The First Skiffle Recordings

Billy Bragg, in his wonderful book Roots, Radicals and Rockers - how skiffle changed the world, describes in detail how skiffle was born, and how it paved the way for the phenomenon that was the domination of British guitar based bands of the 1960's.

This post only concerns the first ever recordings of skiffle groups, how the name came about is for a later  review of the book. Skiffle is now a much maligned word, if only Bill Colyer, who is credited with describing that kind of music had instead just used "blues", it would have far more resonance today. The first song on the first recording is Hard Time Blues.

This was by Ken Colyer's Jazzmen. Ken had returned from his sojourn in the USA and put together a trad jazz band that went on a tour of Denmark.It comprised Ken on trumpet, Chris Barber on trombone,Monty Sunshine on clarinet, Lonnie Donegan on banjo, Jim Bray on bass and Ron Bowden on drums. Chris Barber recalls "playing every night in Denmark, the band got better and better". That reminded me of another group getting better playing every night in Hamburg.

Chris goes on: "We also introduced (breakdown) sessions into our concerts. I'd been doing blues sessions with my previous band .... between numbers". That was with Alexis Corner on vocals, a piano, Barber on bass and later with Lonnie on guitar. In Denmark, it was Lonnie who sang some songs at the break, joined sometimes by Barber on bass, Ken on guitar and his brother Bob on washboard. At the Gentofte Hotel in Copenhagen, it was Karl Emil Knudson who organised a recording session in the ballroom, using just a Grundig tape recorder. The full set included those from the breakdown sessions. Bragg notes: "Although Knudsen recorded the band's whole set, the subsequent Storyville (Knudsen's own jazz label) releases only featured the trad jazz numbers - it would be years before the songs came to light".

Bragg points us to the Acrobat Music collection of Donegan recordings called Midnight Special: The Skiffle Years 1953-1957. The first four songs are those recorded by Knudsen in Copenhagen.  The whole album is available on Spotify. The first song is Hard Time Blues,  If it is Lonnie playing banjo, that is a little gem of an instrumental. His singing has gained confidence and musicality. Just a bass in the background was all that was needed. The bass seems to almost disappeared in the disappointing Nobody's Child but the following You Don't Know My Mind  is, in my humble opinion,better than Lonnie's breakthrough record Rock Island Line. The last track could have been the best. But the vocals of Ken Colyer on Midnight Special are not a patch on Lonnie's. His harmonising dominates Ken's boring delivery. Lonnie contributes his banjo on all four tracks, but on later recordings he takes up guitar and it becomes a definitive song from the skiffle period.

The first studio recordings were made, not by Lonnie Donegan, but by Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group on 25th June 1954, at the Decca Studios, where they recorded three tracks on the album Back to the Delta. 

This album was going to be just trad jazz tracks played by Ken Colyer's Jazzmen, but the breakdown sessions at his and Chris Barber's gigs (where Chris previously described those times a few members of the band played these blues/folk numbers while the rest of the band took  a break) were so popular that they were included on the album. Bragg notes that during the recording of the jazz band, it was "the failure of (the) band to swing in the studio" and "desperate to salvage something from the session,  that he (Ken) decided to play a few of those skiffle songs".

Here are the tracks from the whole album.

Ken Colyer's Jazzmen - Lord, Lord, Lord, You Sure Been Good To Me
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen - Faraway Blues
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen - Moose March
Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group - Midnight Special
Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group - Casey Jones
Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group - K.C. Moan
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen - Saturday Night Function
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen - Shim-me-sha-wabble


Ken's new line up for the skiffle numbers was:
Mickey Ashman (Bass), Alexis Corner (guitar and mandolin), brother Bill Colyer (washboard) and Ken on vocals and guitar. Ken's vocal does nothing to raise the tracks above the level of turgid. I was amazed to read so much about Ken Colyer's strict adherence to New Orleans jazz, that he still decided to record these numbers. But banjo had given way to guitar and that instrument was the future.

 So why not Lonnie? He had left Ken's band to join the new Chris Barber Jazz Band on 31st May 1954. Apparently, the two had never got on. On 13th July 1954 (a date that marks the birth of British homemade guitar bands) they went into the same studio where the Ken Colyer band had been a couple of weeks before. Barber on trombone was joined by Pat Halcox on cornet, Monty Sunshine on clarinet, Lonnie Donegan on banjo, Jim Bray on bass and Ron Bowden on drums. All of them from the old Ken Colyer band that toured Denmark.

The band had played on Ken Colyer's succesful trad jazz recording New Orleans to London and this benchmark would be crucial in the new album called New Orleans' Joys.

Apparently, it was only because the band did not have enough material for an eight song 10" LP, that Lonnie suggested they record some skiffle songs. Barber let the band go and, having called Beryl Bryden to play washboard, he picked up Jim Bray's bass. The three of them recorded Rock Island Line, John Henry, Wabash Cannonball and Nobody's Child and the rest is history.

If you listen to those first two tracks that found their way onto the LP, you may agree with me that, by today's standards, they still sound perfect. Sometimes it is when perfection arrives by accident, that history is made. The combination of the three superbly played acoustic instruments (even the washboard is just right) and Lonnie's crystal clear voice places these recordings above anything that has been heard before.

The change from banjo in those 1953 Copenhagen recordings, to the guitar was part of the revolution. There is a photograph in Bragg's book of Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group in 1953 with Lonnie and Ken on guitar with brother Bill on washboard and Chris Barber on bass.

The LP wasn't actually released until January 1955. In May of that year, an enterprising producer called Dennis Preston brought together the members of the skiffle group, who still played in the breaks of the now very successful Chris Barber Band's concerts, to make a recording under the name of the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group. With Lonnie and Dickie Bishop on guitar and vocals, Bray on bass and Barber on harmonica, and additional vocals from Bob Watson and mandolin by Pete Korrison, they recorded four tracks for an EP called Backstairs Session. 

The tracks are Midnight Special, When the Sun Goes Down, New Buryin' Ground and Worried Man Blues. In  my opinion, the vocals from Dickie Bishop are not in the same class as Lonnie's. The whole enterprise pails in comparison with those numbers on New Orlean's Joys.

At the end of 1955, Decca were struggling with Ken Colyer Skiffle Group single, and decided to release Lonnie's Rock Island Line, backed by John Henry,  also as a single, on 11th November 1955. Making it's debut at number eight in the Record Mirror charts in December. At the start of 1956, Rock Island Line appeared in the New Musical Express charts at number seventeen. and then hit the top ten. It stayed in the top twenty for three months. Bragg includes the  quotation "The first British artist to get into the charts singing and playing a guitar" and "Folk at a rock and roll tempo from an ex-jazz musician (playing a song) by a blues composer, Leadbelly".

In April it was followed by the single Stewball coupled with Lost John. Lonnie was still with the Chris Barber Jazz Band, but left when America beckoned in the May. He was truly on his way to stardom.

American record companies were so impressed with the success of Lonnie's song that was one of their own, they rushed to release their own versions. There are twelve listed on Wikipedia including those by Bobby Darin and Johnny Cash. None hold a candle to Lonnie's record. He became one of the first British artists to play in the USA (on the Perry Como Show) after the organisations (unions) in both countries at last made a reciprocal agreement. A ban on visits by the other countries musicians had lasted for years. As Bragg relates "Negotiations were under way to bring Elvis to the UK. Good luck with that". It never happened.

Early Man, The Shape of Water and Phantom Thread

I normally avoid animated movies, but I feel I have to support Nick Park and Aardman Studios. I'm glad I did as Early Man was a very clever and very funny film. Mainly down to a superb script and endless jokes from Mark Burton and James Higginson. When stone age man meets bronze age man, competition ensues. The characters and voices are wonderful, from Chief Bodnar (Timothy Spall), Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston), Dug (Edde Redmayne), Goona (Maisie Williams - Park has invested the most skilful footballer with the name of his beloved Arsenal fans) along with Johnny Vegas and others. Nick Park himself grunts away as the wonderful Hognob, but it his direction and overall creative genius that elevates this film to the heights of great animation. There is so much packed into this visual treat that it requires further viewings to appreciate all the subtle gags. And I loved the tribute to "The Full Monty" when our lads go training to the backing of Mud's "Tiger Feet", this time performed by New Hope Club. As long as we have Aaardman, there is hope for us all.

There is no doubt that Guillermo del Torro has made a visually stunning movie. But why did I find The Shape of Water emotionally unengaging? The acting was terrific, the wonderful Sally Hawkins leads a great cast with Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins and Michael Shannon on top form. The production design deservedly won the Bafta and should win the Oscar. However, for me, it was the screenplay that did not cut it. It seemed ordinary and awkward. This is typical of del Torro. He should really stick to directing and let some better writers hammer out the script. I guess that is why I'm not a big fan of his mostly fantasy movies. Because of this, I found the first part to be much better, as the creature stayed menacingly in the water and there were themes of American/Russian conflict that could have worked through very well. But as soon as the creature stood up and we saw an actor in a costume, I gave up. How this can be in the running for best film, and gained the Bafta for best direction, I will never know. There would have been a very good film here if only it had not lost the plot.

P.S. Did they pinch the flood from Paddington 2? Sally Hawkins should have been nominated for an Oscar from this film as well as the above.

Paul Thomas Anderson makes a different type of movie altogether, and Phantom Thread follows in the footsteps of  Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood and The Master. His new film is very theatrical and is almost totally confined within the houses belonging to top British couturier Reynolds Woodcock. Daniel Day Lewis is perfect for the role, although I did find the affectation he gave the part  a little grating by the end. But it is Lesley Manville who stars as his sister Cyril. They are both unmarried and the introduction of a young waitress that Reynolds meets (Vicky Krieps as Alma) and brings into the household, is the essence of the story. So how can this spin out to two hours? We see a lot of dressmaking, measuring and trying on. Not in itself uninteresting, but slightly too repetitive. Yes, the costumes (dresses) are gorgeous and deserved the Bafta. The script is OK but not gripping enough to stand the length of the movie and it's concentration on breakfasts and the cutting room. Again, there are other films I preferred this last twelve months that did make the list for best picture.


P.S. So why did I prefer Early Man to the other Oscar nominated movies above? It had heart and a wonderful script.

Tring Book Club - Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty

Who would have thought that a short novel about a retired couple's short visit to Amsterdam in a cold January could be so captivating. Stella has an ulterior motive when she booked these couple of days. Their relationship is not straight forward, their memories of what happened in their Northern Ireland homeland surface and punctuate the story. The descriptions of Amsterdam in the grip of winter are well written. The passages when the couple occasionally go their separate ways are tremendous, but nothing compared with the brilliant final section. One of the best last 50 pages I have read for some time.

RSC's Twelfth Night Live in Cinemas

Director Christopher Luscombe has followed his wonderful Much Ado About Nothing with this production of another Shakespeare comedy. Unfortunately, it was not in the same league. The late Victorian setting was not to blame. This had plenty of potential for comedy. The sets were not to blame. They were as outstanding as those for Much Ado when I wrote

"they were absolutely jaw-dropping. Compared to every other visit to the theatre in memory, they were streets ahead. The basic structure is that of nearby Charlecote Manor with the two towers framing the stage. But it's what moves between and in front of this framework that is truly astonishing. The first set rolls back behind the towers and doors close. Then from below, for the next scene, up comes a whole new set. When that scene is complete down goes the set to be replaced by a brand new set rolled out from behind the tower doors.The designer is Simon Higlett and he has created a masterpiece. He has also designed the costumes which are a total delight."

Designer Simon Higlett has worked another miracle. I now wish I had been in the audience to see it rather than in the cinema. 

The diction was not to blame, I heard every word. But elocution is not what it's all about. The acting is well below what I would have expected. Adrian Edmondson as Malvolio was a sad cartoon. Kara Tointon was sweet and elegant as Olivia but with no heart. John Hodgkinson failed to deliver as Sir Toby Belch, only to be completely upstaged by the  terrific Michael Cochrane ( a go to jobbing TV actor loving every minute) and Sarah Twomey as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Fabia. As for the Indian twins, the casting of the superb Dinita Gohil as Viola did not match that of Eash Alladi as Sebastian. I felt that this choice of nationality could have been interesting if it did not somehow dominate the production.

So, there were things to enjoy. I would probably enjoyed it more seeing the play live. The camera work gets better and better for these shows. One moment when a close up of Viola's face melted over a long distance shot worked perfectly.

A Gentleman in Moscow, The Book of Dust Volume 1 and Vinegar Girl

A Gentleman in Moscow is a wonderful book, full of wit, intelligence (sometimes a little too intelligent for me), drama, humour and superb dialogue. Alexander is wonderful company, confined as he is, inside the Hotel Metropol. The characters who inhabit the hotel are all beautifully described and the succession of set pieces are so often charming as our engaging hero meets staff and visitors through his years of house arrest.

Some of the conversations are excellent. I thought that the book would run out of ideas halfway through, instead it became even better with some extraordinary emotional passages and twists, one after the other. And the ending is certainly worth waiting for. 

This was a Christmas present, so it is hard for me to be too critical as I would never have chosen to read this book. The Book of Dust Volume 1, being a fantasy adventure, is not my normal choice. However, the first half is fine and the setting of Godstow and Oxford particularly interesting. But the second half is all action, a boat trip by numbers with lots of fantasy thrown in. Not to my taste. 

Who knew that Anne Tyler could be so funny. Vinegar Girl had me laughing in the first few pages when Kate's father is so keen on her meeting his assistant. Then there is the "Don't tell him your name, Pike" moment. There are some magical exchanges of text messages. Obviously, the author had lots of scope for wit and sarcasm, given the play that inspired the story. Setting it in Baltimore was a given! The only problem was that I finished it far too quickly.