Template:Dash

2021-03-16T06:13:42Z

IvanhoeIvanhoe: Created page with "Category:Subjects"

[[Category:Subjects]]

Anarchy 51/Blues in the Archway Road

2021-03-16T06:13:03Z

IvanhoeIvanhoe:

{{header
| title = [[../|ANARCHY 51 (Vol 5 No 5) MAY 1965]]<br>Blues in the Archway Road
| author = Ben Covington
| section =
| previous = [[../|Contents of No. 51]]
| next = [[../What have they done to the folk?|What have they done to the folk?]]
| notes =
}}

<div style="max-width:500px; margin:auto;">{{p|129}}

<font size="5">'''Blues in the<br>Archway Road'''</font>

<font size="4">'''[[Author:Ben Covington|BEN COVINGTON]]'''</font>

<div style="text-align:justify;">{{sc|Looking at the posters that litter the side streets}} of central and suburban {{w|London}}, one might be forgiven for assuming that the {{w|Blues}} was created by a post{{h}}{{w|Aldermaston|Aldermaston_Marches|Aldermaston Marches}} generation of art students rather than by the afflicted {{w|negro|African_Americans|African Americas}} population of the {{w|American|United_States|United States}} {{w|Deep South|Deep_South|Deep South}}. The posters advertise {{sc|authentic {{w|Rhythm ’n’ blues|Rhythm_and_blues|Rhythm and blues}}}} by groups which play a variety of music{{dash}}some {{w|Pop|Pop_music|Pop music}}{{h}}oriented, some {{w|Folk|Folk_music|Folk music}}{{h}}oriented, some {{w|Jazz}}{{h}}oriented but largely derived from the music of the more sensational {{w|coloured|Person_of_color|Person of color}} entertainers of the {{w|USA|United_States|United States}}, like {{w|Chuck Berry|Chuck_Berry|Chuck Berry}}, {{w|Bo Diddley|Bo_Diddley|Bo Diddley}}, {{w|James Brown|James_Brown|James Brown}} and {{w|T-Bone Walker|T-Bone_Walker|T-Bone Walker}}. Of the 2,000 or more groups working the multitude of large and small {{w|clubs|Nightclub|Nightclub}}, no more than two dozen are in any way original, even in pop{{h}}music terms, and even these are rootless shadows of the singers on whose material they draw. The difference between the blues of modern America and the {{qq|blues}} of modern {{w|Britain|United_Kingdom|United Kingdom}} is the difference between music which is an authentic racial expression and music which is an expression of no more than a liking for the authentic form.

{{tab}}The origins of {{w|British {{qq|blues}}|British_blues|British blues}} are far from clear. Their seminal genius may have been {{w|Muddy Waters|Muddy_Waters}} who toured Britain in 1958 but it was not until March, 1962, when the harmonica player {{w|Cyril Davies|Cyril_Davies}} and the guitarist {{w|Alexis Korner|Alexis_Korner}} opened the first of the clubs{{dash|next door to the {{w|ABC Teashop|Aerated_Bread_Company|Aerated Bread Company}} off {{w|Ealing Broadway|Ealing|Ealing}}}}that the {{qq|boom}} really had its beginnings. Korner and Davies played mainly {{popup|pre-war|The United States formally joined World War II in December 1941.}} blues of the negro night clubs of urban America. Once they had their own stage the {{qq|boom}} gathered in {{w|Central London|Central_London|Central London}}, attracting a young audience in reaction against a particularly enfeebled pop music{{dash}}this was the hey{{h}}day of {{w|Cliff Richard|Cliff_Richard}}. The Band{{dash|known as {{w|Alexis Korner{{s}} Blues Incorporated|Alex_Korner's_Blues_Incorporated}}}}had the now familiar line{{h}}up of harmonica, guitars and drums and if it was unexiting compared with its {{w|Chicago|Chicago_blues|Chicago blues}} parent it had, at least, a rhythmic earthiness and an emotional directness which had been completely absent from pop music since the demise of {{w|rock ’n’ roll|Rock_and_roll|Rock and roll}} in the late ’50s.

{{tab}}By the end of 1962 the {{w|Beatles|The_Beatles|The Beatles}} had had their first small hit, ''{{w|Love Me Do|Love_Me_Do}}'', featuring the magical combination of harmonica, guitars and drums, and the {{w|Rolling Stones|The_Rolling_Stones|The Rolling Stones}} were making their early public appearances at Ealing and elsewhere. In January, 1963 the Stones appeared for the first time at the ''{{w|Marquee|Marquee_Club|Marquee Club}}''. The {{w|bill|Billing_(performing_arts)|Billing}} was topped by {{p|130}}{{l|Brian Knight|https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/06/guardianobituaries|British guitarist, 1939–2001
link: obituary in The Guardian}}{{s}} Blues{{h}}by{{h}}six and the Stones earned £2 each as the fill{{h}}in group. By March the Stones had moved on{{dash|to the fringe of pop success}}and their place was taken by another group from Ealing, the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers, later to be re{{h}}named {{w|Manfred Mann|Manfred_Mann}}. By the time the Stones had their first small hit, ''{{w|Come On|Come_On_(Chuck_Berry_song)}}'', in the summer of 1963 (only enough to earn them 83rd position in the 1963 ''{{w|New Musical Express|NME|NME}}'' {{w|Points Table|Record_chart|Record chart}}, equal with {{w|Sammy Davis|Sammy_Davis_Jr.|Sammy Davis Jr.}}, {{w|Frank Sinatra|Frank_Sinatra}}, {{w|Ken Dodd|Ken_Dodd}} and Chuck Berry) r {{a}}n{{a}} b was freely tipped as the next pop craze.

{{tab}}It seems to have happened for much the same reason as rock ’n’ roll ten years earlier: a teenage reaction to the sickly gutlessness of orthodox pop. Its success has led to extraordinary results. The Cliff Richard pop image of tidy, boy{{h}}next{{h}}door {{w|Christianity|Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom#Christianity|Religion in the United Kingdom: Christianity}}, has been replaced by a stylised image of rough{{h}}living{{dash}}beards, long hair, defiant nonchalance and an incoherent, unarticulated curse against conformity. The new image may be as unreal as the old but it is a great deal more tolerable. It is a cliché to observe that pop music is a major field for the exploitation and manipulation of young people, generating respect for false values and poor standards, exploiting dissatisfaction to turn young people in on themselves rather than out on society, serving the function ascribed by {{w|Marx|Karl_Marx|Karl Marx}} to religion, that of an {{qq|opiate of the people}}. It would be unrealistic to claim that r ’n’ b has altered this deeply engrained pop{{h}}cultural pattern but it may have dented it. Since the success of the Beatles{{dash|recorded not because they might be made into stars but because they ''already were'' local stars}}teenagers have shown a gradually increasing independence of the will of record companies. {{w|Merseybeat|Beat_music|Beat music}} and r ’n’ b{{dash|or at any rate the {{w|local variant|British_rhythm_and_blues|British rhythm and blues}} on the American theme}}were created by teenagers for themselves and although the companies have exploited this music, they have had their urual role, that of ''creating'' stars, stolen from them by teenagers. This has been a tendency rather than a decisive trend but it may represent the first steps of teenagers to free themselves of the parasites who live off them and their enthusiasms. It is not just that the quality of the music is better, although I believe it is (compare the Beatle{{s|r}} ''{{w|I{{m}} a Loser|I'm_a_Loser}}'' or Manfred Mann{{s}} ''{{w|I{{m}} Your Kingpin|The_Five_Faces_of_Manfred_Mann|The Five Faces of Manfred Mann}}'' with {{w|Adam Faith|Adam_Faith}}{{s}} {{w|''What Do You Want''?|What_Do_You_Want?_(Adam_Faith_song)|What Do You Want?}} or Cliff Richard{{s}} ''{{w|The Young Ones|The_Young_Ones_(song)}}'') but that the relationships between stars and audiences have changed. The new stars are ''of'' their public, neither patronising nor stupid. They are irreverent, they smoke, they drink, they behave with a naturalness which would have earned them nothing but abuse ten years ago and they are articulate spokesmen for the teenage thing as well as for their music. The new stars are not held in awe except by the very young. The club{{h}}goer knows that records are poor imitations of club performances, that record success leads to nothing so much as the dilution of a group{{s}} {{qq|sound}} in an endeavour to court general popularity. It is, in short, doubtful whether the companies have ever held so little sway over the {{w|avant garde|Avant-garde|Avant-garde}} {{qq|popnik}}. Most young people listen to nothing but pop music and within this context the infusion of some blues{{h}}form into pop music is extremely welcome. Even in the hands of white singers it has introduced into a sadly ailing pop culture some elements of an infinitely richer ''folk'' culture {{p|131}}and some elements of a less corrupted ''pop'' culture{{dash}}the music of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and James Brown still expresses something of the agony of negro life as well as the enormous surging vitality and new optimism of the {{w|Northern|Northern_United_States|Northern United States}} {{w|ghettoes|American_ghettos|American ghettos}}. British blues is primarily a {{w|dance music|Dance_music|Dance music}} and if it is impure it has, at least, an enthusiasm which is positively damning to inhibition. In the clubs there is a new vigour.

{{tab}}Kenneth Rexroth once argued that jazz is a revolutionary music only insofar as it is conducive to eroticism in dancing. The same might apply to British r ’n’ b. Today{{s}} audiences are active and the groups, who still play for the critical club audiences rather than the easily pleased pop {{qq|concert}} audiences, must make people want to dance. The modern dances are not {{w|set pattern dances|Ballroom_dance|Ballroom dance}}. The {{w|Shake|The_Shake_(dance)|The Shake}}, the {{w|Dog|Frug_(dance)|Frug}}, the {{w|Jerk|Jerk_(dance)|Jerk}} are dances for crowded rooms, improvised round a basic pattern, and the groups must be able to improvise to provide variety. In the clubs, for example, Manfred Mann have played numbers like {{w|Cannonball Adderley|Cannonball_Adderley}}{{s}} ''{{w|Sack O{{a}} Woe|The_Cannonball_Adderley_Quintet_at_the_Lighthouse|The Cannonball Adderley Quintet at the Lighthouse}}'' and their original{{dash|naturally enough never recorded}}''Packet of Three'', which involved violent climaxes and sudden cliff{{h}}hanging breaks in the rhythm. {{w|Graham Bond|Graham_Bond}} and {{w|Brian Auger|Brian_Auger}}, recruits from modern jazz, and {{w|Georgie Fame|Georgie_Fame}}, a recruit from rock {{a}}n{{a}} roll, play in much the same manner and now that instrumentation is veering away from harmonicas and guitars, to saxes, flutes, organs and pianos it is these latter groups who may really come into their own.

{{tab}}If the new music is different, so are the new stars. Many of them are strange pop idols. {{w|Keith Relf|Keith_Relf}}, leader of the {{w|Yardbirds|The_Yardbirds|The Yardbirds}}, was a {{w|Beat|Beatnik|Beatnik}} before he made a living by singing and so was {{w|Rod the Mod Stewart|Rod_Stewart|Rod Stewart}}, possibly the best vocalist to emerge from the {{qq|boom}}. (Rod Stewart was also an International Amateur {{w|footballer|Association_football|Association football}}.) Many groups ''look'' Beat; tired, worn and weary with the bum{{s}} slouching walk. Indeed the mythology of the r {{a}}n{{a}} b clubs is the mythology of the angry, dishevelled reject of orthodoxy, the protesting bum. The {{w|Pretty Things|Pretty_Things|Pretty Things}}, the most beat{{h}}looking of all, sing: {{qq|I{{m}} on my own, just wanna roam/<wbr>I{{ll}} tell you man, don{{t}} wanna home/<wbr>I wander roun{{a}} feet off the groun{{a}}/<wbr>Digging sounds from town to town/<wbr>I say I think this life is grand/<wbr>I say, I dig it man, don{{t}} bring me down, man/<wbr>{{w|Don{{t}} bring me down|Don't_Bring_Me_Down_(The_Pretty_Things_song)|Don{{a}}t Bring Me Down}} {{tab}}I met this chick the other day/<wbr>Then to me she said she{{ll}} stay/<wbr>I got this pad just like a cave/<wbr>And then we have a little rave/<wbr>And now I{{m}} lying on ground/<wbr>My head is spinning round, don{{t}} bring me down man/don{{t}} bring me down}}.

{{tab}}Other singers too have strange pasts. {{w|John Mayall|John_Mayall}}, leader of one of the most vigorous groups, the {{w|Bluesbreakers|John_Mayall_&_the_Bluesbreakers|John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers}}, lived in a {{w|tree top house|Tree_house|Tree house}}. {{w|Manfred Mann (singular)|Manfred_Mann_(musician)|Manfred Mann (musician)}} was {{w|classically trained|Classical_music|Classical music}} at {{w|Juilliard|Juilliard_School|Juilliard School}} in the USA and is, even now, more than a little odd by pop standards. The whole Mann group took one man{{s}} name but insist that they have no leader, that leadership is redundant and responsibility shared and equal. It may have something to do with the fact that their vocalist {{w|Paul Jones|Paul_Jones_(singer)}} was once a member of the {{w|Oxford|University_of_Oxford|University of Oxford}} {{w|Committee of 100|Committee_of_100_(United_Kingdom)}} and is, apparently, still a ''{{w|Tribune|Tribune_(magazine)|Tribune (magazine)}}'' contributor. The {{w|Animals|The_Animals|The Animals}}, probably the best pop{{h}}r {{a}}n{{a}} b group, emerged from the strange {{w|North East|North_East_England|North East England}} phenomenon of {{qq|animals}}, young people who spent the weekends away from their bourgeois homes, on cheap transport, living {{qq|rough}}. (In the {{w|South|Southern_England|Southern England}} they might have earned the derisive epithet {{qq|weekend ravers}}.)

{{tab}}Most of the r {{a}}n{{a}} b groups who have had hits have done so with numbers which were not r {{a}}n{{a}} b numbers. The Stones made a brave attempt with the slow blues, ''{{w|Little Red Rooster|Little_Red_Rooster}}'', but most of their hits were white pop in origin{{dash}}''{{w|Not Fade Away|Not_Fade_Away_(song)}}'', a {{w|Buddy Holly|Buddy_Holly}} number, ''{{w|It{{s}} All Over Now|It's_All_Over_Now}}'', originally recorded by the {{w|C & C Boys|Clarence_Carter|Clarence Carter}} in America, a {{w|country{{h}}and{{h}}western|Country_music|Country music}} type number, ''{{w|I Wanna Be Your Man|I_Wanna_Be_Your_Man}}'' was by {{w|Lennon|John_Lennon|John Lennon}} and {{w|McCartney|Paul_McCartney|Paul McCartney}} and ''{{w|The Last Time|The_Last_Time_(Rolling_Stones_song)}}'' was written by themselves although it is reminiscent of the {{w|Staple Singers|The_Staple_Singers|The Staple Singers}}{{a}} ''This May Be My Last Time''. Manfred Mann recorded pop numbers, {{w|nonsense songs|Nonsense_song|Nonsense song}} and a {{w|ballad|Sentimental_ballad|Sentimental ballad}}. Georgie Fame had a big hit with ''{{w|Yeh, Yeh|Yeh,_Yeh}}'', a sophisticated {{w|Lambert|Dave_Lambert_(American_jazz_vocalist)|Dave Lambert}}{{h}}{{w|Hendricks|Jon_Hendricks|Jon Hendricks}}{{h}}{{w|Bavan|Yolande_Bavan|Yolande Bavan}} {{w|{{qq|cool}} jazz|Cool_jazz|Cool jazz}} vocal with little blues content. (Significantly his follow up ''In the Meantime'', in the same vein, did not do so well, dashing the hopes of those who thought Fame represented some sort of commercial breakthrough for {{w|soul{{h}}jazz|Soul_jazz|Soul jazz}}.) The Animal{{s|r}} big hit, {{w|House of the Rising Sun|The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun|The House of the Rising Sun}}, was a folk song. Other groups have either recorded and wrecked blues classics or concentrated on monotonously contrived and unvaryingly dismal versions of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley numbers, the staple diet of the uninventive. With their own material they are rarely convincing; authentic material they wreck by an apparent incomprehension of what they sing. In the clubs they are usually better and to hear British r {{a}}n{{a}} b, with all its undeniable excitement and all its undeniable, overall mediocrity, it is necessary to visit the clubs.

{{tab}}There are clubs all over the country. In London there is the ''{{w|Flamingo|The_Flamingo_Club|The Flamingo Club}}'', once ''the'' modern jazz centre, with its large, lively and critical audience, many of whom are {{w|West Indian|British_African-Caribbean_people|British African–Caribbean people}}; ''{{w|Klook{{s}} Kleek|Klooks_Kleek|Klooks Kleek}}'' in {{w|West Hampstead|West_Hampstead}} (the name a give{{h}}away of its modern jazz {{w|origins|Klook's_Clique|Klook{{s}} Clique}}); the ''{{w|Crawdaddys|Crawdaddy_Club|Crawdaddy Club}}'' at {{w|Richmond|Richmond,_London|Richmond, London}} and {{w|Croydon|Broad_Green,_London|Broad Green, London}}; ''Bluesville Harringay'' at {{w|Manor House|Manor_House,_London|Manor House, London}}; ''Club Noreik'' at {{w|Tottenham|Tottenham}} and many, many more. In {{w|Southampton|Southampton}} there is ''Club Concord'', in {{w|Manchester|Manchester}} the ''{{w|Twisted Wheel|Twisted_Wheel_Club|Twisted Wheel Club}}'', in {{w|Guildford|Guildford}} and {{w|Windsor|Windsor,_Berkshire|Windsor, Berkshire}} the ''{{w|Ricky Ticks|Ricky-Tick|Ricky-Tick}}''. The outlandishness of their names is only equalled by the names of the groups who play in them. Some take their names from song titles{{dash}}the {{w|Rolling Stones|Rollin'_Stone|Rollin{{a}} Stone (song)}}, the {{w|Hoochie Coochie Men|Hoochie_Coochie_Man||1964–65 band with Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, and Geoff Bradford
Wikipedia: Hoochie Coochie Man (song)}}, the {{w|Pretty Things|Pretty_Thing|Pretty Thing (song)}}, the {{w|Thunderbirds|Thunderbird_(Willis_Jackson_album)||1963–68 band with Chris Farlowe and Bob Taylor
Wikipedia: Thunderbird (song)}}, the {{w|Dissatisfieds|Down_and_Out_Blues||1964 band who played at the Marquee Club
Wikipedia: Dissatisfied (song)}}. Others borrow other singer{{s|r}} names{{dash}}the {{w|T-Bones|T-Bone_Walker||1963–66 band with Gary Farr
Wikipedia: T-Bone Walker}}, the {{w|Bo Street Runners|The_Bo_Street_Runners|The Bo Street Runners}}. Some use names which seem to sound good{{dash}}the {{l|Authentics|https://jppsessionman.jimdofree.com/john-williams/|1963–64 band with John Williams, Berne Williams, and Jimmy Page
link: Jimmy Page fan site}}, the {{l|Soul Agents|https://www.allmusic.com/artist/soul-agents-mn0000428542/biography|Allmusic: The Soul Agents}}, the {{w|Delta Five|Nick_Simper|Nick Simper}}, {{l|Hogsnort Rupert|https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/ricky-tick/|Hogsnort Rupert and the Good Good Band, fronted by Bob McGrath
link: Collectors Weekly article}}, the {{l|Loose{{h}}ends|https://garagehangover.com/the-loose-ends/|1964–67 band with Alan Marshall, Rick Marshall, Roy Davies, Peter Kirtley, and Alan Whitehead
link: Garage Hangover}}, the {{w|Downliner{{s|r}} Sect|Downliners_Sect|Downliners Sect}}. The British blues has its acknowledged {{qq|originals}}, as does negro blues. The more hip fans talk as reverently of Alexis Korner, Cy Davies and even {{w|George Melly|George_Melly}}, as blues enthusiasts of {{w|Son House|Son_House}}, {{w|Charlie Patton|Charley_Patton|Charley Patton}} or {{w|Robert Johnson|Robert_Johnson}}. The leading star of this old elite is {{w|Long John Baldry|Long_John_Baldry}} who was a vocalist{{h}}tambourinist with Cyril Davie{{s|r}} {{w|All{{h}}Stars|All-Stars_(band)|All-Stars}} (formed, from {{w|Screaming Lord Sutch|Screaming_Lord_Sutch}}{{s}} former backing group, the {{w|Savages|Screaming_Lord_Sutch_and_the_Savages|Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages}}, after Davie{{s|r}} break with Korner) and took over the band, changing its name to the Hoochie Coochie Men when Davies died, late in 1963. Baldry has an enviable reputation, earned partly because he is convinced of his own value and {{p|133}}partly because most groups are very poor, which has enabled him to break attendance records set by more apparently successful groups like the Rolling Stones. He is a passable singer, clever but unmoving. The sort of boredom he induces has often been thought a sign of authenticity.

{{tab}}Over the last eighteen months there has been a steady stream of real bluesmen to this country, among them {{w|Big Joe Williams|Big_Joe_Williams}}, {{w|Sleepy John Estes|Sleepy_John_Estes}}, {{w|Lightning Hopkins|Lightnin'_Hopkins|Lightnin{{a}} Hopkins}}, {{w|John Lee Hooker|John_Lee_Hooker}} and the unquestioned genius of instrumental blues, the harmonicist {{w|Little Walter Jacobs|Little_Walter|Little Walter}}. While it remains sadly true that local white singers are preferred to the {{qq|originals}}, it is almost entirely due to the propaganda efforts of the white musicians that we have been able to see the genuine article at all. People like {{w|Mick Jagger|Mick_Jagger}} of the Rolling Stones have been admirably unselfish in their fulsome praise of singers like Muddy Waters, James Brown and {{w|Howling Wolf|Howlin'_Wolf|Howlin{{a}} Wolf}}, an unselfishness which clearly places them apart from most English {{w|revivalist|Revivalist_artist|Revivalist artist}} jazz band leaders.

{{tab}}It is tempting to end this account by arguing strongly that white singers and musicians should leave negro {{qq|folk}} music alone. The British singers argue, correctly I think, that no music is sacrosanct, that if they wish to play what they like and publicly champion, that is their affair. So it is. It is also the critic{{s}} right to assess their music, rather than their social significance, in terms of the negro tradition and find it wanting. When Rod Stewart made the memorable statement that it is as easy to have the blues in the {{w|Archway Road|A1_in_London#Haringey|A1 in London: Haringey}} as on a Deep South railroad he was, in a way, right. You can have the blues in the Archway Road{{dash}}the blues is, in one sense, the immemorial music of sadness. But it is more than a sadness in the heart, more than the ache of hunger, more than the misery of the hobo. It is the vocal expression of a people, just as all ''real'' folk music is. Rod Stewart is only half right. It may be as easy to ''have'' the blues in the Archway Road. It just is not as easy to ''sing'' them.
</div></div>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blues in the archway road}}
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Race]]
[[Category:Articles]]

2021-03-16T03:37:33Z

IvanhoeIvanhoe:

Template:L

2021-03-16T03:33:29Z

IvanhoeIvanhoe:

Template:L

2021-03-16T03:31:22Z

IvanhoeIvanhoe: