Not Exactly A Concert Review

Well, I did go to see Richie Furay in concert last week. Yes, I did. I spent the better part of a month convincing myself that it was a rare opportunity that I should not miss, and while I nearly did, I didn't. The guy's voice is in unbelievably good shape after all these years. He played a few songs from his more recent "Christian" albums, but did a lot of his classic material, including SHF Band, Poco and Buffalo Springfield. Not just the songs he wrote, but Stephen's "Go And Say Goodbye" (which he also covered in Poco) and a whole lot of the Neil songs that Richie sang on the original Springfield LP's. Richie played acoustic guitar, joined by a guy on keyboards, mandolin, banjo and Telecaster by turns, plus a young bassist and a percussionist. Looked like fewer than 100 (predominantly male and middle-aged) people in the club, but those of us smart and lucky enough to be present were, and I believe this is the correct usage of the term, fookin' gobsmacked.

Six Years Ago

Those familiar with the album Lizard by the group King Crimson may find this excerpt from the Fripp online diary interesting. Most others will not, I suppose. When other readers of this page outnumber me, I will give the content of this blog due consideration. For now, this is stuff I'm interested in reading, and since this won't roll around again on the Fripp Calendar again until 2006...

Wednesday 8th. September, 1999

08.20 Simon [Heyworth] & Robert [Fripp] have returned to the terrors of "Lizard". "Indoor Games" now sounds more musical than since it left the studio.

An ace tune well played mixes itself. Difficulties in mixing are commonly the result of poor musical conception and / or performance. An unsolved problem in mixing passes the problem to the mastering engineer. The main technical difficulty in mastering "Lizard" is how to deal with the mellotron. Controlling the mellotron's middle-range screech unsettles the rest of the spectrum. Past solutions to mastering "Lizard" have failed to find a single all-win solution. Simon the Hero, with new technology, is now closer to reconciling the unreconcilable elements of "Lizard" than ever before.

"Lady Of The Dancing Water" is about-to-be-becoming-having-been tickled. Mel's flute playing is so good. "Prince Rupert Awakes" - Rupert would have done better to stay in bed that day. Jon Anderson has sung the unsingable: neither melody writer nor lyricist helped him on this one. An early edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (from any good secondhand bookshop) is an essential aid to interpreting the lyrics.

At last! The Bolero! Robin Miller's oboe has entered, left, and Keith Tippett, Mark Charig, Nick Evans & Mel Collins are blowing away. This is the only part of the album I am able to remember with anything other than fear, terror, misery & suffering.

"The Battle", "Lament" & the whirligig of "Big Top" all now recalibrated & fine tuned.

12.15 Hooray! All the tracks ready for glueing together.

In Sum:

Lots of ideas, mostly presented simultaneously and very few of which work. Various bits are unsure whether to try & make connection with a unified central theme, or maintain their independence. Mostly, the search for a unified central theme escapes satisfaction & the constituent elements adopt a semblance of neutrality, so as not to attract culpability for their involvement. Labour & labouring, mostly joyless, strive effortfully to present the appearance of cohesion.

There is one exception: the Bolero. The main theme, played on oboe by Robin Miller (co-principal oboist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Boulez at the time) is a gift. This is a melody which sustained me in difficult times.

Overall, the album is unlistenable. Our remastering shows just how unlistenable. I am unable to recommend that anyone part with their hard-earned pay for this one, unless they want to take it to parties and play it at unwelcome guests. There are some "Lizard" lovers, I know. They must be very strange.

14.08 At 14.00 our final listen-through & hyper-tickling was completed. A huge improvement.

15.22 Simon is now playing the test tones for "Islands". The tape box is marked "Command Studios". This is enough to strike fear into the heart of those that know the name.