Bob Andrews 1949 - 2025

Oh hell. My all-time favorite rock keyboardist (alright, tied with Nicky Hopkins) passed last Thursday.

He was my favorite member of Brinsley Schwarz, and my favourite member of The Rumour.

Here he is with the former, performing perhaps the most gorgeously lyrical Hammond organ part in the history of music.

And here he is with Nick Lowe, performing perhaps the greatest insane piano part freaking ever.

I should also add that he produced this.

Okay, I have to add this wonderful story about the guy.

The short version: So Andrews was, not surprisingly, a huge fan of The Band's keyboard genius 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 70s, The Band toured the UK and at one point wound up rehearsing at the Brinsley's studio and using their equipment. Garth walked in, said nothing to anybody, turned all of Andrews' keyboards and other equipment on, put his fingers to the keys, and immediately sounded just like himself.

And Andrews, who had been lurking in a corner too awed to even say hello to his idol, literally wept.

Goddamn -- as I am wont to say of late, this death shit is really starting to piss me off.