NEWSLINK: Recordings of The Beatles' Ringo Starr's first band discovered after 50 years

This has very little to do with the main body of the Gonzo Daily, which is - after all - about artists who appear on Gonzo Multimedia, but it is a news item of great interest to rock historians, and as I am a rock historian I am reosting it. It has long been claimed that Rory Storm was one of the great lost heros of rock and roll, and now we are going to have the chance to find out if it was true...

Recordings of The Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr's first band Rory Storm And The Hurricanes have been discovered, 50 years after they were originally made.

The tapes were recorded in March 1960, a full two years before Starr [whose real name is Richard Starkey] was asked by producer Brian Epstein to join The Beatles.

The band performed alongside The Beatles during their stint in Hamburg and were considered to be one of the leading lights of the Liverpool scene. They were fronted by Rory Storm [whose real name is Alan Caldwell], who died in 1972. It is in the basement of his sister's house that the new tapes have been found."

The tapes include tracks recorded at the Jive Hive club in north Liverpool, and at Storm's house, which was known locally as Stormsville, where bands including The Beatles would get together once clubs like The Cavern had shut at night.

Read on...

SWEET APPLE TRACKS

Considering that this film could never have been made, Chrome Dreams have done a bloody good job.

Why do I say ‘could never have been made’? Well the two most interesting Beatles are long dead, and I’m certain they didn’t have the budget for either Ringo or McCartney even if they would have consented to appear (which I doubt), word on the internet, that Mary Hopkin refused to appear, the two most important figures of Badfinger are dead, as is Derek Taylor whom Tony Bramwell slightly waspishly describes in the film as having been always drunk in the notorious Apple press office on the second floor. Neil Aspinall, for so many years the custodian of the Apple archives, and the keeper of the flame, is also no longer with us. As far as this documentary in concerned, this is a particular pity, because it was Aspinall that held together the rambling five-DVD Beatles anthology project nearly 20 years ago.

As the events described happened between 39 and 45 years ago and an awful lot of the people who are still alive were out of their gourd for much of the time, it is a miracle that the film got made in the first place. One suspects that Apple are going to be much more cagey, and frugal in allowing documentary makers access to their archives than was the Frank Zappa estate, which means that there is less archive footage in this DVD than in the one we reviewed last week about the recording company project Straight and Bizarre.

That being said, the film makers did a bloody good job putting together montages that looked as if they ought to have been promotional clips of the time. For example, I strongly suspect that the video for Mary Hopkin’s Lord of the Reedy River was cobbled together by a film director rather than being a bona fide artefact of the time. But this really doesn’t matter.

I have been a Beatles historian for many years. I am even responsible for a not very well written book on the subject of Beatles bootlegs which some people have been kind enough to say was a valuable addition to the burgeoning library of books on the subject. I own a large number of Beatles books and DVDs, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that there was information on this DVD that I had never heard, and footage that I had never seen.

While watching the DVD I was disappointed to see that the Brute Force single ‘King of Fuh’ was hardly mentioned. However, I then found it as a 10-minute interview under the ‘extras’. The man behind Brute Force is quite obviously as mad as a bagful of cheese, and whilst it is exceptionally welcome to hear his description of what happened, and how his notorious single ended up being released (albeit only in a limited edition of 3,000) on Apple, it is quite obvious why he was relegated to being an extra. The full 9-minute interview would have been impossible to slot into the narrative of the film in general, and – as a film director myself – I have absolutely no idea how I could have edited the interview to have included an appropriate sound bite.

Other artists of whom I am actually rather fond, but who were included only briefly, were The Radha Krishna Temple, White Trash, and Lon and Derek van Eaton. I can think of several reasons of why they probably weren’t included to any great extent.

1. They were so damn obscure that there is no footage available
2. The Beatles are unarguably the most famous pop group of all time. SO many people even slightly related to them charge obscene amounts of money for interviews
3. There just wasn’t time

I suspect it was probably the latter.

The documentary is over two and a half hours long not counting extras and there is no fat on it at all. There is nothing that could have been trimmed. The story of one of the most altruistic, and eventually one of the most abject failures, in late 60s/early 70s music is economically, stylishly, and informatively told. I just wish that it had been twice as long.

Well done to everyone involved.

Delaney Bramlett had a fascinating career playing as he did with some of the biggest names in popular music over a long and successful career. Starting his career in the house bandfor Shindig the American music programme Delaney was considered a mover and shaker in the mid sixties;of course many will remember him as being half of the duo Delaney and Bonnie. With his wife Bonnie and a group of musicians labelled Friends Delaney and Bonnie enjoyed worldwide popularity between 1967 and 1972 with a period round 1969 1970 when people like Eric Clapron George harrison and dave Mason joined the band. Delaney and Bonnie and Firends continued until 1972 when they seperated bth professionally and personally. Delaney continued through the seventies to make solo albums and produce artists.

Taking a sabbatical of over fourteen years to spend time with his family Delaney re emerged with the release of the album Sweet Inspiration.
This album has recently been re released however when the original album was released in 2004 fdelaney took time out to talk to Jon Kirkman about the album and his illustrious past.

Sadly Delaney Bramlett died inlate 2008 however his daughters are now organising a campaign to have him inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Hopefully the organisers and board of the Rock n Roll Hall of fame will recognise the worth of inducting Delaney Bramlett a musician who more than most deserves the resepct and his place in the Hall of Fame!

Delaney Bramlett: Talking Sweet Inspiration
May 2004

Delaney Bramlett is probably best known for his partnership with his former wife Bonnie. The duo first met up in the sixties when Bonnie was a member of the Ikettes singing backing vocals for Ike and Tina Turner. The couple were married within seven days and recorded an album for Stax Records. “The Friends” aggregation drew some of the best musicians together and toured heavily including a tour supporting Blind Faith. Eric Clapton was so enamoured of the band that he subsequently left Blind Faith and toured with Delaney and Bonnie and recorded a live album with them in Europe in 1970.

Following the tour Eric went back to America with Delaney and recorded his first self titled solo album in Los Angeles with much input from Delaney. Other high profile musicians attracted to the Bramletts were Dave Mason, George Harrison and John Lennon. The duo recorded a number of albums before divorcing following which Delaney began making solo albums. This continued until the late seventies when Delaney dropped out of view to concentrate on his family. Sweet Inspiration was recorded in 1989 but remained unreleased until 2004 when Delaney spoke to Jon Kirkman about the album.


Jon Kirkman This album was recorded in 1989 but it had been a while since you had a deal. Why has it taken so long to be released?

Delaney Bramlett Well I don’t know really. In all that time I didn’t have a record deal with anybody.

JK Was that through your own choice or was it because you couldn’t get a deal at that time?

DB I was really concentrating on my family although during that time I wrote about 400 songs a lot of which people haven’t heard yet but may do in the future. So while I was concentrating on my family situation all I was doing was writing.

JK The title track which is the opening track of this album is Sweet Inspiration which of course was written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham who were responsible for some incredible material, presumably this must be one of your favourite songs?

DB Oh yeah, I wouldn’t have recorded it if I had not loved the song.

JK How did you come to work with Spooner Oldham because he plays on the album as well?

DB We met many years before this and he was one of my favourite piano players and writers and he moved out to here (California) and he was in my band for about three or four years. We also wrote some songs, one of which is on this album (Funky) and a few others that may see the light of day on other albums yet to be released. So that is how that came about. We have been basically friends for so many years.

JK In my opinion the album is a really good mix of rock and soul, would that be a fair comment to make?

DB Yeah, that’s pretty fair.

JK Another interesting track on the album that a lot of people will recognise is Let it Rain, which of course you co wrote and recorded with Eric Clapton for his solo album in 1970. The version on here is quite a radical reworking however. There are two versions on the album, one of which is an alternative mix, the other, as I have said is a pretty radical arrangement. Where did you get the idea for that?

DB You mean the version with steel drums on it?

JK Yeah that’s right.

DB Well that is the way I heard it when I first wrote the song. I wanted steel drums on it and that is the way it is on my version but when Eric did his version we didn’t really disagree but Eric just wanted it more rock ‘n’ roll. So that is what we did.

JK The alternate mix contained on the album is a little more rock ‘n’ roll, presumably you put that version on so people can make their own mind up as to which version they like?

DB That’s what I had in mind you’re right. You’ve hit the nail on the head.

JK With regards to some of the people who play on the album, in addition to Spooner Oldham on keyboards you have Chuck Findley on trumpet, Clydie King on backing vocals and your daughter Bekka Bramlett on backing vocals; presumably the remainder of the musicians are your regular band?

DB Oh yeah, I have a great band that I play with and in my opinion, it’s the best band I have ever played with. Obviously Chuck Findley is one of the best trumpet players in the world; he played in the band on the Tonight show. I have got Hank Barrio on guitar and Peter Klimes also on guitar alongside me.

JK The album has taken a long time to come out so you must be happy that it has finally been released.

DB I am, I always thought that when we first recorded it it deserved to be heard but you never know about these things and rap music was popular at the time. I do not like rap music.

JK Do you think the time is right now for an album like this then?

DB Yeah I think the time is right for this album and also for my new album, which I have just finished.

JK With this album getting a general release and another album about to be released, things must be pretty good for Delaney Bramlett at the moment?

DB Yes things are very good for Delaney Bramlett thank you very much. We have done a few concerts and they have sold out and we had a lot of fun. Like I said I have got the best band I have ever played with.

JK That must be saying something considering the amount of talent that passed through Delaney, Bonnie and Friends including Eric Clapton, Dave Mason and George Harrison.

DB Oh yeah and remember I played with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the Plastic Ono Band. You have no idea how special that was for me. To me he was the Beatles. I have never played with Paul McCartney but I have played with Ringo and George became a very good friend but for me, oh I don’t know I may be wrong, but John Lennon for me was the Beatles and I was thrilled to do that.

JK Well having played with all these incredible people and you still consider your current band to be the best you have every played with, I think that is the ultimate accolade for the members of your band.

DB Well it is but I really mean it, they are great.

JK Thanks for talking to us today and best of luck with the album

DB Thank you Jon and you take care.

At the end of the interview Delaney was going off to play on a session with Ike
Turner. After almost fourteen years away from the business and a general
release for Sweet Inspiration and another new album in the pipeline, it would
seem that Delaney Bramlett is back in the thick of it, which I am sure will
please his many fans the world over.

©Jon Kirkman May 2004 and again 2011

Sweet Inspiration can be ordered directly from the Gonzo website here:
http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/site.php?s=2&action=list_table&t=products&filter_id=152&dbf_search_for=Delaney+Bramlett+%28artist%29&image.x=9&image.y=14