| Wally: Montpellier18/03/2012  Few of you will perhaps know of this band? The spores of this outfit, we find already back in the early seventies. They then took part in a contest organized by Melody Maker. They were among the finalists but were overtaken by another band. This contest took place at the famous Roundhouse in London. But luckily there was one DJ "Whispering" Bob Harris present and when I say that he also was the producer of the renowned BBC program "The Old Grey Whistle Test" I have said enough, right? Soon there will be a debut album and that was with Rick Wakeman geproducet. He was impressed with their music when he attended the final in the Roundhouse. Where can we find Wally among cataloging? Precisely, under the label hardrock like their striker brothers Uriah Heep and Deep Purple dominated the keyboards and the guitar of their oeuvre. The musicians we have here on the CD heard Roy Webber (the original singer and co-founder), Paul Middleton (also a founding member and bass player), Pete Sage (violin, mandolin, guitar), Roger Narraway (drums), Will Jackson (guitar, piano), Nick Glennie-Smith (keys) and many other names. It was 36 years ago that they were all together in a studio while they were working towards the sound of Wally during their early period. With the numbers we can find some tracks which were originally designed for their third album for Atlantic Records, but that was unfortunately not. These eight numbers are as good as indeed the perfect sound of Wally roughly 40 years ago. Melodic rock we find in each issue as well listen to 'Sailor' is a bit early on Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog 'but ultimately seems much stronger than' Dog '. Very long lead of a song that you immediately put on the wrong leg. "Sister Moon" is also very slow on stream and the guitars play an important role.Handsome riffs set the right tone and Neil Young is here now and then looming around the corner. Is this symphonic rock? Yes and no, portions of their songs jump right out of the symphonic packaging while including longer be able to rock meets progs with influences of country and westcoast rock. Listen especially to 'In The Night', that says more than enough about the quality of these guys. Rock meets progr rock flavored with a touch of country rock and rock west cost. Alfons Maes (3) |
Showing posts with label frank mizen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frank mizen. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
WALLY: The Belgians like 'em (and so do I)
Another great review from Belgiuum. This time it is the fabbo new album from Wally which has become another fixture on the office hi-fi. The big question that remains unanswered is why weren't these guys huge first time around? And why did I have to start working fopr the record company before I heard of them. I am making it one of my great purposes in life to make sure that Harrogate's best kept secret, remains a secret no longer.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
WALLY: UK Prog Legends Wally Reunite and Release New Album 'Montpellier'
3/17/2012 – Harrogate, UK - Much to the excitement of progressive rock fans across the globe, UK '70s prog legends Wally have reunited and recorded a new CD titled 'Montpellier'. Comprising of reworked demos from the band's earlier incarnation, along with new material written by founding members Roy Webber and Paul Middleton, the CD is scheduled for release on February 10, 2012 in the UK on Gonzo MultiMedia.
Wally, led by singer/songwriter Roy Webber, originated in Harrogate, Yorkshire in England in the early '70s. In 1973, after playing the northern UK pub rock circuit, the group entered a new act competition organized by English music paper Melody Maker. The band made it to the finals held at London's Roundhouse Theatre, but did not win. They did however catch the eye of one of the judges, “Whispering” Bob Harris, legendary DJ of The Old Grey Whistle Test. The runners-up prize was the opportunity to record a session for Harris's BBC radio show The Monday Program. Taking Wally under his wing, Harris secured a recording contract with Atlantic Records. “I really liked them,” recalls Bob Harris. “I liked the swirling sound they made...acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, Fender Rhodes piano and pedal steel guitar. I liked their harmonies, the way their voices matched. I liked their influences...David Crosby, Jackson Browne and Neil Young. But most of all I liked Roy Webber's songs.”
The group's eponymous debut album, recorded at Morgan Recording Studios in London, home of Black Sabbath and YES, was released in 1974. It was co-produced by Bob Harris and legendary YES keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had seen Wally perform at the Roundhouse. “I will never forget the first time I heard Wally,” Rick Wakeman relates. “I was completely bowled over by both the music and enthusiasm of the guys in the band for what they were doing. Whilst singing their praises to all the music industry I came across over the next few weeks, which included my management at the time, and Phil Carson, who was the head of Atlantic Records, was discovering that my great friend Bob Harris was also a massive fan and this culminated in the pair of us having the privilege of producing their first album together."
After Wally's debut release, now managed by Brian Lane, best known as the manager of YES, embarked on a series of tours through the UK, Japan and US. They even opened for YES at a concert in London at the Alexandra Palace and also made an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. “The band recorded sessions for my 'Sounds of the '70s' show on Radio 1 and played on Whistle Test,” says Bob Harris. “They slept on the floor of my London flat, we did big tours together, bought one-legged pedal steel guitars and broke the bar-bill record at Morgan as half of Harrogate arrived to put a drink on our tab, or a tab on our drink...we didn't care. We were having far too much of a good time.” “The great thing about Wally for me was the fact that they were as tremendous on stage as they were in the studio,” adds Rick Wakeman, “so I had no qualms whatsoever when inviting them onto the bill at my 'Journey To The Centre of the Earth' concert at Crystal Palace in the summer of 1974, and as expected, they were tremendous.” Wally released a second album titled 'Valley Gardens', but by that time continual touring had taken its toll and the band eventually parted after Atlantic ended their contract. Wally's members would go their separate ways, only to reunite after a 30 year hiatus!
In 2009, the surviving members of Wally's original line-up (Roy Webber, Paul Middleton, Pete Sage, Roger Narraway and Nick Glennie-Smith, augmented by Frank Mizen on pedal steel and Will Jackson on guitar) reunited and performed to a sell out crowd in their hometown of Harrogate. A DVD of the concert titled 'The Urban Man' was released later that year. Which brings us to the release of the bands first studio release in decades 'Montpellier'. “I've always believed that if music is placed above individuals as regards to importance, then it will live on forever,” says Rick Wakeman about Wally's reunion. “It's a relief to report it still has all the qualities that made this instrumental band special all those years ago,” says Graham Chalmers of the Harrogate Advertiser about Wally's new CD. “Emotional but not sentimental, epic but grounded, warmly melodic but with the emphasis on harmonies and the overall feel than the central riff.” Along with playing another reunion show in April 2011, Wally's track "Your Own Way" from their debut album has been included on the latest The Old Grey Whistle Test country compilation album to be released later this year.
Wally, led by singer/songwriter Roy Webber, originated in Harrogate, Yorkshire in England in the early '70s. In 1973, after playing the northern UK pub rock circuit, the group entered a new act competition organized by English music paper Melody Maker. The band made it to the finals held at London's Roundhouse Theatre, but did not win. They did however catch the eye of one of the judges, “Whispering” Bob Harris, legendary DJ of The Old Grey Whistle Test. The runners-up prize was the opportunity to record a session for Harris's BBC radio show The Monday Program. Taking Wally under his wing, Harris secured a recording contract with Atlantic Records. “I really liked them,” recalls Bob Harris. “I liked the swirling sound they made...acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, Fender Rhodes piano and pedal steel guitar. I liked their harmonies, the way their voices matched. I liked their influences...David Crosby, Jackson Browne and Neil Young. But most of all I liked Roy Webber's songs.”
The group's eponymous debut album, recorded at Morgan Recording Studios in London, home of Black Sabbath and YES, was released in 1974. It was co-produced by Bob Harris and legendary YES keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had seen Wally perform at the Roundhouse. “I will never forget the first time I heard Wally,” Rick Wakeman relates. “I was completely bowled over by both the music and enthusiasm of the guys in the band for what they were doing. Whilst singing their praises to all the music industry I came across over the next few weeks, which included my management at the time, and Phil Carson, who was the head of Atlantic Records, was discovering that my great friend Bob Harris was also a massive fan and this culminated in the pair of us having the privilege of producing their first album together."
After Wally's debut release, now managed by Brian Lane, best known as the manager of YES, embarked on a series of tours through the UK, Japan and US. They even opened for YES at a concert in London at the Alexandra Palace and also made an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. “The band recorded sessions for my 'Sounds of the '70s' show on Radio 1 and played on Whistle Test,” says Bob Harris. “They slept on the floor of my London flat, we did big tours together, bought one-legged pedal steel guitars and broke the bar-bill record at Morgan as half of Harrogate arrived to put a drink on our tab, or a tab on our drink...we didn't care. We were having far too much of a good time.” “The great thing about Wally for me was the fact that they were as tremendous on stage as they were in the studio,” adds Rick Wakeman, “so I had no qualms whatsoever when inviting them onto the bill at my 'Journey To The Centre of the Earth' concert at Crystal Palace in the summer of 1974, and as expected, they were tremendous.” Wally released a second album titled 'Valley Gardens', but by that time continual touring had taken its toll and the band eventually parted after Atlantic ended their contract. Wally's members would go their separate ways, only to reunite after a 30 year hiatus!
In 2009, the surviving members of Wally's original line-up (Roy Webber, Paul Middleton, Pete Sage, Roger Narraway and Nick Glennie-Smith, augmented by Frank Mizen on pedal steel and Will Jackson on guitar) reunited and performed to a sell out crowd in their hometown of Harrogate. A DVD of the concert titled 'The Urban Man' was released later that year. Which brings us to the release of the bands first studio release in decades 'Montpellier'. “I've always believed that if music is placed above individuals as regards to importance, then it will live on forever,” says Rick Wakeman about Wally's reunion. “It's a relief to report it still has all the qualities that made this instrumental band special all those years ago,” says Graham Chalmers of the Harrogate Advertiser about Wally's new CD. “Emotional but not sentimental, epic but grounded, warmly melodic but with the emphasis on harmonies and the overall feel than the central riff.” Along with playing another reunion show in April 2011, Wally's track "Your Own Way" from their debut album has been included on the latest The Old Grey Whistle Test country compilation album to be released later this year.
For more information: http://www.wallymusic.co.uk/
WALLY: Why Wally?
Legend has it that at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, Bob Dylan lost his dog. The dog's name was 'Wally', and a distraught member of the festival organisational team, who was probably worse the wear for chemicals clambered on the stage between acts and started shouting "WALLLEEEEE!" over the PA. The crowd took up the chant, and a neologism for 'someone stupid' was born.
Like most legends this is probably 90% apocryphal. There are too many holes in it. Why would a rock star (who had flown from Heathrow to John Lennon's Surrey mansion by helicopter, have his dog with him? Even the most star-struck of custom's officers would have stopped 'The Big Zim' from bringing it into the country. A variant of the story goes that Dylan adopted a stray dog that was wandering about the festival ground and named it 'Wally', but again this seems unlikely. But by 1974 the term had entered the hippy venacular.
A disparate group of freaks who may or may not have been led by one Phil Russell (aka Wally Hope) adopted 'Wally' as a group name a-la 'Luther Blisset' or 'Emmet Grogan' when they were busted after the first Stonehenge Festival, in 1974. And the next year when Hope died under mysterious and sorded circumstances, the name 'Wally' was part of our shared culture.
By the end of the decade it had entered the mainstream and the rest is linguistic history.
What I am wondering, is where the group got their moniker from? Has it anything to do with the events described above? Or is it a coincidence?
A dear friend of mine (the one responsible for all the pictures of sky clad witches trying to raise the Loch Ness Monster) claims that there is no such thing as a coincidence! Ha!
I have been working as a maverick zoologist and writer for the past two decades and I haven't done a pop music interview in nearly as long. My technique is probably a little rusty. But I will be talking to Wally soon, and I bet you can guess what my first question is going to be...
Like most legends this is probably 90% apocryphal. There are too many holes in it. Why would a rock star (who had flown from Heathrow to John Lennon's Surrey mansion by helicopter, have his dog with him? Even the most star-struck of custom's officers would have stopped 'The Big Zim' from bringing it into the country. A variant of the story goes that Dylan adopted a stray dog that was wandering about the festival ground and named it 'Wally', but again this seems unlikely. But by 1974 the term had entered the hippy venacular.
A disparate group of freaks who may or may not have been led by one Phil Russell (aka Wally Hope) adopted 'Wally' as a group name a-la 'Luther Blisset' or 'Emmet Grogan' when they were busted after the first Stonehenge Festival, in 1974. And the next year when Hope died under mysterious and sorded circumstances, the name 'Wally' was part of our shared culture.
By the end of the decade it had entered the mainstream and the rest is linguistic history.
What I am wondering, is where the group got their moniker from? Has it anything to do with the events described above? Or is it a coincidence?
A dear friend of mine (the one responsible for all the pictures of sky clad witches trying to raise the Loch Ness Monster) claims that there is no such thing as a coincidence! Ha!
I have been working as a maverick zoologist and writer for the past two decades and I haven't done a pop music interview in nearly as long. My technique is probably a little rusty. But I will be talking to Wally soon, and I bet you can guess what my first question is going to be...
Friday, 16 March 2012
WALLY REVIEWED
http://www.progrockmusictalk.com/2012/03/review-wally-montpellier.html
FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012
Review: Wally-Montpellier
“Sailor” opens the album with atmospheric synth accented by the sound of gulls. A guitar blast and crash cymbal mark the end of the introduction and the beginning of a thoughtful ballad with Beatles-esque piano and vocals. After a couple of times through the verse and chorus, the song erupts with guitar and organ sounds leading to an electric finish, tempered by the briefest denouement (the sound of gulls again). “Thrill Is Gone” has a more raw sound. The highlight of the song features the bands other new addition, guitarist Will Jackson. His solo develops from a simple riff in the lowest range of the instrument into a shrieking jam worthy of any number of great guitarists (think Duane Allman meets Eddie Van Halen). “Surfing” is a very unique offering that begins with spoken vocals and instruments that sound like the background music of a Tom Waits song, and then it turns into a straight-forward rock song on the chorus with screaming vocals. Very cool!
The album closes with the powerful anthem “Giving.” It literally gave me chills when I first listened to it. The classical-style strings (and/or synth) that begin and end the song would be beautiful all on their own, but the middle section of the song blows even those sweet moments away. The final arrival of the lead guitar solo towards the end of the tune is nothing less than triumphant. Wally is a great band still dedicated to doing their own thing. I hope that they continue to make music for another 3 or 4 decades!
4/5 Stars
Key Tracks- Sailor, Thrill Is Gone, Giving
Donny Harvey
March 15, 2012
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