It's Raining Watneys Party Sevens!

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NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED!
This was my fourth and last Reading festival. I travelled down from Devizes by train with friend John Morris.

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/reading-79.html

The line-up was mixed and this was a disappointing festival because both Thin Lizzy and The Ramones were down to headline but both bands pulled out. I was particularly disappointed to miss the Ramones – I had seen them at the Bristol Locarno (Sept. 2nd 1978) and they were at their usual frenzied best, rip-roaring through their set at breakneck speed – there’s three clichés at once for you!

And that's a good excuse for this:

The line-up was mixed and for me, nothing like as interesting as the previous year. The rockers were back with a vengeance! It spelt the end of an affair with Reading. It was like it finally dawned on me that, actually, this may have been a rite of passage but listening to crap bands, drinking crap beer, camping in a crap tent and getting rained on by not only rain but also by cans of beer wasn’t exactly a pleasant way of spending a weekend!
Here's a quote from ukrockfestivals.com:
'Throughout the festival I watched and lived in fear of this rain of empty (or half empty) beer cans and bottles (some with recycled contents). Party cans were hurled through the air and you knew when they landed, that was probably the end of someone’s festival. I braced myself when the frenzied lobbing erupted, expecting a cranium contact with a large Watney’s Seven can. Then, suddenly it would stop. Then start again. I saw one person wearing a crash helmet, in order to enjoy the music.'
And then there's the toilets:
'Going to the toilet in the portable loos was like a journey into hell. After queuing for ages I managed to get a cubicle. I now know what Joseph Conrad meant when he wrote: "The horror, the horror". An entity that could well have been the chum of the "Alien" existed in there, a pileup enough to make a Dyno-rod storm trooper quail. Motorhead were onstage, adding their soundtrack to this nightmare vision.'

Playing early on the Friday wereThe Cure playing early stuff like ‘Killing an Arab’ (a reference from Albert Camus' 'The Stranger') and the wonderful pop of Boys Don't Cry:




 

Also on the Friday were two ok 'new wave' bands Punishment of Luxury (Newcastle-based theatrical-punk band) and Doll by Doll. The latter was fronted by Scottish songwriter and folk legend Jackie Leven, who died in 2011:



Early Punishment of Luxury single:



Next up of note was the manic epileptic splendidness of Wilko Johnson, ex of Dr. Feelgood.
Here's a clip with that band:


:
Also on that day were Motorhead, The Tourists (with Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) and The Police. I was never any great Motorhead fan and remember leaving their set to go and find a pub. We found one down the road and walked in to the public bar. It was like a war-zone and there was smashed glass everywhere. We had a quick pint and went back to the festival! The Tourists, who had a hard time following crowd favourites Motorhead, and The Police, who went down a storm and aired Walking On The Moon for the first time in public, were ok and enjoying their five minutes of credibility. 
On to the Saturday...And the only band I can say I remotely liked was Inner Circle. Much to my relief after the appalling welcomes meted out to Big Youth and The Mighty Diamonds three years earlier, they went down well:



Thin Lizzy were replaced by German band The Scorpions, which was a travesty, and other acts included Gillan, Steve Hackett of Genesis, and Cheap Trick. Yawn. I Want You To Want Me? No chance!
Sunday was not quite as poor. The Ramones were replaced by Nils Lofgren. Hardly an appropriate substitute, but I liked him and he put on a good show, including acrobatics. Some good guitar solos!



Peter Gabriel and The Members were the only other two acts I enjoyed. The Members, from Camberley and still going, were subject to more anti-punk antipathy but performed with customary vigour:



And here's their stab at reggae with 'Offshore Banking Business' featuring trombonist Rico from The Specials:



Peter Gabriel's Reading songs included 'Biko' and 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' - both great songs and both with Phil Collins on drums. The 'Lamb...' was also a great Genesis double concept album from 1974.
The above two songs are on YouTube from this festival but the quality is poor so try these:





And just for good measure here's the early Genesis album 'Foxtrot' remastered in its entirety. forgot how good early Genesis were with Peter Gabriel and how different this album was!:



And that was that!

Davy Jones's Locker

ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY.
NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED!
This post is a timely addition to a series on bubblegum cards. I’ve started ones on World War II and Batman, so here’s another on The Monkees. Timely as Davy Jones sadly passed away on the 29^th February (aged sixty-six). The Monkees were an early manufactured pop band from the sixties who had several massive hits and who caught the zeitgeist of the times. They also had a hugely popular, wacky, weekly TV show, called imaginatively enough, The Monkees. This was  produced by NBC and aired between 1966 and 1968 (two seasons – 58 episodes). This show used (at the time) innovative film techniques:

‘Rafelson and Schneider (the producers) wanted the style of the series to reflect avant garde film techniques—such as improvisation, quick cuts, jump cuts, breaking the fourth wall, and free-flowing, loose narratives—then being pioneered by European film directors. Each episode would contain at least one musical "romp" which might have nothing to do with the storyline. In retrospect, these vignettes now look very much like music videos: short, self-contained films of songs in ways that echoed Beatles' recent ventures into promotional films for their singles. They also believed strongly in the program's ability to appeal to young people, intentionally framing the kids as heroes and the adults as heavies.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkees_%28TV_series%29)

The four actors were taught improvisational comedy and given characters loosely based on themselves: Mickey Dolenz  (the wacky one); Mike Nesmith (smart and serious); Peter Tork (naïve) and Davy Jones (sensible English pretty-boy).

In the TV show, a situation comedy, The Monkees  were depicted as a struggling band who shared a house in Malibu, California. They had a sign saying ‘Money Is The Root Of All Evil’ and a ‘Monkeemobile’ – a converted Pontiac GTO.

In praise of the show, Time magazine contributor James Poniewozik said:

‘Even if the show never meant to be more than entertainment and a hit-single generator, we shouldn’t sell The Monkees short. It was far better TV than it had to be; during an era of formulaic domestic sitcoms and wacky comedies, it was a stylistically ambitious show, with a distinctive visual style, absurdist sense of humor and unusual story structure. Whatever Jones and The Monkees were meant to be, they became creative artists in their own right, and Jones’ chipper Brit-pop presence was a big reason they were able to produce work that was commercial, wholesome and yet impressively weird.’

Below is a link to an interesting article re. a Davy Jones versus Justin Bieber argument!

http://entertainment.stv.tv/opinion/299484-davy-jones-was-the-justin-bieber-of-his-day-so-rather-than-do-davy-down-lets-give-bieber-his-due/

  

Whatever the arguments are re. 'manufactured' pop and and its credibility, there is no doubt that The Monkees, 'put together' as they were, produced some classsic pop - and they were musicians in their own right.

Pleasant Valley Sunday (in status symbol land) -  written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King:

And Last Train To Clarksville:

The Monkees were also in a film called 'Head', described as a 'psychedelic comedy-adventure'  written and produced by Bob Rafelson and none other than Jack Nicholson.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_%28film%29

The film is either a  'landmark of surreal, innovative filmmaking or simply a fascinating mess.' You choose! Here's a trippy  opening clip. Ah the sixties!:



The band also famously invited Jimi Hendrix to be their opening act for a 1967 tour - a match not made in heaven! 'Jimi Hendrix managed to get through a total of only seven dates with the Monkees, culminating in his final show on July 17, 1967, which may or may not have ended with Hendrix saluting the crowd with his middle finger.'
Read the full story here:
 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jimi-hendrix-drops-out-as-opening-act-for-the-monkees

Davy Jones was born in Manchester and famously appeared in Coronation Street aged eleven, playing Ena Sharples’ grandson. He also played The Artful Dodger in London and on Broadway and  trained as a jockey at Newmarket. He was in The Monkees from 1965-71.

Back to the important business of bubblegum cards!:

And finally - if you turn the cards over you find a jigsaw puzzle - re-created here for the first time in over forty years!!

 

I have another full set of Monkees cards in black & white - but that's another day!