Log #25 - Van's Window on Astral Weeks

1. Lynyrd Skynryd - Gold and Platinum
2. John Martyn - Solid Air
3. Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
4. John Martyn - Grace and Danger
5. Van Morrison - The 1967 New York Sessions
6. John Martyn - Glorious Fool

The Van Morrison New York Sessions are outtakes from around the Astral Weeks time. Releases of studio outtakes like this are often filler for some artists. But not in the case of Van Morrison whose perfectionism has meant many great songs not making the cut to his albums over the years (see the tremendous Philosopher's Stone for example). On these tracks we hear the genesis of the Astral Weeks album with early takes of some of the songs that would resurface a year later on the album proper. The sound is rawer, his voice is powerful and soulful, and the songs are bluesy with an improvisational quality. Listening to this album reminds me of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes and the aforementioned Philosopher's Stone.

Cover album Blue Valentine is classic Tom Waits,  providing a bridge between his early soulful ballads and his later industrial rhythms. I love the night hawk neon green tinged seedy imagery which augments the groovy blues tinged music and lyrics within.

Blue Valentine, back shot.

The evocative track titles tell some stories in themselves.

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Log #24 - Johnny (Martyn) Be Good

1. Lynyrd Skynryd - Gold and Platinum
2. John Martyn - Solid Air
3. Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
4. John Martyn - Grace and Danger
5. Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey
6. John Martyn - Glorious Fool

So there I was on this barge on the river wearing nothing but denims and a smile, and this blue man says to me, 'You know I used to be like you, but I saw sense and I changed myself.' So I looked at his sage expression and black shoes and thought 'Thanks all the same, I'll stay on the river.'

I do feel lucky to have discovered John Martyn relatively early in life. I was introduced to him on a summer holiday in France one year by a friend of a friend who played a bit of acoustic guitar in that percussive slapping manner which was very new to me at the time, and characteristic of Martyn's acoustic playing especially on his earlier folky albums. Then later the same (long) summer (I assume) I was helping another friend refurbish a boat down in Cornwall somewhere and had two albums in rotation on my Walkman: Bob Dylan's Desire and John Martyn's Solid Air.  Not a bad selection if you only had one C90 tape for the whole summer (and two of my favourite albums still today 30 years later)!

It sounds wonderfully free and romantic, rather like Martyn's quote from the sleeve notes of his debut album above. I had indeed just met a new girlfriend and in my mind's eye the sun shone and I would have been bare footed and long haired too! What emotional memories particular music always brings up.

JM with smoking joint lodged in machine head

Solid Air is the classic John Martyn. A lovely blend of folk and jazz and the beginnings of his more electronic echoplex guitar playing. Perhaps most evocative is the lovely electric piano. It is of course, like most of his records, a very chilled laid back album - there is a track entitled Go Down Easy and the title track is a homage to Island label mate Nick Drake. But perhaps his most famous song in his full catalogue is May You Never, a song he always played live and one the crowd would sing along with especially in later life when the drugs and booze had taken such a toll his concerts had become a little more ramshackle.

However like many artists who suffered poor health in later life his voice never left him (just becoming even more of a bear growl), nor did his unique guitar playing which although relying increasingly on effects still mesmerised. Like his very easy going effortless slurred voice the guitar also looked extremely loose and free but he was obviously channelling some higher source as I could never work out what he was doing despite studying May You Never guitar tabs for years.

We also have two later albums in the list above. I say later but Grace and Danger and Glorious Fool were released in 1980 and 1981 respectively so still very early relatively. The heartbreaking Grace and Danger album I've written more extensively about here. The slightly harder edged Glorious Fool was a bit of a crossover album between classic John Martyn and later 80s smoothness, and slightly disjointed as a consequence but still contains some excellent tracks. One disappointment is the electrified rendition of Couldn't Love You More which loses much of the soul of the acoustic original on the excellent One World album. In fact I'd proffer that One World is Martyn's peak, representing the perfect equilibrium of his earlier folk days and the later electric period. All his 70s albums right up to, and including Grace and Danger which was a departure, are worth getting but start with One World and Solid Air.

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Log #23 - The Tragic Life of Allen Collins

Some people have such tragic lives don't they? Sometimes it seems people of fame and fortune have their unfair share of infamy and misfortune too (is this a way the universe balances things out, or is this just a perception as we only hear about the famous ones subjected to tragedy?).

A couple of posts ago I talked about the unfortunate Barclay James Harvest band. But their trials and tribulations were nothing in comparison to US southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd. As we will learn below the whole extended band suffered awful trauma but take founding guitarist Allen Collins for instance. He was the lanky one dressed all in white, bushy long hair flowing in the wind, shredding his guitar during Freebird in one of the most famous guitar solos ever committed to film. The band were at the height of their powers playing to a stadium crowd at The Oakland Coliseum July 1977.

Allen Collins ripping it up during Freebird, Oakland, July 1977

Just two months later a plane carrying the band and their crew between gigs ran out of fuel over Mississippi swampland. Falling just short of its destination the crash claimed the lives of three band members and left the survivors including Collins never the same again.

Jacksonville, 1964

Allen Collins was at the genesis of Lynyrd Skynyrd when he joined lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and fellow guitarist Gary Rossington as long ago as 1964 to form a high school band in Jacksonville, Florida. Going through several name changes the Lynyrd Skynyrd name was finally taken on in 1969, a mocking tribute to the school's notoriously strict PE coach, one Leonard Skinner.

Collins, Van Zant, Rossington

Crafting a gritty "southern" sound through a creative blend of country, blues and heavy rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd developed a keen live following in their southern homeland before finally being "discovered" by producer Al Cooper with whom they recorded their debut album Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd (1973) - this was almost ten years after their initial formation so it was not surprising that they had by then a wealth of strong songs and had honed a super tight live act.

Freebird

The album contained several staples and the classic Freebird. With it's ballad piano and slide guitar opening morphing into heavy rock and searing guitar solo, this song, first conceived by Collins and Van Zant in the late 60s, was a forerunner to other epic rock songs of similar structure like Stairway to Heaven and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Lord knows, I can't chay-ay-ay-ay-ay-aaaange! Is there a more exciting moment in rock than the shift of gear midway through Freebird?

Kathy and Allen Collins on their wedding day, 1970

Legend has it that it was Allen Collins's partner, Kathy, who asked him one day: "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?" This became the famous opening line which was later augmented by a gentle piano introduction which had been written by the band's roadie. So impressed were the band that they formally asked roadie Billy Powell to join as their keyboardist.

Poised for take off - Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1973, Collins far left

20th October 1977

In October 1977 the band riding a euphoric wave of popularity and success set out on a US tour to promote their new Street Survivor album.  Just five days into the tour disaster struck.

The aircraft used to transport the band and their entourage from gig to gig was a rather vintage 1948 Convair 240. Rumour has it the same plane had already been rejected by the band Aerosmith, not only because it was felt the plane itself was unsafe but also on grounds of an unreliable flight crew (who had allegedly been witnessed drinking during the inspection).

It would appear it was obvious the plane had problems and was on its last legs. Sound technician Ken Peden had reported seeing flames from one of the engines on what turned out to be the plane's penultimate flight and apparently it had been decided it would be grounded as soon as it reached their next destination, Baton Rouge. It had also been observed by some passengers that the fuel gauges were deemed unreliable and fuel levels prior to flights were checked by literally dipping a stick inside the engines.

The Convair departed Greenville a little after 4pm on October 20th heading for Baton Rogue - a 3 hour flight. Aboard were the two pilots, and 24 passengers. But, at around 6:40pm, just minutes from their destination the pilots reported that fuel was low. One engine cut out. The pilot reportedly attempted to transfer fuel from the remaining engine to the dead engine but accidentally dumped all the fuel from that engine as well leaving the plane without power. All went quiet until impact.

Billy Powell would recall his experiences in an interview with Rolling Stone only a month later: “We had decided the night before that we would definitely get rid of the plane in Baton Rouge. So we started partying to celebrate the last flight on it. The right engine started sputtering, and I went up to the cockpit. The pilot said they were just transferring oil from one wing to another, everything's okay. Later, the engine went dead. [Drummer] Artimus [Pyle] and I ran to the cockpit. The pilot was in shock. He said, 'Oh my God, strap in.' Ronnie had been asleep on the floor and Artimus got him up and he was really pissed. We strapped in and a minute later we crashed. The pilot said he was trying for a field, but I didn't see one. The trees kept getting closer, they kept getting bigger. Then there was a sound like someone hitting the outside of the plane with hundreds of baseball bats. I crashed into a table; people were hit by flying objects all over the plane. Ronnie was killed with a single head injury. The top of the plane was ripped open. Artimus crawled out the top and said there was a swamp, maybe alligators. I kicked my way out and felt for my hands - they were still there. I felt for my nose and it wasn't, it was on the side of my face. There was just silence. Artimus and Ken Peden and I ran to get help Artimus with his ribs sticking out.”

The plane had skipped and skidded across tree tops, then smashed into a swampy area, just short of farmland. It has become confused conjecture what happened next but apparently some of the survivors nursed the injured and some went for help in the fading light. Rumours that the farmer had shot at the bloody survivors appearing out of the trees in the dusk, further injuring one, were exaggerated.

Lynryd Skynrd's flight from Greenville fell just short of its destination in Baton Rouge

Six lives were claimed in the crash including Ronnie Van Zant, new guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray.

20th October 1977 - the plane carrying the band crashed in Mississippi swampland

As a mark of respect MCA Records immediately withdrew the original "Street Survivors" album cover showing the band surrounded by flames (which had been released only 3 days earlier), and replaced it with the band striking a similar pose against a plain black background. The album rose rapidly in the charts to become the band's second platinum selling album.

The original fire Street Survivors cover and the black replacement, Collins far left again, Steve Gaines in red

Reunions

Like the rest of his bandmates, Collins struggled to find a way forward after 1977, and further tragedy seemed to dog his path in particular. Collins and fellow survivors did not reform until a one off gig in January 1979 where they performed a poignant instrumental version of Freebird with a lone mic stand positioned centre stage in respect to Ronnie Van Zant.

In 1980 Gary Rossington, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkeson joined Collins to form the Rossington-Collins Band. Female lead singer Dale Krantz was recruited deliberately to avoid comparisons with Van Zant. But just as they were preparing to tour in support of their new album, Collins’ wife died suddenly, the result of a miscarriage-related haemorrhage. Collins, devastated by yet another personal loss, entered a losing battle with addiction that would haunt him for his remaining years.

The Rossington-Collins Band soon split but Collins reemerged with Powell and Wilkeson under the name the Allen Collins Band. Eventually warming up to the idea of reuniting the rest of the Skynyrd survivors once again, Collins set about trying to assemble a band that, for a time, was referred to as Lynyrd Skynyrd II. Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny was recruited to take the mic but as the group was preparing for another reunion tour in 1986 tragedy struck yet again. Collins, who had already had numerous traffic related convictions, crashed his car in Jacksonville killing his then girlfriend and leaving himself paralyzed from the waist down and unable to play again. Literally adding insult to injury Collins was charged with manslaughter and was tasked to appear on stage, throughout the new tour, in his wheelchair, to warn the audience about the dangers of drunk driving.

His weakened condition after this latest accident contributed to further failing health and in 1990 he passed away after a struggle with pneumonia at the age of only 37.

A fairly unrecognisable version of Lynyrd Skynyrd have remained together since that 1987 reunion, but their road has remained a bumpy one, with a number of band members in dispute and facing legal issues over the band's legacy and the use of the band name, and even persistent accusations on the cause of the fateful plane crash and the actions of various individuals in the immediate aftermath.

LS today

The Real Leonard Skinner

Leonard Skinner is the man who inspired the Lynyrd Skynyrd band name. The gym teacher and high-school coach famously came down on Ronnie Van Zant and his school friends for wearing their hair too long, although he later said that his strictness was exaggerated: “They were good, talented, hard-working boys... worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard.”

He wasn't a fan of their music though— his son recalled him asking, “What the hell kind of noise are you listening to?”

The real Leonard Skinner, strict PE teacher at the boy's high school

Who Needs Neil Young Around Anyhow?

By all accounts, the famous lyrical war of words between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd was more like a spirited debate between respectful friends than an actual feud.

Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her, well I heard old Neil put her down, well I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don't need him around anyhow.

Ronnie Van Zant sporting his Neil Young T-shirt

Young’s songs Alabama and Southern Man took aim at the South’s checkered race relations past, with references to slave ownership and cross burning. Ronnie seemingly felt Young was painting too many good people with the same old, bad brush, and responded with the Sweet Home Alabama lyric. However, both repeatedly declared their respect for each other.

RIP

Ronnie Van Zant - died in the 1977 plane crash
Steve Gaines - died in the 1977 plane crash
Billy Powell - died from a heart attack in 2009
Bob Burns - died in a car crash 2015
Allen Collins - died from pneumonia in 1990
Leon Wilkeson - died from liver disease 2001
Ean Evans - died from cancer 2009
Hughie Thomasson - died from a heart attack 2007
Cassie Gaines - died in the 1977 plane crash
JoJo Billingsley - died from cancer 2010
Ed King - died from cancer 2018


This week's magazine:

1. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gold and Platinum
2. Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
3. Van Morrison - Philosopher's Stone CD2
4. Bob Dylan - New Morning
5. Van Morrison - Philosopher's Stone CD1
6. Grateful Dead - From the Mars Hotel

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