Down The Road Apiece - Lower League Rock Locations
Premier League Rock & Roll real estates like Abbey Road, Gracelands or Route 66 are great, grand and romantic. But what about bit part places - the musical equivalents of ‘Old Kent Road' and ‘Pentonville Road' on a Monopoly board - low key locations that will never be celebrated with pilgrimages or plaques but surely deserve some sort of documentation. I'm able to tick off several little leaguers via my train journey to work.
The art studio of Ronnie Wood's brother in law is on route to the station
The club where Donovan was spotted by Peter Eden is short hop down the line.
Canvey Island - that cradle of post pub/pre punk rockers Dr Feelgood, Eddie and The Hot Rods and more recently recorded in song by British Sea Power is a few stops on from mine..
But..what about you? Possibly, on your daily commute or while walking the dog of an evening you may pass a place that gets discussed in knowing nods and hand hidden whispers by locals. A site small in scale yet significant in musical history - Syd Barret's Cambridge hideaway, Widnes station where Paul Simon wrote ‘Homeward Bound', that pub in Beckenham where Bowie had his 'Arts Lab'. Are any of these on your doorstep? Do you (or have you ever) lived near a local rock landmark or semi-legendary semi-detached??
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I cycled...
... down Rock Road yesterday, former Cambridge home of last month's Word cover star. It has a library on it.
I used to live at the end of Penny Lane in Liverpool and there was a great cafe on it that sold black pudding toasted sandwiches - perfect for a hangover.
Konk studios
is but a couple of minutes walk from our flat. It has featured on the cover of 2 Kinks albums and is I was surprised to see the title and on the cover of the latest Kooks CD.
There you go - that's exactly the sort of thing we need to know
How about Ivanhoe's in Huddersfield? Venue of last UK gig of the Sex Pistols with Sid Vicous.Or Sanbanks in Bournemouth, Lennon's Aunt Mimi had a house there.
Pehaps a Word writer, reader or blogger may have lived just a stone's throw from either these (or similar) sites.
I pass
what was the Station Hotel in Richmond every morning.
What a nice topic
Close to home I pass Joe Meek's studio and also the site were parts of My Aim Is True and London Calling were recorded. I regularly promenade through the settings of Waterloo Sunset and London's Brilliant Parade. For years I worked in Wardour Street and saw the Marquee get torn down, which for a strange few days exposed the tiny backstage area where, among other things, I'd asked John Peel and The Undertones for interviews for my photocopied fanzine - the site workers imploring me 'Can I help you mate?' as I looked on. There's more...it's a bit privileged living in London really...
Oh and did I forget to mention
Fairport house, where said band first convened. Blue plaques should abound really.
Blue plaques
It's something I've thought about with Fairport. When you pass a blue plaque for someone who was probably only known to a few dozen people in his / her lifetime and is almost totally unknown now, a plaque on this property would be more than appropriate.
I haven't been past the house on foot for many years so don't know if it's still there, but you could see the Fairport name plaque by the front door from the footpath.
Would that the house on the cover of 'Unhalfbricking'?
apologies if I've caused any gasps - I don't as much about Fairport as I really should
I've passed that house regularly for the last 35 years
Many's the time I've thought about going to the door and saying "can I buy that sign off you, please?" reasoning that one day it would just disappear and I'd be cross if it ended up in a skip. A few years ago they re-painted the exterior and the sign disappeared. "Bugger!" I thought. But then I drove past a few weeks later and it was back. I mentioned it to Richard Thompson a couple of years ago and he said he always kept an eye out for it.
No, it's not the "Unhalfbricking" house. That I think is Sandy Denny's parents house. It's them on the front. The Fairport house was once the surgery of Simon Nicol's father who was a GP.
Now if it disappears I'll know it's one of you....