time capsule #2

a different slice o' Seventies (or rather - see below - two different slices o' Seventies)



the opening song of this LP is one of my favorite songs ever - harrows my heart it does



There is another version of "The Blacksmith" that the early Steeleye did but it's not half as piercing as that version on Pleased To See The King

Got into Steeleye and that particular LP through a piece now unfindable on the internet in which a chap pointed out that the guitar in "Skank Bloc Bologna" bore the unmistakable influence of Martin Carthy-era Steeleye Span. One of those light bulb moments that you would often get in the early days of the internet, where all kinds of strange bods were dropping odd knowledge that they'd stored up for decades, insights and connections.




Here's some Green quotes on the subject, via Bibbly-O-Tek extracts from a Time Out interview:

"At school, I used to go to a folk club in the Newport docks area. Martin Carthy was my hero. He's a seriously funky guitarist! At art college in Leeds, I followed Carthy around the country. I was once stranded in the middle of nowhere after one of his gigs, and Martin and Norma went completely out of their way to give me a lift home, which was lovely of them."

He liked the way that old men urinated at folk clubs!

˜They had a way of holding their cocks while they were pissing. I found that fascinating. I wrote a lyric about it on the first album [on 'Jacques Derrida'].  'He held it like a cigarette/ Behind a squaddie's back/He held it so he hid its length/And so he hid its lack.'

I must say though much as I love Pleased to See the King I've never managed to get into Carthy solo. I don't find his voice appealing. 

^^^^^^^^^

A cool fan video with lots of photos of early Scritti live and done I presume for interviews (zines?) that I've not seen before, plus a bit from the Rough Trade doc with them inserting vinyl in the Skank Bloc fold-up sleeves



Odd to think that only about 4 or 5 years separate the Steeleye BBC film and the Scritti / Rough Trade TV footage (South Bank Show originally I believe)

what a massive rock cultural gap (whereas the difference between 2019 and 2014 is barely discernible, in pop culture - if not in political culture, where it's a chasm)



This is a rather sweet testimonial off of YouTube 

Nicholas Alvarez2 years ago

"I somehow got a promoter for the F Club in Chappeltown Leeds to book my band as the support act for Scritti Politti in July 1979. Well, I didn't have a band... but I turned up with a guitar and a couple of local punks who had agreed to put on a spotaneous jam session with me. We asked Scritti Politti if we could use all their instruments, and they said " Yeah, cool.." so up we went on stage and caused a lot of noise for 15 minutes, before the old West Indian owner of the place came up from the downstairs domino Blues Club and told us to get off the stage. Half an hour later, Scritti Politti comes onstage, and Green says "Thank You" to the support band, and that they thought they were really great, and as gratitude they will play a set of total improvisation... and that's what they did.. all these numers from the Rough Trade 12 inch were woven together in a long musical jam. At the end of the night when we were getting ready to go, the band came up to me and asked me if I wanted any money...of course I said no...and then we had some kind of group handshake, all of us."

Elsewhere in the YouTube thread, one Mixmaster Morris says:

I totally loved Skank Bloc Bologna and all the early Scritti stuff. Went to see them play about 5-6 times in this period. Somewhere I have tapes of some of those shows. Even went round their squat in Carol St and ate curried brussel sprouts. The Raincoats lived next door. I also saw them at the Futurama festival in Leeds, maybe the biggest show they ever did

I think there should be a petition made to Morris to release these live tapes into the commonwealth, don't you?

Talking of which, has anyone ever tracked down this?

Lots of never-recorded tracks listed there.