Arthur Brown

[Jon Jarrett]

On Thu, 5 Dec 2002, Doug Pearson wrote:

> On Thu, 5 Dec 2002 16:33:54 +0800, William Duffy <xl5 at IINET.NET.AU> wrote:
> >And he made a guest appearance on Robert Calvert, Captain Lockhead & The
> >Starfighters, doing vocals on The Gremlin.
>
> As an additional HW connection, Ade Shaw was briefly in his backing band
> (pre-Magic Muscle, I believe for Ade, and between the Crazy World and
> Kingdown Come for Arthur ... or possibly an early Kingdom Come lineup),
> although I don't think anything was recorded (correct me if I'm wrong,
> please!).

        Somewhere there's a really complex Ade Shaw interview which
explains this. If I noted it down correctly, he started with Arthur Brown
after The Crazy World broke up and they all decamped, along with the
remnants of the Misunderstood including Tony Hill (see below), to
Puddleton. The first band Arthur formed with Adrian there was thus called
The Puddleton Express, and became through various changes The Crazy World
of Arthur Brown (though not with any of the previous Crazy World people
bar Arthur, and *possibly* Drachen Theaker I forget), and Rustic Hinge and
the Provincial Swimmers [this is my favourite band name ever].

        Now, to answer your question, there *are* recordings from this
period, or at least in 1988 Reckless put out an LP called _Rustic Hinge_,
which as far as I can tell sank without trace, but it's from then. What I
don't know is what the stuff is like, or whether Adrian Shaw is actually
on it, because in the ferment of band creation that seems to have been
going on down there, he didn't stay with Arthur Brown long. Rod Goodway
was something to do with that first Rustic Hinge line-up and as a result
Magic Muscle was formed out of this gathering. So was High Tide, because
also down there was Simon House who found himself lying on a grassy bank
with Tony Hill being gloomy, and said something along the lines of "I
never wanted to be a bass-player anyway, I used to play the violin" and
Tony said, "Well, why don't you then" and thus High Tide was formed.

        I say see below because hey, I went to see Tony Hill on
Thursday. He was playing at the Standard with his current backing band as
Tony Hill's Fiction. We hadn't realised it was only a support slot, but he
gave us our money's worth. First two numbers of _Inexactness_, something
new called `Poland', another new one whose name I didn't get and something
I should know off the Fiction's first EP, and they finished with another
number off _Inexactness_ and another number off the EP. No High Tide
stuff--I asked him afterwards whilst trying to buy CDs they didn't have,
and he said that trying to play that stuff without the passion that
created it would just kill it, and "I'm not going to feel like that again,
anyway, that's for sure". He seemed to have fun. Is it necessary to point
out he was very very good? The bass-player is also agile and alert and
doesn't stay still much. The drummer, well, never mind. Though if you took
away half his kit he might be forced into playing more interestingly. Tony
Hill's guitar sound is very difficult to describe; a peculiar mix of fuzz
and wah that sounds like liquid candyfloss. He took a little while to get
into it but by the break of `Don't Want To Talk About It' he was well away
and stayed there; it was cruel to make them stop. He got a decent hand
from the audience, and had two friends among it, but Kirsten and I were
the only people bar them who seemed to know who he actually was. Very
sad. The best of it is that he didn't care; he had some kind of response
from the small crowd, and he was playing for him. Always good to see
someone whom music helps like that. I remember an Al Bouchard interview
where he said he did it because it eased his pain; you could see the
anaesthetic taking hold on Mr Hill.

        I think Tony Hill is rather good. Also, the new stuff was no worse
and maybe even better than the _Inexactness_ stuff, more punch for the
three-piece arrangement maybe; and two numbers were _upbeat_. It was a bit
of a shock.

        But fundamentally, why is this man playing second support to a
band named Avid Bowie on a Thursday night? He can play anyone I've seen
bar Buck Dharma off a stage and writes songs to die for (or to). There's
no justice at all.

> During much of the 1980s, Arthur was living in Texas (hmmmm ... like
> Michael Moorcock does), and members of Austin spacerock band ST37 did some
> work with him.

        Anyway, back on topic: is that right, Doug? Which recordings are
they on? Cause you know, that would be *interesting*... Yours,
                                                                Jon

ObCD: Atomic Rooster - _The Devil Hits Back_ (cheap compilation which
turns out to be mostly one 1980 live album--as a result I still can't tell
whether they were any good... )
--
"I recognise that I have transgressed many of the precepts of the divine
law, and that I am subjected by various vices and iniquities, disobedient
to the words of the divine mystery brought unto me and a worshipper of the
delights of this military age." Marquis Borrell of Barcelona, 955 A.D.

             (Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College London)