The Dave Clark Five

For the second day running I am the bearer os sad news, today it is the passing of Mike Smith the singer and keyboard player in The Dave Clake Five, Dave Clark being the drummer.

More detailed information below, however, here is probably their best known song.

14 Glad All Over

The Dave Clark Five

He died yesterday from pneumonia at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, agent Margo Lewis said.

	Mike Smith, right, with the band

Smith, the band's lead singer and keyboardist, was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit on Wednesday with a chest infection.

He had been in hospital since September 2003 following a spinal cord injury that left him a tetraplegic. He was released in December when he moved to a specially-prepared home near the hospital with his wife.

He had been preparing to travel to New York to be inducted into the American Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame with his band mates on March 10.

Ms Lewis said last night: "These last five years were extremely difficult for Mike.

"I am incredibly saddened to lose him, his energy and his humour, but I am comforted by the fact that he had the chance to spend his final months and days at home with his loving wife, Charlie, whom he adored, instead of in the hospital, and that he was able to attend a recent concert in London by his good friend, Bruce Springsteen.

"He was extremely excited and honoured to have been inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and I am glad that he will be remembered as a 'Hall of Famer', because he was in so many ways."

The Dave Clark Five were second only to the Beatles in the "Great British Invasion" of the US.

The band sold over 100 million records and enjoyed 30 hit singles worldwide.

They topped the chart with Glad All Over in 1963 and recorded a total of 23 albums, many of them for the US market.

The Dave Clark Five broke up in the 1970s.

Source www.telegraph.co.uk

Bits and Pieces

The above track reminds me of Radio 1 Summer Roadshows with a quiz of the same name which used this as it's theme tune.

1-04 Can't You See That She's Mine

The Dave Clark Five

Buddy Miles

Buddy Miles, 60; drummer with Hendrix, voice of California raisins

Source www.latimes.com

Buddy and Jimi

When Hendrix arrived in the UK in the mid 60's he was heavily influenced by the white rock acts of the time and in particular The Who (signing for Track records) and Cream, as such "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" was born as a power trio simulating the "three lead instruments of guitar drums and bass".

Once he had cracked this format Hendrix really wanted to return to his "black" roots and draw from jazz and soul as well as the blues which remained a key influence. His "Electric Ladyland" double album was the first step down this path and featured Buddy Miles for the first time.

Thereafter the "Band Of Gypsys" were formed with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox replacing the Experience's Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, they became tagged as the first "black rock band" but fate intervened and despite releasing one live album, which regretably featured a Hendrix well below par, never managed to finish any studio output.

Buddy Miles was very different from Mitch Mitchell, who like Keith Moon, had almost a non drummer style, Miles loved rythme and percussion and brought that soul feel to Hendrix's music when ever he contributed.

This was a style he maintained as he played with Santana, however, the draw of Hendrix was never far away and very often during his solo output years he re-visited the work of Hendrix.

Below are two examples, the latter being his final recorded work before ill health kicked in.

03 All Along the Watchtower

Buddy Miles Express

03 Manic Depression

Billy Cox & Buddy Miles

01 Umbrella

Manic Street Preachers

If you didn't recognise it, here is the original

Lizz Wright

With Amy Winehouse winning 5 Grammys and 2008 looking like a big year for new girls on the block Duffy and Beth Rowley the time could not be better for the return of one of modern music's best voices Lizz Wright.

Her third album "The Orchard" is out soon and is a step beyond in that the majority of songs are at least partially self penned, she does however include some more superb covers including Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" and Ike Turner's "I Idolize You" the latter of which you can listen to below.

03 I Idolize You

Lizz Wright

The largely self-penned The Orchard finds Wright mining her own experience to create an unmistakably personal musical statement.  The warmth and resonance of Wright’s gospel-trained contralto is matched by the intimacy and authority of such original compositions as “Coming Home,” “My Heart,” “Another Angel” and “When I Fall.”  Wright’s interpretive skills are equally impressive on revelatory readings of  the Ike and Tina Turner classic “I Idolize You,” Sweet Honey in the Rock’s “Hey Mann,” the Led Zeppelin ballad “Thank You” and Patsy Cline’s haunting “Strange.”

            The Orchard reflects Wright’s lifelong musical journey.  The artist was born in the small rural town of Hahira, Georgia, one of three children of a minister father and a mother who sang gospel at church services.  In her childhood, she began playing piano and singing in church with her two siblings.  In high school, she broadened her musical horizons by studying choral singing, performing with groups of various sizes and winning several regional and national awards. 

            Wright subsequently studied voice at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and continued her musical education at New York’s New School and  in Vancouver.  Returning to Atlanta, she won considerable regional acclaim after joining the jazz group In the Spirit.  In 2002, Wright gained high-profile acclaim for her performances as part of a touring Billie Holiday tribute, for which she was singled out as a future star by several prominent critics.   

            Her 2003 debut Salt introduced Wright as both an accomplished songwriter and an effortlessly magnetic performer, delivering subtly persuasive vocal performances in understated jazz/R&B settings.  Salt won international acclaim, earning Wright comparisons with such formidable figures as Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln.  It also struck a chord with the public, reaching the Number Two slot on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart. 

            The New York Times‘ Stephen Holden praised Wright’s “astonishing maturity and poise” and wrote that she “stirs jazz, gospel and rhythm and blues into a reflective, flowing style that elongates songs into prayerful meditations that never wander into vagueness,” and described her singing as “pitch-perfect, with a smoky, full-bodied texture… impressive in its steadiness, control and rhythmic subtlety.” 

            Dreaming Wide Awake followed in 2005, expanding Wright’s interpretive range on a broad array of material ranging from Fats Waller to Neil Young.  The sophomore effort reached the top position on the Billboard  Contemporary Jazz chart, and marked the start of Wright’s productive association with producer Craig Street, whose resume includes work with such notable female auteurs as Cassandra Wilson, k.d. lang and Me’Shell NdegéOcello.

            Wright’s collaboration with Street continues on The Orchard.  While her prior releases boasted contributions from some of the jazz world’s most respected jazz players, The Orchard features an eclectic cast that includes noted singer/songwriter Toshi Reagon, who co-wrote several songs with Wright; Calexico members Joey Burns and John Convertino; avant-guitar hero Oren Bloedow; longtime Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell; Ollabelle member Glenn Patscha; and guest vocalists Catherine Russell and Marc Anthony Thompson (aka Chocolate Genius).

            The Orchard’s fluid, intimate performances reflect the unpretentious spirit in which the music was created.  The project actually began with a set of photographs taken by Wright in her rural hometown, focusing on the orchard of the title, a setting that she’s known since childhood.   

            “The Orchard started with a trip that I took home to see my grandparents, and watching how they interacted with their neighbors and friends,” Wright recalls.  “It got me thinking about where I was born and grew up, and that really inspired me a lot.  I took some pictures of that area, and I made a little slide show and set it to the Tom Waits song “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You” and I took that to Verve and said ‘This is what I want to do.’  We went back to do another photo shoot, before we’d even recorded any music.  And when I sat down with Craig and the writers and musicians, I showed them the pictures and played them the Tom Waits song.  Everyone responded to them in their own way, and everyone brought their own insight and sensibilities to this concept that I showed them, and that helped to take the record to a different place. 

            “I liked the idea of this record having a soul that was centered around the orchard,” she explains.  “But I didn’t feel compelled to stay married to the concept.  I Initially wanted this record to be very much about home, about Hahira, and I took a lot of signals from there, but it ended up becoming something else.  I wanted to name it The Orchard because that’s where it started.” 

            Before they began recording, Wright and Reagon debuted The Orchard’s songs with a series of low-key live sets at the small East Village club Banjo Jim’s.  “We played through everything to figure out how we wanted to approach the songs.  We tried out a lot of arranging ideas and different approaches, and the arrangements changed every night.  That was a great process, and it was a challenge to me to make something real out of these songs that I didn’t really know yet.  It’s the first time I’ve done that, working through songs live before making a record and learning just how far I could push myself.”

            That organic approach was maintained throughout the recording process, which took place at studios in upstate New York’s Catskill mountains, in Tucson, Arizona and Brooklyn.  The sessions emphasized spontaneity and chemistry.  “We exchanged different sounds and different textures, and worked out the arrangement right then and there,’” Wright notes.  “We didn’t decide before going into the studio what the songs would sound like; we just had an idea or a feeling, and sometimes Craig would suggest something or someone would play something and we’d follow the vibe.  All of the musicians who were involved in this record had something to do with the way  we ended up playing the songs, and I think that gave the project  breadth and depth.” 

            That rare ability to exist within the musical moment is one of the qualities that make Lizz Wright a special artist and The Orchard a career milestone.  “This record was a huge learning experience, in every way, and I think it showed me a lot about myself,” she states.  “I never would have imagined that I would have written some of the things I wrote on this record, or told some of these stories.  But I felt really free and I really let myself go, and I surprised myself.”

Source http://espot.wordpress.com

Neil Young's "Old Man" was recorded for the "Dreaming Wide Awake" Album

The traditional "Walk With Me Lord" featured on her debut album "Salt"

Now we have "The Orchard"

The Champions

One of my favourite programmes of my childhood is now airing again on ITV4 and I can assure you that Alexandra Bastedo still looks as stunning as I thought during my early crush.

The Champions

"The Champions" Summary

Welcome to The Champions at TV Rage. "Craig Sterling, Sharron Macready and Richard Barrett are The Champions. Endowed with the qualities and skills of superhumans - qualities and skills, both physical and mental, to the peak of human performance. Gifts given to them by an unknown race of people when their plane crashed near a lost civilisation in Tibet. Now, with their secrets known only to them, they are able to use their fantastic powers to their best advantage as The Champions of Law, Order and Justice. Operators of the International Agency, Nemesis!" 'The Champions' was the first production from the team of Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman. Their company Scoton made the series for ITC in 1967 and established the format for many future ITC productions of casting three actors as the heroes.

Source www.tvrage.com

From the company that brought you Danger Man¹, The Saint and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)² and the team that would bring you Department S and Jason King, comes The Champions, the story of three agents of the international crime-fighting agency Nemesis.

The first episode 'The Beginning' sets the story: Richard (William Gaunt) and Craig (Stuart Damon) are 'hard-bitten Nemesis agents', Sharron (Alexandra Bastedo) has joined them for her first mission, to retrieve evidence of new germ-warfare tests 'behind the bamboo curtain' (in more politically correct terms, China). Hit by gunfire as they escape, their plane crashes in the mountains of Tibet. There, they are rescued by a hidden Tibetian civilisation which mends their bodies and raises them to the peak of human physical and mental performance. Vowing to keep this a secret, the three agents set about using their powers in their role as Nemesis agents.

In a conversation with Richard, a member of this Tibetian civilisation explains that they 'are not immortal', or perfect, they can still fail and make mistakes. They have become 'super humans, not superhuman'. It is also established that even the people that grant them these powers do not know exactly how they will manifest in each of the agents - a neat ploy that allows the writers to introduce previously unmentioned powers as storylines demand.

The Creators

The series was the brainchild of Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman, both veterans of the cult action/adventure genre, but this would be the first time they had created a series together. Spooner had previously written for series such as The Saint and The Baron, as well as being a script editor for Doctor Who. Berman had been one of the driving forces behind the creation of the TV series of The Saint as well as Gideon's Way. All these series came from the stable of Lew Grade, via his famous company ITC³. The memorable theme music was written by Tony Hatch, who would go on to write the themes for shows such as Crossroads and Neighbours. Hatch also had a career as a pop-song writer, writing songs for artists such as Petula Clark.

The Series

The first episode made its debut on 25 September 1968, and the series would continue to air weekly at eight in the evening until 30 April, 1969, with the final episode, 'Autokill'. After the first episode, the format was quickly established - each episode would begin with a pre-credit sequence establishing the week's threat, which lead into the credits. After the credits, a sequence featuring one or more of the trio would showcase one of their 'powers', accompanied by a voice-over explaining the show's premise. This would be followed by a cut to the three in the office of their boss, Tremayne (Anthony Nicholls), and then in to the story's main action. Throughout the course of the series, one never feels that the true limit of the characters' powers have been shown, but we do know that: they are tremendously strong; they can bend steel with their bare hands⁴; they can clear 10 foot fences in a jump⁵; they have ESP⁶ powers which allow them to sense danger to themselves and the other Champions; they can hold their breath for long periods of time⁷; their hearing and vision are very acute; and they have total recall⁸.

The Cast

• Richard Barrett - William Gaunt

• Craig Stirling - Stuart Damon

• Sharron Macready - Alexandra Bastedo

• Commander William Lawrence Tremayne - Anthony Nicholls

Dashingly handsome Stuart Damon is now best known as Dr Alan Quartermaine from the award-winning⁹ US soap opera General Hospital, from 1997 to date, but at 31 he was cast as Craig Stirling, the American of the team. It was common ITC policy to cast Americans in leading roles, as Lew Grade was very keen on appealing to the lucrative USA market. Also 31 when cast, William Gaunt is probably best known to cult fans as Orcini, from the 1985 Doctor Who story 'Revelation of the Daleks', while the general public would be more likely to recognise him from Next of Kin, A Gentleman's Club or No Place Like Home. Strikingly beautiful Alexandra Bastedo was only 22 when she was cast as Sharron Macready, but she had already had guest roles in other ITC series such as The Saint. Modern viewers may recognise her as Penny Casper-Morse, Eddy's terribly fashionable friend (who turned out to be blind) from the Absolutely Fabulous episode 'Fat'. Anthony Nicholls was already a veteran of TV by the time of The Champions - he made his TV debut in 1937, and was an accomplished stage actor. He passed away in 1977.

The Number 23

Over the weekend Chez Dancer viewed the above film, I for one was not particularily full of the joys regarding this decision as I have never been a fan of Jim Carrey, however, by the end it was one of the best films I had seen for awhile and would recommend it to anyone.

I won't give anything away as this would spoil the viewing however you can watch the trailer below and thereafter listen to the David Sylvian song which plays over the end credits and captures the overall mood perfectly.

03 The Banality Of Evil

Nine Horses

Duffy2

No apologies about another Duffy post as having found out about this lady and her incredible voice last year I am so pleased she has caught the imagination of a larger audience, though for "Mercy" to reach No1 and hold the position for a second week shows an unusual sense of good taste on the part of the UK music buying population.

Friday night saw her make her THIRD appearance in almost four months on Later With Jools this time as a last minute replacement for the ill Alicia Keys and as such saw her take the headline slot and perform three songs.