View source for Anarchy 51/Blues in the Archway Road

{{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|Look&shy;ing at the post&shy;ers that lit&shy;ter the side streets}} of cent&shy;ral and sub&shy;urban {{w|London}}, one might be for&shy;given for as&shy;sum&shy;ing that the {{w|Blues}} was cre&shy;ated by a post{{h}}{{w|Al&shy;der&shy;mas&shy;ton|Aldermaston_Marches}} gen&shy;er&shy;a&shy;tion of art stu&shy;dents rather than by the af&shy;flic&shy;ted {{w|negro|African_Americans}} pop&shy;u&shy;la&shy;tion of the {{w|American|United_States}} {{w|Deep South|Deep_South}}. The post&shy;ers ad&shy;vert&shy;ise {{sc|au&shy;then&shy;tic {{w|Rhythm &rsquo;n&rsquo; blues|Rhythm_and_blues}}}} by groups which play a vari&shy;ety of music{{dash}}some {{w|Pop|Pop_music}}{{h}}ori&shy;ented, some {{w|Folk|Folk_music}}{{h}}ori&shy;ented, some {{w|Jazz}}{{h}}ori&shy;ented but largely de&shy;rived from the music of the more sen&shy;sa&shy;tional {{w|col&shy;oured|Person_of_color}} en&shy;ter&shy;tain&shy;ers of the {{w|USA|United_States}}, like {{w|Chuck Berry|Chuck_Berry}}, {{w|Bo Diddley|Bo_Diddley}}, {{w|James Brown|James_Brown}} and {{w|T-Bone Walker|T-Bone_Walker}}. Of the 2,000 or more groups work&shy;ing the mul&shy;ti&shy;tude of large and small {{w|clubs|Nightclub}}, no more than two dozen are in any way ori&shy;ginal, even in pop{{h}}music terms, and even these are root&shy;less shad&shy;ows of the sing&shy;ers on whose ma&shy;ter&shy;ial they draw. The dif&shy;fer&shy;ence be&shy;tween the blues of mod&shy;ern Amer&shy;ica and the {{qq|blues}} of mod&shy;ern {{w|United Kingdom|Britain}} is the dif&shy;fer&shy;ence be&shy;tween music which is an au&shy;then&shy;tic ra&shy;cial ex&shy;pres&shy;sion and music which is an ex&shy;pres&shy;sion of no more than a lik&shy;ing for the au&shy;then&shy;tic form.

{{tab}}The ori&shy;gins of {{w|British {{qq|blues}}|British_blues}} are far from clear. Their sem&shy;inal genius may have been {{w|Muddy Waters|Muddy_Waters}} who toured Britain in 1958 but it was not until March, 1962, when the har&shy;mon&shy;ica player {{w|Cyril Davies|Cyril_Davies}} and the guitar&shy;ist {{w|Alexis Korner|Alexis_Korner}} opened the first of the clubs{{dash|next door to the {{w|ABC Teashop|Aerated_Bread_Company}} off {{w|Ealing Broad&shy;way|Ealing}}}}that the {{qq|boom}} really had its be&shy;gin&shy;nings. 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 Amer&shy;ica. Once they had their own stage the {{qq|boom}} gathered in {{w|Cent&shy;ral London|Central_London}}, at&shy;tract&shy;ing a young audi&shy;ence in re&shy;ac&shy;tion against a par&shy;tic&shy;u&shy;larly en&shy;feebled pop music{{dash}}this was the hey{{h}}day of {{w|Cliff Rich&shy;ard|Cliff_Richard}}. The Band{{dash|known as {{w|Alexis Korner{{s}} Blues In&shy;cor&shy;por&shy;ated|Alex_Korner's_Blues_Incorporated}}}}had the now fa&shy;mil&shy;iar line{{h}}up of har&shy;mon&shy;ica, gui&shy;tars and drums and if it was un&shy;ex&shy;it&shy;ing com&shy;pared with its {{w|Chicago|Chicago_blues}} par&shy;ent it had, at least, a rhythmic earthi&shy;ness and an emo&shy;tional di&shy;rect&shy;ness which had been com&shy;pletely ab&shy;sent from pop music since the de&shy;mise of {{w|rock &rsquo;n&rsquo; roll|Rock_and_roll}} in the late &rsquo;50s.

{{tab}}By the end of 1962 the {{w|Beatles|The_Beatles}} had had their first small hit, ''{{w|Love Me Do|Love_Me_Do}}'', fea&shy;tur&shy;ing the ma&shy;gical com&shy;bin&shy;a&shy;tion of har&shy;mon&shy;ica, gui&shy;tars and drums, and the {{w|Roll&shy;ing Stones|The_Rolling_Stones}} were mak&shy;ing their early pub&shy;lic ap&shy;pear&shy;ances at Ealing and else&shy;where. In Janu&shy;ary, 1963 the Stones ap&shy;peared for the first time at the ''{{w|Marquee|Marquee_Club}}''. The {{w|bill|Billing_(performing_arts)}} was topped by {{p|130}}{{l|{{popup|Brian Knight|British guitarist, 1939–2001}}{{s}}|https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/06/guardianobituaries}} Blues{{h}}by{{h}}six and the Stones earned &pound;2 each as the fill{{h}}in group. By March the Stones had moved on{{dash|to the fringe of pop suc&shy;cess}}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 pos&shy;i&shy;tion in the 1963 ''{{w|New Mu&shy;sical Ex&shy;press|NME}}'' {{w|Points Table|Record_chart}}, equal with {{w|Sammy Davis|Sammy_Davis_Jr.}}, {{w|Frank Sinatra|Frank_Sinatra}}, {{w|Ken Dodd|Ken_Dodd}} and Chuck Berry) r&nbsp;{{a}}n{{a}}&nbsp;b was freely tipped as the next pop craze.

{{tab}}It seems to have hap&shy;pened for much the same reason as rock &rsquo;n&rsquo; roll ten years earlier: a teen&shy;age re&shy;ac&shy;tion to the sickly gut&shy;less&shy;ness of ortho&shy;dox pop. Its suc&shy;cess has led to ex&shy;traordin&shy;ary re&shy;sults. The Cliff Rich&shy;ard pop image of tidy, boy{{h}}next{{h}}door {{w|Chris&shy;tian&shy;ity|Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom#Christianity}}, has been re&shy;placed by a styl&shy;ised image of rough{{h}}living{{dash}}beards, long hair, defi&shy;ant non&shy;chal&shy;ance and an in&shy;co&shy;her&shy;ent, un&shy;ar&shy;tic&shy;u&shy;lated curse against con&shy;form&shy;ity. The new image may be as un&shy;real as the old but it is a great deal more toler&shy;able. It is a clich&eacute; to ob&shy;serve that pop music is a ma&shy;jor field for the ex&shy;ploit&shy;a&shy;tion and ma&shy;nip&shy;u&shy;la&shy;tion of young people, gener&shy;at&shy;ing re&shy;spect for false values and poor stand&shy;ards, ex&shy;ploit&shy;ing dis&shy;satis&shy;fac&shy;tion to turn young people in on them&shy;selves rather than out on so&shy;ci&shy;ety, serving the func&shy;tion ascribed by {{w|Marx|Karl_Marx}} to re&shy;li&shy;gion, that of an {{qq|opi&shy;ate of the people}}. It would be un&shy;real&shy;istic to claim that r&nbsp;&rsquo;n&rsquo;&nbsp;b has altered this deeply en&shy;grained pop{{h}}cul&shy;tural pat&shy;tern but it may have dented it. Since the suc&shy;cess of the Beatles{{dash|re&shy;corded not be&shy;cause they might be made into stars but be&shy;cause they ''already were'' local stars}}teen&shy;agers have shown a gradu&shy;ally in&shy;creas&shy;ing in&shy;de&shy;pend&shy;ence of the will of re&shy;cord com&shy;pan&shy;ies. {{w|Mersey&shy;beat|Beat_music}} and r&nbsp;&rsquo;n&rsquo;&nbsp;b{{dash|or at any rate the {{w|local vari&shy;ant|British_rhythm_and_blues}} on the Amer&shy;ican theme}}were cre&shy;ated by teen&shy;agers for them&shy;selves and al&shy;though the com&shy;pan&shy;ies have ex&shy;ploited this music, they have had their urual role, that of ''cre&shy;ating'' stars, stolen from them by teen&shy;agers. This has been a tend&shy;ency rather than a de&shy;cis&shy;ive trend but it may rep&shy;res&shy;ent the first steps of teen&shy;agers to free them&shy;selves of the para&shy;sites who live off them and their en&shy;thu&shy;si&shy;asms. It is not just that the qual&shy;ity of the music is bet&shy;ter, al&shy;though I be&shy;lieve it is (com&shy;pare the Beatle{{s|r}} ''{{w|I{{m}} a Loser|I'm_a_Loser}}'' or Manfred Mann{{s}} ''{{w|I{{m}} Your King&shy;pin|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)}} or Cliff Rich&shy;ard{{s}} ''{{w|The Young Ones|The_Young_Ones_(song)}}'') but that the re&shy;la&shy;tion&shy;ships be&shy;tween stars and audi&shy;ences have changed. The new stars are ''of'' their pub&shy;lic, neither pat&shy;ron&shy;ising nor stu&shy;pid. They are ir&shy;rev&shy;er&shy;ent, they smoke, they drink, they be&shy;have with a nat&shy;ur&shy;al&shy;ness which would have earned them noth&shy;ing but abuse ten years ago and they are ar&shy;tic&shy;u&shy;late spokes&shy;men for the teen&shy;age thing as well as for their music. The new stars are not held in awe ex&shy;cept by the very young. The club{{h}}goer knows that re&shy;cords are poor im&shy;it&shy;a&shy;tions of club per&shy;form&shy;ances, that re&shy;cord suc&shy;cess leads to noth&shy;ing so much as the di&shy;lu&shy;tion of a group{{s}} {{qq|sound}} in an en&shy;deav&shy;our to court gen&shy;eral pop&shy;ular&shy;ity. It is, in short, doubt&shy;ful whether the com&shy;pan&shy;ies have ever held so little sway over the {{w|avant garde|Avant-garde}} {{qq|popnik}}. Most young people listen to noth&shy;ing but pop music and within this con&shy;text the in&shy;fu&shy;sion of some blues{{h}}form into pop music is ex&shy;tremely wel&shy;come. Even in the hands of white sing&shy;ers it has in&shy;tro&shy;duced into a sadly ail&shy;ing pop cul&shy;ture some ele&shy;ments of an in&shy;fin&shy;itely richer ''folk'' cul&shy;ture {{p|131}}and some ele&shy;ments of a less cor&shy;rupted ''pop'' cul&shy;ture{{dash}}the music of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and James Brown still ex&shy;presses some&shy;thing of the agony of negro life as well as the enorm&shy;ous sur&shy;ging vi&shy;tal&shy;ity and new op&shy;tim&shy;ism of the {{w|Northern|Northern_United_States}} {{w|ghet&shy;toes|American_ghettos}}. British blues is primar&shy;ily a {{w|dance music|Dance_music}} and if it is im&shy;pure it has, at least, an en&shy;thu&shy;si&shy;asm which is pos&shy;it&shy;ively damning to in&shy;hib&shy;i&shy;tion. In the clubs there is a new vigour.

{{tab}}Kenneth Rexroth once argued that jazz is a re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary music only in&shy;so&shy;far as it is con&shy;du&shy;cive to erot&shy;i&shy;cism in dan&shy;cing. The same might apply to British r&nbsp;&rsquo;n&rsquo;&nbsp;b. Today{{s}} audi&shy;ences are act&shy;ive and the groups, who still play for the crit&shy;ical club audi&shy;ences rather than the eas&shy;ily pleased pop {{qq|con&shy;cert}} audi&shy;ences, must make people want to dance. The mod&shy;ern dances are not {{w|set pat&shy;tern dances|Ballroom_dance}}. The {{w|Shake|The_Shake_(dance)}}, the {{w|Dog|Frug_(dance)}}, the {{w|Jerk|Jerk_(dance)}} are dances for crowded rooms, im&shy;pro&shy;vised round a basic pat&shy;tern, and the groups must be able to im&shy;pro&shy;vise to provide vari&shy;ety. In the clubs, for ex&shy;ample, Manfred Mann have played num&shy;bers like {{w|Cannon&shy;ball Adder&shy;ley|Cannonball_Adderley}}{{s}} ''{{w|Sack O{{a}} Woe|The_Cannonball_Adderley_Quintet_at_the_Lighthouse}}'' and their ori&shy;ginal{{dash|natur&shy;ally enough never re&shy;corded}}''Packet of Three'', which in&shy;volved viol&shy;ent cli&shy;maxes and sud&shy;den cliff{{h}}hang&shy;ing breaks in the rhythm. {{w|Graham Bond|Graham_Bond}} and {{w|Brian Auger|Brian_Auger}}, re&shy;cruits from mod&shy;ern jazz, and {{w|Georgie Fame|Georgie_Fame}}, a re&shy;cruit from rock {{a}}n{{a}} roll, play in much the same man&shy;ner and now that in&shy;stru&shy;ment&shy;a&shy;tion is veer&shy;ing away from har&shy;mon&shy;icas and gui&shy;tars, to saxes, flutes, organs and pianos it is these lat&shy;ter groups who may really come into their own.

{{tab}}If the new music is dif&shy;fer&shy;ent, so are the new stars. Many of them are strange pop idols. {{w|Keith Relf|Keith_Relf}}, leader of the {{w|Yard&shy;birds|The_Yardbirds}}, was a {{w|Beat|Beatnik}} before he made a liv&shy;ing by sing&shy;ing and so was {{w|Rod the Mod Stewart|Rod_Stewart}}, pos&shy;sibly the best vo&shy;cal&shy;ist to emerge from the {{qq|boom}}. (Rod Stewart was also an In&shy;ter&shy;na&shy;tional Am&shy;a&shy;teur {{w|foot&shy;baller|Association_football}}.) Many groups ''look'' Beat; tired, worn and weary with the bum{{s}} slouch&shy;ing walk. In&shy;deed the myth&shy;o&shy;logy of the r&nbsp;{{a}}n{{a}}&nbsp;b clubs is the myth&shy;o&shy;logy of the angry, dishev&shy;elled re&shy;ject of ortho&shy;doxy, the pro&shy;test&shy;ing bum. The {{w|Pretty Things|Pretty_Things}}, the most beat{{h}}look&shy;ing 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>Dig&shy;ging 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)}} {{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 spin&shy;ning round, don{{t}} bring me down man/don{{t}} bring<!-- 'bringe'' in original --> me down}}.

{{tab}}Other sing&shy;ers too have strange pasts. {{w|John Mayall|John_Mayall}}, leader of one of the most vigor&shy;ous groups, the {{w|Blues&shy;break&shy;ers|John_Mayall_&_the_Bluesbreakers}}, lived in a {{w|tree top house|Tree_house}}. {{w|Manfred Mann (sin&shy;gu&shy;lar)|Manfred_Mann_(musician)}} was {{w|clas&shy;sic&shy;ally trained|Classical_music}} at {{w|Juilliard<!-- 'Juillard' in original -->|Juilliard_School}} in the USA and is, even now, more than a little odd by pop stand&shy;ards. The whole Mann group took one man{{s}} name but in&shy;sist that they have no leader, that lead&shy;er&shy;ship is re&shy;dund&shy;ant and re&shy;spons&shy;ib&shy;il&shy;ity shared and equal. It may have some&shy;thing to do with the fact that their vo&shy;cal&shy;ist {{w|Paul Jones|Paul_Jones_(singer)}} was once a mem&shy;ber of the {{w|Oxford|University_of_Oxford}} {{w|Com&shy;mit&shy;tee of 100|Committee_of_100_(United_Kingdom)}} and is, ap&shy;par&shy;ently, still a ''{{w|Tribune|Tribune_(magazine)}}'' con&shy;trib&shy;utor. The {{w|Anim&shy;als|The_Animals}}, prob&shy;ably the best pop{{h}}r&nbsp;{{a}}n{{a}}&nbsp;b group, emerged from the strange {{w|North East|North_East_England}} phe&shy;nomenon of {{qq|anim&shy;als}}, young people who spent the week&shy;ends away from their bour&shy;geois homes, on cheap trans&shy;port, living {{qq|rough}}. (In the {{w|South|Southern_England}} they might have earned the de&shy;ris&shy;ive epi&shy;thet {{qq|week&shy;end ravers}}.)

{{tab}}Most of the r&nbsp;{{a}}n{{a}}&nbsp;b groups who have had hits have done so with num&shy;bers which were not r&nbsp;{{a}}n{{a}}&nbsp;b num&shy;bers. The Stones made a brave at&shy;tempt 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}} num&shy;ber, ''{{w|It{{s}} All Over Now|It's_All_Over_Now}}'', ori&shy;gin&shy;ally re&shy;corded by the {{w|C & C Boys|Clarence_Carter}} in Amer&shy;ica, a {{w|country{{h}}and{{h}}western|Country_music}} type num&shy;ber, ''{{w|I Wanna Be Your Man|I_Wanna_Be_Your_Man}}'' was by {{w|Lennon|John_Lennon}} and {{w|McCartney|Paul_McCartney}} and ''{{w|The Last Time|The_Last_Time_(Rolling_Stones_song)}}'' was writ&shy;ten by them&shy;selves al&shy;though it is re&shy;min&shy;is&shy;cent of the {{w|Staple Singers|The_Staple_Singers}}{{a}} ''This May Be My<!-- 'the' in original --> Last Time''. Manfred Mann re&shy;corded pop num&shy;bers, {{w|non&shy;sense songs|Nonsense_song}} and a {{w|ballad|Sentimental_ballad}}. Georgie Fame had a big hit with ''{{w|Yeh, Yeh|Yeh,_Yeh}}'', a soph&shy;ist&shy;ic&shy;ated {{w|Lam&shy;bert|Dave_Lambert_(American_jazz_vocalist)}}{{h}}{{w|Hend&shy;ricks|Jon_Hendricks}}{{h}}{{w|Bavan|Yolande_Bavan}} {{w|{{qq|cool}} jazz|Cool_jazz}} vocal with little blues con&shy;tent. (Sig&shy;ni&shy;fic&shy;antly his fol&shy;low up ''In the Mean&shy;time'', in the same vein, did not do so well, dash&shy;ing the hopes of those who thought Fame rep&shy;res&shy;ented some sort of com&shy;mer&shy;cial break&shy;through for {{w|soul{{h}}jazz|Soul_jazz}}.) The Anim&shy;al{{s|r}} big hit, {{w|House of the Ris&shy;ing Sun|The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun}}, was a folk song. Other groups have either re&shy;corded and wrecked blues clas&shy;sics or con&shy;cen&shy;trated on mono&shy;ton&shy;ously con&shy;trived and un&shy;vary&shy;ingly dis&shy;mal ver&shy;sions of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley num&shy;bers, the staple diet of the un&shy;in&shy;vent&shy;ive. With their own ma&shy;ter&shy;ial they are rarely con&shy;vin&shy;cing; au&shy;then&shy;tic ma&shy;ter&shy;ial they wreck by an ap&shy;par&shy;ent in&shy;com&shy;pre&shy;hen&shy;sion of what they sing. In the clubs they are usu&shy;ally bet&shy;ter and to hear British r&nbsp;{{a}}n{{a}}&nbsp;b, with all its un&shy;deni&shy;able ex&shy;cite&shy;ment and all its un&shy;deni&shy;able, over&shy;all me&shy;diocrity, it is ne&shy;ces&shy;sary to visit the clubs.

{{tab}}There are clubs all over the coun&shy;try. In London there is the ''{{w|Flamingo|The_Flamingo_Club}}'', once ''the'' mod&shy;ern jazz centre, with its large, lively and crit&shy;ical audi&shy;ence, many of whom are {{w|West Indian|British_African-Caribbean_people}}; ''{{w|Klook{{s}} Kleek|Klooks_Kleek}}'' in {{w|West Hamp&shy;stead|West_Hampstead}} (the name a give{{h}}away of its mod&shy;ern jazz {{w|ori&shy;gins|Klook's_Clique}}); the ''{{w|Craw&shy;daddys|Crawdaddy_Club}}'' at {{w|Rich&shy;mond|Richmond,_London}} and {{w|Croy&shy;don|Broad_Green,_London}}; ''Blues&shy;ville Har&shy;ringay'' at {{w|Manor House|Manor_House,_London}}; ''Club Noreik'' at {{w|Tot&shy;ten&shy;ham|Tottenham}} and many, many more. In {{w|Southamp&shy;ton|Southampton}} there is ''Club Con&shy;cord'', in {{w|Man&shy;chester|Manchester}} the ''{{w|Twisted Wheel|Twisted_Wheel_Club}}'', in {{w|Guild&shy;ford|Guildford}} and {{w|Windsor|Windsor,_Berkshire}} the ''{{w|Ricky Ticks|Rick-Tick}}''. The out&shy;land&shy;ish&shy;ness 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|Roll&shy;ing Stones|Rollin'_Stone}}, the {{w|{{popup|Hoochie Coochie Men|1964–65 band with Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, and Geoff Bradford}}|Hoochie_Coochie_Man}}, the {{w|Pretty Things|Pretty_Thing}}, the {{w|{{popup|Thunder&shy;birds|1963–68 band with Chris Farlowe and Bob Taylor}}|Thunderbird_(Willis_Jackson_album)}}, the {{w|{{popup|Dis&shy;satis&shy;fieds|1964 band who played at the Marquee Club}}|Down_and_Out_Blues}}. Others bor&shy;row other singer{{s|r}}<!-- 'singer's' in original --> names{{dash}}the {{w|{{popup|T-Bones|1963–66 band with Gary Farr}}|T-Bone_Walker}}, the {{w|Bo Street Run&shy;ners|The_Bo_Street_Runners}}.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blues in the archway road}}
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Articles]]