cktimes.ca Archives for Classic Vinyl
Classic Vinyl
Some classic vinyl, but also a little Strange Brew!
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
This is an original 1960\'s set list from our group Strange Brew.....check out those tunes.
Strange Brew – circa 1968
First, the turntable. Was digging through some old records a couple of weeks back and stumbled on a few of my very own records that still survive from the early days. And in among them was an album called simply, "Beck, Bogert and Appice". As soon as I spotted it, I remembered the song on it that had blown me away years back – Superstition, the Stevie Wonder tune, but done with all the panache of a truly intense 1970's power trio. And these guys were good.
I threw the album on the turntable and let those awesome Pioneer 6-way speakers do their thing. Wow! As good as I remembered it – crisp, clean and what a fabulous sound. Beck, of course, is the infamous Jeff Beck – not that modern musical wannabe who's faded into obscurity – and the guy who I fondly remember for introducing me to Rod Stewart and Nicky Hopkins on the album Truth. Jeff Beck is one of the guitar gods – started with the Yardbirds and did okay for himself.
Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice should need no introduction, but there's probably a whole generation of folks out there who have no idea who there are. Well, for us really, old guys, we think about Vanilla Fudge, who should be labelled one of the extremely early progressive rock bands in existence. And if you've never listened to Vanilla Fudge, do yourself a favour and get into some. But you might need some real, actual vinyl to do it – not sure if any of the Fudge stuff is out on CD or not. Better on Vinyl anyway.
Had some fun spinning the old vinyl – as I always do, but then got a curious e-mail last week. Message from one Allan Day, who was the drummer in the very first serious rock 'n' roll band I ever played in back at Hanover High. A real thrill to hear from Al, who I remember as being extremely good with the sticks. Al now living in Goderich, a scant two hours from Wallaceburg, and he's playing more guitar than drums these days he tells me.
Al e-mailed me a real curiosity – a set list from about 1968, I think, dating it from the songs off the Beatles' White Album, which we were the first in the area to do – remember Paul Mercey driving to Toronto to get an advanced copy of it at Sam's so we could learn some tunes off it. Anyway, I'm hoping to share that set list with you if I can get it to work. Check it out! Interesting that I'm still playing a few of the songs even today in North of Forty.
Al and I have been exchanging e-mails over the last week or so and some interesting stuff. I'm really glad he's still playing and can't wait to see his world class collection of Rolling Stones memoribilia – he's been sending me photos of his guitars (Wow!) and his e-mail "handle" is "bluesslider", so how can I go wrong being back in touch.
In fact, there's actually some talk about a Strange Brew reunion – and how weird would that be? Back together with Al, Paul Mercey and John Sweeney – even for a few songs – it would be such a thrill. We'll see what we can do to make it happen.
So I was thrust back into the era of classic vinyl again this past week and it was most enjoyable. Take care and I'll try to get this rolling again – thanks for your patience.
Spin a little vinyl – it'll do your heart good.
John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:
- Melancholy Man and Minister's Son
- Reality Check
- Grim Faerie Tale
- Once Upon a Visit
- Toward the End, Oyster Boy
- And It Was Christmas
- From Genesis to Revelations (Chapter 1) - the novel. the rest of the novel follows month by month
He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm
He welcomes comments on his work.
