Thursday, 2 February 2017

Twenty Seventeen

Via

Man & John Cipollina - Live & Rehearsals (1975/6)

Man with John Cipollina - The Cipollina Rehearsals (1975)
01 Heliport Jam
02 Many are Called but Few Get Up
03 Bananas
04 Bigelow 6-9000
05 Razorblade and Rattlesnake
06 C'mon
07 Hard Way to Live
08 John Cipollina Interview

Deke Leonard - Guitar, Vocals
Micky Jones - Guitar, vocals
Terry Williams - Drums
Martin Ace - Bass, Vocals
John Cipollina - Guitar
Man were touring the States in March/April 1975 as a four-piece with Ken Whaley on bass. When Ken left the band half-way through, the call was put out to Martin Ace, who duly flew over. The band went into rehearsal at the Sausalito Heliport in San Francisco. According to Deke's book 'Rhinos Winos & Lunatics'[, John Cipollina turned up at one of these rehearsals and jammed with them. The band invited John to play on the Maximum Darkness tour. Track 1 is nearly 17 minutes of MAN jamming with John Cipollina.
Tracks 2 - 7 are from a pre-Maximum Darkness tour rehearsal at Shepperton, 8 May 1975.
Track 8 is a John Cipollina radio interview. I don't know the name of the station, or the date, but it's post-tour
HERE

Winterland San Francisco 05-04-75 (Radio Broadcast)

1. 7171-551 (Incomplete)

2. C'mon

3. Hard Way To Die

4. Many Are Called But Few Get Up

5. Jam (with John Cippolina) (Incomplete)

Deke Leonard - Guitar, Vocals

Micky Jones - Guitar, Vocals

Martin Ace - Bass, Vocals

Terry Williams - Drums

John Cipollina - Guitar

HERE

Glasgow Apollo 14-05-75 (Audience)
01 7171-551
02 A Hard Way To Die
03 Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
04 Hard Way To Live
05 The Storm
06 Codine
07 Someone Is Calling
08 Razor Blade And Rattlesnake
09 Many Are Called But Gew Get Up
10 Bananas

Deke Leonard - Guitar, Vocals
Micky Jones - Guitar, Vocals
Martin Ace - Bass, Vocals
Terry Williams - Drums
John Cipollina - Guitar

HERE

I caught this Apollo gig which to be honest was a slight disappointment on the night. Cipollina seemed to be really just phoning in his performance and maybe there was a sense of awe in the Manband camp, still it is nice to hear it again all these years later

Free Trade Hall Manchester 20-05-75 (Audience)
01 7171 551
02 Hard Way to Die
03 Babe I'm Gonna Leave
04 The Storm
05 Hard Way to Live
06 Codine
07 Razorblade and Rattlesnake
08 Many are Called but Few Get Up
09 Bananas

Deke Leonard - Guitar, Vocals
Micky Jones Guitar, Vocals
Martin Ace - Bass, Vocals
Terry Williams - Drums
John Cipollina - Guitar

HERE

Savoy Theater San Francisco 04-08-76 (Radio Broadcast)
01 Intro > Babe,I'm Gonna Leave You
02 The Ride & the View
03 Hard Way to Live
04 Spunk Box
05 The Welsh Connection
06 A Hard Way To Die
07 Something Is Happening
08 You're Out Of Your Head
09 Many are Called But Few Get Up
10 Romain

Deke Leonard - Guitar, Vocals
Micky Jones - Guitar, Vocals
Phil Ryan - Keyboards
John McKenzie - Bass
Terry Williams - Drums
John Cipollina - Guitar

HERE

Keystone Berkeley 09-08-76 (Soundboard)
01 Let The Good Times Roll
02 7171-551
03 A Hard Way To Die
04 The Welsh Connection
05 Something Is Happening
06 The Ride & The View
07 You Are Out Of Your Head
08 Born With A Future
09 C'mon
10 Many Are Called But Few Get Up
11 John Cipollina introduction
12 Babe I'm Gonna Leave You *
13 Hard Way To Live *
14 Romain *
15 Bananas *
*with John Cipollina

Deke Leonard - Guitar, Vocals
Micky Jones - Guitar, Vocals
Phil Ryan - Keyboards
John McKenzie - Bass
Terry Williams - Drums
John Cipollina - Guitar

HERE

'...While we are all having a good time, John raises the question about his parts being removed from Maximum Darkness. Micky and Deke turn a couple of shades of white, and manage to deflect the mild irritation John has shown. At the gig, the band play well, but it's not their best of the tour. Phil seems to have problems keeping the synth in tune. At the end of the night, he spends some time sorting out the problem. John joins the band for the last three numbers. This night his amp isn't put through the PA, so it's nearly impossible to hear him. At least he's not too loud. The next night John returns for another go. The show goes smoothly, and John shows a few flashes of brilliance. On Romain he steps up for a solo, and catches fire. They have a go at Bananas, the song that caused all the trouble in the first place. The Hawaiian guitar is left home this time, and John has worked out a nifty chord sequence to play. Everyone seems much happier at the end of the night. The crowd is beside themselves. The East Bay has always shown a strong support for John, and guitar rock in general...The balance is perfect, and the playing is heavenly. A song like Romain is perfect for a round of solos from everyone up front. John again rips off a classic bit of SG manipulation. By this point Micky has quit worrying, and is matching John lick for hair raising lick. With confidence they launch into Bananas once again. There is now a shimmering layer of chords from John's side of the stage, it's 1968 all over again. Ah, but then the power once again takes a dive. With a frightened exhausted look, Terry keeps the beat while Micky scats a vocal line to fill the gap. Everyone is relieved when the power comes back up, and the crowd roars its approval. Well that's it, Man's last stand in California. John on the other hand is just starting to find his legs again, and begins a fantastic run of playing that lasted for the next 13 years, until his untimely death in 1989'

From Man VS Cipollina @ 'Donovan's Brain'

NB: I have liberated a couple of my posts from HerrB's long lost and very lamented 'Pathway To Unknown Worlds' blog for this post!

In memory of Deke Leonard (18 December 1944 – 31 January 2017)

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Deke Leonard R.I.P.

Deke Leonard (2015)

Daughter Of The Fireplace / Would the Christians (1971)

Live At Rockpalast (1975)

Day & Night (OGWT 1975)

Bananas (1976)

Born With A Future (1976)

7171551 (1976)

C'Mon (1976)

Spunk Rock (1983)

Live At The Marquee (1983)
Even Visionaries Go Blind
C´mon
Talk About A Morning
Back Together Again
Hard Way To Die
The Ride And The View
Asylum
Romain
Hard Way
Bananas

So the Facebook message came through about six hours ago from one of my oldest and dearest friends that Deke had passed away a couple of hours previously. A number of years ago the message was that our mutual friend Ken Whaley who also played with Man had died. I was sworn to secrecy as it hadn't been formally announced and sat here listening to my Man records, listening to a recording of that time they played the Glasgow Apollo with Quicksilver Messenger Services' John Cipollina, which was a joy for my fifteen year old self to watch though in truth was not a particularly good gig. I dread the next private message...

They say it’s always a mistake to meet your heroes

The Passion of Christ considered as an uphill bicycle race

Jésus démarra à toute allure.
En ce temps-là, l’usage était, selon le bon rédacteur sportif saint Mathieu, de flageller au départ les sprinters cyclistes, comme font nos cochers à leurs hippomoteurs … Donc, Jésus, très en forme, démarra, mais l’accident de pneu arriva tout de suite. Un semis d’épines cribla tout le pourtour de sa roue avant.

[Jesus got away to a good start.
In those days, according to the excellent sports commentator St Mathew, it was customary to flagellate the sprinters at the start the way a coachman whips his horses … Jesus, then, got off in good form, but he had a flat right away. A bed of thorns punctured the whole circumference of his front tyre.]
Alfred Jarry