I wasn’t going to do another ‘Alphabet’ but rather missing the exercise so here goes – A Music Alphabet. It is available on Spotify:- .https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Dp2st7dKBTCIsyf6Uy1fw?si=Hjj2qlOdS-SFdSr4kfRrkg

A is for America.

The band of course. They were American but formed in UK when their fathers were with USAF in this country

I bought their ‘Greatest Hits’ album only knowing ‘Horse With No Name’ but there are lots of other great tracks on the album. My favourites include ‘Ventura Highway’, ‘Sister Golden Hair’ and ‘I Need You’.

This is the album cover.

B is for The Beach Boys

B might have been the Beatles but I will cover the individual members later.

I remember the Beach boys as a 17/18 year old with songs such as ‘California Girls’ and ‘Good Vibrations’. I went to a youth club at my local church and early Beach boys was often played there.

‘Pet Sounds’ is often regarded as an innovative album to which that not all members of the band gave their approval. It did produce excellent songs such as’ God Only Knows’ and ‘Sloop John B’

C is for Cream

One of my favourite bands and very short-lived. Formed in 1966 they broke up in 1968 after 4 albums. The main cause was seen as the tension between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Baker was one of the finest rock drummers of all time.

I have selected 3 tracks:- Strange Brew, White Room and I Feel Free.

D is for Donovan

Folk has always played a part in music for me from going to a folk club over a pub in Chesterfield when I was 17/18 to listening to Swashbuckle in Brixham.

Donovan has a mixture of styles and influences and I suppose could be classified as folk rock. His early appearances were as a busker in Torquay – before I moved to Devon.

I have chosen 3 very different songs – which you can hear on my Spotify page – Catch The Wind, Mellow Yellow, Hurdy Gurdy Man

E is for (Keith) Emerson.

As the keyboard player with the Nice and Emerson Lake and Palmer he made a huge contribution to Progressive rock from the 60’s onwards.

My first encounter was ‘Five Bridges’ from the Nice. Side 1 was the eponymous 5-part suite based on the bridges across the Tyne. Side 2 was their own work but much based on classical pieces like the Karelia Suite by Sibelius.

He then moved on to form Emerson Lake and Palmer – a prog ‘supergroup’ which lasted most of the 70’s. Again they used a lot of classical work as the basis of their music and I first acquired ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ based on Mussorgsky’s work. I chose ‘Great Greats of Kiev’.

Finally I have selected Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ – adapted with the composers blessing.

I have not ignored the other 2 members and will certainly come back to Greg Lake.

The only downside to Emerson’s playing is his insistence on abusing his instruments to produce feedback and other noises!

F is for Fairport Convention and Fotheringay

Two connected bands – the connection being Sandy Denny. A beautiful voice and an excellent songwriter whose life was tragically cut short.

‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes?’ written by her in 1967 before she was with Fairport is particularly haunting. On the ‘What We did in our Holidays’ were ‘She Moves Through the Fair’ and ‘Fotheringay’ The latter tells of the end of the life of Mary Queen of Scots and is my personal favourite.

She went on to use the title as the name for her own short-lived band.

The photos include the album cover for ‘Babbacombe Lee’ about the Torquay ‘Man they could not hang’. I appeared in a ghost story version of the tale in Kents Cavern.

G is for Genesis.

I am sure James Mackenzie-Thorpe will also choose Genesis but my preference is for the early years while Steve Hackett was still in the group.

I am not keen on the later ‘Phil Collins’ period.

My two favourite albums are ‘Trick of the Tail’ and ‘Wind and Wuthering’ and have included on my Spotify playlist two tracks from the former – the title track and ‘Ripples’. I have also included ‘Carpet Crawlers’ from ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’.

H is for (The) Hollies.

Back to my teenage years and one of the best groups not coming from Liverpool! Early songs I remember include ‘Just One Look’, ‘Yes I Will’ and ‘Bus-stop’. They were a very good harmony group.

Graham Nash went on to join Crosby and Stills, and later Young with such songs as ‘Marrakesh Express’.

My choices are ‘Carrie-Anne’, ‘He ain’t Heavy’ and ‘The Air That I Breathe’.

I is for Incredible String Band.

When I was briefly in London in the mid 60’s I did go to a few concerts and performances.

One such trip was to the Royal Festival Hall to see the above, which at that point was a duo of founders Robin Williamson and Mike Heron.

Not to everyone’s taste and usually classified as Psychedelic Rock! You can hear 3 tracks on my Spotify Music alphabet playlist.

J is for Jon and Vangelis

A fairly short-lived collaboration between Jon Andersen of Yes and Vangelis from Aphrodite’s Child. Vangelis already then known for composing the score to Chariots of Fire and Bladerunner.

They had 3 main albums between 1981 and 1986 and a later less successful one in 1991.

My three choices come from ‘Friends of Mr Cairo’ – the title track loosely based on the character played by Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon. The other two are ‘State of Independence’ and the now topical ‘Mayflower’. This version compares the Mayflower of 1620 with a space flight of the future – both setting off in ‘ search of a new land’.

K is for (The Kinks)

Back to my teenage years and particularly when I was at Uni in London. The Davies Brothers etc produced some great songs and a big variety of styles. Gentle tunes, sarcastic lyrics, and big rockers.

As usual I have chosen three:-

Waterloo Sunset. As my college was at Waterloo it reminded my mother of me at the time. The lovers Terry and Julie in the song were reckoned to be Terence Stamp and Julie Christie but this was later denied by the group.

Lola. About a transvestite and banned by the BBC not for the content but the inclusion of Coca Cola in the lyrics!

Sunny Afternoon. I just enjoy the lyrics! Later used as a title for a Juke box Musical about the band.

L is for (Andrew) Lloyd Webber.

A bit away from my normal choices but he wrote such great music and chose fine lyricists that I had to include him. I know he is not to everyone’s taste.

I have avoided the ‘big’ songs from the musicals instead choosing ‘Another Suitcase Another Hall’ from Evita and ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’ from Phantom.

Apart from in the film Another Suitcase is not sung by Evita.

Additionally the Pie Jesu from ‘Requiem’ – I have picked the Sarah Brightman version as I believe it was written for her. It is a beautiful song.

M is for Moody Blues

In my opinion one of the best and enduring bands of all time. I go back to the early days of ‘Go Now’ and then having the double compilation album of 1974 – ‘This is the Moody Blues’. My first track is from ‘Days of Future Passed’ and is not surprisingly ‘Nights in White Satin’. Very fond of Late Lament by Graeme Edge but spoken by Mike Pinder.

The first album I bought for Angela was – I think – ‘Question of Balance’. Two tracks from there – the sort of title track – ‘Question’ and ‘Melancholy Man’. difficult to keep it down to three.

I also had a late album by Justin Hayward and John Lodge called Blue Jays. Very good it is too.

I see that some members are still performing but mostly in the USA.

N is for New.

Having already used The Nice – a bit stuck for N so I have gone for 3 very different choices

New Vaudeville Band.

Finchley Central and Winchester Cathedral are two quirky songs from this quirky band. Average membership was seven and the main period 1966-68 though they re-appeared with a different line-up in the late 70’s.

From the New World.

Dvorak’s 9th (though originally 5th) symphony written while the Czech composer was Director of the National Music Conservatory in the USA. He was influenced by both Czech and American music. The ‘Largo’ is the best known movement – used in well known adverts!

Fairytale of New York

The Pogues with the late Kirsty McColl. Written in the mid 80’s as a Christmas Song though the lyrics are not exactly Christmassy! The BBC and other radio stations did make attempts to have some of the language modified before playing. Voted the Best Christmas song ever on many occasions including the UK in 2012.

O is for (Mike) Oldfield

Most of us of an age have bought and listened endlessly to Tubular Bells. So different to anything else when it came out. But Oldfield has done so much more. His second album Hergest Ridge was based on where he lived, and there have been numerous singles. He also produced Tubular Bells II – not quite as innovative.

TB was used in ‘The Exorcist’ and he composed the music for ‘The Killing Fields’.

Other than Tubular Bells I have picked 2 singles – the big hit Moonshadow and his version of the Christmas tune ‘In Dulce Jubilo’. (I used to sing the vocal version with the school choir!).

P is for Pink Floyd

A band which has entertained us for decades. Starting in the 60’s and going through enough departures, disputes, and returns to fill a full volume!

I chose an early single, a track from ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and a track about Syd Barrett.

Although 2 of the original main line up are no longer with us they continue to play in this century in various line-ups. They also composed music for film including’ Zabriskie Point’ and their stage shows – see picture – were phenomenal.

The single is ‘See Emily Play’ though the strange ‘Arnold Layne’ was a contender. From Dark Side I have chosen ‘Breathe’ amongst many of the tracks I enjoy.

Finally the first half of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’

Q is for Queen.

Who else? One of the few bands whose main line-up after John Deacon joined in 1971 never changed – until the death of Freddie. From the early days of the album ‘ Queen’ including Seven Seas of Rhye to ‘Innuendo’ – the last released in Freddie’s lifetime the range of music was phenomenal as well as the concerts.

I have not picked the most well known tracks – I know son James will also select Queen in his A-Z.

The first albums I bought were ‘Night at the Opera’ and ‘Day at the Races’ and I have picked ‘Teo Torriate’ – partly sung in Japanese.

From their film work I have chosen the theme from ‘Flash Gordon’ a silly but enjoyable film – especially to someone who watched the original character at he ABC Minors cinema club 60 odd years ago!

And lastly the only song the 3 remaining members of Queen recorded without Freddie Mercury – ‘No-one But You – Only the Good Die Young’.

Queen lives on without Freddie and John Deacon who retired using Paul Rogers and then Adam Lambert as front-men. There was also the rock musical ‘We Will Rock You’ which was on stage in London for 12 years.

R is for Renaissance

This is a band I have only really discovered properly over the last few years, though their biggest hit ‘Northern Lights’ dates to 1978.

The band was started in the late 60’s by two former members of the Yardbirds, but it is when Annie Haslam joined them as vocalist that they established their music. They are described as progressive rock with classical and folk influences and apart from Haslam’s tremendous voice the piano also plays a large part in the compositions.

Their line-up has seen countless changes over the years through departure and also deaths of members. Annie Haslam is still part of the band which is now almost entirely US based.

Apart from Northern Lights I have also included ‘Can You Understand’ and the 2013 ‘Symphony of Light’. The first includes an unmistakable theme from the film Dr Zhivago which the band apparently thought was a Russian folk tune.

S is for Santana

Toyed with The Shadows and Simon and Garfunkel but Santana won out. Brings back memories of the early 70’s when travelling around a sunny Devon on business listing to ‘Samba Pa Ti’ and the rest on the ‘Abraxas’ album.

Carlos Santana who formed the band is the only continuous member – and there have been over 70! I am not so keen on the ‘modern’ Santana but have included a track from his Guitar Heaven which includes many guitar classics by Beatles, Cream Hendrix etc.

T is for Tornados

Chosen because Telstar was my first ever purchase of a single record. A band which had been a backing group (including for Billy Fury) but nurtured by Joe Meek and issued a number of successful singles. Telstar was composed by Meek and was the first US No 1 by a British group.

I have also picked ‘Globetrotter’ and ‘Ice Cream Man’ – records I also bought and may be still somewhere in the attic!

Heinz – the bass guitarist when on to have a hit with ‘Just Like Eddie’ and George Bellamy – rhythm guitar – is the father of Matt Bellamy of Muse.

U is for ULLAdubULLA String Orchestra.

Not well known by this name but in fact part of Jeff Wayne’s ensemble for his ‘War of the Worlds’ productions and tours.

I bought the original album and still listen to it regularly. There are the masterly tones of Richard Burton as the journalist, and contributions form Moody Blue Justin Hayward, David Essex, Julie Covington and Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy.

My favourite track is Haywards’ Forever Autumn followed by the opening speech by Burton.

The original album has been followed by numerous remastering etc, and tour, musical performances. We were booked to see one in London a few years ago – but of all things we couldn’t leave home due to snow.

V is for Venus

No bands etc for me beginning with V so a mixed bag under ‘Venus’.

Mark Wynter – ‘Venus in Blue Jeans’ from 1962 – my early teens. He is still about but acting rather than singing. Has been to the Princess at Torquay a few times with touring Agatha Christie plays.

Shocking blue – ‘Venus’. A hit in 1969/1970 often played in the clubs around Torquay when Angela and I were first together. They were from Holland but only really lasted a few years.

Gustav Holst – ‘Venus – Bringer of Peace’ from the Planet Suite. The Planets is one of my favourite classical pieces. I was first introduced to the suite when doing ‘Macbeth’ as a school play in the mid-sixties. The soundtrack for the play – then on 78 rpm records – had a battle scene sounding more like WW2 than medieval Scotland. The director chose ‘Mars’ instead and it worked well. I used Venus as background music for’ Humble Boy’ at the Palace Theatre in Paignton.

W is for (Rick) Wakeman

Probably one of the first names I thought of for this alphabet as he is certainly at the top of my list of performers.

He was training to be a concert pianist at the Royal College of Music but left to play rock music. He was a session musician on Bowie’s Space Oddity and on Cat Stevens Morning has Broken (for which he says he was never paid!).

He joined the Strawbs in 1970 and Yes in 1971. He left and re-joined Yes, and worked with some of his fellow members in a game of musical chairs and I’ll refer to that era under ‘Y’.

His first album was ‘Six Wives of Henry VIII’ and his most recent ‘The Red Planet’ – music inspired by Mars.

In between there were many albums but it is the early ones such as King Arthur and Journey to the Centre of the Earth which are my personal favourites. Red Planet is up with them in terms of musicianship.

So my choices – difficult to cut to three – are:-

From Six Wives – Anne Boleyn – partly because of the inclusion of ‘The Day Thou Gavest Lord is Ended’ was my mother’s favourite hymn.

From Journey – The Hansbach – representing the underground stream.

From Red Planet – the opening track – Ascraeus Mons.

X is for X-over – Crossover Music

Difficult to define and covers a multitude of styles, mixing rock, folk, classical and jazz – or any combination of 2 or more. Not always popular with purists of a particular genre.

My choices –

Sky – Gymnopedie No. 1 by Eric Satie. Led by classical guitarist John Williams the line-up changed often but initially included Herbie Flowers from Blue Mink and session drummer Tristan Fry. This track is from the eponymous first album.

Greg Lake – I Believe in Father Christmas. The ‘crossover’ is the instrumental part based on Troika by Prokofiev. Lake always said it was more a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas.

Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Caballe – Barcelona. A different crossover with a classical singer joining a rock star for a great production.

There are many others I could have chosen!

Y is for Yes

No contest here. A band I have followed through all the changes over 50 years. I am not a fan of the current line-up and consider Anderson Bruford Howe Squire Wakeman the best. They have had 19 ‘permanent’ members and countless others. I saw them live at Powderham Castle in 2004.

As with Wakeman’s solo career difficult to pick 3 tracks but I have settled with:-

1970. Very early Yes – Time and a Word -the 2nd album title track.

1973 Tales from Topographic Oceans. Long and not a favourite of Wakeman’s at all . My particular favourite side of the double album is ‘Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)’ being the final track. By this time Alan White had replaced Bill Bruford as drummer.

1974 Wakeman left the band for the first time after ‘Tales’ and was replaced by Swiss keyboard player Patrick Moraz. The next album was Relayer and from this I have picked ‘Gates of Delirium’ My version is the single with ‘Soon’. A classic Roger Dean album cover.

Z is for Zombies, Zager and Evans & Zhivago

Three very different tracks of my years – all from the ’60’s..

1964 The Zombies led by Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone. The big hit which is on my list was ‘ She’s Not There’. I saw them live at the ABC Cinema in Chesterfield -courtesy of free tickets from the manager who was a near neighbour! I still have their autographs somewhere!

1965 The epic David Lean film of Dr Zhivago taken from Boris Pasternak’s novel. At the time the book was hated by the Communist regime but now on the curriculum in Russian Schools. The most famous track is ‘Lara’s Theme’ but I have picked Yuri and Tonya arriving in Varykino because of the way the music fitted Lean’s cinematic view. I never tire of the film or Maurice Jarre’s music.

1969 Zager & Evans. Must classify as a one-hit wonder. ‘In the Year 2525 (Exodium & Terminus)’ to give it its full title. A fairly depressing view of the future at 1010 year intervals.

Tailpiece

The problem with an alphabet this this is that some letters yield more options than others. This means that with the best will in the world many great songs, singers and bands don’t get a look in.

Looking at my list there is no place for Rolling Stones, Dylan, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits to name a few. Also countless folk tunes, some classical stuff and swathes of Prog Rock.

A big omission is of course the Beatles but I have not forgotten them but left the four for this tailpiece so not using up other letters.

So here is one form each – either solo or from an album:-

Imagine – Lennon

Yesterday – McCartney

While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Harrison

Don’t Pass Me By – Ringo

The last two are on the White album which I consider the best.

Thanks for reading and listening