Bittersweet

When Richard Ashcroft wrote the Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony in 1997 he knew he was skating on thin ice; using an uncleared string loop sampled from Andrew Loog Oldham's instrumental version of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time, Ashcroft ended up ceding all royalties from the song to Mick Jagger & Keith Richards thanks to a writ served on him by the Stones' former manager Allen Klein (Klein's company AABKVO Music owned the publishing rights). Ashcroft effectively waived goodbye to an estimated $5M. Ouch.

But unlike the George Harrison's My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine saga, this chapter of Rock & Roll Plagiarism has a happy ending. In 2019 Ashcroft's management reached out to Jody Klein at ABKCO (his father had died in 2009) and appealed to his better nature to right this injustice. Klein in turn contacted Mick 'n' Keef who magnanimously relinquished their song writing credits with immediate effect. Relations had warmed somewhat the previous year when the Stones had asked Ashcroft open for them on their latest world jaunt.  Ashcroft then finally started to see the royalties for what is considered by many to be one of the defining songs of the late 20th. century.

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - The Last Time (From The Rolling Stones Songbook) (1966)  

Interestingly, almost 50 years later, Andrew Oldham revisited the scene of the crime releasing The Rolling Stones Songbook and Friends Volume 2 and only bloody covered Ashcroft's tour de force. Bittersweet, indeed.

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - Bitter Sweet Symphony (2014)

The Players:

Allen Klein (1931-2009)

Mick Jagger (b.1943)

Keith Richards (b.1943)

Andrew Loog Oldham (b.1944)

Jody Klein (b.1963)

Richard Ashcroft (b.1971)

Holding out for a hero

With the country, nay the world, facing something of an an existential crisis, never before have we needed a saviour quite like we need one now. But whether you believe in the big man upstairs or super heroes who get changed in phone boxes you'll be waiting a long time for that kind of deliverance. However, if you fancy a spot of divine intervention on the cheap look no further than the independent space warrior permaclad in black & grey with a dustbin on his head. Say what you like, you'd be hard pushed to disagree with any of Count Binface's manifesto pledges; a few of which include:

* Bring back Ceefax

* Nationalise model railways

* Pensions to be double locked (with a little chain on the side)

* Spend £1Tn a week on the NHS (that's one trillion)

* Allow Czechs to remain on the Irish border

* '99' flake ice creams to be capped at 99p

* HS2 to be renamed FFS1

* Tries in Rugby League to be increased from 4 to 5 points - in line with inflation

And if he gives that skid mark Farage a bloody nose into the bargain then it's got to be a win win. So come on Clacton, we can do this.

Clinging on

Taken yesterday morning from a nearby boatyard

It's hard to believe that the iconic cooling towers at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station are still scheduled to be demolished in the next couple of years; although the Twentieth Century Society is fighting the good fight to keep some if not all of them, it's not looking good. The TCS was set up to preserve post-1914 architecture; the country's cooling towers, often referred to as the Stonehenge of the 20th century, are fast disappearing. Within ten years the fear is they'll all have been blown to smithereens and will exist only in history books. How tragic would that be?

Up the junction (box)

I first started noticing them in Leeds a few weeks ago. Then last week I saw a handful in Belfast and Dublin. But so far in Nottingham I've only spotted the one. Maybe you've seen some on your manor? If so, then please get in touch. I don't think it's got the makings of a Photo Challenge. At least not yet...

Leeds - June 2026.

Belfast - June 2026

Dublin - July 2026

Nottingham - July 2026

Shanked it!

The lineage between, say, Gene Clark and the Byrds, the Flamin' Groovies, Tom Petty, the Long Ryders and the Hanging Stars (to name but a few) is not hard to detect - you can see it from space. The dots that join all these jangly 12 strings is essentially what keeps guitar shops the world over in business.

Sid Griffin - front man of the aforementioned Long Ryders and subsequently the Coal Porters - is an eighth generation Kentuckian who has lived in London for the last 10 years. His knowledge of Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Alt. Country (which he invented btw) and just music in general is pretty much unparalleled and he's a fantastic raconteur to boot; I'd like to meet Mr. Griffin. I think I'd also like to meet Barry Shank. Barry Shank was the original bass player with the Long Ryders who jumped ship before they got a record deal (to do a doctoral degree). But not before he'd written this gem. And it is a gem too.

The Long Ryders - Ivory Tower (1984)