After growing up through the Fifties, which was a fairly dull and boring decade, the Sixties were like being given the keys to a great big sweet shop! In 1961, I was living in Bromley, just married and I think we’d had our first kid. A school friend called Alex Moss was also a [...]
Tag Archives: Melody Maker
Al Stewart
29 May, 2009 – 3:18 pm
Listen to Al Stewart performing his cover of the Yardbirds’ ‘Turn Into Earth’:
Born in Scotland but brought up in Dorset, Al Stewart started his career in local bands, buying his first guitar from Andy Summers (Zoot Money, the Police) and taking guitar lessons from Robert Fripp (King Crimson). Inspired by Bob Dylan, he moved down [...]
Chris Welch’s Memories, Part 3
24 April, 2009 – 3:08 pm
I joined ‘Melody Maker’ in 1964, but before that I used to go to the old Marquee when it was in Oxford Street, which had a bit of a plush jazz vibe, to see people like Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine. Then the club moved round the corner into Wardour Street and it became much [...]
Chris Welch’s Memories, Part 2
19 April, 2009 – 11:39 am
This was October 1964, and ‘Melody Maker’ was pretty much a jazz paper, so they wanted a younger writer to write about pop and R’N’B. On my first day, I went out for a drink with one of the older guys on the paper and he was a bit sourfaced and negative and said, “Oh, [...]