- Twenty Years of 'Live' Recordings -

     The contents of this page were recorded after getting permission from all of the artists concerned, and haven't been aired in public up until this time. I asked to do it because I was so taken with what I'd heard from them on previous gigs. They were all prepared to take my requests at face value, and trust that the whole thing wasn't some sort of 'bootleg' hustle.

      I'd like to thank all of them for giving me so much enduring listening pleasure over the years - and I would also like to say how thankful I feel that all but one of them (Isaac Guillory) is still alive, and still gigging successfuly.

1 - The 'RAF' Years, 1973-79

     The whole 'live recording' thing began for me with a folk club night at the 'Fox and Goose' at Brent Knoll, in Somerset. It was September 1973, and I'd just escaped from my former home town to a much better new area (and a very much better new career) hundreds of miles away. My social life at that time was already centred around folk clubs and music pubs, which I found to be uniformly congenial and pleasing: but now, here was someone I'd never heard of before by the name of Isaac Guillory, and the sudden and unexpected start of a completely new chapter of social life for me, both as an 'audient' and as a guitar player in the clubs, and as a 'live recordist' of other people's on-stage efforts.

     I'd turned up late, of course (for the second half, in fact, as it turned out, because I'd only just learned about the place earlier on that Saturday evening) to discover that the pub was packed to bursting with friendly people, and that the player was absolutely incredible. I found out that he was playing another folk club in the area the following night - The Bell Inn, at Banwell - and (brazenly enough) just walked up at the end and asked him whether I could make a live recording of his next gig (I was young enough in those days to get away with such effrontery, and those were far more relaxed times anyway).

     On the Sunday, I recruited the services of an RAF friend on the same course as myself, who just happened to own a portable cassette recorder (and who was prepared to come along and operate it for me); and so, off we duly trogged to Banwell that night for an earful of some folk music and a few beers. My new sidekick was a tolerant and friendly bloke, and (fortunately) made a good job of something that would probably have been beyond me. Nearly forty-two years on from that night, the results of his efforts are presented below for your listening pleasure. Thanks, Pete!


- Isaac Guillory's Gigs -

Live at 'The Bell', Banwell, Somerset, 3rd September 1973

Track List

 

01 - 'St. Peter' & 'Rockytop, Tennessee'
02 - 'Sidewalks of America'
03 - 'Here In Your River'
04 - 'Fairfax Rag'
05 - 'Staying Awhile'
06 - 'The Carbondale Strut'
07 - 'Ice Cream Phoenix'
08 - 'Spanish Reign', 'Baltimore Oriole',
         'Bad News' & 'The Rainmaker'

09 - 'Steamboat' & 'Moving On'
10 - 'Sixteen Tons'

Full Archive

 
 
      I discovered as time and gigs went on something that I'd never seen or heard before: that one of the features of Isaac's sets was his tendency to segué one song into another, often by means of some interesting little jazz or blues 'fill'. Rather than impose a nonsensical 'one track at a time' strait-jacket on the live material, I've decided to split it up and present it exactly as Isaac played it. The material was edited with nothing excluded from the original tape(s), and with care to make sure that cuts were made at zero-crossing points at the boundaries of each offering. This means that they can be recombined onto a CD without any unwanted clicks and pops being introduced, and with no gaps in the programme.

      Even now, after all this time, I still listen occasionally to this particular recording; and especially to the track 'Staying Awhile', which got my interest in playing the guitar restarted.
 

Llive at Bristol University, 1974

Track List

  01 - The Rainmaker
02 - Fairfax Rag
03 - Here In Your River
04 - Spanish Reign
05 - Baltimore Oriole
06 - Bad News
 

Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival, 1974

Track List

  01 - St. Peter
02 - Weary Gypsy
03 - The Rainmaker
04 - Karma Blues
05 - Steamboat
 

Live at Oxford University, 1975

Track List

 
- TBA -




 
Full Archive



2 - The Bedford Years, 1978-88

- Isaac Guillory's Gigs -
Live at 'The Chain Locker', Putney, 1979

Track List

 

01 - 'Desert Dance' & 'Are You Ready To Go?'
02 - Fairfax Rag
03 - Here In Your River
04 - Nothing To Lose
05 - Naked and Bare, Love's Revival,
         Fool's Paradise & Spanish Reign

06 - Spanish Reign, Baltimore Oriole, Bad News & The Rainmaker
07 - Sixteen Tons

 

Live at The Essex Folk Festival, Rochford - June 1980

Track List

 

Saturday Workshop

01 - The Carbondale Strut
02 - Hi & tune-up
03 - Weary Gipsy
04 - Tune-up for Fairfax Rag
05 - Fairfax Rag
06 - Rockytop
07 - Intro to BIJABD
08 - The Blues Is Just A Bad Dream
09 - Bad News
10 - Privateer's Treasure
11 - Sidewalks Of America
12 - Tune-up and chat
13 - Through Us All
14 - Desert Dance
15 - Ship In My Window
16 - Tuning and chat
17 - Fool's Paradise
18 - Intro to Fingerlude
19 - Fingerlude

Saturday Evening Main Stage

01 - Through Us All
02 - Desert Dance
03 - Ship In My Window
04 - Down To Seeds And Stems Again
05 - The Rainmaker
06 - Tuning and chat
07 - St. Peter
08 - Intro to Fool's Paradise
09 - Fool's Paradise

Full Archive for the Workshop

Full Archive for the Main Stage






 
 The drive-through version of the Rochford weekend was that it was a stoned-soul picnic for some.


- Martin Simpson's gig -

Live at The Horse & Groom, Queen's Park, July 1979

Track List

   



Full Archive


- Safety Valve's Gigs -

Live at 'Fives' Bar', Bedford 1981

Track List

01 - Early One Morning
02 - Chat & Intro to ...
03 - Take Your Time
04 - Jamaica
05 - Intro to Patch In The Sun
06 - Patch In The Sun
07 - Chat & Intro to ...
08 - Time For Another Nightmare
09 - Chat & Intro to ...
10 - Get Your Feet Back On The Ground
11 - Chat & Intro to ...
12 - Feel The Thrill
13 - Chat & Intro to ...
14 - Keeps On Raining
15 - Guess I'm A Blues Man

16 - Won't Be Your Donkey No More
17 - Chelsea Girl

18 - London USA
19 - Chat & Intro to ...
20 - Depend on Me
21 - Chat & Intro to ...
22 - Scene Of The Crime
23 - Chat & Intro to ...
24 - Stormy Monday
25 - Chat & Intro to ...
26 - Answer To A Question
27 - Chat & Intro to
28 - Sail Away
29 - Chat & Intro to ...
30 - Stonehenge
     I first ran across Safety Valve sometime during early 1980, at an informal rock club in the back room of the Horse & Groom in Queen's Park. I'd only recently moved into Bedford to live, and had got into things socially by playing in the local folk clubs, including this one. The band were homegrown and local, and had apparently been a central part of the Bedford music scene for a lot of years by that time. The gig that night started off quite restrained and interesting, but not pedestrian at all; and it soon opened out into something very similar to what you'll hear in these clips - in other words, excellent.

     Safety Valve were: Dave King (guitar and vocals), Nick Jones (bass and vocals), and Maurice Barrett (drums). As well as being excellent players, they also turned out to be top-class people socially, and so did their audiences. There was a lot more to Safety Valve than just the music (Dave and Nick wrote most of their material), and I was very pleased to have met and spent time with them. The recordings they allowed me to make were an added bonus. If you should happen to be a Safety Valve fan, please feel free to spread the word about these clips.

Live at 'Floods', St Ives, Cambridgeshire 1981

Track List

01 - Early One Morning
02 - Wake Up
03 - Walking the Dog
04 - Take Your Time
05 - Like A Rolling Stone
06 - Time For Another Nightmare
07 - Chelsea Girl
08 - The Words That You Use
09 - A Patch In The Sun
10 - The Drifter
11 - Feetback
12 - Answer to a Question

13 - Blues Man
14 - Depend On Me
15 - Stormy Monday
16 - Route 66
17 - Keeps On Raining
18 - Good Enough For Me
19 - Jericho
20 - London USA
21 - Steal My Thunder
22 - Stonehenge
23 - Won't Be Your Donkey No More

     This version of the gig includes all of the between-songs banter at the end of each song, that took place between an American serviceman in the audience, and the band (who apparently knew and liked him). Personally, I found it to be a hoot and I still do- but it's possible that not everybody will feel the same way about it; and in all fairness, it does wear a bit thin after a while. For that reason, I've decided to include an alternative edit of the gig below, which effectively separates the banter from the music.

Live at 'Floods', St Ives - Alternative version

Track List

01 - Early One Morning
01a - Chat
02 - Wake Up
02a - Chat
03 - Walking The Dog
03a - Chat
04 - Take Your Time
04a - Chat
05 - Like A Rolling Stone
06 - Time For Another Nightmare
06a - Chat
07 - Chelsea Girl
07a - Chat
08 - The Words That You Use
 08a - Chat
09 - A Patch In The Sun
09a - Chat
10 - The Drifter
10a - Chat
11 - Get Your Feet Back On The Ground
11a - Chat

12 - Answer To A Question
13 - Guess I'm A Blues Man
13a - Chat
14 - Depend On Me
15 - Stormy Monday Blues
15a - Chat
16 - Route 66
16a - Chat
17 - Keeps On Raining
17a - Chat
18 - Good Enough For Me
18a - Chat
19 - Jericho
19a - Chat
20 - London, USA
20a - Chat
21 - Steal My Thunder
21a - Chat
22 - Stonehenge
22a - Last Orders
23 - Won't Be Your Donkey No More


Unknown 'Safety Valve' gig, Bedford (probably) 1982

Track List

01 - The Drifter
02 - Crucifixion City
03 - Time For Another Nightmare
04 - Early One Morning
05 - Stormy Monday
06 - London USA

07 - Unknown Blues
08 - Take Your Time
09 - Walking the Dog
10 - Like a Rolling Stone (New Orleans jazz style),
        Feel the Thrill & Stonehenge

11 - Joan of Arc



'Live and Final' , Bedford 1982

Track List

  01 - Hurry On By
02 - Like A Rolling Stone
03 - Reaching To Be Free
04 - Joan of Arc
05 - Feel The Thrill
06 - Stonehenge
07 - Part of 'Hey, Joe'
08 - Part of a Mose Allison song

09 - Early One Morning
10 - Crucifixion City
11 - Rooted To The Spot
12 - Depend On Me
13 - Take Your Time
14 - Steal My Thunder
15 - Time For Another Nightmare
16 - The Words That You Use

 
     I can't recall when or where I taped this gig - or even if it WAS Safety Valve's last (probably not - or at least I hope not). It features Maurice's wife on vocals, and Bob Peters on organ and piano.


- The Fabulous Bonas Brothers' gigs -

Click to enlarge

You can also find them on Youtube! What could be better than that?

Live at 'The Angel', Elstow Road, February 1986

Track List

00 - Greetings
01 - Stagger Lee
02 - 'Talk among yourselves'
03 - Get Back
04 - 'Gospel time'
05 - Lay Your Burden Down
06 - Jazz in 'A'
07 - Ain't Got No Lover Now
08 - Bottle of Wine
09 - 'Sales pitch'
10 - Hideaway
11 - Knocking on Heaven's Door
12 - Bourgeois Blues
13 - Apache
14 - All Along the Watchtower
15 - Machine-Gun Kelly
16 - 'Another Sales pitch'
17 - Walking the Dog
18 - 'Introducing John Butler'
19 - Sweet Little Lisa
20 - The Last Time
21 - Money
22 - Summertime Blues
23 - 'The end is near'
24 - Solo (Misty & Slow Blues)
25 - It's All Over Now
26 - Len Whale on verbals
27 - God Help the Queen &
         Round and Round

     I'd known Paul for some time by now - mainly as a solo player on the Bedford acoustic and folk scene. The FBB band were an unexpected revelation.


Live at 'The Angel', Elstow Road, March 1986

Track List

  01 - Good Evening
02 - Knocking On Heaven's Door
03 - Walk On
04 - Baby, It Must Be Love
05 - Get Back
06 - Dead End Street
07 - Hideaway
08 - Route 66
09 - Diddy-Wah-Diddy
10 - All Along The Watchtower
11 - Ain't Got No Lover Now
12 - Jazz in 'A'
13 - Machine-Gun Kelly
14 - Round and Round
15 - Sweet Little Lisa
16 - Red House
17 - Walk On (Again!)
18 - Bottle of Wine
19 - Hang On Sloopy
20 - Kansas City (with Len Whale)
21 - Money





Live at 'The Flower Pot', July (?)1986

Track List

  01 - Bottle of Wine
02 - Hideaway
03 - Diddy-Wah-Diddy
04 - Jazz Thing
05 - Ain't Got No Lover Now
06 - All Along the Watchtower
07 - Machine-Gun Kelly
08 - Apache
09 - Summertime Blues
10 - Red House
11 - Not Fade Away
12 - No Plane Disco

13 - Baby, It Must Be Love
14 - Dead End Street
15 - Get Back
16 - Delia
17 - Cocaine
18 - I Saw Her Standing There
19 - 'Introducing the band'
20 - Walk On
21 - God Bless The Child
22 - Jigsaw Puzzle Blues
23 - Walking the Dog



     This particular recording is a copy of Paul's 'official' Fabulous Bonas Brothers live tape of the time, tidied-up only very slightly. The actual recording date is unknown, apart from the fact that it probably predates the September gig recording below. Not all of it was recorded at the Flower Pot - some of it is studio tracks.


Live at 'The Flower Pot', September 1986

Track List

01 - Get Back
01a - 'The Video'
02 - Summertime Blues

03 - Stagger Lee
03a - 'Unplug Me!!'

04 - Hideaway

05 - Jazz in 'A'
06 - You Can't Do That
07 - Knocking On Heaven's Door
07a - 'TV Time'

08 - Walk On

09 - Walking The Dog
10 - Stranger Blues
11 - So Tired
11a - 'The Kinky slot'

12 - Dead End Street

13 - Not Fade Away
13a - 'The Twisting Contest'
14 - I Saw Her Standing There
15 - Bring It On Home To Me
16 - Red House
17 - All Along The Watchtower
18 - Cocaine

18a - 'Onstage, please'

19 - I Wanna Be Your Man

20 - Round and Round
20a - 'Come Dancing'

21 - Money

21a - 'Wot - no naked dancing?'

22 - Finale (I Saw Her Standing There)

23 - 'Freaks'


     This was a great gig. It was taped successfully by a complete fluke; because The Flower Pot was absolutely packed that night (as was usual, apparently, for an FBB performance) and there was no space for anything extra, least of all my bits of kit.

      In the end, I hung my single-point stereo mike (vertically-downnwards by its cable) from a fortunately-placed hook in the ceiling directly over Jim's drum kit, twisted it slightly to get it more or less flat-on to the centre-line of the band, crossed my fingers, pressed 'record' and there we had it. This tape was never off my car stereo from 1986 to 2002, and I NEVER got tired of it.


The Christmas Party gig,at 'The Angel', December 1987

Track List

 

01 - Blitzing (Overture)
02 - Round and Round
03 - 'Mike setup'
04 - Get Back
05 - 'Where's Nick?'
06 - Knocking on Heaven's Door
07 - Orange Blossom Special
08 - Summertime Blues
09 - Cocaine
10 - Hideaway

11 - Machine-Gun Kelly
12 - Theme from 'Rawhide'
13 - I Saw Her Standing There
14 - Walking the Dog
15 - Dead-End Street
16 - All Along the Watchtower
17 - 'Amplifier Break'
18 - Travelling Man
19 - Blitzing (Goodnight)
20 - 'That's Your Lot!'




'In Drag' at 'The Angel', October 1988

Track List

  01 - Good Evening
02 - Paint It Black
03 - Blitzing with the FBBs
04 - Not Fade Away
05 - 'Hold onto ...'
06 - Manic Depression
07 - 'Jimi Hendrix lives ...'
08 - Knocking on Heaven's Door
09 - Hideaway
10 - Don't forget ...'
11 - Walking the Dog
12 - Machine-Gun Kelly
13 - The Beauty Contest

14 - Wipeout
15 - Lucy in the Sky
16 - 'Sore loser'
17 - Travelling Man Blues
18 - You Really Got Me
19 - I Saw Her Standing There
20 - Gimme Some Loving
21 - Twist and Shout
22 - Summertime Blues
23 - 'Get offa my stage'
24 - All Along the Watchtower
25 - Money
26 - Goodnight

 
This gig was a hoot - see if you agree. Belle fixed up some artwork for it - see below.

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge


Live at BCHE Polhill, November 1988

Track List

 

01 - Guitar Boogie Shuffle
02 - Baby, It Must Be Love
03 - Stagger Lee
04 - Love Minus Zero
05 - Jazz in 'A'
06 - 'The Third Man' Theme
07 - Get Back & Hideaway
08 - Something You Got
09 - Cocaine
10 - Captain Pugwash
11 - Diddly-Diddly
12 - Knocking on Heaven's Door
13 - Sleighride
14 - Something Stupid

15 - Travelling Man
16 - Teabreak

17 - Machine-Gun Kelly
18 - Since I Laid My Burden Down
19 - God Bless the Child
20 - Don't Think Twice
21 - All Along the Watchtower
22 - Walking the Dog
23 - Lucy In the Sky
24 - 'Thinking aloud'
25 - Summertime Blues
26 - People Get Ready
27 - 'Thanks'


     This turned out to be what a serious gig and live taping are really all about - which is, an understated performance by a couple of real pros that went almost unnoticed at the time.


The Syncopating Sudbusters

This was a 'sales demo' recording, made by special request in Len's Function Room at The Angel in Elstow Road, during one Sunday afternoon in September 1986. Their idea was to create a number of cassettes, and then distribute them with the intention of getting gigs. My job was to create a perfect master cassette that they could copy.

Track List

01 - When Erastus Plays His Old Kazoo
02 - Keep Your Hands Off Her
03 - Susie Of The Islands
04 - Shimmie-Sha- Wabble
05 - Sentimental Baby
06 - Pasadena

07 - Dixie
08 - I Get The Blues When It Rains
09 - Copenhagen
10 - Louisiana
11 - Dream Man

     The remarkable thing to me about this session, was that it was done in one continuous take. All I had to do was turn on my tape recorder, press 'start' and then sit and watch the Sudbusters as they played their way through their set-list. Proper players, these men were - not a single fumble anywhere. Pleasant geezers, too - I sincerely hope they got the gigs, because they were fun and thoughtful.


3 - The Bradford-Leeds Years, 1989-92

The Jon Strong Band

     I first ran across Jon Strong as a stunning solo player in Leeds in 1989, at The Grove Inn, a famous northern music pub located just south of the centre of town. Not long after that, he formed the Jon Strong Band with Duncan Waller on bass and Roy Whyte on drums. They're still going - you can find them online on Youtube.

     The following tracklist is a composite of several gigs, recorded inside and outside The Grove between 1989 and 1992.

Track List

01 - Wine Talking
02 - In Your Dreams
03 - Tuning
04 - What You Gonna Do About It
05 - Rosie
06 - Same Dream
07 - The Curse Of The Wanderer
08 - Call It An Affection
09 - Violent Child
10 - What A Lot Of Good Loving
11 - Who's Telling Stories

12 - Never Never Land
13 - Sailing Shoes
14 - I Feel Fine
15 - Sunny Afternoon
16 - Help!
17 - Pretty Flamingo
18 - Bad River
19 - Boots & Tie 1
20 - Boots & Tie 2
21 - All Of My Friends Know


The Jon Strong Band - Live in Norfolk 1992

     These two gigs were recorded at The Crown in Diss on July 10th, and the Guiltcross Club in Attleborough on July 11th.

Track List

At The Crown, Diss:

At The Guiltcross Club, Attleborough:

01 - In Your Dreams
02 - Bad River
03 - Bad Blood
04 - Call My Number
05 - Pleasure Cruise
06 - Wine Talking & Killing Fields
07 - Joined at the Hip
08 - Never-Never Land
01 - Follow Me
02 - Same World
03 - Bar-room Gamblers
04 - Curse of the Wanderer
05 - Above the Wall
06 - Diamond Shine
07 - Rain
08 - Boots and Tie


     The whole 'live taping'; thing finally came to an end (for me) with these gigs. I'd been feeling more and more uncomfortable anyway about asking permission to do it as time went on, because I felt more and more like an interloper on the take. This was partly to do with my perception of how times were tightening up economically by then, and partly a growing awareness that the whole live music activity was closer to being a paying hobby than a rational source of income, both for its practicioners and for the pub landlords who effectively financed it.

     More importantly, I'd finally managed to permanently break my unwise addiction to rolled-up cigarettes in early 1993, only to experience a number of quite disturbing and unexpected episodes of stopped breathing and choking that I still feel I survived only by sheer luck. I was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous throat condition towards the end of that year, which (so far) hasn't developed into anything worse - but the lasting legacy of it is that my voice is a wreck these days, and I have a permanently sore and constricted throat as well as being strongly allergic to dust in the air. I'd already worked out by then that smoky atmospheres - of any kind, in pubs and elsewhere - were potentially lethal as far as I was concerned because they could (and still can) induce a choking fit either on the spot or later without warning. As a result of having to keep away from such hazards , my entire social life as I'd known it came to an abrupt end at that time, and never got restarted - all for the sake of not curtailing a stupid and health-damaging grubby habit in good enough time.

      Having these recordings of that time to look back on is a definite plus. I hope that you, whoever you are, have enjoyed what you've heard here as much as I have over the years.