Entertainment For Lively Minds
Vibes
On my way into work this morning Good News, Bad News from Family's album Anyway came up on my MP3 player. It features prominently the playing of Poli Palmer on vibraphone. I found myself hard pushed to think of any other band in rock that has used vibes as a main part of the instrumentation. In jazz there was the one and only Lionel Hampton and I'm sure I've heard some classical stuff with Evelyn Glennie playing vibes.
It surely is an instrument heaven sent for prog bands. Can any of the many members of The Massive clued up on prog confirm or deny their useage?
Does anyone know what happened to Poli Palmer after he quit Family? Did he give up music entirely?
And by way of coincidence, to round this post off, the live half of Anyway was recorded at Fairfield Hall, Croydon, which I can see from where I'm sitting if I crane my head round a bookcase.
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Looking very relaxed
Adolf Hitler on vibes.
S**t
I should have put that bit in.
And very lovely it was....
...to see him "vibing" away on Prog at the Beeb too, Poli P that is, not Adolf.
Vibes seem forever otherwise doomed to be delegated to jazz, popping up only rarely in rock related areas. The very excellent Gary Burton, 4 hammer supremo, adds lovely textures to Bruce Cockburns' excellent 1996 charity of Night LP. more often to be found in his own band or with Chick Corea, here he is:
Memory lapse
I should have recalled that one as I've got that rather excellent album. In fact it's on my MP3 player. I may go off randommiser on the way home and have a listen to Bruce instead.
Mistress of storms
I listened to Charity of Night again. I'd completely forgotten all of Gary Burton's playing. Mistress of storms is a beautiful highlight of his playing on that album.
Roy Ayers!
I think...
..that Cardiac Arrest by Madness may feature a vibe solo.
Vibes
I used to see 'vibes' listed as Person X - Vibes/Piano and think that they were some atmosphere person = good vibes and all that...
Wot do you mean, wet?
Nice vibes here...
Giant Sand/Calexico...
...are/were big users of the vibraphone.
Can't remember which of them played it (John Convertino, the drummer?) but I helped Joey Burns wheel the instrument into a Giant Sand gig in Newcastle a few years ago.
Steely Dan...
...perhaps unsurprisingly featured vibes on their Countdown to Ecstasy album - played by Englishman Victor Feldman. Vibes are essentially Jazz methinks. Milt Jackson was a great exponent - see Miles Davis' 'Bags Groove' (great title, great record) and Bobby Hutcherson another - stalwart of the Blue Note Label
Victor Feldman
By coincidence I have just come across a reference to him in Humphrey Lyttleton's "Autobiographical Medley" book Last Chorus.
In the 1940s, according to Humph, there was a jazz club called Feldman's at 100 Oxford Street. It was run by the Feldman parents and their two elder sons, "But the apple of their eye was the youngest, Victor, who at the age of 10 performed prodigiously on the drums."
Did anyone in rock start out performing what must have been semi-professionally at such a young age? The only one I can think of is Steve Winwood, who started out playing with his father and brother in jazz bands before he was out of his teens.
Astral Weeks ... ?
And for a while around the time of the thoroughly excreable 'Hymns To The Silence' Van's touring band featured a large chested woman in an evening gown playing vibes. The novelty soon wore off.
She turned up again - and just as irritating - when he toured the almost as awful 'Pay The Devil'.
Vibraphone/marimba distraction all over most of Frank Zappa's oeuvre too surely.
(Gets both coats and leaves ....)
Tim Buckley
I think Tim Buckley liked to have Vibes on his stuff...I can't remember if they are on Dream Letter (Oh what a record), but Happy Sad has them...Live at The Troubadour as well..
Vibing isn't that rare it seems.
Half an hour browsing the back covers of a shelf or two of vinyl reveals that the following also all play vibes from time to time: Darryl Hall, Ginger Baker, Geoff Muldaur, Ry Cooder, Pierre Moerlen, Mark Hollis, Buzzy Linhart, Frank Ricotti, Coatimundi, Gary Burton, Vangelis, Tristan Fry, Leon Russell, Terence Trent D'Arby, Damon Albarn, Chris Stein, David Sylvian, Chuck Leavell, Ollie Halsall, Phil Collins and Nick Cave.
Strewth!
Marimba
Not quite vibes but I always thought this was staggering
Ruth Underwood playing Frank Zappa's "St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast" 30 years after recording it, and apparently not having played it for as long. Amazing.
Marimba?
Xylophone?
Whats the difference? I presume Vibraphone is just one or other (or both) plugged in.
Talking of Ruth Underwood, whatever happened to Ian Underwood?
Isn't
vibraphone metal and marimba wood?
Vibes
are made of aluminium.
For any American readers, that's aluminum, but spelled correctly.
Xylophone?
Marimba?
What's the difference?
The tone, apparently
The bars are cut differently and the mallets are different too, giving a different tone. All explained here. Not that I knew until 2 minutes ago!
http://members.cox.net/datimp/kybd.html
Thank you
(Can I come inside, now, it's getting cold out here)
must I mention
Larks' Tongues in Aspic yet again?
gets coat, hat, hatstand, allsorts - exits...
It's been a long time
Brother James, nice to see you responding on a thread I've started.
I don't have all of Lark's Tongue, and what I do have is on vinyl on A Young Person's Guide and I haven't listened to that for about, I'd guess, 25 years. However I may check it out at the weekend.
Family - they don't make bands like that anymore
Thanks for the reminder, Carl.
Currently chilling out to Good Friend Of Mine which is also vibes laden - from Castle double CD - A Family Selection - which I'd be much happier with if it contained anything from the first 2 albums.
Drowned In Wine has just come on - what an absolute gem.
The voice of a bleating lamb and a flute solo.
Chappo's voice
Peel once commented that if properly harnessed Roger Chapman's voice could be used to transmit messages between planets. Which I think sums up that unique voice pretty well.
Nice to see that folk are still earwigging
For those wondering, I still belt out a riff or two.
After Family, I toured with various people (including Chappo’s Shortlist) became a recording engineer and programmer, played in Hinkley’s Heroes and, for the last 25 years, have regularly invaded Poland with The Chuck Farley Band.
Cheers
Poli Palmer
PS. My favourite vibist is Bobby Hutcherson (very moody tunes, but he sure belts the crap out of the vibes)
for what it's worth Mr. Palmer
you play on an album that never drops out of my top 5 - Bandstand
Res'peck!
Lovely to hear from you
I'm pleased to find you're still gigging.
When not in Poland does the Chuck Farley Band tour on the British gig circuit?
Thanks
Actually Poland is one of the few places I haven't played.
(just responding to the Viv Stanshall line, of course)
These days, the Chucks mainly gig around the London area.
(All the guys work with different bands, so it's a bit of a task putting a gig together.)
2010 dates aren't confirmed yet, but you can find news at www.chuckfarley.co.uk
Double post
.
well...
there is always that other place and, of course our 'Table Tapping Weekends in Bognor'...
Beach Boys?
I have just been watching the Brian Wilson concert on Sky Arts and he had vibes so presumably the Beach Boys did as well?
The Rolling Stones 'Under My Thumb'
Just spotted......
Roger Beaujolais, viber about town (and late period Fairground Attraction)is playing a free gig at Coventry Jazz festival next bank holiday w/e, in cahoots with THE king of pedal steel, B.J. Cole.
Anyone got ony form on this duo, who sound, on paper, as if it should be fabulous?
RB
played on Mark Nevin's solo record 'Insensitive Songwriter' & did a fine job. Good album that.