Monday, March 27, 2006

"When I'm Dead and Gone"

I'm a fan of pick-up bands, street-corner improvisation, jamming. A song doesn't have to be perfect to be great. It doesn't have to be polished and produced to within an inch of its life, and to be honest, it doesn't even have to be rehearsed to be great.
Tom McGuinness played with the likes Eric Clapton, Brian Jones and Manfred Mann before he got together with Hugh Flint. The pair of them then hooked up with Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle, and they cut this terrific piece of jug-band folk gumbo. I can't think what kind of style exactly to call this - it's a little like the Band's "Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" in that it's slightly loose, relaxed and more concerned with musicianship than with presentation.
There's a great trick in the production of this song, and I can't work out how they did it, but you feel like you're in the kitchen while these guys are working out in the front room. Maybe it's the really flat drum sound, but it sounds properly "live".
Simple pleasures...

1 comment:

Russell CJ Duffy said...

this was what, 70 maybe 71? i think one or perhaps two of these guys were in Mannfred Mann at soem stage or other and may even have played with John Mayall. Another fine 'review' L.