Hilton Valentine was an English guitarist, member of the The Animals.
Valentine played the electric guitar arpeggio introduction to the Animals’ 1964 signature song “The House of the Rising Sun”.
Tag Archives: English music
RIP Wayne Fontana (1945 – 2020)
Wayne Fontana was an English singer best-known as the singer of “The Game of Love” (1965), covered as “Quand tu es là” by Sylvie Vartan that same year.
RIP Peter Green (1946 – 2020)
Peter Green (1946 – 2020) was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist.
He was the co-founder of Fleetwood Mac.
He is perhaps best known for penning “Black Magic Woman” (1968).
However, I remember him most fondly for his instrumental “Albatross” (1968).
RIP Vera Lynn (1917 – 2020)
Vera Lynn was a British singer who is best known for the song “We’ll Meet Again” (1968).
However, I want to draw your attention to the original recording of “Comment te dire adieu” generally known as a song by Françoise Hardy/Serge Gainsbourg but actually a version of “It Hurts to Say Goodbye” (1966).
RIP Dave ‘Strangler’ Greenfield (1949 – 2020)
Dave Greenfield was an English composer and musician, known as the keyboard player of The Stranglers.
Everyone is familiar with their song “Golden Brown” (1982) but few are aware that is actually a waltz.
Next to “Golden Brown”, The Stranglers wrote a couple of enduring compositions. There is “Peaches” (1977), a sleazy track which features the word clitoris and which for that reason had to be re-recorded in order for the BBC to play it.
There is “No More Heroes” (1977), the refrain of which has a childish quality that I find hard to swallow. “Always the Sun” (1986) however, works for me. It has that dreaminess also present in “Midsummer Night Dream” (1983) and of course in “Golden Brown”.
And then there is “Nice ‘n’ Sleazy” (1978), a track which is also dance-able. It’s on YouTube in a Top of the Pops live version and if you wait until 1:29 you see the keyboard solo of Greenfield.
That track is also on the marvelous compilation How to Kill the DJ Part 2 (2004) out on Tigersushi Records.
RIP Genesis P-Orridge (1950 – 2020)
Genesis P-Orridge was and English musician and founding member of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV.
I first learned of P-Orridge in the late 1980s during the acid house period. I remember some of their Psychic TV material from the radio shows by Luc Janssen. However, I can’t seem to find the tracks that I heard at the time.
Where to begin? There is so much. Let’s start with the exceptional single “United/Zyklon B Zombie” (1978).
And let us add the album 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979) also by Throbbing Gristle.
There was a time when I actually thought that these were jazz-funk tracks.
New listener, do not fear, it’s very experimental but actually not that hard on the irritation scale.
RIP Andrew Weatherall (1963 – 2020)
Andrew Weatherall was an English DJ, record producer, and remixer.
There was a time when music research took up most of my time. It coincided with the golden age of the music compilation, roughly from 1990 to 2005.
From that era stem Nine O’Clock Drop (2000) and Fabric 19 (2004).
Andrew Weatherall is also the man who made me discover “Black But Sweet” (1931) via his “Wilmot” composition.
RIP Andy ‘gang of four’ Gill (1956 – 2020)
Andy Gill was a British musician famous for his work with Gang of Four.
Compositions of note are “I Love A Man In A Uniform” (1982) featured on the compilation Various – 80’s Underground Clubbing and “Damaged Goods” (1978) featured on the compilation How to Kill the DJ part 2.
Needless to say, these compilations are more interesting than the full albums of Gang of Four.
Trivia: the opening sequence of the track “What We All Want” (1981) is reminiscent of “Play That Funky Music (1976).”
RIP Ginger ‘Cream’ Baker (1939 – 2019)
Ginger Baker was an English drummer best known for his work with Cream (“Sunshine of Your Love“, 1967).
More importantly, he also played with Fela Kuti on Fela’s London Scene (1971), Why Black Man Dey Suffer (1971), Live! (1972) and Stratavarious (1972):
He also recorded two albums with Bill Laswell: Horses & Trees (1986) and Middle Passage (1990):
RIP Mark Hollis (1955 – 2019)
Mark Hollis was an English musician and singer-songwriter, the co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band Talk Talk.
I never knew their song “Such a Shame” was inspired by Luke Rhinehart’s The Dice Man (1971).
In fact, I never really knew Talk Talk at all, outside of the hits.
Tonight, I played some of their music and put “The Rainbow” from the 1988 album Spirit of Eden on repeat.