15 February 2021

Hunter

My  blogging chum Dave Northsider blogs out of south western Ireland in the county of Cork. Please do not imagine that that county hosts plantations of cork trees nor that its residents wear necklaces made from wine bottle corks. I have been there and I have seen.  There's no more cork there than you would see in any other Irish county.

Most weeks Dave Northsider showcases a progressive rock band - including a video of one of their little ditties. Today I am going to borrow that idea and post my own chosen rock video. The band I am thinking about is Free though I should point out you had to pay for their concert tickets. They were not free if you see what I mean.

I have blogged about Free before - back in July 2019 - but hey, as folk often  say - what goes around comes around - just like a ride at a funfair or laundry in a tumble drier.

The last time I blogged about Free, I shared their most famous song - "Alright Now" which endures to this day. Funny to think that it is over fifty years old now. Yorkshire lad Paul Rodgers - the distinctive bluesy lead singer now resides in Canada  - deep in the suburbs of Vancouver. The only other surviving member of Free - the drummer Simon Kirke - lives in New York now and has four children. Interestingly one of them is called Domino which is also the name of Mr and Mrs Northsider's cat.

The song I have chosen to share today is "The Hunter" from the band's first album - "Tons of Sobs"(1969) but this version is from a live concert held at a venue in the north east of England in January 1970. Unusually, "The Hunter" was not one of the band's many original compositions but they  certainly breathed  fresh life into it. Listening to the number now takes me back to my teenage years. I close my eyes and I am right  there.

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for mentioning my blog and my weekly Sunday music slot YP. Paul Rodgers was also a member of Bad Company. He reminds me of Ian Anderson on The Hunter. Think a lot of English Heavy Rock bands started playing in Blues bands.

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    1. I am your British agent. May I remind you that annual fees are now due.

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  2. Thank you so much for the blast from the past on this dreary,icy, New York morning. Love it!

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  3. I didn't know who the band was until I listened to "All Right Now", then I recognized them. Music always seems to pull us back to the time we first heard it, kind of like smells.

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    1. I still know much more about the music of 1965 to 1975 than I do about any other period.

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  4. I think of myself then, and I think of myself now, and sometimes it is hard to reconcile what I was with what I am. Life never quite turns out as you expected does it?

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    1. No it doesn't Debby but you and I survived. Plenty didn't. I understand things so much better now.

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    2. Life has exceeded my expectations, really.

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  5. Hello Neil,

    I have searched for a name as it seems odd to write to a Yorkshire Pudding. We hope that if you are not called Neil you will forgive us and not be too distressed at being referred to as Neil.

    Whatever, we too enjoy Dave's posts and his music videos, all of which have led us to you. It is strange how just a few bars of a tune can transport one back to a time or a place in an instant.

    As for music concerts being free, well, the last time one of our 'Bright Young Things' showed us the ticket price, we nearly fainted. How this can be afforded or the cost justified we have no idea but perhaps we are out of touch.

    Whatever, we recall fondly a free concert of the Rolling Stones. Yes, free. Free of charge and free of crowds. the group was performing in Roundhay Park in Leeds. The sound level was such that, in a back garden, some miles from the outdoor venue, the free concert could be heard perfectly. Those were the days!

    We have added our names to your happy band of followers and shall return for more.

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    1. Thanks for calling by Jane and Lance. I remember hearing about the Stones' free concert in Leeds but I didn't go myself. In the I did attend a free concert in Hyde Park in 1971 - starring the long forgotten Grand Funk Railroad and Humble Pie.

      Neil means "champion" and I am indeed proud to bear this excellent first name.

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  6. Paul Kossoff was ranked in the 100 best guitarists, not bad when you think he died at 25.

    Once I had dinner with John McLaughlin, who plays the Gibson J200, the steel string acoustic guitar.
    We belonged to a cult run by Sri Chinmoy Ghose, a corrupt sociopathic sex pervert, who lied about having communion with God, and who was pally with two popes.
    Belonging to a mind-control cult for a year is the only episode of my life I'm ashamed of, but at least I have McLaughlin's albums.

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    1. You must have been naive, suggestible and vulnerable when you signed up for The Ghose Cult. Good heavens - you have met a lot of noteworthy people John but did you ever meet Ken Wagstaff?

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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