Vive La Revolution Qui Rit!!!
UPDATED 18th May 2008
First let me say how chuffed I am to be at one of the centres of Globs activity (the Globs - that's Global Village Trucking Company for all you googlers out there). It's been a funny old few days, reawakening a part of my life that I'd almost forgotten about. It's a real privelige to be a conduit for such ongoing excellent vibes.
Although a bit younger than most of you (51 now) I was old enough to see them live on a few occasions - the first time was at the Windsor Free Festival in 1975, My band (Landslide) played earlier in the afternoon and Clive (the drummer) and I decided to stay for the rest of the festival. That evening was saw the Globs, Gong, Byzantium, and an African band that *might* have been Osibisa but I can't remember. Two things that I do remember are 1) singing along with 'Smiling Revolution' in the darkness and 2) standing by the side of the stage watching Pip Pyle in amazement.
The other time that I definitely remember was at Hampstead Town Hall with - and Jon O reminded me of this - George Melly on the same bill. I have a notion that I might also have played that night, either with Landslide or with my other band (Narcissus). Both of my school bands played there several times.
The Globs documentary is still available on the BBC Web site for download/viewing for another couple of days - click here to watch/download it.
Clarifying a couple of things from the programme:
1) They didn't make two albums. They were featured on one side of a double album - the second 'Greasy Truckers' album - recorded live at Dingwalls Dancehall and released in 1973, and then there was a posthumous release on the mid-price Caroline label that came out n 1976. Seven of those tracks were recorded in November 1974, one (Love Wil Find A Way) for the BBC in May 1975, and one (Watch Out..) live in June 1975. Pete Kirtley played guitar on those last two, Mike Medora having left the band.
2) There seemed to be a bit of confusion around James/Jeremy Lascelles - James was the keyboard player and Jeremy was the manager.
3) The bass player on all the recorded tracks - and in the reunited band - was/is John MacKenzie, who went on to play with the Man band. But he wasn't in the band when the documentary was made.
I realise that my original vinyl rips aren't that good quality, so I've re-ripped them for you all. I've also ver slightly re-EQd the 'Watch Out' track to add a bit more top and bottom.
So here are the one-and-a-half Globs albums at a lovely high bitrate and with all the artwork (front, back & lyric sheet) from the album proper. There isn't much Globs info on the Greasy Truckers album so I've added what there is into the tags. For the GVTC album, check the lyric sheet JPGs for lineups, lyrics, dates, etc. Also check out the (brief) sleeve notes.
Global Village Trucking Company - Live at Dingwalls Dancehall (1973, vbr 240kbps)
01 - Look Into Me
02 - Earl Stonham (The Gunslinger)
03 - You're A Floozy Madame Karma (But I Love Your Lowdown Ways)
04 - Everybody Needs A Good Friend
Click here to download the Globs tracks from the Greasy Truckers album
Global Village Trucking Company - Global Village Trucking Company (released 1976, recorded 1974/75, vbr 240kbps)
01 - On The Judgement Day
02 - Lasga's Farm
03 - Love Your Neighbour
04 - Short Change & Tall Story
05 - Smiling Revolution
06 - Love Will Find A Way
07 - If You Don't Mind (Me Saying)
08 - The Inevitable Fate Of Ms Danya Sox
09 - Watch Out, There's A Mind About
Click here to download the GVTC album
Click here to download the artwork & lyric sheet for the GVTC album
(original post)
I didn't know, when I did my original post - nearly two years ago (see http://witchseason.blogspot.com/2006/06/smiling-revolution.html) - what the future held. I wish I'd said a bit more in my original post, must have been busy that day. Hopefully the documentary will have awakened more interest in these albums, and maybe even someone will release them.
Jon (for verily it is He, and He reads my blog) - is there any unreleased stuff in the vaults? If so I'd be more than happy - hell I'd love to - post them here. But then I guess if there was anything, you'd post it on YourSpace (see http://www.myspace.com/globalvillagetruckingcompany2008).
Reunions, eh? Now if we can get Byzantium back together as well (if Robin is busy I'll happily play bass... ah, dream on...)
posted by Witchseason at 2:37 pm
8 Comments:
Hi,
So glad you 'upped' these - I watched the recent documentary and thought it was just fab. And the music they played was just fantastic! a Great GREAT vibe to it.
ONE problem; the compressed zip file says its corrupt everytime I try to open it. Any chance to can re-up with 2 new files?
I would really like these please.
N.
Byzantium reunion? I'm all for that - AFTER Mick (Shane) finishes touring with Marc Cohn and puts out his next solo album (whenever that may be; he has some excellent new material. Search youtube for "Shane Fontayne").
For details of his involvement with Byzantium, check out his biography under "the '70s":
http://www.shanefontayne.com/bio.html
Damn damn damn! The docu is only available to viewers in the UK (where I am not). Would any kind soul post it somewhere? I know that's asking a lot...too much, probably...oh well.
Thanks, as always, Witchseason, for the albums. What a fabulous trip down Memory Alley!
the docu was great-they were living the life i wanted to live back then-seem to remember zigzag used to plug them.
As another exile in Hong Kong, may I echo Manila's plea?
I actually have the original vinyl, but it's nice to get these in MP3 format.
The other Greasy Truckers album (featuring Hawkwind, Man etc., has been reissued on CD, though some Amazon comments suggest it's been poorly remixed.
Hi Globs fans,
Can't view the BBC vid here in the US:-(
What I do have is an original GVTC poster complete with handwritten location - for a concert I guess! (No date or time is given, just a phone number!) If you would like a scan drop me an email at turner-nick@comcast.net
Cheers
Your work is appreciated; I'm sure that the photographer of the album cover, Ben, would like to see and hear this music again; so I'll tell him how he can access it. He's well and lives in north London, and back taking serious good photos, and reminisces about those days.
As yet another non-uk, I'd love to see the bbc4 doc. Anyone got/found it? I found a torrent the other day but it looks dead for the time being.
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