blokes in hats...they're everywhere...
The World is about to End.
One Direction have been named Music
Artist of the Year by MTV (I am not joking!) and Silvio Berlusconi has got
engaged. It gets worse. 8 million people still watch X factor. One of
the seasonal top sellers in Waitrose, for a mere £200, is a guinea
fowl, duck and turkey breast stuffed inside a goose (I'm still not joking). Of the 656
movies on television over the Christmas period 643 are repeats. No
wonder it's all coming to an end. If I were the World I would
seriously think about it too. As dear Kenneth Williams used to say,
"Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it infamy!" Be brave my
friends. We can get through this. It may be tough, it may involve
drink and loud music. Let's take some risks.
The Hat has long expected to Go To Hell
in A Handcart. Nothing new there then as it dates back to a youthful
existentialist period where he got caught red-handed smoking french
cigarettes, wearing shades and playing his stutter version of
Thelonius Monk on the Church Hall piano. Many years later, watching
Alan Parker's brilliant movie 'The Commitments', I was relieved to
see the church organist/part time band rocker sneaking some
variations on Percy Sledge into the church organ loft and I realised
that I Was Not Alone. Times have changed but taking risks for your
music is still an important high that drives many serious musicians.
Back in the day – long before that
busking bloke from X factor took his three chords to the top of the
charts – there was a wonderful space on the wireless machine for
risk-taking proper music. Along with millions of others, The Hat was
curled up under his blanket at night listening with a sense of awe and
wonder to tunes, harmonies, melody, words like beautiful poetry and
stunning instrumental talent. Of course, you had to kiss a lot of
frogs and pick your way between the comedy ooh-wahs and babybabys to
get to the real stuff, but at least it was there. Whole swathes of
brilliant music managed to surface through the dross and swim its way
permanently into our consciousness. And so it continued...new ideas,
off the wall words, exciting rhythms, extraordinary voices. Even
when Punk burst onto the scene and kicked the Stones and many others
where it really hurt, they responded with the huge risk-taking 'Some Girls'
album – and anyway, who could 'outpunk' Keef? Somehow though, it
seems as though the edginess and risk has gone from the main thrust
of our music....
Well, maybe it didn't go anywhere. It's
still there, but harder to find. Drowned in a sea of musak pap,
commercialism, lowest-common-denominator, fast-buck, cheaply
produced with a faux-porn dance video, a tsunami of second-rate
rubbish, any attempt to break the mold is regarded firstly With
Suspicion and then By An Accountant.
Right now, in the world of the blues
there are skirmishes taking place at every level on the question as
to whether we can continue with the new and the risk-taking without
sacrificing the traditional. It is a nervy debate with a lot of
labelling and defensive stances being taken. To be called a purist, a
traditionalist – or even 'old and hatted' – are terms now swung
around the head like clubs by those that think that time is past and
is choking the present. Similarly, an adventurous re-work or even a
new piece that is edgy or risky runs the gauntlet of being
aggressively attacked as not being 'proper' blues. Clapton is boring and past it. Bonamassa is more rock than blues. How big is this Broad Church? Hey, what's wrong with spreading our music wings? This debate is not
new. The two camps have been there some while and there have always been many who
wander round in the middle puzzled by the emotions that they stir up.
What has changed however, is the context. It is now so hard to find a
way into the mainstream that the need to explore new markets and a
wider audience has become an imperative to ensure that the genre does not go the way of (say) traditional jazz and almost disappear
off the radar. Amateur presentation needs to give way to some proper
marketing. Websites, the new media, video, specialist radio and magazine
coverage with a good reach are all growth areas that are only
comparatively recently available. The debate is no longer just Nerdy Jousting. It is a
potential Wake-up Call.This is an important discussion but it should
not blind us to the facts that firstly, good music will rise to the
top in any event; secondly, the young guns (thank god) are still pouring through
the door looking for the top dog and lastly that it is possible to
modify, adapt and re-shape a traditional piece of music without
touching its original honesty and integrity.
There are thousands of 'standards' in
the blues world that get reworked every day – anyone who saw Ben
Poole deconstruct 'Hey Joe' at the Hebden Blues Festival will know
exactly what I mean - but let me give you a small example from mainstream
music. In 1964 The Zombies produced 'She's Not There'. In the decades
since, it has been covered by everyone from Punk to MOR. For example,
in 1977 Santana decided to give it the amazing Carlos treatment followed soon
after by the UK Subs coming from a totally different place. A cleverly crafted minor key number that is
still being reworked and enhanced fifty years later. There was not a
peep out of Outraged of East Cheam and the music flourishes because
people took risks. Jools Holland recently said after playing a duet
with Herbie Hancock that he was an 'extemporising' musician – by
which he meant he never plays a piece the same way twice. That, The
Hat would suggest is one of The great organic joys of blues players
who push the boundaries. Nobody wants to hear the same riffs and
chords pounded out in the saloon bar of the Guinea Fowl and Goose and
there is quite rightly some scorn fired in the direction of the
second rate. Those bands will probably die from lack of support in
any event and The Hat is absolutely convinced that any blues lover,
old, young, hatted or bareheaded will know that, debate or no debate,
at the end of the day, talent, originality and good music will quite
easily survive long after next week's end of the world.....
Ok. Calm Down. As it's Christmas, I
leave you with a couple of handsome presents.
First. If there is someone you are
still having trouble finding a present for, then look no further than
Tony Bennett's two Cds. 'Duets'. Almost everything about these
recordings is perfect. Blues, Ballads, Bliss and above all, that
voice. John Mayer, Amy Winehouse, Aretha being Aretha, so many more.
It's all there, so give out a few of these and The Hat promises that
you will surely become The Star of Christmas.
Second. As last year, The Hat once
again, offers you his free 'Waiting-for-Her Maj-to-Kick-off
Christmas' round the table game. This Year, I have called it the Pass
The Cliche game. Same principal as pass the parcel but you pass a
cliche round the table, each player attempting to keep the train
rolling. I shall start you off with "Well, I woke Up This
Morning" and leave you to pick up the blues cliches from there.
As you go round the table, any player failing to be obvious will drop out. The winner will be
the last smug know-all standing....
Well, I have to get down to my panic
room now with Cozy, a lot of Cds, several bottles of Emergency
Rations and the BBC World Service. I know I can rely on them to let
me know if the world ends......see you on the other side.....
Merry Christmas my Blues Friends
Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat