Well, this is just beyond remarkable: from Brit TV in 1973, and featuring a young, pre-snark power pop god Nick Lowe, it's Brinsley Schwarz doing "Surrender to the Rhythm."
For a band that never sold a lot of records, these guys were hugely influential (they mutated, as you doubtless recall, into Graham Parker's back-up band and made the epochal "Squeezing Out Sparks") and I've been a fan since forever. So it's a genuine thrill to finally see what they looked and sounded like in their natural habitat -- apart from a legendarily disastrous 1969 press gig at one of the Fillmores, they never played the States. In any case, I think we can all now agree that the presence of this clip on YouTube is conclusive proof that YouTube is the most important thing that's ever happened in the entire history of humanity,
Incidentally, there's a lovely story about Bob Andrews, the Brinsley's organist (seen here grinning insanely and covering himself in glory with some of the most lyrical keyboard work imaginable). Seems he was a huge fan of the Band's Garth Hudson and was constantly updating his gear in emulation of the Great Man Himself; if there was an effects pedal or amp Hudson used, Andrews would immediately add it to his arsenal, trying to get that elusive Hudson sound. Only problem was, no matter what he did he couldn't quite achieve total Garth-ness and it drove him nuts.
Anyway, sometime in the early 70s the Band toured the UK and at one point wound up rehearsing at the Brinsley's studio and using their equipment. Garth turned everything on, put fingers to the keys, and immediately sounded just like himself.
Andrews, who was lurking in a corner too awed to say hello to his idol, literally wept.
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2 comments:
No one sounds like Garth Hudson. He had the strangest, most elastic sense of rhythm, but never lost the beat.
Thanks for the clip and the story.
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