60s sounds. Usually I experiment as well. The truth is beyond this what I do is difficult to pin down, as I never stay still for long. So England’s Dreaming Spires echoes Cliff Richard one minute, The Ramones the next, while being made to sound like early Beach Boys. And I mean, I sing in a British accent. I utilise whatever influences come to mind, I mix everything up but ofcourse one has to be able to write a good song. A certain plugger recently accused me of being reliant on other people’s material as the basis of my work, this is complete arse. I celebrate my influences but, if he had bothered to listen to the substance which is mine alone, I think he would have found some worthy original substance. Great that Psychodrama has been played on Radio 6. Wiithout the assistance of a plugger.

This week, we got in despite some heavy personal issues and got recording, I did a song called I Love The Music, kind of Beatles folky/sea shanty style. But I let go of this blueprint and experimented with the types of overdubs, and just generally experimental….the muse flew in the window when I was producing and its a happening track, its got this very distorted fuzztone guitar- the one given to me by a close personal friend from a very cool famous group from the 1960s lol- . Describing music is plainly like trying to describe a colour, … but I am glad because I am never secure, in as much as I can never sit back and think, the next recording will be really good. That would just be a dangerous conceit, and not everything I do turns out. I am still not happy with English Cafe, and I’ve recorded that maybe 6 times or even more. If you like Village Green Machine I will tell you though, I am really thrilled by the way the second album is shaping up. Doing this thing is my life, any money I’ve earnt before VGM has been snorted up someone else’s nose, or worse, and music, is all. I think album 2 will be on its way in spring next year. File sharing, I can’t condemn that since I expanded my own musical landscape a lot by copying albums onto tape when I was a kid, but, supporting us with an album purchase will help keep this thing going.

Did anyone see that interview with Cliff Richard recently by Piers Morgan? Why ever doesn’t that bloke come out of the closet- and Cliff Richard as well.
I have criticised Cliff in the past, for having made a lot of bad records, but now with my blog apparently being read by several hundred people a week, (look I’m not Rupert Murdoch) I think I had better be careful incase I offend the over 70s, Cliff fan club. There is a Monty Python sketch where the Conservative women’s institute or some such decide to sort out lazy working class men, and people interested in sex, and go on the attack with their handbags- (ps pre Margaret Thatcher) I am shaking in my shoes at the thought of the very real possibility of offending at least one Cliff fan I know – but anyway I’m sorry but I am going to speak my mind. I think, he was, and is, a great bloke. No, hold on hipsters, don’t go yet. I was in a band with a drummer who was also a security guard at a major UK venue, and apparently when CR played there, he gave them all T Shirts (which they wore of course) and was really nice and allright. Well, it does count for a lot and I’m not being ironic. Whereas when Barry Manilow played, allegedly, he made all the security guards turn their backs when he mounted the stage. The thought of being mounted by Barry is enough to make me thrash around in search of something, anything, less horrific to distract and console- where was I, yes, Cliff Richard’s good records. Now I defy anyone- to you know, tell me I’m talking crap on this. I think, Move It, In The Country, When Blue Turns To Grey, Miss You Nights, We Don’t Talk Anymore, Carrie, Wired For Sound, and especially Devil Woman are great records.WBTTG and ITC, I take that sound as a role model, among a thousand others in the Village Green Machine mix. Its no good being snobbish, if a record is good its good, however dodgy the image, dance routines etc. And with Cliff, I suspect a choreographer was to blame for some cringeworthy performances. Also I have to say, I was disappointed by that clip of the latest Shadows reunion. They’re 70 and looking amazing, but they had these girls doing the hand jive for a song called guess what Willie and the Hand Jive, and it was kitsch nostalgia taken a step too far. I mean, theres no need for that. Because, among musicians, guitarists at least, who are into old pop, The Shadows are, I don’t think I am exaggerating to say, iconic. Hank leading all those hits with great melodies, on guitar? And Brian Bennett, a very class act on drums with a great sound. I happen to know the tickets for these shows were £60 a head- (I didn’t go) but I have 2 original copies of greatest hits on original vinyl, looking cool sounding even better, and anyone who knows Village Green Machine stuff will surely recognise the influence of The Shadows ”The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt” on my guitar playing. (Cliff and the Shadows on tour)

Thanks for enquiries about Jacobites and related, it was great, we had a lot of fun. All go and listen to It’ll All End Up In Tears on youtube, that’s incredible.

Three times a week is a lot for anything (l o ******* l) no thats nasty but it is – and I’ve watched The Anniversary starring Bette Davis and Sheila Hancock three times, not in a week but in as many days. I got a DVD of it on ebay. Made in Britain in 1968, Bette Davis plays the tyrannical matriarch a few of us may recognise in our own experience. With a patch over one eye, she waltzes down her staircase dressed in an orange Crimpelene mini dress to greet her 3 family business sons for an anniversary gathering. One son is a ‘knicker snatcher’ ooh er, another a regular workman with his own children and wife sheila Hancock, the third a dapper young mod with a beautiful fiance to introduce to mother. It is a black comedy period piece without conceit, every aspect exuding conservative sixties style aesthetically.The knicker snatcher speeds away in a Vauxhall Victor FC estate with chrome bumpers, ofcourse. The mod son wears a double breasted jacket with small high lapels, a ‘pea coat’, and has a good haircut unlike myself (bad hair day thanks to Christos) The film looks old, in an indescernable way which I, we?, like. Basically, Bette Davis plays this dragon who runs the family building firm, the entire plot being a study, an hilarious disturbing observation of family politics, when a tyrannical nasty woman is in charge. High entertainment. I won’t disclose the plot further, but I highly recommend this film as a suitable companion to Entertaining Mr Sloan. It is pithy, direct, unpredictable, outrageous and funny. I found it on UK ebay.

For more reviews and the usual news, come back soon ie next week

Cheers

Mark Lemon

Village Green Machine

Lemon Gets The Horrors!

VILLAGE GREEN MACHINE NEWS/NEW POETRY WRITTEN BY MARK LEMON FOR LIVE PERFORMANCE/ LONDON DATES UNDER DISCUSSION/ COVER OF JACOBITES PIN YOUR HEART TO ME RECORDED/ LIVE GIG AS PART OF MOSELEY FOLK FESTIVAL WITH DAVE KUSWORTH/ LITTLE STEVENS PEOPLE GET CD THEY ASKED FOR…..

And here I go again. Last night I wrote a 2 hour blog into which I poured my innermost self, or even innermost self, then accidentally hit delete just as I had finished telling you, all about the nasty 1980s (which were OK for some music) and all about, my gig with the aforementioned Dave K. But actually, this deletion gives me the opportunity to stay up late again and drink a little more than usual, so really I am relishing the opportunity to prattle, rant and extrapolate.

Here at the Village Green we have been writing, recording and producing as usual. The cover of Pin your Heart is partly a cover of myself in as much as I played bass on the 3 original versions. Now I’m singing it, as did Lemonheads Evan Dando with Lemonheads. ps surprise surprise. I never heard his version. I don’t know hoiw many Jacobites covers there are; but Mercury Rev did Silver Street. I was a little miffed they missed my 3 part harmony vocal intro off their version- I managed to put it back at the gig I did with Dave Kusworth last weekend. I also played the guitar parts on the Robespierres Velvet Basement songs which I originally recorded, and the intro to Kings and Queens was reinstated for the first time in years. Dave and I did mostly Robespierres songs at this gig which was a tributary to the Moseley Folk Festival. I got there 2 minutes before he went on stage, hadn’t seen him for a few years. No rehearsals.I got up and played my 12 string acoustic to the songs, improvising and also playing the parts I originally played on the records. Of course Nikki Sudden is sadly no longer with us, nor is Epic Soundtracks. Epic and Nikki were in avant garde punk band Swell Maps before teaming up with Dave and myself for the Jacobites early albums. Dave was very much in his acoustic mode for this gig, and of course the songs remain very distinguished.” Famous When Dead” is the badge I have seen Mr K wearing, but actually he is famous in many countries around the world, we sold tons of records, and if Britain can’t get it, well sod them. A few do. The albums keep getting re released as well.

Dave Kusworth

I bumped into Pid at the Moseley gig, who runs the Birmingham mod club. There is a do on at Cobs bar on Sat Oct 10, 125 Sherlock St Birmingham. 8.30- 2.30 playing r&b, rare soul, boogaloo, 60’s funk, and mod rarities. Just about every time I go out I see Pid, whether its at Le Beat Bespoke or wherever. I send him e mails, which he answers but when he sees me he doesn’t connect me with the e mails! But I think the mod club idea is great. It is called the Brum Beat mod club, you can find it on myspace. Why should the city centre music clubs be a no go zone for everyone with taste? Pid is helping redress the balance.

In my accidentally deleted blog I was talking about British 80s music, and owning up that my appreciation of this decade is growing, when I consider how good some of the leftfield pop actually was. Obviously I was in nappies at the time. But I do remember Lloyd Cole, I was a very sophisticated 4 year old. Lloyds records had a clear air of bohemian literacy about them, it was said he was derivative of Lou Reed but in fairness, thats an easy stone to throw, and Morrissey considered him a worthwhile friend, until LC ’started saying nasty things behind his back’. I’ll slap your hands and face for you! There must have been a hissy fit, handbags hurled with no regard to human life, copies of On The Road torn to pieces before the others eyes, Oscar Wilde posters ripped down, and quiffs ruffled. Lost Weekend sounds great now though, so does Jennifer She Said, I love that and always did. Easy Pieces is a great album, in my opinion better than the very good Rattlesnakes- and, much good taste was in evidence in the artwork, guitar sounds, and so on. In fact it was 20 years ahead of its time aesthetically. Nice graphics. I would like to do a cover like that done for Rattlesnakes, but look at the 80s graphics on Easy Pieces! I suppose some people think that looks cool now. I don’t know exactly where the chart run petered out for Lloyd, it seems a shame it did, but he went solo with an album which had a harder attitude musically and presented Lloyd Cole as a man’s man- and, this is purely my opinion, but I wonder if the record company image making dep’t had a hand in trying to toughen up his image. Stubble, cigarettes, and a much harder musical edge. His voice seemed to change and he was recording in New York. All the delicacy of instrumentation went in place of innovative Indie rock, but The Stones Roses and Happy Mondays were waiting around the corner with their baggy jeans and house inspired aesthetic.

The Smiths

Just as punk killed Brian Ferry (for a while) perhaps so too did Indie Dance sweep aside most who went before it. It shook the Jesus and Mary Chain up, who, unnecessarily as it may now seem, began adding dance beats to theiir records. Morrissey hated all that, and managed to survive the shift in fashion, unlike Lloyd Cole. But then The Smiths were for whatever reason a much more important group than LC and The Commotions. They were so adamantly original, and self confidently so. And, they were the soundtrack to the 80s. Stretch Out And Wait is a song I keep on about, but it is just beautiful and special. It is a working class song of innocence. It will change your life forever, if you let it. That’s art, and genius.

Genius. It was chemistry, and how old was Johnny? 21? Somebody had to claim the decade and make it theirs, and it wasn’t going to be, you know lets be frank here. Frank who? Frank. Frankly Mr Shankly, I am aiming my harpoon of good taste right now at- oh my goodness, can I even bear to think about it, wiithout collapsing- I am a sensitive artist- look, oh God. I’m sorry I have to mention it. Mark Knobflers headband. And his lyrics about micro wave ovens. That is such sad boyo cock rock. We are now entering a frightening malaise of very bad taste, no, don’t turn away. If I am man enough to face it, you too must come with me on a brief exploration of that which was so bad, it caused madness. Actually I might get threatened if I go on. But, him with the perm, right? Long shaggy perm. In band with moustachioed singer. Bland, massive. John Peel compared their shows, perhaps a little unfairly, to the Nurenburg rallies. But, we have to be honest about the overall aesthetic. Was it not absolutely vile? Indeed, the Queen I like sang in the fucking Smiths, not in that lot. Really bad offences against good taste in the 80s then.

The mainstream pop and its presentation were obviously the main offenders. George Michael admitted he behaved in deliberately commercial ways- he could sing, but wasn’t that music plastic and horrid? And ubiquitous. That’s the problem I had with it. Queen Dire Straits and George Michael. There I was trying on my nappies in Debenhams and on it came “microwave oven”, and something about magic by Queen. Now to take this further and into more controversial territory, wasn’t Live Aid, however noble the intentions of its creators, just the absolute bottom of the barrell? The low watermark. It encapsulated the very worst aspects of 80s pop, in a perfect nutshell. Thanks heavens for the arrival of The Stones Roses. Many imitators rode the wave for a while, then Nirvana kicked in here in a big way with Teen Spirit and once again all was swept aside. I would like to offer my thoughts on Cobain and Courtney in a future blog. Suede were a great band, glam inspired but intense, talented and new. They had a great look, although Brett Anderson happily confessed that he did not ‘ponce around in Suede type clothes at home’.

Guitarist Bernard Butler was a huge Smiths fan, and I think it fair to say they were part of a certain lineage of great British bands. The Stairs shone briefly with their fantastic retro single Weed Bus, and by now the 80s was gone in spirit, and style, and almost in politics. I think by then Mrs thatcher had gone, the Tory administration staggering on under the deeply unpopular John Major.

The Horrors

Whatever, things were becoming exciting and pop music, its fashions and attitude were renewed. Most mainstream pop was undoubtedly dire, but something glimmered in the midst of it. I am too tired, and so are you for me to go into the 90s, but plainly something altered radically when Oasis put Cigarettes and Alcohol on a free NME tape. It was I think a great record. They were so strong and powerful, their songs so excellent they defined a whole era. Songs like Rock & Roll Star, and Some Might Say inspired George Martin to describe them (or Noel anyway) as the best, supposedly they heralded the ‘new laddism’, Cool Britannia! Jarvis came out with his erratic but brilliant band Pulp, Common People being my favourite record of all from the mid 90s.

Tony Blair’s arrival seemed to signify enormous hope. It was really exciting. There were bands to get really excited about, and what about the hedonism? A lot of young people got very smashed. It was a working class thing, ladettes and Loaded magazine. A clearly defined era. I’m no expert but I really feel it, how it was back then. It is amazing to compare the feel of the glam era of the 70s, with the punk era, and then the whole atmosphere of grunge, how incredibly distinctive these scenes seem in relation to each other. It is heartening to reflect that, however much the money people seek to take over, the true spirit of pop music seems to keep resurfacing in different guises.

Creativity and artistic sincerity have continued to thrive in this atmosphere of scarcely disguised commerce. We saw The Libertines, The Strokes, The White Stripes come through, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian and others with something real. And latterly, The Horrors. I met Mr Spider Web a while back, he’s a really nice lad. I gave him one. Yes, a copy of England’s Dreaming Spires, the cover of which he appeared to recognise. He was DJing at Dr Robert’s Le Beat Bespoke event, playing obscure 60s vinyl, we were all dancing and having a great time. Their drummer Coffin Joe was wearing a nicely tailored mod suit and dancing to Northern Soul…not what anyone would expect, but then neither is their second album. Well outside my usual sphere of reference, I almost crashed the car listening to Primary Colours. What a collision of experimentation that album is, it is so intense and soulful. They seem like the new heroes to me.

Mark Lemon

Village Green Machine

“A Very Rare Thing!”

Yep, things are going crazy. the snowball is starting to roll, if anyone is wondering.

Did you get a chance to look at Bill Rivers myspace page last week?

Well I think Bill likes the England’s Dreaming Spires album, judging by what he told me:-

“Yes, your record is simply brilliant! As well as just being a joy to listen to (which, when it comes down to it, is the main thing) it is really smart! It’s probably instinctive on your part, but there is that kind of fusion (horrible word I know!) of early 60’s surf with the later 60’s sound and then the great bands of the 80’s (yes, there were some!), my eccentric cousin is a great example, reminding me of dylan, the smiths, the kinks, pulp, byrds all in one and then that break…smile period beach boys!!!…just awesome! Your vocal reminds me of a mix between syd and morrisey, warm, charming, heartfelt! Infectious, clever pop, fresh and an extremely well thought out album. Seriously, there’s not a duffer! It is an album ‘proper.’ And that is a very rare thing nowadays!

You talented bugger!!”

Thank you Bill

On with Village Green Machine,

The new song I’m recording, ‘Dog’ has wah wah to go with the Farfisa, it sounds like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts singing I Love Rock & Roll done by The Archies with Syd Barrett singing. Of course, it sounds like nothing on earth. But it is adding up, the thing is, its all experimental all this music, but I only use 60s sounds and instruments. And so, this new pop is happening. I like the heavy reverb pop Andy Warhol liked, My boyfriend’s Back, The 4 Seasons, Shangri- Las, things like this. And I do not filter these influences into an ‘Indie’ guitar sound, ie distorted guitars.

An image from Warhol's show

I just do this 60s sounding pop, but it is pop with a capital ‘P’. Its just that the experimentation and lyrics mean it moves into a new area. ‘New area’ sounds like something you’d find in a shopping centre, I know. All you may have heard is England’s Dreaming Spires, but we have recorded a lot more since. If I were to be specific I would say, I am bringing the 60s sounds through, note sounds. But, creating new music. So the new, consists (again a rubbish word) of the old, only rearranged, with fresh creative input. I mean, look. You’ve got to be able to write to do this thing. I mean, write melodies and good words. You’ve got to be able to know when to stop when you write a song, one has to understand economy. Melody writing is about hooks, this isn’t so much a commercial proposition, as the basis of all good music. Human beings need, I think, an attractive sequence of notes in order to connect with music. There may be music which requires a broader attention span, Mahler is it? But, I prefer Moonlight Sonata. The melody is there immediately, it is beautiful, it is transporting. And isn’t this the secret of good pop- it has this kind of uplifting melody, which hits straight away. That’s joy. Underpinning this is ‘the groove’, which should be in my view, the percussive equivalent of a really filthy, dirty shag. I know you don’t all smoke tobacco, but I’m sure you can understand what I mean.  where were we, oh yes, the groove, seriously, is like that and, then you get something much more fine over the top of this, ie the melody.

A Warhol event flyer, 1966

Now this is where a group like the Stone Roses come in, because you had Rennie giving the sex rhythm, and John Squire providing the high art melody on guitar and vocal melodies, and IB too of course. Put some good words with this, and you’re in business. There’s more to making a good pop record, but it seems to me the basis is something like this, it is fascinating. As Keith Richards said, many bands know how to rock, but its the roll that’s missing. It wasn’t missing on Brown Sugar and Start Me Up. But, it seems to me very few bands now have that swing/groove. All these ‘Indie’ guitar groups, they bluster. I mean to be honest, there really isn’t much out there at the moment, yet again. Its an overcrowded marketplace, with too much dodgy goods on sale. Village Green Machine have the melody, the groove, the song structure, the lyrics and the experimental instincts. The passion and the soul – I feel this too is coming through. There may be an ‘X’ factor in great pop, I don’t know, but it is tantalising to think there may be an aspect which one cannot account for. This would mean, it could not be consciously included by even the most devoted pop musician, like myself. I’m not sure I like this idea but, it remains fascinating. I mean, what is music, where does it come from? Good music seems to be an expression of the human spirit connected to creative talent. But, what exactly is talent? I don’t know, but I’m off to bed. Passion in the arts, there’s a subject to contemplate. The Village Green Machine album England’s Dreaming Spires is released on Oct 5, along with the single Psychodrama which has 2 new tracks not on the album. I’m hanging onto the rocket, hang on yourself and, see you soon,

Mark

Village Green Machine

STRETCH OUT AND WAIT

Hello, I am in the mood for a mellow 60’s tune, maybe a Manfred Mann… those were surely the days of innocence. The songs back then were literal, there was no hidden agenda in the lyrics. Times of gentle, maybe psychedelic exploration in music. The Up The Junction soundtrack by Manfred Mann is a case in point, actually.

That music almost seemed to convey the message that music would never die, and that it never could. But as we know, put music in the wrong hands, and it does die. Also, television. What an incredible medium, of unlimited potential. And yet again, it has been taken over by the ratings junkies, who churn out garbage to appeal to the lowest common denominator. As an artist, I want to make a living, and I have paid a horrible price for following my chosen path. But I don’t compromise to make money, if I did it hardly needs saying my integrity could follow all these other peoples, down the path, and over the cliff. I think the really bad art happens when people JUST want to make money, and will churn out any old crap. Then, where is the art? Of course, someone like Phil Spector challenged all this. He made bubblegum mass fodder which was the best art around. The Warhol trash aesthetic is not hollow, trash can be high art. Now, if you’re confused, don’t worry so am I.

One thing for sure, is that music is art. Bad art, is defamation to its creator and if people make bad music, it is personally disgracing.

Manfred Mann

Village Green Machine activities this week are, I recorded and finished a new acoustic based song, No New Messages. I am very proud of it, it is influenced by my Jacobites days, by Neil Young and Syd Barrett. It has 12 string acoustic and slide bottleneck guitar. Also we are preparing a press release for the launch proper of England’s Dreaming Spires, and the single from it, Psychodrama. Official release date for both is Oct 5th. We’re having fun working on the envelopes for the press release, which are a teacup and saucer. I’m going through hundreds of radio people, deciding whom to send promos to. It will be fun to see how it all goes. Psychodrama, the single, is a belter though I say it myself. The other 2 tracks on the CD single are, Believe In Love and Battling To Survive. Believe In Love is a surrealistic avant garde piece as far as guitars are concerned, but the rhythm track is pure 60s r&b. Man, that bass booms, its the boomiest deepest bass sound I’ve ever used. You can dance to it, its a nice record, the singing is good, its a really good song, and this is a b side. Then there’s the last track written from a place of despair, or at least from a dark corner of my soul. That was how I felt that day.A lad a few doors down had just been killed on his motorbike, and my Aunt had died a few days earlier. From the pain, and artist can create something, hopefully of beauty. In our society, we artists get trampled on by, a philistine mentality, but we can produce a silver lining to the darkest of clouds. I am a tunnel vision artist, I will pursue my creative line until I die. And, I won’t be doing a lot else.

The frontmen I admire are Peter Perrett, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Ray Davies, Chrissie Hynde. I can relate to them, their hair, clothes, sensitivity, introversion v extroversion, and these all had integrity. They looked cool, still do, and it is simply too tempting a mantle to not wish to step into oneself. Tom Petty, too, years back. And Dave Kusworth. Pleased to hear from you Dave and hope to see you soon.

Peter Perrett

Now, sounds this week. I have been listening to some new Chess compilations, a class collection of jazz, blues and r & b which had the pop crossover factor over 45 years ago. Its quite a primitive sound, with of course the classiest of musicians. Bo, Chuck, Etta James, a distinguished roll call of talent. The blueprint to the British 60s r&b boom too, along with a lot more. I believe Britain was a pretty dowdy place in the early 60s, the hip kids wanted more and found it in Black America. At least, in the imported sounds. People can think black music is primitive, certainly it scared conservatives with its sweat and grind. But, is it not sophisticated too, the jazz side, the soul and r&b side? So that late 50s/ early 60s black music had both, and great songs which worked commercially. And of course it sounds fresh and vibrant now.

Also this week I played a 2 Tone compilation, it was a great phase for British pop. And, I have been listening to Louder Than Bombs, an essential Smiths compilation. Morrissey came from the type of environment which creates a lot of pop people in this country. Not middle class, just bog standard lower middle class suburbia. OK working class suburbia. It is so boring, it makes us have to break out, to blossom, to explode like a firework. Some of us can’t hack that environment, especially the prospect of being consumed by it and becoming part of it. So something has to give and we become musicians, artists, writers, footballers and so on. With Morrissey, and Johnny Marr, there was and is a very high intellectual level combined with the creative gifts, and an imperative to escape suburbia, or in Johnnie’s case, a rougher environment I believe. He was a star that man. He said in an interview that The Smiths were at the time the greatest band in the world, I think so too when I listen at last to a proper copy of Louder Than Bombs. I’m not a Smiths expert but I think it is a collection of a and b sides, the extra tracks from the 12 inch singles and it is, a revelation. I hope you will read on as I talk about some of my favourite songs from this exceptional album.

Sheila Take A Bow. Who knows what that was about, a glam stomper of which I never tire with words which entice while Morrissey’s voice strokes the soul.

Sweet and Tender Hooligan has words which offend even me, but is a pinnacle performance combining lyrical substance, however dubious, with the band’s taught power. It is immeasurably more focused than most other 80s music. What were they on back then? The 80s was a barren time for pop,all show, no substance, dreadful.

Half A Person is an old Smiths favourite of mine, in which Morrissey enquires at the YWCA if there is a vacancy for a backscrubber. Of course he changed it from YMCA. Putting Charles Hawtrey on a record cover is one thing, putting Truman Capote quite another…Half A Person is The Smiths doing consciously what their heroes did- putting a great ‘b’ side onto a vinyl single. Half A Person has a great melody, a medium tempo drum groove, typical multi tracked jangling guitars, and an REM style riff. It is their talent which lifts it above the mundane though, it is an addictive narcotic.

Panic holds well as a classic Smiths single, with its thumping glam delivery. The lyrics ‘Hang The DJ’ were surely aimed at the radio 1 DJ who played the record at the time, in not only a desperate effort to be cool, but surely in shocked recognition of his depiction.

William, It Was Really Nothing is a thrilling rush, classic Johnny, with Morrissey’s lyrical depiction of the details of ordinary events in a young, working class relationship elevating the song. That’s a paradox. Armchair critics at one music magazine particularly have dismissed this song, but they do nothing for the reputation of that magazine and the reputation of music journalism generally by trashing good work.

The Smiths

Of course, The Smiths singles were thematically linked by Morrissey’s visual artwork, which drew from his self confessed obsession with kitchen sink films.

Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now was a defining Smiths moment. It is high art in pop music. ‘I was looking for a job and now I’ve found a job, and heaven knows, I’m miserable now’ influenced me very much. I used to have rubbish jobs and it was not worth it.

Back to The Old House is infinitely better on the Hatful Of Hollow album, but here receives the full band treatment. The acoustic version with incredible mandolin playing, is a highly evocative piece of work, delicate and beautiful, melancholy yet uplifting. I imagine a beautiful victorian house, I am transported. It is one of their very best but, is not enhanced in my view by bass and drums, an unwanted intrusion. The acoustic version proves in my view that they were, at the time, the very best band in the world.

Please, Please Please Let Me Get What I Want is another of their best. Perhaps this is the one with the mandolin, sorry its late at night. The melodic construction suggests a place among the greatest pop songwriters of all time, and the thing is with all this is its very British feel, with the Mancunian accent on the vocals, they were our greatest after The Beatles. Really.

There are many other great tracks on this album Louder Than Bombs. They will always be very important to me with my work with Village Green Machine, a certain subtle informing has taken place, the shape of VGM’s music… embodies The Smiths just as much as any other influence. They quit when the going was good as well, and I’m now glad never reformed. They created a very formidable body of work, and the kids knew something very special was happening. What was their magic? Was it a combination of things? Certainly a huge self belief was inherent in their ascent, at the end of the day its only pop music but if you’re still reading, that proves how important it is, to some people at least.

Mark Lemon.
Village Green Machine

Sky Saxon

Wow, its mad today. In the last 2 hours I have learned of the deaths of Michael Jackson, Sky Saxon and Farah Fawcett. Farah, God bless her, meant very little to me. She was a glamourpuss from a trashy highly entertaining 70s girl cop show, and nothing more to me. But she is very famous. But then Michael Jackson- and I know this will be old news by the time you get it but please stay with me. I was really shocked by that, still am. I was in a bar a couple of hours back when the news broke, people swarmed around the tv in disbelief, totally shocked. Then some callous jocks were making remarks as you might expect. It is a shock, when someone who has intruded into our consciousness to this extent, dies. I foresaw it. That’s not, some psychic gift (although I know when a car crash is coming, and can avoid them because of precognition). But no. Its massive news, and the media were already having a field day a short while after the story broke.

Jackson Five

I had thought about MJ quite a bit, as a musician, performer and entity. Like many serious pop fans, I have always liked the Jackson 5. I know Noel Gallagher rates them, Ian Brown seemed to like them. Johnny Marr perhaps. Their bubblegum late 60s/early 70s Tamla sides were incredible pop. Great songs, sound, singing and musicianship, great production. Then there was disco material, like the beautiful Show You The Way To Go, with MJ looking beautiful too, as an untouched natural young man. He could dance, sing, he had everything. I do not warm so readily to the 80s material, although there was Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, formidable enough not to have to apologise to anyone, being a top notch pop side. Then the big hit singles, produced by soul brother Quincy Jones. Billie Jean strikes me as a really excellent record. It was very simple with incredible orchestral flourishes which had a distinctly cinematic bent, befitting an enormous hit record by the world’s top singing star. Ofcourse there were other massive hits, which defined the times and I think it is fair to say, he made the best mainstream pop records of the day, and as such probably deserved the success. But what happened then? He became known as an increasingly eccentric and erratic figure, better known for his antics than current releases. How many face jobs was he having, and all that stuff about having his own theme park, while being in essence a lonely figure. He seemed increasingly emasculated, then there was the film of him dangling the baby out of a window, and shaking violently while being interviewed. There were ofcourse other unfortunate episodes. But I always hoped, but never seriously believed, he would make another great record. What if, say, he had recorded with Lenny Kravitz, with a bunch of good songs? He could have worked with anyone, and I fail to understand how he somehow lost touch with musical greatness. It seemed an inexorable downward spiral. It is such a tragic story ending as I more than half expected.

Sky Saxon

But what has really not sunken in, is the news I got on returning from the bar of the death of Sky Saxon. I didn’t think Sky would ‘go’. When you hear my record She She Spider you will realise how much Sky’s music meant to me. So, what happened to him , I don’t know. I loved him, I did. He was fantastic. And I am glad I sent him a message not long ago, saying I thought he was a genuinely good person who wanted good things for the world. He apparently loved dogs, and seemed to talk about them at any given opportunity, apparently believing God had put him here to help dogs, or something like this. He was very into mysticism, very much a product of the mid 1960s acid orientated alternative ’spirituality’. Now that is a controversial term, and I will state I had no empathy with Sky’s type of systems. But we’re getting into deep water here, suffice to say I went down a similar road to Sky’s and got my toes burned. Off. All that Leary stuff, forget it. But I loved Sky, actually and am very sad to hear he is no longer with us. In fact my very latest (as yet unreleased) recording is indebted to his last but one fuzztone meets Farfisa sound, as well as the one I made before. The latter-day Seeds were brilliant live with the organ, and fuzztone guitar played through an AC30- check my records next year for Sky’s reflection. RIP brother Sky, you made the coolest garage sounds of all. Here’s a great clip of the great man with the original Seeds. Gassy!

So this goes a fair way to telling you about what I’ve been up to with Village Green Machine. Last week I set out to make a record with just fuzztone guitar and Farfisa, which is coming together. It is called Bored With Being Ignored, and is addressed to persons it would be undiplomatic to name.This song is also based on the Sonics ‘Have Love Will Travel’, I made a new riff up influenced by that song. Then put a Seeds type instrumentation to it. So its a garage rocker, into which I put a middle eight which contrasts sharply with the other, aggressive lyrics. I wanted to create a sense of beauty in the song too, so I have a fairy with gossamer wings and a Midas Touch entering the scene. Not a, male fairy. What are you laughing at? I mean a real fairy, wafting in and transforming my … oh well its wasted on you brutes but you get the idea.

We are releasing a Village Green Machine single before long. We’re sorting the track listing, there will be a new song called Believe In Love plus another as yet undecided upon, although chances are there will be 2 tracks not on England’s Dreaming Spires. Believe In Love reminds me of Smokey Robinson’s Going To A Go Go, rhythmically, and has a strong James Brown influence too. The guitars are psychedelic and experimental, surrealistic and crazy. The bass booms like an old jukebox 45, and the vocal is very soul influenced. It sounds incredible.

Also, we are still working on a video. We’ve got the story line, I want it to be great like I want everything I do to be great, but we’ve never done one before. We are having to learn everything as we go along- how to design a website and work with the new technology, how to rediscover old sounds and recording techniques, how to produce, engineer and market music in the modern age. Its a lot. Hello to everyone who had bought the CD or downloaded – I hope vinyl by VGM is on the way, its my big wish to do this and there are beautiful artwork ideas. We’ll see, I want to make it happen.

All the best

Mark.L

The Seeds

Interview: Frank Allen of The Searchers

IN THIS WEEKS LETTER FROM ENGLAND…Bay City Rollers loved by The Ramones…(true!)…Village Green Machine start filming video…Margaret Thatcher blasts 80s pop… Mark Lemon’s new interview with Frank Allen from The Searchers…Link to youtube video of brilliant lost Searchers song ‘Umbrella Man’…

I think, pungent smells are things which cannot be bottled. Which is why, I am not going to try to rein in my wildest ramblings, control my outpourings, behave myself in any rational or reasonable way, or put a bung in my bottle. If I want to prance around outside medieval stately homes dressed in a 1966 corduroy pea coat and breton cap, to my new video for Psychodrama, then I shall do so. If I want to scour the shelves of HMV in search of the Bay City Rollers greatest hits, I shall do so. I should have bought it on original vinyl when Reddington’s closed down. And if I want to thumb my nose at all narrow conformity while growing old disgracefully, I shall do so, while blowing a vulgar raspberry at HMV’s manager for not stocking the 70’s bubblegum groups greatest. OK I must confess to a little embarrassment at liking the tartan clad 70’s terrors. However, it is well known to serious pop historians that the Rollers were a primary influence upon US Kings of Punk Cool The Ramones, and if it was good enough for them its good enough for me. Described by Pete Waterman as beautiful records, I sincerely feel their best sides should be dusted down and allowed critical acclaim. And that starts right here…

Bay City Rollers

Ramones

In Village Green Machine land, where I have just received the answers to the questions I recently put to Frank Allen, original bass player with 1960s Pop Kings The Searchers. My interview with him will be printed in full later in this blogzine.

But first, I will tell you what I have been up to with Village Green Machine. We have started the video, it looks like Psychodrama will be the single. We filmed outside the church doors and the stately home, its going ok and coming together in a ramshackle somewhat chaotic way, but we are learning on the job, as Mrs Thatcher once said live on television, she was always at her best when she was on the job. Yeah I know I’ve said that before as well. Apparently quite a few of the cabinet ministers found her quite sexy, its a power thing, you know. Notorious Tory rogue Alan Clarke, who once allegedly bedded a judge’s wife and BOTH his daughters, thought she had pretty ankles. I heard former Labour Chancellor Dennis Healey on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs the other day, talking about her and he said she was a terrible Prime Minister because she never listened to anyone, but that he saw her a while ago at a garden party and gave her a hug. He gets on with her now. How old is he, over 90. And she? He said he feels sorry for her now because no one listens to her. I saw her interviewed on an 80s TV pop show the other day, passing comment on the latest releases. They played her one particularly appalling piece of 80’s doggum, to which she responded that they hadn’t got beyond the rehearsal stage, with a cynical turn of phrase which would impress the most hardened NME hack. She got that right at least. I would love to interview her.

Margaret Thatcher

Denis Healey

I hate talking about Village Green Machine cos its me, but I will tell you we’ve been recording a 3 part harmony today to ‘My Decision’, a kind of Art Garfunkel 3 tiered harmony with the multi tracking. Also pleased with the vocals to Tomgirl which I did today. And so the music continues to gradually build in quantity.

Now, I first interviewed The Searchers in the reception of BBC Pebble Mill about 10 years ago. I had just turned down a record deal and at that stage was an aspiring music writer, with a fascination for guess which decade. What I did not disclose to my heroes was that it was only the second interview I had ever done. It was a thrill to see Frank Allen and John McNally blast through the doors, dressed in a tasteful fashionable way and looking youthful. Their records have always been a very important part of my point of pop reference, I have maintained a fascination with their place in pop history. I have always tried to work out exactly how influential they were, and are. For instance, was the intro to When you Walk In The Room an influence on the intro to The Beatles Ticket To Ride intro? And didn’t that Searchers side come before The Byrds Tambourine Man, with its very similar introduction? The Searchers Needles and Pins has a slow/medium 4/4 rhythm, like the later Tambourine Man. And doesn’t the high harmony singing of The Byrds David Crosby sound a lot like the earlier Searchers records? Anyway, their records were part of a glorious explosion of melody, rhyme, and tambourines played in time from around 1964-6. They were intrinsically involved in pop/folk rock, and actually were and still are one of the best bands in the world, despite the unfortunate departure of lead singer Mike Pender. Mike and Frank sang joint lead on their seminal 45 When You Walk In The Room. Frank played bass with the band since mid ‘64, playing with a whole lot of feel and soul.

Hello Frank, tell us about your book.

The title is and was always going to be THE SEARCHERS AND ME for a few reasons. Firstly it’s exactly what`s in the tin. It is my story and that of the Searchers. I was only going to undertake a project of this size once and so I decided to include every detail I thought interesting or relevant. And that included some of my early life, my time with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers which was a vital learning curve and, as far as I could, the early days of the Searchers before I met them in Hamburg in `63.

Another important reason for the title was that if someone wants a book on the Searchers the first thing the will either look up or Google will be The Searchers. Clever titles full of witty puns and deep meanings are wonderful but only work if you are of a high enough profile to have your stuff out there and visible to begin with. Important as they were the Searchers never quite had the kind of public profile and individual identities that gave them this kind of image. Always make it as easy as possible to get the product is my motto.

The publisher, as was my previous book Travelling Man (still in print and available) is a small Welsh based company called Aureus. Why them? Well, getting a book published is a far from easy thing and for someone not in the current public eye to any degree publishers are not exactly trampling over competition to get to me. Aureus responded and responded with positivity and enthusiasm. The owner, Meuryn Hughes, had faith in me and it seemed right and proper to let him continue the association and I am flattered he still wanted to.

A decision we came to very quickly this time round was to make the book available on-line only through the publisher direct. We aren`t even releasing it through companies like Amazon. The reason for this was that low profile product never gets on the shelves anyway and the subsidiaries take amounts of commission that are so high as to be almost iniquitous. Someone who hears about the book and wants it will find it very easily. Computers are wonderful things for this. And if we sell less product then I and the publisher will still make a greater profit that vast amounts being siphoned off by others. And it is selling very well.

Travelling Man was in essence an anecdotal tome based around what I thought I could cope with to write a first book and was mainly based on my style of humour. And it worked very well. It was not a biography proper but it contained much biographical detail. Of course people then asked when I was going to write the full story. It was daunting task that I did not think I was equipped for and I put the task off for a long time before deciding that if I was really going to call myself a writer. Eventually I worked out a plan and dived in head first.

There was a lot of research in which I was helped by our ‘website collator` and friend Wendy Burton. We trawled through acres of microfilm and hard copies of music mags to check on our tour schedule and items of news that I had long forgotten. I peered through old diaries to jog my memory. And I raided my memory banks for any and every story that would enhance the book. What I did not realise was that I was amassing an enormous amount of word space and ended up with a total of more than 220,000 words which eventually took up an enormous 433 pages. On top of that I included 167 photo images. I always feel cheated if a biography doesn`t have plenty of pictures.

Of course this meant that the end product was going to be expensive. Publishing, especially in hard cover, is far from cheap. But there was no getting away from it. I could not possibly whittle it down to the extent that the price would be significantly less and we had to accept that if afficionados of either The Searchers or that decade in general wanted it they would pay the price. And it seems they are. It is a truly beautiful object and, if I may say so, a must for lovers of this era and music in general.

The Searchers

ML- What was the experience of writing this book like emotionally?

Emotionally I was, as I mostly am, controlled, and any excitement for me was more to do with the realisation that I was really achieving with my writing than any sentimental stirrings brought on by early memories. It was certainly fascinating, especially when discovering the reality behind the myths that had grown up along the way. The truth about who really did write Saturday Night Out. And the facts behind the signing of The Searchers. The demo album did not land unsolicited on Tony Hatch`s desk one day as was generally believed. I revealed the clauses of the first contract and explained the outrageous terms that would be looked on as indenture to slavery today. I mapped out the details of the litigation during our troubles with Mike Pender and the abuses of our name which we fought desperately in court to protect. Quite surprisingly as I went on I enjoyed the read as much as I expected the eventual purchasers to.

ML- I recently showed a clothes designer friend of mine in Italy your video for Umbrella Man on Youtube. His name is Claudio, well known to modern mods he is a top designer running a label called DNA Groove who was impressed by the clothes the Searchers were wearing for this video. Clothes and presentation have obviously been important to the Searchers, could you please talk about the mod styles the band gravitated towards in the mid sixties. Who were your sartorial peers?

It`s nice that someone should admire our taste in those odd post psychedelic times but in retrospect it was possibly not the right thing for The Searchers. We were not fashion leaders in any way and mostly we were groping in the dark trying to keep up with the bands that had left us behind musically, sartorially and in the hearts of the record buying public. Some times we looked okay and at others downright stupid.

I did have some interesting items made for me by a young lady called Barbara Richter who lived in Parsons Green, Chelsea. She would translate my ideas into reality. The multicoloured velvet jerkin in the Umbrella Man advert was made by her along with the flamboyant Romaneque yolk collared shirt pictured in my book which was copied by Graham Nash of the Hollies and also a brown hand stitched leather shirt which made it into many of our early seventies shots. Some of these sartorial car crashes are to been in all their glory in the book`s illustrations.

There was no one I especially admired in the way of clothes back then. I just watched to see what everyone else was doing and copied. And in the end The Searchers quite rightly got back into our high buttoned black suits. We eventually started to realise our strengths and the preferred image of our loyal followers.

ML- You have expressed a disdain towards much modern music, how do you think pop music could progress now?

I don`t know and I don`t have much interest. My musical tastes veer from The Dixie Chicks and Alison Kraus through Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry and on to Broadway show tunes and the great American classics written by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. I am a Stephen Sondheim fan and an admirer of Michael Feinstein. One of the greatest performances I have seen was by Eartha Kitt at the Carlyle Hotel in New York in 2008. She was eighty one years old and was magnificent. In my book I tell a story of asking Dionne Warwick what she thought of Eartha. “Well, she can`t sing, that`s for sure,” was her reply. Who cares if her voice was not a perfect instrument. Neither is Bob Dylan`s. Eartha emoted like no one I had seen in many a year. There is a picture of me and her in the book. She died at the end of the year and we will never see the like again .

Young people like what they like. Who am I to judge or dictate? My parents didn`t like rock and roll which was my passion, and to a great extent still is. I am a child of the fifties. It was their right. It was not their kind of music and why should it be?

One thing I definitely would like to see more genuine live music, not just adding live embellishments on click tracks where the majority of what is being heard, including the lead voice I might add, was recorded in advance. I accept that this is done to ensure a brilliant sound and that the show will go on no matter how much an artiste`s voice is suffering. But live music should have the element of danger.

You can and should go wrong from time to time. Your tempos should vary although preferably not too much. Mistakes are all part of it. It`s okay for the sound quality to vary from night to night. That is real life. Real life is not just pressing a play button for the automatons to prance and pose about to. Much of the time these days you can`t even call it karaoke. Karaoke performers, to their credit, are actually singing. The public would be horrified if they knew how little live voice they were getting at a lot of big shows for their £60 ticket. And I desperately want less choreography and spectacle. But that`s me. I am from a different generation. Kids can call me an old fart and they are entitled to. Just as long as they realise that they are the next generation`s old farts too. No one gets away with it.

ML- What motivates the band to keep up such a punishing tour schedule after so many years? Is it still loads of fun to play live?

We love being musicians. We once did it just for fun and it became a profession. How many people can make their play their work? There were times when it was harder and times when it was depressing but mostly it has been somewhere between pleasant and brilliant. I love the challenge of getting a reaction out of an audience. I love the applause. In the new millennium I am in the happy position of not having to work for a living but we probably work harder than any musicians in any other band no matter how big or small. We do a phenomenal amount of shows each year. This year it is somewhere around 180-190. Retirement is an alien concept for me. I was brought up with the work ethic and I am daunted by the thought of not having the next show to look forward to. Maybe I`d like it to be a little more controlled, less shows. But when things are quiet I just start to worry about how our roadies are going to cope without the money coming in. They serve us well and will never be rich. They have to be looked after.

I don`t know when the end is. When we fall out of love with our kind of life. When our health fails and we can no longer do it. I suppose that comes to us all. Or when a jaded audience no longer turns up in enough numbers to keep the show on the road. That won`t be for a few years yet though. And when it does I hope to be still writing. Performing and writing are my passions.

New book
‘The Searchers and Me’

_______________________________

A while back I was delighted to find an unearthed Searchers gem on Youtube called Umbrella Man. This really fine 60s pop record is an absolute favourite of mine. Italian mod style guru and design genius Claudio from DNA Groove was impressed by the suits, and so was I, despite Frank Allen’s humble appraisal of his band’s dress code. I’m sure Paolo Hewitt has said Mike Pender has been admired for his snappy suits, too.

The band’s original guitarist John Mcnally gave me his fuzz pedal last year, an original Gibson. It is all over the second Village Green Machine album which will be available next year. Its the fuzz with the buzz and sounds mean, its the same one John used on Have You Ever Loved Somebody, one of my very favourite records of all time. Actually he asked for a small charity donation for it, which I sent. But I do cherish that historic artefact.

Thank you Frank for the interview.

Come back soon to read the next Village Green Machine blogzine. It will be either weekly or fortnightly, not sure yet, as I will be doing interviews so may take up more time.

BW

Mark and