Entertainment For Lively Minds
Hammond Chops Source
At the risk of alienating the youngsters in their 30s who read this site, may I ask what has happened to the glorious sound of the hammond organ, an essential staple of late 60s and early 70s "hard rock"? There was a time when no self-respecting group of the underground could exist without a flurry of chord driven organic (geddit!) frenzy. The keyboards were king, and the heirs to the throne were such as Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Vincent Crane, Dave Greenslade (Colosseum rather than his eponymous group) and (shush, yes, for a time, amidst the row of the rest of their stuff)even Ken Hensley. Since those days, give or take the attempt by the Charlatans to revive the sound, sadly at the expense of the life of the player in question, Rob Collins, seldom is that rich tone a frontline sound. Shame, tho' I appreciate that the instrument is no longer made.
Who else, in rock, so I exclude the wonderful Jimmys of jazz, Smith and McGriff, pursued this wonderfully emotive instrument?
(I exclude also Wakeman, as he was too poncey for my tastes)
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Mick Talbot
The Style Council played a great Hammond. But the king of the instrument for me growing up, apart from the greats was James Taylor of The James Taylor Quartet.
He actually started in a band called The Prisoners who were a huge influence on The Charlatans. Tim Burgess was in regular attendance at their gigs in the 80s and they recorded an album for Eddie Pillar who went on to set up the Acid Jazz label.
But The Prisoners weren't jazz, they were ferocious garage punk pop, influenced by The Small Faces (more Hammond!!), Hendrix and Deep Purple(covering Hush regularly). Graham Day has had a long career making this kind of music over the last 25 years and is well worth checking out, especially The Prisoners and his latest band Graham Day & The Gaolers.
James Taylor gave their sound a character that helped set The Prisoners apart from the usual garage suspects in the 80s, that and Graham Day's great songs.
But lots of choppy distorted Hammond all over the place was the order of the day.
Good call
I have several JTQ albums, but wasn't really thinking of his superlative playing, as it falls somewhat outside the rock canon. I confess I know little of the Prisoners/Gaolers tho', so will check 'em out.
JT
is only on The Prisoners stuff, and while there is some nice Hammond on the Graham Day's own stuff, it's on The Prisoners that I think you'll find what you're looking for!
Prisoners - what a band!
Also, Graham Day has released two excellent albums with The Gaolers, well worth checking out, as are his previous band The Solarflares.
The Hammond is alive and well, lots of Scandinavian bands are into it such as The Soundtrack of Our Lives and The Caesars.
I saw a band from Ireland called The Urges supporting Soundtrack a couple of weeks ago and they were pretty good.
Other bands like The Fuzztones and The Loons might be of interest too.
If you're into the old Nuggets/Garage vibe then Little Steven has a brilliant radio show Underground Garage playing loads of Hammond/Farfisa driven tunes:
http://www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/homepage.html
Also, a great record label, Wicked Cool.
http://www.wickedcoolrecords.com/
Going to dig out some Brian Auger & Trinity records tonight!
Spooky
http://www.7digital.com/stores/default.aspx?shop=34&partner=505
Great minds...and all that!
I just love the production on those Gaolers albums - just bursts out of the speakers! If you haven't already I'd recommend checking out the other Gaolers day job, The Woggles - crap name great band (but not much Hammond...).
Gaolers production
Completely agree, Graham Day's albums have never sounded better. I had the new one on today on the iPod, it's that much louder and sharper and brighter and powerful than anything else on there.
The Prisoners
Not necessarily the best quality every, but pretty representative of what they sounded like, especially live where they rocked!
Dave Stewart
All through his work with Egg, The Hatfields, National Health and Bruford, he used a Hammond T-100 (often through a fuzz-box)
Here he is with the Hatfields
Didn't know that
I associate him more with the Caravan swirl, an altogether different and fuzzier tone, which, much as I love "In the Land of Grey and Pink", again it wasn't the sound I was seeking other instances of.
I've been doing some Dave Stewart digging recently, ever since the great Word prog debates of 2008, purchasing a Hatfield and (still, for yonks) awaiting an Egg, finding the music great but the side-tracked "funny bits" shocking. O, and the Dave Stewart/Barbara Gaskin, hit single or 2 aside, is dire beyond dire beyond dire.
Dave Stewart
If you're liking his work, check out anything by Bruford - DS played a major part in the composition, playing and producing.
This is a good start: http://open.spotify.com/track/0DKvzig7rwfWTZ0gvb0Zfx
Stewart & Gaskin
Have a new CD out next week - details here
www.myspace.com/davestewartbarbaragaskin
Also details af rare Egg recordings on here
www.myspace.com/eggarchive
Sorry, but no thanks......
The earlier one (please let there only be one) was so shockingly awful that the description on myspace leads me to anticipate the worst:
"In a departure from style, Green and Blue contains only one cover version. This is the most varied Stewart/Gaskin album to date, combining heart-rending ballads, poppy toe-tappers, lengthy musical explorations and a heavy metal thrash, but the diverse material is united by the duo's trademark musicality."
Yeeeurghchsploof!
For those who like to avoid Myspace...
The online store is at:
http://www.burningshed.com/store/eggarchive/
Sorry, but no thanks......
The earlier one (please let there only be one) was so shockingly awful that the description on myspace leads me to anticipate the worst:
"In a departure from style, Green and Blue contains only one cover version. This is the most varied Stewart/Gaskin album to date, combining heart-rending ballads, poppy toe-tappers, lengthy musical explorations and a heavy metal thrash, but the diverse material is united by the duo's trademark musicality."
Yeeeurghchsploof!
For those who like to avoid Myspace...
The online store is at:
http://www.burningshed.com/store/eggarchive/
also includes a Hatfields archive as well
http://www.burningshed.com/store/hatfield/
Ignoring your exclusion
Brother Jack McDuff is worth a listen particuarly Let My People Go (the greatest record ever made)and his Wade In The Water as is James Brown Plays The Organ featuring his stirling Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf.
The shifting of the bloody things along with leslie cabs has a lot to do with the hammond being popular in the studio but not live for anybody but the biggest bands.
Hammond
As any gigging musician will tell you: Hammond? great sound but the weight of a Leslie Cabinet is unbelievable.... and ungiggable unless you have a serious roadcrew.
Having said that, but for two spelling differences, keyboard players here in Italy think that our names are a marriage in keyboard heaven....
Rowland & Lesley
www.reallyaccessiblememory.com
Fame academy
That Mose Alison!
Georgie should sue.
Harumph!
I'm pretty sure this is Money Mark and not a sample but I'm prepared to be shamed. So damn funky.
The Charlatans
biggest riff.
Recent acolytes were The Jayhawks
and The Wallflowers
That whole Americana scene was pretty Hammond-heavy
In fact Apple's 'Magic Garage Band' jam-along tool has an Americana setting which is driven by a Hammond
Jackie Mittoo
Reggae's finest hammond player
Speaking as a three-chord pianist...
...there's something physical about playing a Leslie'd Hammond; it's all that moving machinery.
It like being in control of some sort of keyboard operated Victorian steam engine - you hit a chord and you can feel 'stuff' happening inside the boxes; wheels turning, speakers spinning, masses being moved.
I only ever played one once but, one day, I'll have one :-)
As a long time Charlatans fan
since the the very start, the loss of Rob Collins & his hammond sound is missed greatly. No disrespect to his replacement but the swagger went with Rob & there hasn't been as much hammond on a Charlatans record since. I'd recommend "Area 51" from "Tellin Stories" for anyone wanting to hear a genius at work
Unless I missed it
no-one has mentioned Booker T and the MG's who have some great Hammond influenced tracks. Colosseum as mentioned - I ordered the expanded Valentyne Suite from Amazon a week or so ago.
Then of course Procul Harum.
Not sure about JTQ - saw them live about 18 months ago and except for the finale of the last 3 or 4 numbers I thought they were extremely dull.
One memorable Hammond led song is the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers Broken Wings which I absolutely love.
Getting back on track....
Yes, I've been waiting to see if a shout would come up for Harum, whether the litigious Fisher or the later and better Chris Copping.
What price the two Petes, Banks and Bardens? Has anybody sufficient recommendation to place them within the ranks of royalty (british 60s/70s div.)?
Peter Banks
always seemed to have one hand in the air and one on the keyboard.
Peter Bardens used too 'clean' a tone for me. If you're not careful, a Hammond can sound a little too much like a home organ :-)
New Music You Say?
Try this. Strand Of Oaks. Not on Spotify yet, so this is the next best. http://www.myspace.com/strandofoaks
Listen to 'Mourning Worker'
The album, 'Leave Ruin' is excellent, one of the best so far this year.
Great
I'll steer clear. Still love the swathes of chording on Yours is no Disgrace (Yes album), but Banks seems to never have been allowed to solo, hence the replacement with Captain Cape.
Bardens was Camel, right? Much as I love Snow Goose, it is the guitar and flute that remains in my mind.
Peter Bardens home organ
Take a listen to the Hammond on Never Let Go. It has that flat, un-driven sound
http://open.spotify.com/track/5M80cFnbS48HLRCDqIRkM8
Talk Talk
Talk Talk : Wealth.
Loads more Hammond/Leslie juice on its parent album Spirit of Eden.
http://open.spotify.com/track/7nhYkNRrzUws026NHH8ZA4