Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
Welcome to this special edition of Retrosonic Podcast where we talk to the legendary music photographer Paul Slattery about some of the recent books and records to use some of his iconic pictures. There's Johnny Marr's new book "Marr's Guitars" and Paul pays tribute to The Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke who sadly passed away recently. There's news of Paul's recent meeting with Mona Soyoc from KaS Product in France and their new compilation album. Penetration and Invisible Girls frontwoman Pauline Murray has included some of Paul's photos in her promisong forthcoming autobiography "Life's A Gamble". Then there's the comprehensive Subhumans book "Silence Is No Reaction" by Ian Glasper. The shortlived but influential band Empire featuring Bob Derwood Andrews and Mark Laff of Generation X used Paul's pics for their "Expensive Sound" album which was a favourite of Johnny Marr and John Squire and was an inspiration on Fugazi and the Washington DC Hardcore scene. Damaged Goods Records will reissue Thee Headcoats' classic album "Heavens To Murgatroyd" with new cover photography by Paul. Then we discuss the upcoming Joy Division walking tour and talk in Stockport which coincodes with Paul's book "Joy Division at Strawberry Studios". Paul also picks his favourite Joy Division track which also happens to feature on the most expensive record in his collection. Then Paul discusses his love of the German Electronic and New Wave 'Neue Deutsche Welle' scene and looks back on a special night in Blois in France with The Flamin' Groovies and local Pub Rock heroes Sharpers. Please kindly support the Bands, Artists and Authors by clicking on the highlighted links or images below to find out further information and details on how to buy the books, records and tickets to events discussed in this episode. Thanks! Listen in below...
Look out for Part 2 coming soon where Paul discusses some of the early local gigs he attended in 1960's West London by The Yardbirds, The Others and Stevie Wonder, then he pays tribute to David Crosby of the Byrds and Jeff Beck. He talks about his musical hero Link Wray and how he fianlly got to meet and photograph him and explains about his photographic contributions to the new Grammy winning box-set from The Grateful Dead and plays his favourite Dead track. Please support the Artists, Musicians and Authors featured in his episode and if you like what you hear please click the highlighted links and photos above to find out more information and buy the products. All photos copyright Paul Slattery. Don't miss an episode - you can subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at SoundCloud, Spotify or Apple Podcasts/iTunes.
Retro Man Blog's regular contributor and resident rock photographer Paul Slattery, has some of his excellent Smiths photos included in a new exhibition at Bedford's Rock City Art Gallery. A career spanning exhibition entitled "The Smiths and Morrissey Photographs", the show features well known classic images, such as Stephen Wright's shot of the band outside the Salford Lad's Club, alongside more obscure, lesser known photos. You can see Mark Allan's shot of Morrissey on stage holding a union jack flag, an image that was to be used as a famous NME cover. There are contrasting portraits of the band shot by Paul Slattery, solo photos by Peter Anderson and recent shots of Morrissey taken by Pieter M. Van Hatten. The show opened at the end of October and runs until November 29th, entrance is free.
Morrissey & Marr - Paul Slattery Photograph, photographed by Paul Slattery
The Rock City Art Gallery was founded by leading UK music photographers Mick Hutson and Andy Willsher. The idea evolved from the phenomenally successful Six Shooters shows of 2010 which inspired them to create a gallery for photographers run by photographers.
Paul Slattery in front of his photo of The Smiths at Glastonbury 1984
(L/R) Paul Slattery, Mick Hutson, Mark Allan, Andy Willsher
Rock City Art Gallery is located at 26 Castle Lane Bedford MK40 3US Tel: 01234 910448
Paul Slattery's excellent photographic book "The Smiths: The Early Years", which was published by Omnibus Press, has been re-printed. The beautifully presented book features many iconic shots, including the band posing with flowers in the ruins of the Central Manchester Railway Station (now the G-Mex), candid backstage photos and live shots documenting the first murmurings of the soon-to-be hysteric crowd reaction, to the main stage at the 1984 Glastonbury Festival via the back streets of Montmartre in Paris. There are also many candid off stage photos, many of which are previously unpublished. The book is available in all good bookshops or on-line via Amazon. You can follow Paul's "Adventures in Rock Photography" in our special series of the Retrosonic Podcast and Paul will be talking about his experiences of working with The Smiths in a future episode. You can listen and download the first two episodes in the series for free at the Retrosonic Podcast Soundcloud web-site. Please keep a check on the Blog, Facebook or Twitter page for news on release dates.
I like to do a bit of Rock 'n' Roll tourism when I'm travelling, visit various music related landmarks, venues, shrines, album cover and photo locations amongst other things. It's all very well immersing yourself in musuems and galleries, I like that too, but every now and then I just want to have a break and see where Sid stabbed Nancy (allegedly...), where Dave Davies stuck a knitting needle through his amp or which ancient Neolithic burial mound Julian Cope used as a recording studio. I'm fascinated, not just by music history, but the geography too, I've gazed at the beautiful ceiling paintings of the Sistine Chapel but I've also seen the graffiti covered walls of CBGB's, no prizes for guessing which had the most profound effect on me...!
Here's some landmarks from a couple of recent trips to Paris, if you have any similar Rock tourist tales then please send them in, I would love to feature your favourites too.
Serge Gainsbourg doll in a store in a Gallery in Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
Probably first on most music fan's itinerary in Paris will be a visit to Père Lachaise Cemetery, to see Jim Morrison's grave. Sadly, the famous bust of Morrison that was once on the grave has gone, long since stolen by some over zealous fan and the grave is pretty unassuming now. Morrison died in a Paris apartment in 1971 but I still think it a bit strange that he was not buried in California as The Doors always seemed so synonymous with the place.
Jim Morrison's grave, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
Jim Morrison graffiti, Pont Alexandre III, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
Père Lachaise is also where you can find the grave of the Little Sparrow, Edith Piaf. I recently saw the fantastic movie "La Vie En Rose" about her troubled upbringing and sad demise, it's well worth watching, especially for the remarkable portrayal of Piaf by Marion Cotillard. Piaf's life was remarkably bleak, abandoned by her father to live in a brothel run by her mother, she was raised by kindly prostitutes, who nursed her through terrible health problems including temporary blindness at one point. She sang for money on the streets of Pigalle and was spotted by a nightclub owner to perform in front of wealthy clients, a nightclub owner who was later to be murdered by gangsters. Piaf's life continued with a catalogue of unremitting darkness, her only daughter died of meningitis aged only 2 years old and her true love, boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in a plane crash. After being involved in a car crash herself she became addicted to pain-killers and alcohol and died from cancer at just 47. It is a remarkable story, but despite it all she grew to become one of France's most revered musical icons.
Edith Piaf's Grave, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
My personal quest to visit Serge Gainsbourg's grave in the Montparnasse cemetery was finally realised last month. I'd already visited his house on Rue Verneuil, which you can read a report on here, but was disappointed to find the cemetery closed. I had to go back and made sure I got my timings right this time and it was well worth the trip. Montparnasse is a beautifully kept cemetery, and it is full of graves and shrines of some serious cultural heavyweights such as Guy de Maupassant, Simone de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, Samuel Beckett and Jean-Paul Sartre. I find it quite fitting, if some might say ironic, that Serge is buried amongst such illustrious company. He has, in his own irrerevant and anarchic way, made probably just as much impact on French popular culture.
Serge Gainsbourg's grave, Montparnasse cemetery, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
The grave is covered in interesting bits and pieces, from cigarettes, to drawings and photos and strangely enough, a full cabbage - in tribute to his concept album "L' Homme À Tête de Chou" or The Man with the Cabbage Head.
Serge Gainsbourg's grave, Montparnasse cemetery, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
I've already featured a previous trip to Serge's grafitti strewn house here, but it's always worth another visit to see how the daubings have changed. Still no news on the muted plans to open the place up as a museum.
Serge Gainsbourg's house on Rue de Verneuil, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
Le Grand Rex is a beautiful Art deco venue built in 1931 and located on the Boulevard Poissonnière. Wilco and Noel Gallagher, amongst others, will be playing gigs here in 2012.
Le Grand Rex, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
I'm not a huge fan of classical music, but one composer that really struck me when I was playing in my Junior School's orchestra (before that nasty Punk Rock took hold of me...) was Erik Satie. I just fell for the minimalist piano scores such as the "Gymnopedies" and "Gnossienne" pieces. You can hear his influence on music by Japan, David Sylvian, Gary Numan and Sweden's Hederos & Hellberg. Satie was actually born in the beautiful harbour town of Honfleur in Normandy (where there is now a musuem) but moved to Montmartre in the 1880's.
Erik Satie's House, Montmartre, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
Erik Satie's House, Montmartre, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
Abbesses, the beautiful little square at the foot of Montmartre is the inspiration, title and location of this brilliant video for a classic slice of instrumental Mod/Soul from DC Fontana. Here's a photo of the Abbesses Metro station featured in the film which you can enjoy below...
Montmartre is also the location of a famous photo-shoot of The Smiths by Paul Slattery, Paul travelled with the band in December 1984 for their gig at the Parc des Expositions. I re-traced their steps, taking in the very smart area just below the Sacre Coeur including the Rue Giradon, Rue de L'Abreuvoir and the Place des Quarte Freres Casadesus. These photos and more can be found in Paul's superb book "The Smiths, The Early Years" published by Omnibus Press.
The Smiths in Montmartre, Paris - Photo courtesy of Paul Slattery
Montmartre, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
The Smiths in Montmartre, Paris - Photo courtesy of Paul Slattery
Montmartre, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
The Smiths in Montmartre, Paris - Photo courtesy of Paul Slattery
Montmartre, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
The Smiths in Montmartre, Paris - Photo courtesy of Paul Slattery
Montmartre, Paris - Photo by Steve Worrall
If you have any photos of music related landmarks then please send them in and I'll include them on the Blog.
Regular Retro Man Blog photographic contributor, Paul Slattery, has one of his great photos used on the cover of the new Smiths special Collector's Edition magazine from NME & Uncut. The magazine features a whole load of Paul's classic early photos of the band throughout the issue. It's available in all good newsagents or via mail order here.
"The Smiths: The Early Years, Photographs by Paul Slattery" published by Omnibus Press
Paul's superb book "The Smiths: The Early Years" featuring many iconic shots of the band has been re-printed. You can see many photographs including the band posing with flowers in the ruins of the Central Manchester Railway Station (now the G-Mex), candid backstage photos and live shots documenting the first murmurings of the soon-to-be hysteric crowd reaction to the stage at Glastonbury Festival via the back streets of Montmatre in Paris. The book is available in good bookshops or via Amazon here.
You can also see his photo of the band backstage at Glastonbury on the inside gatefold sleeve of "Hatfull Of Hollow" which is part of the recent deluxe back catalogue re-issue collection "The Complete Collection".
