Celebrities Who Have Donated Blood or Supported Blood Donation

From the Archives

Jane Seymour as Solitaire in Live and Let Die (1973) (Courtesy: Borg.com)

FAMOUS BLOOD DONORS
This list was originally compiled for my old blog on 6th December 2011(1). It was updated today 12th October 2015. The first list consisted of people who had given blood and may continue to donate. When rewriting the list I found it difficult to differentiate between those who donate and those who support blood donation, to the extent I almost deleted the draft. After all, what would be the point of a list of people who support blood donation? Then, I decided it was better to post on blood donation, with a few names to draw in readers, than not to do so at all. Some names on my 20ll blog post, like Jayne Torvill and Gary Lineker, are still on the http://www.blood.co.uk website, so they seem like genuine donors. For new 2015 additions, there is an asterisk* nest to their name; the remiander date back to 2011. It will be interesting to compare this post in another four years time, which will be 2019.

•  Sarah Beeny* (b.1972) is an English property developer and television presenter, best known for presenting the Channel 4 property shows Property Ladder, Property Snakes and Ladders, Streets Ahead, Britain’s Best Homes, Help! My House is Falling Down, Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare, Double Your House for Half the Money and Sarah Beeny’s Selling Houses. Sarah said she did not require a transfusion during childbirth, which inspired her to donate for those who do need the procedure.

•  Graham Bell* (b.1966) is a former professional skier who achieved a silver medal at the World Junior Ski Championships in 1984 and represented Great Britain at five Winter Olympics in: Sarajevo 1984, Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994 and Nagano 1998. He now works as a TV presenter for Ski Sunday and journalist.

•  Gordon Bennett (1955-2014), Australian artist, sadly passed away in 2014, but deserves to remain on the list as a donor.
•  Chris Bisson (b.1975), a British actor best known for playing Vikram Desai in Coronation Street and Jai Sharma in Emmerdale.
•  Jude Bolton (b.1980), former Australian rules footballer who represented the Sydney Swans.
•  Pat Boone (b.1934), American singer and actor.
•  Richard Branson (b.1950), British businessman and founder of the Virgin Group.
•  Kristin Cavallari (b.1987), American actress who is a star of The Hills TV series.
•  Jackie Chan MBE (b.1954), martial arts actor from Hong Kong.
•  Sara Cox (b.1974), British DJ who made her name presenting The Radio 1 Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1 between 2000 and 2003, but now hosts Sounds of the 80s on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday nights at 10pm.
•  Miley Cyrus (b.1992), an American actress and singer, who is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and starred in children’s television series Hannah Montana in 2006.
•  Alesha Dixon (b.1978), British singer and judge on Strictly Come Dancing, who found fame with girl-group Mis-Teeq.
•  Josh Duhamel (b.1972), American TV actor and star of the Transformers films.
•  Sophie Ellis-Bextor (b.1979), British singer and Janet Ellis’s daughter. She gave blood for the first time during National Blood Week of summer 2011 and said she planned on becoming a regular donor.
•  Jenny Frost (b.1978), British TV presenter and singer with Atomic Kitten.

•  Wayne Hemingway* MBE (b.1961), an English fashion designer and co-founder of Red or Dead.

•  Greg James* (b.1985) is a British radio DJ and TV presenter, most famous for hosting the drivetime show on Monday to Friday, at 16:00-19:00, on BBC Radio 1. When he was born he was very ill and had three full blood transfusions,

•  Saira Khan* (b.1970) was the runner-up on the first UK series of reality television show The Apprentice in 2005. Since then she has co-presented The Martin Lewis Money Show, from 2012, and presented a new ITV daytime show called Guess This House (2015). Saira’s blood group is A-, one of the rarer blood types, with just 7% of people having this group.

•  Penn Jillette (b.1955), the talking half of the magic duo Penn & Teller.
•  Chris Judd (b.1983), a former Australian rules footballer and captain of both the Carlton Football Club and the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL).
•  Gary Lineker OBE, an English former international footballer and current sports broadcaster. He holds England’s record for the number of goals scored in FIFA World Cup finals, which is 10. In the early 1990s, his eldest son George survived, as a baby, a rare form of leukaemia. As a result, Lineker now supports children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent and has since appeared in advertisements encouraging people to give blood.

•  Sophia Loren* (b.1934) was famously mobbed by a large crowd at the Piazza Del Popolo in Rome, in 1962, while escorted by film director Vittorio De Sica. She signed autographs then sat inside a Red Cross van with a doctor and had her blood pressure taken before giving blood(2).

•  Kym Marsh (b.1976), achieved fame as a singer after winning Popstars with the band Hear’Say in 2000. She left the group two years later for a solo career, but is now best known for playing Michelle Connor in Coronation Street.
•  Dr. Phillip McGraw (b.1950), American TV personality

•  Penny Smith* (b.1958), newsreader and TV presenter-turned-author, said she has been a regular blood donor since she was 18.

•  Sun Park (b.1981), Australian actress, singer and presenter.
•  Rascal Flatts, American country band formed in 1999 and active to date.

•  Jorgie Porter* (b.1987), star of the Channel 4 TV drama Hollyoaks, as Theresa McQueen.
•  Rachel Riley* (b.1986) is an English television presenter best known for being a co-presenter, with Nick Hewer, on Countdown on Channel 4. She replaced Carol Vorderman as the co-host in presenting the letters and numbers selection and mathematics solutions. Rachel achieved an upper second-class honours degree in mathematics at Oriel College, Oxford.

•  Jane Seymour OBE (b.1951), British actress who played Solitaire in the James Bond film, Live and Let Die (1973).
•  Mark Smith (b.1969), a body builder who played ‘Rhino’ in the Gladiators TV series. He donates bone marrow.
•  Curtis Stone (b.1975), Australian chef, TV presenter and author.
•  Niki Taylor (b.1975), American supermodel.
•  Jayne Torvill OBE (b.1957), British Olympic gold medallist ice dancer and star of the Dancing On Ice TV series, which ran from 2006 to 2014.

•  Twin B*, real name Alec Boateng, is the host of a breakfast show on BBC Radio 1Xtra.

•  The cast of The Vampire Diaries (2009 to date) and Twilight , American TV series. Rachelle 
 Lefevre*, who plays the vampire Victoria in the Twilight (2008) series has been photographed giving blood.

I would urge healthy readers to consider blood donation as it takes only a little of your time, but can transform and even save lives. Blood cannot be given more frequently than 16 weeks, which is only three times a year. To find out more, the UK link is: http://www.blood.co.uk(3).

Originally posted on Tuesday 6th December 2011

(1) Famous Blood Donors from December 2011: http://itemequalstotem.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/famous-blood-donors.html
(2) Footage of Sophia Loren becoming a blood donor on British Pathe: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/sophia-loren-becomes-a-blood-donor
(3) The 2015 campaign: http://www.blood.co.uk/team-gb/

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Tales From the Tour Bus: Rock 'n' Roll on the Road (BBC4 Fri 9th October 2015 Rpt)

WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF BRITISH TOURING
On Friday evening I watched a repeat of a documentary called Tales From the Tour Bus: Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Road, presented by Rick Wakeman. He introduces the programme with, ‘Welcome to the golden age of British touring, when rock and pop bands roamed the land in a world before mobile phones, guide books and even motorways, a world that never seemed ready for them. From the fifties to the eighties, these musical pirates could be glimpsed travelling the length and breadth of the country changing the musical landscape as they went. Playing wherever they could get a gig. Risking everything for us. This is the story of their journey.’

The keyboardist looked odd in his grey suit, white shoes and no tie, but was as funny as always. Tales From the Tour Bus was narrated chronologically starting with the earliest tours of the UK which were by American musicians. In 1957, the first was Bill Haley who toured the country by British Rail. He was followed by Buddy Holly in 1958 and Gene Vincent & Eddie Cochran in 1960. Joining the latter duo were Marty Wilde and the Wildcats with drummer Brian Bennett, who in an interview describes how he carried his own kit because there were no road managers. They travelled third class on British Rail, while Vincent & Cochran enjoyed first class. Marty Wilde remembered how Americans did not swear much, although the British swore all the time. In the early days of touring, rock ‘n’ roll was ‘shoehorned’ into traditional variety shows with novelty acts. Gary Brooker, of The Paramounts and Procol Harum, felt insulted that they were asked to back Mrs Mills, and he expressed his disgust. She later came to him and apologised, so he felt guilty.

Early in the programme, Rick Wakeman introduced his 1984 Dodge Ram van, bought for the Yes Union Tour in 1990, because it was less hastle than waiting at airports. He put forward the view that if you had a van and were not a musician, you would probably be invited to join a band. According to Ali McKenzie of The Birds, the van was your home, where you ate sandwiches prepared by your mum. The Birds had a ‘piss hole’ in the bottom of the van, as there was no time to stop. Simon Nicol, of Fairport Convention, also claimed bands tried to co-ordinate their bladders, in order to save valuable time. A particularly funny section is where Rick Wakeman walks around his van, as if he has just had a wee, and shakes his leg. Bob Hope would have been proud.

Brooker recalled the variety of venues, saying that the Pontypridd Nylon Spinners Club was one of the best nights they ever had, while Whitehaven, near a nuclear power station, was grim. The Whitehaven girls liked them, the boyfriends did not. Phil May of the Pretty Things described how their roadie defended them from angry boyfriends, with a shotgun which he kept in the back of the van. Girls carried scissors for cutting lengths of hair and pieces of clothes for souvenirs, while boyfriends wanted to beat them up. In 1961, The Beatles‘ roadie, Neil Aspinall, bought a van for £80 and charged them five bob (5s or 25p) for every journey.

Rick Wakeman tells us quite abruptly that, ‘Some of the working men’s clubs were shit holes and that was upgrading them.’

By 1967, with imported American hippydom, everything had changed. A full-scale rock tour was organised featuring The Nice, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Move and Pink Floyd. It was supposed to be a two-and-a-half hour show, but the club would switch off the power supply half way through Jimi Hendrix’s set. There were no women on the tour of 67, although Sandy Shaw was backed by the Paramounts and travelled in the van with the band. In 1968, Sandy Denny was travelling in the Fairport van, which was no problem, but pubs would not serve her because of their ‘men only bars’. Sonja Kristina of Curved Air, shown in both seventies footage and a recent interview, said everyone slept together in the back of the tour coach. It was like a relationship without sex. Road accidents, involving touring bands, did not make the press until 1969, when Fairport Convention crashed and drummer Martin Lamble was killed.

Motorways opened in 1959, with the M1, and the Blue Boar Service Station at Watford Gap was unveiled on the same day. Carl Palmer, then with Chris Farlowe, remembered how groups would meet at the Blue Boar and he saw the Tremeloes and the Searchers. Prior to this he recalled truck stops with 10 beds in a room and unwashed sheets. Brian James, who came later in the seventies with The Damned, said the B&B landladies took pity on him and wanted to feed him.

Kim McAuliff of late-seventies all-girl band, Girlschool(1), remembered getting changed for gigs, in toilets with wee on the floor. She said they formed a girl band because men did not want women on the tour bus. Girlschool, like other groups, slept on top of the gear in the back of the van. Drummer Denise Dufore had pent up energy and they had to stop to let her run around, although she could sleep upright with a cloth over her head like a budgie. Denise also had smelly socks and shoes, so they were periodically thrown out of the van window. Motorhead invited them on one of their tours, whereas many bands would charge the support act to join them.

More equipment in the seventies meant a road crew. Peter Hook of Joy Division and Blue Mondays followed Queen in recording an album in Wales and retold a funny story from the engineers about Mercury and co. Apparently, Queen’s roadies had turned up with sports cars and girls, so the engineers asked if they were the band. They said they were the road crew, but had their own crew to set up the equipment and added, ‘But, don’t tell the band.’ Another of Hook’s stories involved a roadie being sent for a supply of beer, opening the bus door and finding they were already heading down the motorway at 70mph!

Peter Dougal Butler, assistant to Keith Moon, recalled how the drummer attempted to phone hotel room services for a sandwich in the middle of the night, but they did not answer. He threw a TV out of widow. The hotel phoned him and asked if he had just thrown a TV out of the window. He said, ‘Yes,’ and next time would they answer the phone.

Rat Scabies, also of The Damned, said tour maps looked like pentagrams. Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel added that they could play Portsmouth, Glasgow and possibly Southampton on three consecutive nights. Another of Scabies’ observations was that bands had a two-year career on average, roadies got forty years. Wilko Johnson and Norman Watt-Roy‘s experiences did not have a road crew; they had a lock-up, would drive the van, picked each other up in the van, set up the equipment, played and then did everything in reverse night after night. Wilko said, ‘I think I slept twice in the seventies!’

Rick Wakeman provided an anecdote on how newly established rock venues were created in the seventies for bands, like Wilko’s Dr Feelgood, who were too big for pubs, but not big enough for stadiums, ‘There were a few great venues which you aspired to play in when you were in a band in the early seventies. One was Friars in Aylesbury, the other was Boston Gliderdrome. The Gliderdome was absolutely fantastic, they oould squeeze 1200 people in there. You felt you had made it when you played clubs like Boston Gliderdrome.’

Tours came full circle in 1978 when Dave Robinson took his bands on the Stiff Tour, on a British Rail train. They hired the train with Pulman carriages and put a stiff banner on the side.

On closing, Brian James and Rat Scabies told of how a tour starts out as band versus the world and ends with niggles being magnified out of proportion. Although The Damned toured with Marc Bolan and T.Rex and found him keen to keep fit, ‘Running around the services in his little green tracksuit,’ and open to the extent he would discuss anything. Suzi Quatro lamented that touring was a lonely existence. Paul Humphreys of OMD even picked up the phone in his own house to call room service, then realised it was his house and not a hotel. Steve Harley said, ‘You have to do it, there is no other way.’ Marty Wilde also said candidly, ‘You have got to be loved by everyone if you can.’ The film ended with a little comedy sketch featuring Rick shut out of the Gliderdrome and unable to find his van.

Tales From the Tour Bus: Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Road is an excellent documentary and quite funny too. I have seen it three times and recommend it wholeheartedly to all rock fans. BBC4 usually show good quality music documentaries on Friday nights and they are well worth keeping an eye on the TV listings.

(1) RIP Girlschool lead guitarist and singer Kelly Johnson, who died of cancer in 2007.

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Top of the Pops, Thursday 9th October 1980

HELLO, AS YOU CAN SEE WE’VE ALREADY STARTED, BUT YOU’RE VERY WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S EDITION OF TOP OF THE POPS
Top of the Pops this evening was a repeated episode from 9th October 1980(1), introduced by Peter Powell by then with short barnet, stripey top and red cardigan placed strategically over his shoulders so the cuffs could tuck into his waistband. This was the era of . . . smart casual. The first group to mime in the studio are Status Quo with What You’re Proposing (No.27). A few whisps of dry ice billow across the studio and a couple of kids start pogoing, as if on cue from the director. Despite the presence of John Coghlan and Alan Lancaster, the group were in decline and the pair look embarrassed at playing such dross. Quo are only one of two rock bands on the show.

Powell unexpectedly advertises red Top of the Pops T-shirts, which will be available in two weeks time, before a video of Diana Ross with the Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards produced My Old Piano (No.5), in which she writhes around a piano in a palm-strewn room with classical pillars. Thanks to the Chic team it was her best record, in my opinion. Afterwards Powell interviews Dennis Waterman on the subject of his national ‘rock n roll’ tour and new single release, Good For You. Waterman hands Powell a copy from under his jacket in hilarious mock-Minder style. Powell was affable, but always embarrassing and it is a squirm fest.

Second in the studio are synthpop group, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, performing Enola Gay (No.35) with a severely jerky lead singer in waistcoat, formal shirt and tie. The drummer has a v-neck jumper tucked into his trousers. Unintentionally funny is when the director cuts to a camera close-up, during a solo, on the wrong keyboard. In a ‘news flash’, Powell announces Queen are No 1 in the US album and singles chart. A singles chart rundown from no. 30, reveals that Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Trouble by Gillan and Thin Lizzy‘s Killer on the Loose are listed but we hear nothing from them.

Legs and Co dance to Casanova by Coffee (No.19), a disco song with a George Benson-like guitar solo. Befitting the subject, the dancers wear 18th century outfits with tutus in place of conventional dresses. There are lots of yelps from somebody. None of it is sexy. Next in the studio is laid back reggae group Black Slate performing Amigo. The lead singer is dressed as a Mexican and delivers lines like, ‘Amigo-migo-migo-migo-ooh’, ‘Shoop-shoop-wah-ooh-ah’, and, ‘Jah lover, ooh’. In another hysterical interlude Powell asks Waterman what The Nolans conjure up in his mind. He replies with a Benny Hill-style, ‘Oooh!’ The girls appear in a video singing and dancing to Gotta Pull Myself Together (No.25) while wearing yellow sleeveless tops and trousers. Cut to a couple wandering about the river side, resplendent in satin bomber jacket and jumpsuit.

Paul Jones is interviewed to promote the Find Yourself Another Fool single, performed by The Blues Band and written by Tom McGuinness. Jones introduces British smooth soul-funk group Linx and You’re Lying (No.23). Their greatest hit, Intuition, was three or four months away. Lead singer David Grant wears a black dinner jacket with the sleeves pulled up. In the third week at number one in this week’s chart is The Police and Don’t Stand so Close to Me, shown in a video. Understandable to young male teachers, it is hard to imagine the video being made today. The band are sensibly dressed in academic gowns, with Sting also clad in a ‘The Beat‘ vest and inexplicably wielding a carpet beater, Stewart Copeland is smoking and throwing a paper ball at Sting, while Andy Summers is his usual long suffering self. Don’t Stand so Close to Me is a great record, making having to suffer everything else just about worthwhile.

D.I.S.C.O. by French band Ottawan plays over shots of the audience in smart casual, of course, and the closing credits. Paul Jones is happy to dance, while Dennis Waterman is not, and one person is still determined to pogo. The producer was Stanley Appel and the executive producer, Michael Hurll.

(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W6Yd0X-27M

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Boston by Boston (1976)

Boston - More Than a Feeling single sleeve (1976) (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

MORE THAN A FEELING
When I was about seventeen, I worked with someone who had a contact in the local CBS factory and, for a price, they got me a cassette of Boston‘s first album when it was released. To fit the tracks equally on the two sides of the tape, the track listing is different to that of the vinyl, so it became what I was used to hearing. Later, when I obtained the CD, I had to resequence the playing order for comfort. The cassette order is what I have used for reviewing the album in this blog entry. The quality of the recording was and remains high, with Tom Scholtz‘s sharp production and the Dolby noise reduction on the tape. Nearly forty years later and the cassette still sounds good!

Boston’s greatest hit, More Than a Feeling, fades in with a gentle jangling guitar and Brad Delp‘s voice on the first verse, but soon steps up after the singer announces,’I closed my eyes and I slipped away.’ After which, Tom Scholtz plays a solo, the pace increases and the hand claps drive the song towards the first chorus. The pattern is repeated similarly for the second verse/chorus until Scholtz plays his solo proper. With the third verse and chorus, the track fades out. It seems a predictable pattern, but Scholtz’s crystal clear production and pure sounding guitar are superb, while Delp’s glorious voice is the revelation here. The song is about hearing a song and getting more than a feeling, such as the distinct memory of, ‘I see my Mary Ann walk away.’ One could say the same of this track and album; while it creates an agreeable feeling when listening, afterwards there remains an indelible impression of the whole collection.

Acoustic guitar, with a rock ‘n’ roll feel, opens Peace of Mind, becomes an electric guitar line and is followed by harmony guitars. Again Delp lifts the following verse/choruses above the ordinary with his fantastic phrasing, but Sholtz’s guitar parts and instrumental passages constantly change throughout the song. There are hard rock riffs a-plenty, with piercing notes cutting across them. Peace of Mind was the third single from Boston (the second being Foreplay/ Long Time) and was less successful than its predecessors, probably because it was heavier.

Smokin‘ is a straight rock ‘n’ roll track with some funky keyboards and tells of the band being lively and exciting, or it may be about listening to music while smoking marijuana. Something that Boston are very good at is incorporating biographical elements into their songs. At about halfway, Smokin‘ develops a strident keyboards/ guitar passage before the vocals return and it ends. Scholtz demonstrates his skill at using seemingly simple dynamics with complex playing. Let me Take You Home Tonight is the first slow-ish track and is about taking a girl home and hoping to show her a bit of ‘sweet delight’. What could be a bit crass, actually turns out to be beautiful with Delp’s yearning voice and Barry Goodreau‘s inventive lead guitar. His solo has some Allman Brothers‘ sounding guitar, plus a host of others.

Side two of the cassette begins with Rock and Roll Band, representing more of the autobiographical material, along the lines of, ‘Well, we were just another band out of Boston/ On the road to try to make ends meet.’ It is one of the best songs of its type and gives the impression that this is a real band that worked their way around the clubs, while perfecting their playing technique. Rock and Roll Band goes on to give an account of their signing by the men in suits, but avoids the particular details of the contract.

On Hitch a Ride, Brad Delp follows the guitar with his voice to give a background of the city, before the pace increases and he declares, ‘Gonna hitch a ride/ Head for the other side/ Leave it all behind.’ His chilly phrasing and the harmonies paint an effective picture of having to leave the cold of New York in the winter. Scholtz introduces another organ solo, before launching into harmony guitar solos. An impression is given of more than one guitarist playing across each other, but it is unlikely to be the case – it is all Scholtz. The handclaps also make a return.

Something About You has a number of lead and harmony vocal parts, all by Delp. Like Scholtz, he is able to appear as lead performer and a number of backing musicians. Foreplay is a lengthy instrumental passage of guitars and keyboards. Fran Sheehan plays bass and stands out, as does Sib Hashian‘s drumming. After a quiet keyboard passage at around two-and-a-half minutes, a sustained guitar note ushers in all the usual elements, Brad Delp’s delivery, multi-part harmonies, yelps, keys, and eventually plenty of soloing from Goudreau. In 1976, Long Time made a good closing song with Delp telling us, ‘Well I’m takin’ my time, I’m just a movin’ along/ You’ll forget about me after I’ve been gone.’ However, following his tragic death in 2007, he could not have been more wrong. The greatest American hard rock singer was gone forever.

Another irony is that Boston were not the established band they appeared in their ‘personal narrative’ lyrics and polished instrumentation. Scholtz and Delp signed a deal with Epic around the time their band split, so they quickly recruited Barry Goudreau on guitar, bassist Fran Sheehan and drummer Sib Hashian to create a group which could play the songs for a record company audition to finalise the contract. The label wanted Scholz to rerecord his demo tapes in a professional studio, but he reworked them in his own basement studio. Original drummer Jim Masdea played drums on the track Rock and Roll Band. Later, Delp added vocals and the album was mixed by John Boylan. It was only at this stage that the latter and engineer Warren Dewey suggested the name Boston. According to the Remaster 2005 notes, Sib Hashian played drums, Fran Sheehan played bass guitar on Foreplay and Let Me Take You Home Tonight, while Barry Goudreau added lead guitars to the same tracks and played rhythm guitar.

NOTES
As with BOC’s Tattoo Vampire from Agents of Fortune, Boston’s Foreplay/ Long Time was to be reviewed as part of my ‘From the Alan Freeman Playlist’ series, but isolating one track from an album again seemed inappropriate. So, the whole album was swiftly reviewed in the available time over two days. I feel in my haste, I have done a disservice to Brad Delp, whom I consider to be the best American hard rock singer of all time. My intention is to later write an addendum to the blog entries up to that, as yet, uncertain date.

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Agents of Fortune by Blue Oyster Cult (1976)

BOC - (Don't Fear) the Reaper/ Tattoo Vampire single sleeve (1976) (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

THIS IS THE NIGHT WE RIDE
Agents of Fortune was described on its release as Blue Oyster Cult‘s most accessible and commercial album, which is true up to a point. Admittedly, it has a very clean clear production with plenty of catchy melodies, but the lyrics are intelligently dark and witty and are delivered with Eric Bloom‘s perfectly matched vocal. Added to this is the outstanding lead guitar work of Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser, the range of complimentary keyboards of Allen Lanier(1) and the Bouchard brothers’ propulsive rhythm section. All combine to provide moments of inspired melodic hard rock, which avoid the sticky sentimentality of many bands who were to follow. Much of the credits were not written in stone as Roeser, Lanier and drummer Albert Bouchard all provided lead vocals on some tracks, while Bloom and Lanier were capable guitarists.

The intro to This Ain’t the Summer of Love(2) reminds me of a murky version of The Ripper by Judus Priest. However, this not so much heavy, as grungy some fifteen-to-twenty years before grunge. It serves as a reminder that BOC were no hippy band, but more a dark melodic rock faction. True Confessions is slightly commercial with piano to the fore. BOC’s greatest hit, (Don’t Fear) the Reaper, combines the harmonies of The Byrds with lyrics that sound bright, even if they are marginally sinister. The second half builds up to a guitar solo that was left off the single and is guaranteed to strip the paint from your door. Although written by Buck Dharma and serving as a vehicle for his singing and guitar, credit should go to Albert Bouchard’s drumming and choppy cowbell percussion, which drive the track.

E.T.I. (Exra-Terrestrial Intelligence) is the heaviest piece so far with spacey Hawkwind-like synthesizers and weird sci-fi guitar sounds, along with more of those Byrds harmonies. ETI segues directly into Patti Smith‘s breathy-voiced intro to Vera Gemini. She adds background voices throughout to a heavyish track with a great off-kilter bass riff. The lyrics demonstrate the brilliance of BOC’s songs and the lead guitar is as sharp as ever. Buck Dharma’s incisive guitar kicks off Sinful Love and is all-pervasive on another heavy song, with more terrific lyrics which dovetail perfectly with the instrumentation, ‘I love you like sinful love, but I won’t be your pigeon.’ By now BOC are on a roll and Tattoo Vampire is one of the best tracks on what is a flawless album, beginning with one of the best and strangest drum intros you will ever hear. Joe Bouchard‘s bass playing gives the track its dynamism, showing the brothers were an underrated rhythm section. vocal delivery of the alliterative lyrics makes for one of the most memorable hard rock songs of the seventies.

Opening track of the second side of the vinyl Agents of Fortune, Morning Final, reveals the overtly melodic aspect of BOC with its swirling organ, chiming piano, tubular bell, and wah-wah pedals. The only weak part of an otherwise perfect album is the blatantly contrived voice of the subway newspaper seller, but nothing is completely perfect. Tenderloin continues the melodic theme, a gentle song with a theme from ELP‘s Knife Edge, but about a district of a city where vice and corruption are prominent. Debbie Denise is beautiful with its interlaced mellotron and guitar, as well as vocal harmonies. It has several hooks to emphasise the cliched point about the girl left at home by the touring rock star, ‘I was out rolling with my band,’ and, ‘Debbie Denise was true to me-ee-ee.’ Buck Dharma’s guitar tone is sublime in the closing stages of the song. His playing is often criticised for fading, just when it gets interesting, and this is a case in point.

My version of Agents Of Fortune (Japan SICP-30662, 2014) has the song Fire Of Unknown Origin as a bonus, because, according to the excellent liner notes, it is an outtake from this album’s recording sessions. It reappeared as the title track of one of the band’s best albums after Agents. The outtake has a number of superb ‘sounds’ and deserves to be on this album. Sally and Dance The Night Away were demoed for Agents although not used – apparently versions were later recorded and released by The Brain Surgeons and Jim Carroll respectively. Sally is typically full of melodic tones, feeling like a cross between Bob Marley, The Shadows and the song Bony Moronie; it shows a lot of promise never fully realised. Dance Away is a John Lennon-ish piece and the only inferior track on the album, but it is a demo and who knows what it could have become? The first part of the demo of Don’t Fear the Reaper, with bongos, sounds less like The Byrds and a lot like America. It is different to the hit, but is no less wonderfully atmospheric, although the final section featuring the guitar solo seems a bit tacked-on.

Production was by the team of Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman, with David Lucas. If ever there was a fully consistent rock album with quality songs, strong vocals and shimmering instrumentation, it was Agents of Fortune. Possibly the only album to match Blue Oyster Cult’s effort was Boston‘s first album; that, however, is another story.

NOTES
As part of my policy of swift writing, this review took about two days on-and-off, which is the blink of an eye by my usual standard of weeks, months or even years. It started as just a post on Tattoo Vampire for my ‘From the Alan Freeman Playlist’ series, but isolating one track from Agents of Fortune seems inappropriate somehow. Stuart Maconie, in his biography, listed a music journalist’s particular skills as, ‘Taking the piss, reviewing at speed and taking pop music way too seriously’ (Cider with Roadies, p.229). So, I have got to increase my writing speed, whether I like it or not.

(1) Allen Lanier, a co-founding member of Blue Öyster Cult, tragically died on 14th August 2013. The keyboard player and guitarist, who was 67, succumbed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a result of smoking. BOC guitarist Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser, speaking of the habit in Rolling Stone said, ‘It wasn’t a big surprise, but it feels like the circle is broken.’
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blue-oyster-cult-co-founder-allen-lanier-dead-at-67-20130815
(2) BOC made no secret of the fact that inspiration for the riff of This Ain’t the Summer of Love was borrowed from Ascension Day by Third World War. It can be heard on: YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhKeMc8mQRg

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Buck's Boogie by Blue Oyster Cult (On Your Feet or On Your Knees 1975)

From the Alan Freeman Playlist

Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees gatefold (1975) (Courtesy: Headheritage)

BORN TO BE WILD
There are bands who, when they record a live album, add previously unreleased or original tracks – in addition to replicating, changing, improving or extending familiar songs. The Who‘s Live at Leeds (1970) adds the covers from their regular set: Mose Allison’s Young Man Blues, Jerry Capehart and Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues and Shakin’ All Over by Johnny Kidd. A studio recording of Summertime Blues had been made in 1967, but was not released until The Story of the Who (1976). Thin Lizzy appended two unreleased ‘originals’ to Live and Dangerous (1978), Are You Ready? and Baby Drives Me Crazy.

To On Your Feet or On Your Knees from 1975, Blue Oyster Cult attached an original lengthy instrumental, Buck’s Boogie, which serves as a showpiece for Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser‘s impressive guitar playing. Like The Who, they added some covers from their usual set, The Yardbirds’ I Ain’t Got You, restructured as Maserati GT, and Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild. Buck’s Boogie consists of a simple but extremely catchy rock ‘n’ roll melody, over which Dharma weaves his intricate but faultlessly played solos. What sets Boogie apart from other live guitar showpieces is that the remaining members of the band are also given opportunity to shine, especially Allen Lanier‘s organ work which acts as a foil to the guitar. Albert Bouchard‘s drum solo appears after about four minutes and his brother Joe‘s bass solo comes around a minute later. As a rhythm section, the brothers are prominent with or without their own solos.

BOC were often grouped with the early ‘heavy metal’ bands like Blue Cheer, Vanilla Fudge and Black Sabbath, but they did not have a particularly heavy sound. Nor were they primitive enough to qualify as a garage band, despite being classified as such. BOC also had another dimension in that they were consistently unpredictable, varied, experimental and melodic. Their songs were usually of the highest quality and revealed a sometimes bizarre sense of humour.

Buck’s Boogie was recorded on one of several shows during 1974 and it is unclear from exactly which performance it was taken. It remains a part of Blue Oyster Cult’s set to the present.

DAVID GILMOUR ON LATER . . . WITH JOOLS HOLLAND
David Gilmour and his band appeared on the extended one hour edition of BBC Two’s Later… with Jools Holland on Friday night (2nd October). Surprisingly, he opened the show, with Rattle That Lock, so we did not have to wait long for his appearance. He closed with Today, the guitar solo at the end of which gave him opportunity to demonstrate his seemingly effortless and highly distinctive playing. In between times, he performed The Girl In The Yellow Dress, a disappointingly slow, jazz-inspired piece with Guy Pratt on double bass, Jools Holland at the piano and João Mello on sax.

One of the problems with watching Later, is that you have to suffer a lot of dross to catch the band you like. But with Gilmour appearing early, and three times in total, it was not so bad. An interview with former Gilmour collaborator, Georgie Fame, was interesting, for sharing his influences, but he did not perform. Also appearing on the show were The Weekend, The Libertines, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, and Ukrainian quartet DakhaBraka.

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Symptom of the Black Sabbath (Sabotage 1975)

From the Alan Freeman Playlist

Black Sabbath - Sabotage (1975) (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

TAKE ME THROUGH THE CENTURIES TO SUPERSONIC YEARS
In his biography, Iron Man, Tony Iommi said of Black Sabbath‘s sixth album, ‘It felt like we were being sabotaged all the way along the line and getting punched from all sides. We were constantly in some problem or another with management or somebody … That’s why … the album is called Sabotage.’ Rightly believing the previous album to be inferior, he is alleged to have told Steven Rosen in the nineties that, ‘We wanted to do a rock album – Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath wasn’t a rock album, really.’ One of the best tracks on the ‘rock album’ and one of the best ever by the band is Symptom of the Universe.

Symptom of the Universe is a track with a number of changes. The intro consists of the preceding track, Don’t Start Too Late, a quiet acoustic guitar instrumental from Tony Iommi, which segues into the thunderously heavy opening riff of Symptom interspersed with Bill Ward‘s rolling drums. At around the two-minute mark, the riff changes again for another heavy one and then switches back. Throughout, Ozzy Osbourne‘s voice is at its most maniacal. At just over three-and-a-half minutes there is another riff, presaging Iommi’s massive guitar solo. Almost a minute later Symptom becomes acoustic again, this time with vocals and a separate lyric. Iommi’s guitar playing on the coda is Spanish-influenced. This final passage is like the intro to Fairies Wear Boots, in that it was created independently in a jam session and tacked onto another track. As with Fairies, it works.

Geezer Butler‘s lyrics are mostly nonsense, although it is fair to say the Symptom of the Universe is love, ‘A symptom of the universe, a love that never dies.’ All of the verses are fantastical or dreamlike, with their mention of supersonic years, electrifying enemy, the Moon, silver tomb, seven-hundredth unicorn and magic ocean. From verses four to three, the first person and his love escape to their dreams and find happiness. Hence, the quieter detached playing of the final, almost separate, passage.

Symptom of the Universe is very heavy as is much of the Sabotage album, with Hole in the Sky, Megolamania and The Writ. To describe the song as an early example of ‘thrash metal’ or NWOBHM, as is popular these days, is errant nonsense and is like suggesting The Beatles were an early Brit-pop band. It seems amusing that someone at the record company thought it would be a good idea to release Symptom as a single. Unsurprisingly, it was not a hit. Equally funny is shredder Yngwie Malmsteen‘s comment, in an interview with Nick Bowcott of Guitar Player in 2008, in which he said that, ‘Tony’s use of the flat fifth [in Symptom of the Universe] would have got him burned at the stake a couple hundred years ago.’

Unfortunately, by the mid-seventies Sabbath were being ripped off by their manager, Patrick Meeehan, and their record label, Nems. Sabotage turned out to be their last great album with the original lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Fans had to wait for Ronnie James Dio and Heaven and Hell, in 1980, for the band’s salvation.

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