Calling all the local heroes
Jul 23 2008 By Pete Chambers
TOWARDS the end of next year, the stunning new Herbert will play host to a music exhibition that goes all the way back to the birth of rock 'n' roll.
Provisionally titled More Than Two Tones, it will tell the tale of music in Coventry and Warwickshire. It is planned to include many angles of this great scene of ours.
The team behind the project is working on ideas and concepts, all aimed to bring the whole thing to life. It promises to be spectacular, but partially reliant on what exhibits we can obtain.
This is where you, my Backbeat friends come in; I'm asking people to be part of this by contributing to the exhibition. Be you an amateur or professional musician, a player or a fan, in a band now or an artist in the past six decades, we are looking for your help.
So what are we looking for? Well, anything with a musical connection. Be it with a national, international or local connection.
* RECORDS: What would music have been without all that lovely black flat vinyl? Yes long before we had the curse of the innocuous MP3, music had a bit of a fun factor about it, even in its packaging. I for one, recall the ride home with that new LP. Delicately removing the inner sleeve from the cover, and the joy of discovering that a lyric sheet was included.
So now is the time to drag out that almost-forgotten record box, and find that special album. We are not looking for your common garden LP, EP or single. We want something that has a tale behind it. Maybe it was your band on the disc, or as a fan you met the record's artists and got it signed.
* POSTERS: Probably the most highly-priced music collectible these days. I've seen Beatles posters outselling a complete set of the Fab Four's signatures. The very essence of a poster was to promote that one-off event, then discard it. The clever ones did no such thing, and hey presto, a collectible is born.
I have a few local posters in my collection, Covaid, Blitz Kreig Zone 2020 and Attrition. You may have one from a Coventry Theatre show, or Tiffany's, or even more exciting from the Orchid Ballroom. Remember, it doesn't have to be advertising a local artist; the exhibition will focus on any music that has a connection with the area. Including acts that played the city.
* CLOTHING: This is always an exciting one, you can roughly deduce what records and posters are likely to be available. Not so with clothing. Already we have pledges of some very interesting items. Such as Paul King's famous red suit, an amazing military-style coat from Edgar Broughton, and Tom Long has offered us the chance of borrowing his blue Gino of Will Brookes tailored stage jacket he wore when he was a member of the hit Rugby band Pinkerton's Assorted Colours.
You may have an original teddy boy drape coat, or have kept hold of your stage costumes, or even some 70s platform shoes that you wore to a gig. We are looking for many types of interesting clothing - male or female.
AWARDS: An interesting one; I'm talking about gold discs and the like.
I know that we already have people such as Coventry's Mark Rattray who is happy to loan his precious Opportunity Knocks Trophy. Cov legend Hazel O'Connor has pledged the loan of gold discs and her Best Soundtrack BAFTA she got for the Breaking Glass movie. Producer Roger Lomas is on the committee, so we may even get to exhibit the Grammy award he won for his production of the Lee Perry album Jamaican ET.
* EPHEMERAL ITEMS: Literally means lasting just one day. Like posters, this section will include throwaway items that never were thrown away, such as flyers, hand-bills, postcards, business cards and ticket stubs.
* PHOTOGRAPHS: The key to any exhibition. I'm happy to have a large picture collection of local music as part of my job as a local music historian. Though many of those images have already been seen, and I'm excited by what other photographs exist out there. So now's the time to get the photo box out, and have a good look at what you may have.
* INSTRUMENTS: Grand pianos and church organs don't really fit this bill. Guitars certainly do though, and maybe an odd drum kit (or a bass drum at least). Some may have concerns at lending such precious irreplaceable items. The Herbert has assured us that, as always, all items will be stored securely and will be well looked after in gallery conditions.
* GO ON SURPRISE US: Above is a broad outline of what we are likely to see, what we really want is the public to surprise us. To offer something we had never thought of.
I have every faith in the great Coventry public and I know we are going to get at least a few items in this category.
So what happens next? OK, what we want right now is a rough description of the item (or even better a photo), please don't send anything in at this stage. Letters can be addressed to me: Pete Chambers, at the Coventry Telegraph, Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1FP, or via my e-mail at tencton@hotmail.com
Electrospective Manchester District Music Archive has teamed up with electrofunkroots to bring a marathon celebration of Manchester's 1980s Electro-Funk and B-Boy scene to Islington Mill on Saturday 30 August 2008 from 4pm to 3am.
The event, led by pioneering DJ and producer Greg Wilson, will explore the impact of this seminal underground movement through films, talks and music.
Greg will be hosting Q&As with key figures from the era, including Hewan Clarke, Colin Curtis, Chad Jackson and Mike Shaft, followed by the first ever public screening of Tim 'Bones' Forde's life-affirming film, 'The Birth of the British B-Boy', a 40-minute documentary about Manchester's legendary breakdance troupe Broken Glass Street Crew.
The event will climax with a club night from 10pm-3am, featuring some of the scene's most important DJs and dancers.
Daytime: Free admission from 4pm
Club night: Ticket only after 10pm
Tickets are on sale now from:
www.quaytickets.com (0870 428 0785), Vinyl Exchange, Piccadilly Records and Fat City.
Gimme a V! Gimme an O! Gimme an X! What's that spell? VOX!
What better way to tell the world how much you love Vox than to announce it on Facebook? That's right: Vox now has an official Facebook page! Become a fan of Vox.com on Facebook and let your friends know what you really care about: staying connected with friends and family through blog posts, photos, videos and comments.
Once you're a fan, you can also add photos and videos to the page, write on the wall, and connect with other Voxers in ways you may not have previously. Plus, it's a great opportunity to let people know about your Vox blog, or start discussion topics. To become a fan, just visit the official Vox.com Facebook page and click the "Become a Fan" button in the upper right hand corner.
Once you've joined, why not post a response to the current discussion topic? Just post a link (and a brief description, if you'd like) to what you consider one of your all-time best Vox posts.
What are you waiting for? Become a Vox.com fan on Facebook today!
My apologies for taking so long to do the next LTP...I have been carried away writing new songs recently, we have been busily trying to get more material ready for upcoming gigs. We have about 6 or seven new songs we're working on at the minute and its got a bit hectic!! My original plan was to do LTP weekly and I shall endeavor to keep to it from now on...
If you could be a fly on the wall at any point in time anywhere in the world what would you choose to spy on?
Look forward to your answers on this one - love Elly x
Helloo,
Yep, I dissappeared for a while. I'm in the process of moving both office and home at the moment, I think I'm a glutton for punishment.
Someone else is organising storage space around the office so I've had to be very creative with stuff under my desk. I never liked putting my feet under the desk anyway.
High Street Kensington seems like a nice enough place, lots of shops and the like. Plenty of eateries which is all I care about.
My new work phone scares me as it resembles a car dashboard with satnav. Luckily I don't use the landline very often, only to accept calls and I think I've worked that out. Hopefully.
The new house I've moved to is a mouse-infested dive, poorly mainted and a bit smelly but I love it as it's in the centre of Camden and I can know get anyway in a short amount of time. I'm in the process of making it proper nice, painting, disinfecting etc etc.
Music-wise there's been so much going on I can't really keep track of what I've done. Caught up with The Chapman Family last week. They'd just finished recording a Radio1 session at Maida Vale. Momentum is really building for them now and I need to decide on what my stance is as regards what they're doing. I think it's fantastic and love what I see live, but I wonder if it's too left of centre for a major?
It's an annoying fact but worth considering, if I love a band for whatever reason I have to think of they're capacity to generate revenue. 40k units for a major wouldn't be considered a hit but if a smaller label shifted that amount it would be considered a big success by them.
Currently I like what they've got recorded as I know how it turns out live, so I have a pre conception when listening to their music. However, someone who knows nothing about the band, having a listen may not win them over as it could be a bit inaccessable. Saying that, I've heard some new mixes of existing material which I hope will edge them further towards the mainstream.
I came accross Cats and Cats and Cats last week through the myspace page (soon to be developed and intergrated into the existing platform). I always like listening to something a bit different in the way of 'band-based' music. Ie, not something that sounds like a low-calorie Libertines or 8bit Killers. The first act that springs to mind on listening to is 70's prog-rockers The Nice, except they don't have an organ, or Keith Emmerson. But apart from that, they're very similar...?....:-s
I think it's Ben George's vocal that feeds that idea into my head. I like the fact they can create a large, grandiose sound without cliche reverb and bizarre extended intro's. A very English-upbeat Sigur Ros or Arcade Fire perhaps? Hypnotic layers of melody and the relentless stopstart drums from Doug Jenkins make for quite emmersive and engaging tracks. I'm really interested to see what they're like live. Once I get a night going again maybe I can get a booking out of them.
Other than that all is pretty good in the world over here. Let me know what's happening with you.
Hope all is well with you.
Today I bought a 2008-2009 daily planner. Because, you know, being unemployed takes a lot of planning.
Hi everyone,
2 R&B tracks, both
Delia Derbyshire famously arranged Ron Grainer's Dr Who theme electronically and
produced the first form of modern
dance music more than two decades before it became a popular cultural phenomenon.
In Godiva Rocks, Coventry music journalist, Pete Chambers wrote -
"Delia Derbyshire was one, if not the most important pioneers of electronic music..Delia was born in Coventry in 1937. She attended Coventry Grammar school and went on to achieve a degree at Cambridge in Mathematics and Music. A perfect combination for her chosen career. Originally rejected by Decca records in 1959 because they didn't employ women in their studios, she went on to join the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. Her most famous work was arranging a Ron Grainer composition - the Theme from Dr Who. Such was her ability though, Graiger was astounded to hear what she had done with his composition, asking her 'Did I really write this?' It is of course one of the most famous theme songs in history.
Throughout her career she was to mix with the creative minds of the 60's (Brian Jones, Paul McCartney, George Martin and the great Karl Heinze Stockhausen) The 70's (Pink Floyd, John and Yoko, Jimi Hendrix). Right up to the new breed of electro artists with her influences on such forward thinking artists as Sonic Boom and the Chemical Brothers. her two most definative releases are : An Electric Storm (1969) under the name White Noise (released on Island Records, the world's first all electronic group) and BBC Radiophonic Music 1971. Delia sadly passed away in Northampton 2001 aged 64. Her legacy lives."
More recently Delia, who struggled for recognition of her talent, has at last been been celebrated in the media with the discovery of some of her lost works. On July 18th 2008 the Guardian ran this article Here claiming -
"A long-lost collection of tapes representing the legacy of the musical genius who arranged the Doctor Who theme has been rescued from irreversible decay by a team of academic musicologists."
"Her experimental work fell out of fashion following the advent of the synthesizer but, in recent years, she has enjoyed a revival of interest especially among bands like The Chemical Brothers and Portishead to whom she is a legendary figure."
The Guardian tells us that a collection of 267 tapes, correspondence and scores were found.
"The material had languished unheard for 30 years until it was passed to Manchester University’s School of Art, Histories and Culture to catalogue and preserve. The material, in poor condition, had to be played on a 1960s Studer A80 tape machine lent by the BBC’s Manchester studios before it could be digitised."
"Ms Derbyshire was also a woman of her times, clad in Biba or Mary Quant, her hair in a Vidal Sassoon bob, a fixture at the parties of Swinging London where she was known for her chaotic but exuberant love life. She worked with Brian Jones, the late member of the Rolling Stones, Yoko Ono and Jimi Hendrix and met Paul McCartney to discuss an opportunity to work on Yesterday"
"She left the BBC a disillusioned woman. She and struggled with drink and a series of unsuitable jobs, including radio
operator. At one time she married an out-of-work miner but eventually settled in the Midlands where she lived in relative obscurity and would rail, between drinks, against her lack of critical recognition."
"The composer, who always kept a book of logarithms in her back pocket, used a combination of musique concrete techniques including the tape manipulation and electronic gadgetry to create her sounds. Her favourite instrument was a green lampshade which she would strike and then manipulate the resulting sound to achieve the desired effect."
The BBC News site have uploaded examples of Delia's earlier work including a piece from the late 60's that is a proto dance music track.
BBC achive of rare Delia Derbyshire sound bites
"A hidden hoard of recordings made by the electronic music pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme has been revealed
- including a dance track 20 years ahead of its time.
Delia Derbyshire was working in the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop in 1963 when she was given the score for a theme tune to a new science fiction series.
She turned those dots on a page into the swirling, shimmering Doctor Who title music - although it is the score's author, Ron Grainer, who is credited as the composer
Most unexpected of all, however, is a piece of music that sounds like a contemporary dance track which was recorded, it is believed, in the late sixties." Here is a direct link to the dance track - Delia's Dance Track from the late 60's
From this biography site Delia Derbyshire Bio we read - "she created by
recording the individual notes onto bits of tape and then assembling the song by hand. On hearing the finished piece, Grainer asked: "Did I really write this?" "Most of it," Delia replied. Yet despite Grainer's
In 1966 she formed the group Unit Delta Plus with Brian Hodgson and Peter Zinovieff. Though the group existed only for a year, they staged some of the earliest concerts consisting entirely of electronic and tape music. Famously, the group performed at the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave in 1967 at the Chalk Farm roadhouse in London, a four-day electronic music event which featured Paul McCartney's sound collage Carnival of Light (now lost in a vault somewhere).
In 1968 David Vorhaus enlisted Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson (also at the Radiophonic Workshop) for his psychedelic electronic music project White Noise, releasing the seminal album An Electric Storm in 1969."
From her Obituary in the Guardian -
"Among her outstanding television work, one of her favourites was composed for a documentary for The World About
Us on the Tuareg people of the Sahara desert. It still haunts me. She used her own voice for the sound of the hooves, cut up into an obbligato rhythm, and she added a thin, high electronic sound using virtually all the filters and oscillators in the workshop.
"My most beautiful sound at the time was a tatty green BBC lampshade," she recalled. "It was the wrong colour, but it had a beautiful ringing sound to it. I hit the lampshade, recorded that, faded it up into the ringing part without the percussive start.
"I analysed the sound into all of its partials and frequencies, and took the 12 strongest, and reconstructed the sound on the workshop's famous 12 oscillators to give a whooshing sound. So the camels rode off into the sunset with my voice in their hooves and a green lampshade on their backs."
Link to her album - Electrosonic
by Delia, Brian Hodgson, Don Harper - Glo-Spot
And a review
Review
ALBUM OF THE WEEK- Delia Derbyshire/ Brian Hodgson/ Don Harper- 'Electrosonic' LP
Something a bit special for those of you that care about the evolution of music. The force that is electricity revolutionised the ways that sound could be produced and there were many pioneers. Among these were the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop who were instrumental in creating sounds that never existed. Sounds from other worlds, planets, time and space. Among the equipment used to produce these strange futuristic sounds were modular synthesisers. Huge things with cables and twiddly knobs everywhere. Basically if you dig this kind of early synth stuff then 'Electrosonic' is an essential piece of musical history that deserves a place in your collection. The music is composed by some relatively unknown colleagues of Delia Derbyshire (The White Noise, BBCRO) nameley Harper/ Russe/ St. George which we're guessing are pseudonyms for Delia Derbyshire/ Brian Hodgson/ Don Harper. This was previously only issued by KPM in 1972 as on obscure library record. If you enjoyed the 'Tomorrow People' record on Trunk or like Pauline Oliveros' early work then I suspect you'll be wanting this gorgeous chunk of extremely limited green vinyl released on Scottish label Glo-Spot. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the sounds on here. Light years ahead of their time. Ace.- Ant x
Andrew Wagner's tribute -
Andrew Wagner's tribute and pop art painting
http://www.adrianwagner.com/awgalleryPopArtGallery.html
Delia was a guide and an inspriation to me in all the many years I knew her and I miss her more than I can possibly express. I met her at the age of 18 years and she took me in hand and pointed me at many directions in Electronic Music. She was a true genius and her love and passion infected everyone who knew her. This is a very special painting of her and, I hope, reflects her many dimensions in the prime of her creativity. (She his pop art portrait of her on his site).
Delia Derbyshire in the Scotsman
"Drew Mulholland, a Glasgow-based composer and musician who got to know Derbyshire in the last five years of her life. "She was a hero, a pioneer," he says. "She was a completely unique, one-off composer. Her stuff sounds ahead of its time even now, never mind in 1965. When you realise she was just beavering away at the BBC in Maida Vale with the most basic equipment, it is amazing."
Susan Mansfield
"WHEN THE DR WHO THEME MUSIC beamed out into the living rooms of Britain for the first time, in 1963, it began a
new era in sound. The unearthly whines, throbs and howls seemed to come from the future. In a way, they did. The great British public was getting its first taste of electronic music.
While the theme went on to become one of the most recognised in TV history, Delia Derbyshire, who created the eerie futuristic soundtrack, is virtually unknown. Yet she was one of the pioneers of electronic music in Britain. Among Derbyshire many credits is the music for a film by Yoko Ono.
Now the fascinating, often turbulent, life and tragic death of Derbyshire will be brought to a wider audience for the first time in Standing Wave: Delia Derbyshire in the 1960s, a theatre production being developed at the Tron in Glasgow by Reeling & Writhing Theatre Company, with a script by Nicola McCartney. Each performance will be followed by a programme of new electronic music composed in Derbyshire memory by Scottish contemporary composers.
Derbyshire was born into a working-class Catholic family in Coventry in 1937. She would later say that growing up to the sounds of air-raid sirens and the clatter of clogs on cobbles first awakened her lifelong fascination with sound. She studied piano to performance level and graduated in mathematics and music from Girton College, Cambridge.
She excelled, demonstrating an instinctive grasp of sound which enabled her to find extracts of orchestral music simply by studying the grooves in an LP. As soon as she could, she sought an attachment at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, created in 1958 to supply music and sound made with the day "new technology". Although the secondment was for a maximum of three months, Derbyshire stayed for ten years.
..........................
Link to the Radiophonic Workshop with Vid
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