There has been a shortage of posts over the past two weeks as I have been relaxing in Spain. While I was there a friend kindly notified me of the reunion of Family that is taking place at the Shepherd's Bush Empire next February.
While still at what would today be known as High School, a few of us would spend lunchtimes hanging out in the music room when it was too wet outside to play football. People would take in recently purchased albums and I can still recall walking in one day to hear what I believe was 'Me My Friend'. Whatever track it was, it came from the debut album by Family, 'Music in a Doll's House'. Being unable to afford to buy many albums in those days, I managed to borrow a copy and record it onto my Philips reel to reel tape recorder. From then on, I was a devout fan of Family and eagerly awaited every one of their releases. I also made sure that I saw them live on almost every occasion that they happened to play in the north east of England.
Although I never really took to their final album 'It's Only a Movie', I was still devastated when they announced their decision to split in 1973. Now, forty years on they are to reform for what is I believe to be a one-off reunion concert. Featuring a line up of Roger Chapman, drummer Rob Townsend, Jim Cregan and John 'Poli' Palmer, they will also be augmented by Geoff Whitehorn on guitar, Gary Twigg on bass, John Lingwood on drums and percussion, Paul Hirsh on keyboards and Nick Payn on sax and harmonica. They will perform a selection of material from each of their seven albums released between 1968 and 1973.
It is a little sad that the line-up will not feature John 'Charlie' Whitney who was the songwriting partner of Chapman and who played some great guitar throughout the career of the band. In fact, Chapman and Whitney continued their partnership beyond Family, in what became known as The Streetwalkers. Unfortunately something went wrong in their relationship and since Streetwalkers split in 1977 after releasing four studio albums, the pair have never played together.
Despite the passing of the years and the absence of Whitney, I am excited by the prospect of hearing the band play live again. My ticket has been secured so expect to hear more on this subject in February 2013.
Patti Smith and her band took to the stage at Newcastle Academy on Tuesday evening (4 September 2012) and launched straight into 'April Fool' from her current album 'Banga'. It sounded fine to us in the audience but clearly Patti was not happy with the sound and apologised at the end of the number, even suggesting they play it again later (they didn't).
Here we go again, I thought recalling the last time I saw Patti live, at The Sage, Gateshead about four years ago. Then she was clearly not a happy bunny as she constantly complained about the sound and the fact that the audience remained seated for most of the set. My concerns were unfounded however as whatever was niggling Patti disappeared and she and the band gave us a superb performance. Three tracks in and the familiar piano intro to 'Free Money' brought a cheer from the crowd. Soon the band were rocking and Patti was spitting and snarling as she belted out the lyrics. In between songs she talked at length about her experiences in our great city. A photo shoot earlier in the day in which she had to pose with a 1976 copy of NME in which she appeared on the cover. The irony, as Patti explained, was that inside, the paper had slated her album 'Radio Ethiopia'. Another rap was about her visit to the hairdressers. She fingered her long unkempt hair as she told the story, obviously very much tongue in cheek. Patti will take the piss out of anything, including herself.
Obviously the tour is to promote her latest record and selections from that were bound to feature throughout the set. Patti told us that she didn't care that only about ten copies had been sold. Frankly she didn't care what we listened to as long as we were happy. And we sure were happy when she treated us to old favourites like 'Gloria' and 'Power to the People'. At the request of someone at the front of the audience she dedicated 'Pissing in the River' to Janis Joplin while during 'Banga' the band had us all barking and yelping like dogs. Guitarist Lenny Kaye brought a cheer from the Newcastle crowd by making mention of Kevin Keegan and north east punk outfit, Penetration.
Finally the band encored with a rousing rendition of 'Rock'n'Roll Nigger' that almost brought the house down. As she ripped the strings from her Statocaster to hand out to folks in the front row, Patti said that she had had fun playing in Newcastle. I, for one, believed her.
Bronco - Bumpers West
Bronco unfortunately only released two albums during the early 1970's, 'Country Home' from which this track is taken, in 1970 and 'Ace of Sunlight' the following year.
They were fronted by vocalist Jess Roden who early in his professional career joined white soul outfit The Alan Bown Set. Moving to a more psychedelic pop format, the band changed their name to The Alan Bown! and with Roden released only one album, the imaginatively titled 'Outward Bown'.
Despite recording a second album with the band, Roden decided to leave and his vocals were re-recorded by his replacement, Robert Palmer. Incidentally the original version of the album with vocals by Jess Roden was released in the US and today it is pretty hard to come by.
Roden then spent a couple of years with Bronco before joining forces with two members of The Doors, releasing an album under the name The Butts Band. He then formed his own outfit but after a few highly regarded albums he left the music scene altogether and turned his attention to graphic design. His re-emergence in the mid 1990's as Jess Roden & The Humans was sadly short lived and he now appears to have retired from the music business. In my opinion, it is a sad loss as he possesses one of the finest and most soulful voices I have ever heard. Listen to the track and let me know what you think.
To the best of my knowledge both Bronco albums have been deleted but I managed to obtain an import copy of both albums on one CD.
There will be more about Jess Roden in a future blog and for other fans of his music out there, some very interesting news!!
Meanwhile, enjoy this hidden gem.
