Wednesday, April 16, 2008

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE




Sly and the Family Stone took the Sixties ideal of a generation coming together and turned it into deeply groove-driven music. Rock’s first integrated; multi-gender band became the innovators of the Woodstock Generation, blending soul, R&B, funk and psychedelia into danceable, message-laden, high-energy music. In promoting their gospel of tolerance and celebration of differences, Sly and the Family Stone brought disparate audiences together during the latter half of the Sixties. The group’s greatest triumph came at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. During their unforgettable nighttime set, leader Sly Stone initiated a fevered call-and-response with the audience of 400,000+ during an electrifying version of “I Want to Take You Higher.”


Sly Stone was born Sylvester Steward on March 15, 1941 in Denton, Texas, but grew up in Vallejo, California. Early in his life he showed great interest in music - first singing with his family in the Steward Four in 1952. While studying music at Vallejo Junior College Sly began playing in several groups on the Bay Area scene - recording several singles. . This enabled Sly to move his family to San Francisco. Sly also worked as a disc jockey for the local R&B radio stations KSOL and later KDIA.


Eagar to explore the opportunities to create and construct his own sound he would put together Sly and the Family Stone in 1967. The group connected with the rising counterculture through songs that spoke to a generation and dealt with issues of diversity and freedom, music that combined rock and soul, and would later transform into Seventies funk. At the end of 1967 Sly and the Family Stone released their first album "A Whole New Thing". The record was not a commercial success but the next album "Dance to the Music" gave them a Top Ten hit with its title track early in 1968. This enabled the band to not only to play the colleges but also turn to the bigger venues. Soon they would be sharing the bill with well known acts such as the Jimmy Hendrix Experience.
The bands greatest live performance was at the legendry Woodstock festival in 1969. Although their appearance was in the middle of the night they could make the people wake up, get up and start dancing. Something the other bands that night hardly achieved.


A brilliant artist even under duress, Stone was largely responsible for the dark, reflective but no less funky There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971), which captured the souring mood of the time but, manages to remain timeless. Sly captured the turmoil gripping America in 1971, but also the chaos in his increasingly drug fuelled personal life. During this period, Sly Stone’s drug addiction became much worse and the Family Stone became notorious for missing concert dates, though they still enjoyed commercial success with singles such as “Family Affair.”
From now on every album would see several line-up changes and diminishing success. The Family Stone lost its magic and Sly, who was into heavy drugs. Once being able to change and dictate musical trends, his drug dependency had numbed his creative edge. All motivation was lost as Sly continued in a downward spiral through the late 70s and 80s.

He appeared on the "Soul Man" soundtrack singing a duet with Martha Davis. In 1987 he was once again imprisoned for drug possession. His last public appearance was in 1993 for his induction to the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame. In February 2006 the 61 year old performed "I Want to Take You Higher" with his old band at the Grammies.


A true creative genius, Sly and the Family Stone preformed the soundtrack to the 60s and influenced a generation. Sly Stone’s life would mirror a decade that began with hope and liberation, eventually succumbing to excess and ending in dissolution. The spirit of revolution and change may be long gone but a legacy of fine music remains for all to rediscover.



SLY'S TOP TRACKS:

1. EVERYDAY PEOPLE
2. FAMILY AFFAIR
3. STAND
4. I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER
5. SING A SIMPLE SONG


RECOMMENDED ALBUMS (click to preview)

THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON

STAND!

GREATEST HITS!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

ROCK AGAINST RACISM


Historic festival marks 30 year anniversary:

On 30 April 1978, more than 80,000 people took part in a "Rock Against Racism" carnival in Victoria Park, east London. They were protesting at the rise of the far-right National Front, which was then making headway in the polls and on the streets. It proved to be a seminal moment, drawing many white youngsters away from racist propaganda, radicalizing a generation, and paving the way for concerts such as Live Aid. The veteran anti-fascist campaigner Gerry Gable describes it as "one of the most important cultural events of the postwar period".

The carnival was the high point of an extra ordinary protest by Rock Against Racism (RAR) and the Anti-Nazi League (ANL) in response to the turbulent racial politics of the late 1970s. The movement was sparked by an Eric Clapton concert in Birmingham in 1976 at which the guitarist urged his audience to back Enoch Powell's anti-immigrant stance.

The photographer Red Saunders and designer Roger Huddle penned a furious response in the New Musical Express: "Half your music is black. You're a good musician, but where would you be without the blues and R'n'B? We want to organize a rank-and-file movement against the racist poison in music. We urge support for Rock Against Racism." Quoting the song by Bob Marley, which Clapton had covered, the letter ended with the scathing postscript: "Who shot the sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!"

In May 1977 the anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain, Ernie Roberts and Paul Holborow set up the Anti-Nazi League (ANL). Their aims - to undermine the credibility of the National Front and expose it as racist - keyed in to the preoccupations of the punk movement. Towards the end of the 1970s, the Clash and the Sex Pistols had aligned themselves with reggae, championing rock's black roots and undermining fascist attempts to woo white youths.

In August, the ANL took the controversial decision to confront the National Front on the streets, staging a huge demonstration that broke up an NF march through Lewisham. Meanwhile, RAR started organizing gigs, starting at the Royal College of Art and culminating in the Victoria Park Carnival.

Today, it is standard for musicians to espouse anti-racist sentiments. At the time, however, the carnival organizers weren't sure they would find an appreciative audience. They were hoping to attract 20,000 people to Victoria Park with acts including the Clash, the Birmingham reggae stars Steel Pulse, the Tom Robinson Band and X-Ray Spex. They were delighted when more than four times that many came. "Black bands and white bands appeared on the same bill for the first time, not just at the carnival but at smaller gigs," says Red Saunders. "It was part of an enormous change in society that is still going on - multiculturalism from the roots up."


What did Rock Against Racism mean to you?


Tom Robinson, one of the headline acts at Victoria Park
"RAR started off as a grass-roots thing for ordinary pub bands like us, but when the ANL and Socialist Workers Party came along, it became a mass movement. Not everybody agreed with the SWP, but you have to credit their willingness to organize and fight. We didn't expect the carnival to be so big, and in fact the PA system wasn't strong enough, but seeing bands like the Clash and Steel Pulse close up was pretty damn good.
"There was a triumphalist feeling about the event. Never before had so many people been mobilized for that sort of cause. It was our Woodstock. People who previously felt isolated realized that thousands of others felt the same and it gave them the strength to go back to their schools or workplaces and confront the racists and their gut-wrenching jokes. In 1977 and 1978 there was a great danger of the NF becoming a credible political party, and if things like the RAR and ANL carnival had even a small effect in countering them, it was worth it."


Billy Bragg, singer-songwriter
"I was 19 at the time and came across from Barking, where the National Front was very active. "It really made me think what the whole event was about, because the fascists didn't just hate black people, they hated anyone who was different. So that day I took a pledge to be different, to question authority, to dress the way I wanted to and write songs I wanted to.
"The Clash exemplified solidarity with black culture with their reggae songs. We felt we were part of a movement. In the early days, punk could have gone either way - the Sex Pistols wore swastikas and there was flirting with the right - but Joe Strummer, the Clash and RAR pointed the way forward to the barricades.
"Looking back at it, there's a direct link between the carnival and the huge Free Nelson Mandela concert at Wembley years later, because Jerry Dammers who organized that was inspired by Victoria Park. The whole Two Tone thing was a vindication of RAR."


Don Letts, DJ and film-maker
"Racism was totally in-your-face then. If I wasn't being chased by the National Front I was being stopped by the police using the 'sus' laws. The Clash and the Sex Pistols grew up with black people living next door and I bonded with those guys as friends through our love of black music. We came together through an understanding of our differences. So punk and RAR were immeasurably important at street level because they created a mutual respect.
"Funnily enough, I didn't go to Victoria Park, even though I was involved in DJing at RAR gigs, because Joe Strummer had taken my girlfriend at the time and I was in a huff. Now, every time I see the clip of the carnival in the film Rude Boy I kick myself for not being there."

-Patrick Sawer, Newstatesman-

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS PRT. 2



Dexy’s transformation from punky soul band to Celtic soul collective proved very successful. “Come on Eileen” their second release was a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic and the biggest selling record of 1982 in the UK. Their popularity grew with follow up singles, a Van Morrison cover, “Jackie Wilson Said” and “Let’s get this straight (From the Start)”.
After a 1983 tour the band had a two year break, returning in 1985 with a critically acclaimed album, “Don’t Stand Me Down”. Initially, Rowland refused to issue any singles from the record. The eventual release of “This Is What She’s Like” coming too late to save the album from commercial failure.


The group would disband in 1986 as Rowland decided to go it alone, releasing “The Wanderer in 1988 which was widely panned by the critics. The 90s were hard as Kevin struggled with financial problems and drug addiction. He made plans to reform Dexy’s on several occasions the last being in 2003 with an announcement that the band would be reforming to tour their greatest hits album. Performances were well received and two new songs were recorded for release as singles. Unfortunately, neither record was ever released to the public.
Kevin Rowland has been described as arrogant, eccentric, ego maniac and many other things. I believe music genius could be added to that list, as a performer Rowland never pretended to be something he was not i.e., black. Amid Dexys' boisterous brass overtures driven by a punky/soul beat, Rowland's shrill, anxious, voice called out to the working class soul boys of Britain who worshipped the same soul legends that he idolized. In “Searching for the Young Soul Rebels”, he created, along with Kevin Archer, one of the greatest debut albums ever made.


DEXY'S TOP FIVE

1 There, There My Dear
2 Geno
3 Dance Stance
4 Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache
5 Jackie Wilson Said

Recommended Albums (click to preview)


Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
The Projected Passion Review
The Best of Dexys Midnight Runners

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS PRT.1

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS PRT.1


Dexys were formed in 1978 from the ashes of Birmingham punk band The Killjoys. Combining elements of Northern Soul with punk energy and attitude. Dexys produced one of the greatest debut albums and were one of the best groups to emerge from the post punk aftermath.
Kevin Rowland and Kevin “Al” Archer put the band together, naming it after Dexedrine, an amphetamine that was popular with Northern Soul fans at all-nighters’.

An exceptional band led by an exceptional character in Kevin Rowland who would be responsible for lyrics as Archer put together most of the music.
Their first release was “Dance Stance”, in 1979. The single would reach number 40 in the British charts not a bad debut. However, it would be with the next single “Geno” that they would make their mark. A tribute to soul legend Geno Washington it would go to number one in 1980.
As is the case with many up and coming bands, they had been too quick in signing their contract with EMI. They felt their share of profits should be greater, so would try to pressure EMI into a re-negotiation by stealing the master tapes of their debut album, “Searching for the Young Soul Rebels.” The record was eventually released in late 1980 and was a huge success. The next single, “There, There My Dear”, would maintain their run of successful singles. At this point the pressure would begin to tell on Rowland, nearing a breakdown he decided to release “Keep it, Part Two,” an unpopular choice with the other band members but, a song that Rowland cared for greatly, as he poured out his inner turmoil in the lyrics. The public did not take to the song and it flopped. Kevin lost confidence in his ability as he realized that he was out of sync with what the public wanted to hear. Rowland’s moods and stubbornness proved to be too much for the rest of the group. It would lead to the first of many personnel changes that Dexys’ would go through over the course of their existence.

A new Dexys line-up exuberantly announced its arrival with the classic singles ‘Plan B’ and ‘Show Me’. But it really took hold in November1981, when the (flop) single ‘Liars A To E’ signified a bold turn away from brass to strings, and when Kevin Rowland brought this new-look Dexys Midnight Runners to the Old Vic Theatre in London’s Waterloo for three nights of what he called the Projected Passion Revue.
Rooted in the punk ethos of questioning all convention the Projected Passion Revue represented a complete rejection of all that had become a Rock ’n’ Roll ritual. By seating his musicians around him like a double quartet, by mixing up brass and strings while mostly eschewing rock band Harmonix-Profile instrumentation, by dressing the group in uniforms of track suits, by having that group bring pre-rehearsed actions and words and movements to a theatrical venue, and most of all, by singing his heart out to the extent you thought it might burst in front of you, Kevin Rowland showed that there was a different way to present live music than those methods which were tried and tested, and had grown stale.