February 24th – Was going to write summat about Eric Clapton
getting a Grammy for ‘Tears in Heaven’ on this day in 1993 but thought it best
to skirt round it…my usual risk of ‘foot–mouth–stupid’ come to mind. So, instead; Manfred Mann.
Never really liked their stuff, although they were quite
literate in their compositions and choice of subjects for pop treatment, for me
they became too ‘pop-y’ with ‘Doo-Wah-Diddy’ (which,
I believe, ‘The Exciters’ had released a couple of years previously?) and then
followed it up with ‘Pretty Flamingo’; this shift to the dark side was, it
would seem, also too much for their original front man, Paul Jones, who left
the band in 1966. Manfred Mann, the South African namesake of the band (he was
the strap-bearded one on keys) went on beyond Manfred Mann to produce some
interesting work as Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, but for me it’s Mr. Jones who
attracts. Born on this day in 1942, Mr. Jones is the band member who interests
me the most probably because of his affiliation with the blues and his ability
to put a number over…and being a thoroughly decent human being into the
bargain.
He tours with Dave Kelly, Tom
McGuinness, Rob Townsend and Gary Fletcher (check their pedigree and prepare to
be amazed) collectively known as The Blues Band and if you've not seen them live
yet and you are in any way connected to the blues then I strongly, strongly
advise you to go see them before they all become to old to tour; seriously,
you’ll not be disappointed. They do blues reworkings (as well as some original
stuff) of the very highest calibre and Paul Jones is an absolute killer both
with vocals and harmonica; a killer. I've had the pleasure of working three
shows with them over the years and although all three have been remarkable
musical events, one in particular stands out. And can I just say that, under
similar circumstances and with the usual diva behaviour we have to suffer from
‘stars’ nowadays, if the following events had happened to them there would have
been traffic stopped, sirens wailing, ‘phones flying, screaming fits and a big
thing made of it to the waiting audience; OK?
So, The Blues Band. The get-in and
fit-up had gone, as they usually do with bands of this calibre that have been
on the road for this long, smoothly and easily. The sound check was called for
17.00 and, right on time, the band…(there’s one adage that sticks in my mind
with bands like this and which was used by the sadly-late but ever excellent Walter
Matthau in that top-drawer film, ‘The Sunshine Boys’ which is, “A show is just
another show, but rehearsals are important”)…the band members turned up on
stage and on time, except for Paul Jones. So, sound check went ahead and all
except vox was checked and tweaked then, at 18.00, the band retired to their
dressing room (pub) to do their warm up routine; pints and whiskey-chasers all
round probably. Come 19.15 for a 19.30 showtime and Mr. Jones is still not on
site, having telephoned the other
members to say that he has been in a traffic jam caused by the bottleneck of
two lanes folding into one (on the A30? Coming into Cornwall
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