Mrs Dancer has taken ill and is currently in hospital, Ray, a friend of ours, is her favourite artist and she is so looking forward to the release of his new album "Propaganda Man" in November so for her this is Ray with a soundcheck solo performance of the title track.
For more information on Ray check out www.raywilson.co.uk
For a video of the above check out my other site http://thehelplessdancer.wordpress.com
The sites will be updated once Mrs Dancer recovers in the meantime.......be lucky.
This is the other book I bought for this holiday week, Weller is a writer I have admired throughout his phases from The Jam, through The Style Council and into his re-emergence as a solo artist.
Being a fan of The Who it would be easy to try to make comparisons between hm and Pete Townshend. There is no doubt Townshend was a major influence on Weller but so were, to a greater or lessor extent, The Beatles, Steve Marriott, Ray Davies, The Sex Pistols the music of Motown and Stax and perhaps more surprisingly Dr Feelgood.
Weller found modernism at an early age with clothes and his appearance carrying more importance than the music he was listening to and about to write and play.
The main stay of the mod life soundtrack was american jazz and R&B and Weller found it hard to replicate this soind even allowing for admiration of The Small Faces and The Kinks from where he fine tuned his lyrical influences through songs steeped in that southern English framework.
Musically he was unable to find a musical direction which went beyond 60's parody, many believe it was his attendance at a Sex Pistlos gig in 1977 that gave him he inspiration to take The Jam forward, however, his real awakening came earlier in 1975 when he first saw Dr Feelgood live.
To him Wilko Johnson was a relelation both in dress sense and guitar technique, Weller lifted both the black suite, tie and white shirt image and the agitated guitar playing, this when added to his continuing admiration of 60's Who were the factors which gave birth to what became the early Jam brought together in their debut single "In The City" which was not only named after a Who single but also lifted the chorus lyric and tune.
Weller was too good a writer to be trapped in 60's revivalism and equally he was too good and sensible to be cornered in the punk explosion, whilst the second album was one too soon by 1978's "All Mod Cons" he had musically progressed way beyond punk and whist still tipping his hat to his 60's influences and wearing his mod ethos on his sleeve he had created his first masterpiece, and for me his best ever album
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The Quadropenia film came out in 1979 and acted as a main stream catalyst for the mod revival scene, however, having been there already Weller moved on and "Setting Sons" provided great commercial succes and the "Going Underground" single broke all records.
By 1980 "Sound Affects" Weller was finding new strengths in his songwriting and although the lead single "Start" was "Taxman" by The Beatles it remains one of my all time favourites as the soundtrack to the Summer of '80.
"The Gift" album was released in 1982 and turned out to be The Jam's last studio album. Weller beieved that to progress musically he would have to break up The Jam, doing so at their peak was a brave decision but he realised that musically the other members and fan base wouldn't be able to move on up with him.
Comparisons can again be made with Pete Townshend, after Moon's death in 1978 Townshend had the option to do likewise close down The Who at the top and move on......Townshend chose not to do so showing loyalty to the remaining members of the group and the numerous other people close to him who relied on The Who for a living.
The Who carried on but Townshend's best writing emerged via his solo albums, it is only since 1999 that The Who recovered their fire as a live act and whilst their recent album "The Endless Wire" has some highlights one can't help wondering what direction Townshend would have gone if he had been totally released from the responsibities of The Who.
As for Weller The Style Council was born into the mire of mid 80's "pop" and new romantics. The new Weller image was based on the continental modernists and visually and musicall most Jam fans just didn't believe he could leave behind such a band for this.
Now for me The Style Council were lokked i that period and whilst not reaching the heights of The Jam they did produce the odd good track.
As the 80's drew to a close The Style Council audience diminished and their last album was turned down by the record company. Weller needed a break and needed to find the writer in him all over again.
His first solo album "Into Tomorrow" released in 1992 received a lukewarm reception, however a year later came "Wild Wood" and Weller was back in the limelight via great reviews and health sales.
"Stanley Road" followed in 1995 featuring "The Changing Man" Weller was now "The Modfather" the key influence on Brit-Pop with everyone from Oasis to Blur citing him as a main influence.
Several albums followed and now we have Paulo Hewitt's bography, Hewitt was a buddng music journalist when he first met Weller, a close friendship developed and Hewitt wrote a biography on The jam but in 2006 their friendship came to a bitter end after, now I have yet to read the full book so the true reason still eludes me but the circumstances echo with me in my own experiences.
The last word if from Weller's latest album "22 Dreams" an ambitious double album which stretches across many styles....where he goes now only he knows.
Our timeshare week in Ballater (see Helpless Dancer On The Road link for photo diary) is always a great time to get some reading in.
As is our normal routine we spent Monday in Aberdeen where I picked up two books for the week.
The first, as illustrated below is more of a book to look at and dip into than read from front to back.
R Crumb is the leading light in the US "underground comix" movement and was the creator of the famous "Keep on Truckin" image, hs passion for music is reflected through his many sleeve illustrations incuding work for Janis Joplin.
This book is based on the collection of "trading cards" (like our footballer cards inside packets of bubble gum or cigarette cards ) he created in the mid 80's, the collection which forms this book features the illustrations and brief biographies of the artists and is enhanced by a 21 track CD of songs by some of the artists illustrated chosen by Crumb himself.
Below are a couple of the blues tracks and one from the country pioneers section each with a brief note and the relevant illustration.
Formed by Will Shade the group recorded between 1927-1934 and their "Bottle It Up And Go" from 1932 was a classic of the decade.
Charley Patton needs no introduction as he is one of the most influential musicians from Mississippi, he was a prolific recording artist recording 42 songs in one single year with "Pony Blues" perhaps being his defining moment.
Now here is one of the pioneers of what we now term "Country" though the music was more recognised in the 20's and 30's as "string bands"
"Doc" Boggs was a banjo picker of the highest order, born in 1898 he was a miner for most of his life. Most of his repertoire was module in charactor and he only ever recorded 12 tracks, 8 in 1927 and 4 in 1929.
The artist on the front cover of the book is bluesman Frank Stokes who was born in 1888 in memphis where he became one of the city's most popular entertainers, his best known tune was "Crump Don't Low It".
for more R Crumb blues illustrations visit:-
The day has finally arrived after 18 months plus of rough demos floating around the net and the occasional download or single the Glasvegas, big money Columbia money backed, debut album was released today.
James Allan has finally delivered, not a cross to the back post but a debut album which harks back to the 60's and 70's, short and sharp with only 10 tracks two of which previouxly released as singles the question has to be asked are they short on ideas already, the second album even this early may well determine if this is a passing fad flash in the pan or the first step in an illustrious career.
Here is my favourite track to date:-
\this is from www.timesonline.co.uk
The Wayfarer Ray-Bans are hardly necessary in a Kensington basement bar. However, the black-clad Glasvegas frontman James Allan momentarily removes them, then decides that he’s happier keeping them on. “I was walking down the street in Glasgow yesterday and some kid recognises me and shouts, ‘James Allan! F***ing Glasvegas! Who the f*** do you think you are with sunglasses on?’ ”
There’s no such thing as off-duty when it comes to projecting rock’n’roll insouciance – although Allan’s attention to detail doesn’t extend to his choice of drink. “This is a Banana Bliss,” he explains when asked about his cocktail. Stirring the top layer of pureed banana so that it merges with the daquiri-like bottom half, the quiffed singer adds: “I can confirm that it’s all that Glasvegas have been drinking since we checked into this hotel.”
It’s hardly going out on limb to predict that the release of Glasvegas’s self-titled debut album on Monday will make stars of them. Indeed, closer to home the transition has already happened. In July, security men at their T in the Park set were forced to stop admitting the converted and the curious into the marquee. In a wave of adulation reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys’ early ascent, unreleased songs such as Lonesome Swan and It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry brought a word-perfect response.
When Allan sang Flowers and Football Tops — in which a bereaved mother attempts to make sense of her teenage son’s murder — he had no way of seeing the hundreds of fans outside the tent singing the Everly Brothers-influenced refrain: “Baby, baby, my baby/ Baby, why you?” It’s just as well, he thinks. “So much of what I’m seeing from the stage has an almost psychedelic strangeness to it at the moment.”
Working-class frontmen who brandish their vulnerability don’t come along often, but when they do they inspire fierce loyalty from male audiences who would rather sing their feelings in unison than talk about them in private. In that sense, the forbear of Glasvegas is Liam Gallagher singing, “There are many things that I would like to say to you/ But I don’t know how.” They’re Madness singing It Must Be Love and Rod Stewart croaking I Don’t Want to Talk About It. They’re Kevin Rowland testifying his inadequacies on Searching for the Young Soul Rebels.
Musically though, it’s a different story. Setting Allan apart from all of them are the infatuations that gave birth to Glasvegas’s epic pop clatter. What Allan casually calls “the Spector thing” is an obsession of which Spector himself would have been proud. Just as the producer’s youth was spent replaying the same jazz and classical records to analyse how he might make people feel the same way, Allan appears to have spent much of his adult life doing the same with Phil Spector-produced albums such as Dion’s Born to Be With You and, in particular, A Christmas Gift to You. “People used to think I was weird,” he says, “because I would even play it all through the summer.”
“When we were being courted by all these major record labels,” says Rab Allan, the singer’s cousin and lead guitarist, “the stipulation was that whoever we signed with had to let us put out a Christmas album after the first record.” The calibre of the songs, he argues, is enough to vindicate the enterprise. “For the longest time, people in Glasgow always thought we were a novelty band. I mean, in a way, why wouldn’t you? We’re so far removed from what every other indie band were doing,” Rab shrugs. “So the idea of a Christmas album should be playing into their hands. I didn’t write the songs so I sort of feel I can make that claim. In particular, Cruel Moon is the best song I’ve heard by anyone in years. I even shed a tear, and I never, ever do that.”
Britpop scholars might recall that the last band that came along making claims for their second album before even the first one was released were, again, Oasis. The parallels are unavoidable. Both bands’ primary songwriters enjoyed the early evangelical patronage of Alan McGee (alas, this time around, McGee didn’t have a label to sign them to). Both bands have songwriters who grew up in a household where the father was absent. In the case of Glasvegas, the lack of a fatherly presence appears to have directly inspired the extraordinary current hit Daddy’s Gone. It must take some guts to write: “All I wanted was a kickabout in the park / For you to race me home when it was nearly getting dark”, especially as Allan’s father will have heard them.
“As it happens, I don’t know if he’s really heard it,” Allan says, “I mean, that wasn’t directly him, you know? It’s also a note to myself saying that when I get to 50, I don’t want to be destroyed by the thought of all the things I didn’t do.”
Starting a band was one of them. Faced with the prospect of becoming a professional footballer or a pop star, most young men would happily settle for either. After eight years of doing the former, Allan resigned to attempt the latter. Had he been a first-choice mainstay for his favourite team, Celtic, it seems doubtful that he would have made the leap. Instead he was a gifted midfielder who struggled to settle at any one club.
As is well documented, he was on the books at Premier League Falkirk, but it was at the lowlier Queen’s Park that he was briefly something of a star player. “The thing about James,” Rab says, “is that he’s fiercely competitive. He’d rather not compete than be stuck somewhere in the middle. It’s all or nothing with him. I once saw him lift a player on the opposing team and throw him up in the air. That’s his passion, you know? He was physical.”
The singer himself suggests that the expiry of his footballing career was as much down to the culture. “It’s a world away from rock’n’roll, you know? The two just don’t fit. Golf and football; having a really expensive car and football – those things fit. I was always late, and I wasn’t a healthy eater.
“The good thing about being in a band is that you’re left to your own devices. There’s no one breathing down your neck once you’re in the studio.” Having played to a soundtrack of terrace anthems, perhaps it isn’t so surprising that Allan has cultivated such a facility for writing songs that might achieve the same status, I suggest. “It does my head in to even think about where it might all end up,” is his response.
What he will say is that he’s glad that he never stopped to analyse what might happen when his songs reached the wider world. “The more you reveal yourself in your songs, the more extreme reactions you provoke. I was ignorant of that in many ways – and a good job too, because the songs might have come out differently. Who wants to know their future?”
While the present is this charmed, Glasvegas certainly wouldn’t. Is there any way that James Allan’s life could be better right now? If he was prone to displaying the same emotions that burn so intensely at the heart of his music, he would be perpetually on the brink of hysteria. Instead, just like, well, a professional footballer playing down his last-minute winner in the postmatch interview, his tones are measured and precise. “My girlfriend could be here. That would be nice. She’s just graduated from Manchester University and she’s now trying to make sense of her life. A bit like I am with mine. I guess everybody’s doing that, aren’t they?”
Then remembering his Glaswegian tormentor from yesterday, he takes an impeccably timed slurp on his Banana Bliss. “I mean, really, whoever you are, you never stop wondering who the f*** you think you are. The sunglasses don’t come into it.”
The song below is perhaps my favourite Dr John song,
I first came across it via an extend live version by Humble Pie on their classic "Performance Rockin'The Fillmore" album.
Humble Pie as you will know featured ex-Small Faces front man Steve Marriott which no doubt was one of the reasons that Paul Weller went on to record a version.
The 7th September 1978 is still fresh in my mind, friends and I were just back from a camping holiday in Arran during which The Who's latest album "Who Are You" was in constant rotation.
I was again listening to my red vinyl import copy when my mother informed me that my friend Stevie was on the phone. Expecting the usual discussion as when to meet at Upstairs Downstairs I was taken aback by the opening remarks "he's gone and done it for real this time" who and what are you talking about I reponded "Monnie he has has gone and done it he is dead" it was like receiving bad news about a close relative I just couldn't believe it...still we met at Upstairs Downstairs a group of us all converts to The Who....we knew it could never be the same and the irony was not lost on us when we considered the sleeve to the album we had been listening to so much since it's release in the summer.
Moon sitting on the chair "Not To Be Taken Away" stills sends a shiver down the spine.
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Born Keith John Moon on August 23, 1946, to Alfred & Kathleen Moon in Wellesden, England. Moon was primarily raised in the Northwest London suburb of Wembley. Three years later, the Moons welcomed a daughter, Linda, to their family. Alf Moon earned his living as a maintenance mechanic for the Wembley council and Kathleen "Kit" Moon took on part time cleaning jobs.
As Kit Moon recalled, Keith "from the age of three, he would sit home for hours beside an old gramophone player and play 78 records of stars like Nat King Cole and Scots leader Johnny Shand."
The Moon family would listen to the BBC comedy troupe, the Goons, and Keith would then act the comedy sketches the next week at school. When Keith was 12, the Moons welcomed another daughter, Lesley, to the family. While at school, Moon received a prescient comment from his music teacher, "great ability, but most guard against tendency to show off." While in grammar school, Moon was a loner despite a hyperactive personality.
Moon joined the Sea Cadets and started playing the bugle and then, trumpet. At 13, Moon moved from the trumpet to the bass drum. Moon became a fan of the drums and would see the Movie, "Drum Crazy," about the late great Jazz drummer, Gene Krupa. In 1970 Moon stated about the picture, "That film was the only time I saw the way Krupa worked- all that juggling." Moon recounted, "Gene Krupa, Jo Jones, Buddy Rich . . . to me they were the best. I’d see a big band with a double bass drum setup, twirling the sticks, all the theatrics. They’re the people I really dug, growing up."
Autumn of 1961, Moon bought his first drum kit, a pearl blue Premier kit. Moon began practicing on his own. In 1962 Moon would gain admission to the Music Club at the Oldfield Hotel where Moon would watch various drummers and in particular, Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages' drummer, Carlo Little. Moon asked Little for drum lessons and Moon would take lessons from Little for a few months. Summer of 1962, Moon would play in a band called the Escorts. A member of the Escorts recalled, "The way he decided to play drums was outrageous. But he emulated Carlo Little and was the only person to do so. He was a real character. Madness bordering on genius."
In December 1962, Moon responded to an ad for a drummer in the band called the Beachcombers, who despite their name were not a surf band. Moon, nicknamed "Weasel," enjoyed an 18 month stint with the band. Moon was such an intense drummer that six inch nails were hammered into the stage to fasten his kit with rope.
By mid-1963, Moon became an obsessive surf music fan to the extent that Moon imported from America surf records by Dick Dale, the Chantays and the Beach Boys to England. From late 1962 to his fateful spring of 1964, Moon worked at British Gypsum where Keith answered phones and processed sales orders. In April 1964, drummer Doug Sandom left The Who. Moon auditioned for The Who and was invited to join the band. For a couple of weeks, Moon would play in both the Beachcombers and The Who. Alf Moon was very much against his son leaving the stable Beachcombers for the explosive Who.
Recalling Moon's departure from the Beachcombers, their rhythm guitarist stated, "Keith was going to go forward because he couldn’t do anything else. He was a showman drummer, that was it. I always think he was the best drummer in the world, even with us."
At this time The Who were going through numerous management changes. The Who met Pete Meaden, a Mod. Under Meaden, the band's name was The High Numbers. The band dressed like Mods and appealed to Mods even though they were not Mods. The Mods were amphetamine takers who wore tab collars and Italian shoes and drove Lambretta scooters. The Mod credo was "clean living under difficult circumstances."
During their summer 1964 residency at the Railway, Pete Townshend broke his guitar against the Railway's low ceiling. A week later Moon started smashing his drumkit when the audience was disappointed when Townshend didn’t smash his guitar. Moon stated generally, "When I smashed my drums it’s because I was pissed off . . . [W]hen you’ve worked your balls off and you’ve given the audience everything you can give and they don’t give anything back, that’s when the *bleep* instruments go."
In August 1964, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp took over management of the band. In October 1964 The Who again became the band's name. Soon after, The Who began a Tuesday residency at the Marquee Club with the poster of Pete Townshend in full arm swing declaring "Maximum R & B."
The Who signed a record deal which forced them to write their own material. In January 1965, Townshend composed "I Can’t Explain" with Moon playing the drums as if the fate of the free world depended on his performance. The next single was "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" with Moon's drumming holding together the innovative feedback from Townshend's guitar.
In December 1965, The Who released the My Generation album with Moon co-writing the surf influenced instrumental "The Ox." Moon's performance on the record is still one of the greatest drum performances ever let alone on a debut record. The drum solo at the bridge of "The Kids Are Alright" was so far ahead of its time that it was edited out of the American release and wasn't released in America until 1994's Box Set, 30 Years of Maximum R & B.
Spring 1966 saw the release of the Townshend composed "Substitute," with manic Moon drumming that Keith later didn't recall playing at the session. About this time, Moon moved from a single bass seven piece drum set to a double bass nine piece drum kit.
In May, 1966, Moon and Who bassist John Entwistle were late to the gig that night because they were entertaining Beach Boy, Bruce Johnston. Townshend and Who singer, Roger Daltrey were extremely angry at Moon and Entwistle as they started the concert with a different rhythm section. During the finale of "My Generation," Townshend accidentally hit Moon in the head with his guitar and bruised Moon's face in addition to giving Moon a black eye. Moon and Entwistle for 24 hours quit the band. Pete Townshend profusely apologized to Moon who while accepting the apologies was looking to work with other bands including The Animals
Fall 1966, The Who released the single "I'm a Boy" with the B-side, "In The City," a Moon-Entwistle composition. The Who performed on the British television show "Ready, Steady, Who" with Moon singing "Barbara Ann" and Jan & Dean's "Bucket T," which went #1 in Sweden on the Ready, Steady, Who EP. Winter 1966, The Who released the album A Quick One (Happy Jack in the U.S.) with two Moon songs, one an instrumental “Cobwebs and Strange” and with Keith singing "I Need You." "Happy Jack," the single, featured Moon as the lead instrument propelling the song as well as carrying the melody. At the end of "Happy Jack," Townshend can be heard saying, "I saw ya," after Moon was spotted sneaking into the control room from which he was banned due to his distracting vocals.
By 1967, Moon had established himself as one of the premier drummers in popular music. Guitarist Jeff Beck recruited Moon for his nascent band, Jeff Beck Group. Moon screamed and thundered on "Beck's Bolero" on the Truth album. Summer 1967,
Moon unveiled his infamous "Pictures of Lily" Premier drum kit with the lettering "Keith Moon, patent British exploding drummer" amid pictures of naked women. The Who played the Monterey Pop Festival where at the conclusion of their set Moon destroyed his drum kit.
On August 23, 1967, Keith Moon's infamous 21st Birthday party that would become the stuff of legend. Moon recalling the party in 1972 in Rolling Stone magazine came up with a fanciful tale about driving a car in the swimming pool, escaping by waiting for the physics to be right and earning The Who a lifetime ban from the Holiday Inn for eternity. Neither the car in the pool nor the lifetime ban from the Holiday Inn happened. Moon while running away from the party because he was de-pants, tripped, fell and knocked out a front tooth. Moon spent the most of the rest of the night at the dentist's office getting his tooth fixed. Winter 1967, The Who released the album The Who Sell Out a tribute to pirate radio and its ad jingles. Sell Out featured Entwistle-Moon advertisement jingles among Pete Townshend's songs. Moon's "Girl's Eyes" was released on the Sell Out re-issue. Moon's drumming is transcendent on "I Can See For Miles."
May 1969, The Who released the double album Tommy. Moon came up with the idea of the holiday camp that was used in the song cycle with Keith singing "Tommy's Holiday Camp," a Townshend song based on Moon's holiday camp idea. Tommy is a deaf, dumb, and blind kid who becomes a Messiah and later is forsaken by his followers. "Amazing Journey/Sparks" "Underture" and "Smash the Mirror," are Moon’s notable performances. "Pinball Wizard" released as a single from Tommy had the b-side of "Dogs Part 2," a Moon composition that featured a drum break throughout the song with dogs barking the lead vocal. Moon also sang on "Cousin Kevin Model Child" which was released on the re-issue of Odds & Sods.
August 1969, The Who played Woodstock that has been described as their worst gig ever, yet, Moon gave an outstanding performance particularly on "Sparks," "Acid Queen" and "I'm Free."
January 1970, Neil Boland, Moon's driver, was accidentally killed in a melee with Skinheads. While Boland was outside of Moon's Bentley trying to clear an exit from the Skinheads, Moon took the wheel and stepped on the accelerator. Moon accidentally ran over Boland and killed him. Subsequently, Moon was depressed and some say he was never the same. Moon stated, "I'll always have his death on my conscience."
February 1970, The Who played at Leeds University for a live album. Live at Leeds is considered live rock & roll at its finest particularly "Summertime Blues" and "My Generation."
In January 1971, Moon made his acting debut in the Frank Zappa conceived, 200 Motels, a film about a musician's life on the road. Moon wanted to be an actor after his involvement in this film.
Summer 1971, The Who released the album Who’s Next . The original cover idea was to have Moon dressed in woman's undergarments. Moon produced the violin solo at the end of "Baba O’Riley." Moon's drumming is superlative particularly on "Bargain," "Going Mobile" and "Won’t Get Fooled Again." The press party for the release of Who’s Next was held at Moon's recently purchased Tara estate in Chertsey, England.
In 1972, "Relay" was released as a single with the Moon composition "Wasp Man" as the B-side. Moon acted in the motion picture, That'll Be The Day, as drummer J.D. Clover. Moon played Uncle Ernie in the stage production of Tommy. Summer of 1973, Moon would do a series of music radio shows for the British Broadcasting Corporation including "Life with the Moons," a series of skits, routines and send-ups while Keith would play some of his favorite music.
Fall 1973, The Who released the double album Quadrophenia composed by Pete Townshend with Moon singing "Bell Boy." Quadrophenia is about the four-faceted Jimmy, a Mod from 1964-1965, who climbs on The Rock to examine his life. Each member of The Who had a theme. Moon's theme was "a bloody lunatic, I'll even carry your bags," needing the attention of others while keeping up a front of self-containment at the same time. "The Real Me," "Bell Boy" and "Love Reign O'er Me" are the significant tracks. Moon also sang on "We Close Tonight" which was released on the re-issue of Odds & Sods
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November 1973, Moon passed out during the San Francisco stop on the Quadrophenia tour. Video of this event can be found on the 30 Years of Maximum R & B video release.
In 1974, Moon completed acting roles in two movies, Uncle Ernie in Tommy
and J.D. Clover in in Stardust, the sequel to That'll Be The Day. Moon visited Los Angeles and stayed in a rented Santa Monica beach house with John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Harry Nilsson. Moon had such a good time that he would soon move to Los Angeles for the partying and an attempt at an acting career. While in Los Angeles, Moon hosted the popular American Television show, In Concert, which featured Keith playing a drum solo with goldfish swimming in his drum kit. The Who released Odds & Sods, a collection of Who B-sides and rejected album songs that included Moon singing a bit on "Now I'm A Farmer."
In March 1975, Moon released his only solo album, Two Sides of the Moon, with Keith singing on all of the tunes which included a John Lennon original and cover songs loved by Moon. Moon received a $200,000 non-refundable advance for the album. Moon stated at the time of the release of the solo album, "I didn't know I was capable of some of the vocals that I had done . . . My commitment to the album is total, I wouldn't bother with it otherwise. I think it's commercial and will sell." In 1997 the solo album was re-issued with eight additional tracks.
Fall 1975, The Who released The Who By Numbers. Moon's excellent drumming can be heard on "Dreaming From the Waist," "Success Story" and "In Hand or Face."
In 1976, Moon sang "When I'm Sixty Four" for the soundtrack record to the movie All This and World War II.
In 1977, Moon appeared in the movie Sextette. Moon also appeared in concert on stage with Led Zeppelin.
Summer 1978, The Who released the album Who Are You with Moon singing a bit on "Guitar and Pen." During one of the recording sessions when Moon was struggling, Keith declared, "I am the best Keith Moon style drummer . . ." Moon's drumming drives the title track. Chillingly, the album cover has Keith Moon sitting on a chair that states, "Not to be Taken Away."
Posthumously in 1979, The Who released the feature films, Quadrophenia with Keith Moon as Executive Producer and The Kids Are Alright, with Keith Moon as a featured performer. In Kids, Moon, in response to the director asking for the truth, states tellingly, "No, I mean, the truth as you want to hear it. I can't do that. You couldn't afford me."
Keith Moon is rock and roll's greatest drummer. Moon's fills, rolls, patterns and toms' work pushed rock drumming beyond the limits of the then rock drummer. From his punk playing on "My Generation" to his playing to the synthesizer tracks like "Baba O'Riley," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and the Quadrophenia album, Keith Moon expanded the range and vocabulary of the rock drummer. Moon's style ranged from big band, surf, rock and proto-punk. On Moon's drum style, John Entwistle stated, "[Moon] didn't play from left to right or right to left, he'd play forward. When you see him playing mad breaks, he's not going around the kit, his arms are moving forward from the snare to the toms. I've never seen anyone play like that before or since."
On advice Moon would give to people taking up the drums, Keith is attributed with saying, "Learn guitar." If one listens to Moon's playing (or sees video of The Who live), Keith is playing off of Who guitarist, Pete Townshend more than Moon is keeping time by playing off of Who bassist John Entwistle.
Moon's greatness behind the drumkit is often overshadowed by his public image as "Moon the Loon." Keith Moon is known more for dressing up like Adolf Hitler (in places such as Steve McQueen's Malibu house), striping naked in airports and on television shows, destroying hotel rooms, swinging from chandeliers, throwing televisions out of hotel windows, putting cherry bombs in toilets, leaving a hovercraft on train tracks disrupting train schedules, being quick with word play, puns and the funny joke, passing out at concerts and consuming super human amounts of alcohol and pharmaceuticals. This public image of Keith Moon was so pronounced that the Muppet character, Animal, whose credo is "Drums. Women. Food." was inspired by Moon.
Keith Moon's commitment to The Who and his love of all things Who made Moon The Who's biggest fan. Moon stated time and again that there was nothing more important to him than The Who.
On September 7, 1978, Keith Moon died in his sleep due to an overdose of the prescription drug, Heminevrin.
Keith Moon was survived by his ex-wife Kim, a daughter, Amanda, a loyal girlfriend Annette and countless Who fans.
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Kim went on to marry Ian McLagen from the Small Faces and they both lived in the US until Kim's unfortunate recent death in a car crash.
Moon lives on he remains a key influence on many drummers and even towards the end when he was out of shape he always argued that he was still "the best Keith Moon type drummer in the world"
Roger Daltrey continues to attempt to put a Moon biography film together but despite the like of Mile Myers pleding support as the lead role a suitable script which gives due credence to the real Moon and not the "Loon"
As we know following the death of John Entwistle there are now only the two remaining and this is a fair summary of where they are.
Keith Moon 23rd August 1946 - 7th September 1978
Best of luck to George Burley and all the players as they start off today on another World Cup campaign.
Being born in 1960 my first World Cup in '62 was experienced without recall regrettably we are never allowed to forget 1**6 and "they think it's all over .....it is now"
The 1970 World Cup is still fresh in my memory we got a colour television in time and I collected a whole set of Esso coins (one free with every four gallons of petrol with Bobby Moore being the rarest and hardest to come by).
The football was dominated by Pele and that Gordon Banks save and for West Germany gaining revenge for 1**6, the final between Brazil and Italy was graced by one of the best goals seen in a final.
The airwaves were full of the England World Cup song which blasted from my mother's transistor radio in the kitchen as I played Subbuteo on the dining room kitchen.
With Scotland qualifying for the '74 Finals the country went World Cup crazy with a single and an album being released. On the park we set the mark for future finals by going out gallant losers.
By the time of the Holland v West Germany Final I was ensconced in a tent at BB Camp in Cornwall.
But who can forget this gem.
As for '78 in Argentina ....well I was on of the nutters conned into turning up at Hampden Park to wave off our World Cup Wnners elect, my only excuse being I had just turning 18 and any excuse for a bevvie in the city was grabbed.
The fever around our certain win spawned two hit singles.
There is no point dwelling on the football as it was as exciting as Alan Rough's perm ....except of course for THAT goal.
By 1982 I was in love and amazingly football was for a short period of secondary importance.."We Had A Dream"
Is this the second best Scottish World Cup goal ever?
Mexico 1986 made it four in a row for Scotland, for me I was working at Prestwick and living in a B&B Sunday to Friday, as I was a long term guest the family let me house sit for them whilst they went on holiday and as such I watched a great deal of these finals on my own.
At the end of the summer I with one of my best friends spent 3 weeks in the States based at family we have in San Diego, this was much more interesting than the football.
As you can hear the music was dire!
Now 1990 well that was a year.......I moved job and house to Edinburgh and got married all in the space of three months. The wedding was two days before the Final and my wedding work night out was the night England lost to Germany (again).
Musically the theme Nessum Dorma was forever linked to football and New Order released a World Cup song which could actually stand up in isolation from the football.
That's it for now part two will follow during the week if we get something from today's match in Macedonia, if we don't that will most likely mean another failure to qualify and as such I won't be arsed making a post.
But for now I'm off to dig out the "See You Jimmy" hat, my flag and I will once again have to remind myself of the words to the second verse of that dirge "Flower Of Scotland" we use as an anthem.
Over the coming weeks Helpless Dancer will be expanding his web profile via the addition of two new sites.
I now carry with me a 3G iPhone which gives me easy access to the web and allows posting on the road.
Mrs Dancer and I head north on Sunday for a week in Royal Deeside based at the lovely town of Ballater, you can catch our adventures via photographs at http://fuzzyshot.com/helplessdancer
Whilst away I will also be setting up a WordPress blog which is accessible and amendable via iPhone this will be located at http://thehelplessdancer.wordpress.com so watch this space.
Tomorrow will be a trip down World Cup memory lane....see you there.
