26 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in Band, Progressive Rock
Tags
The Beggars Opera website has been redesigned and is now visible on:
www.beggarsopera.co.uk
Just for sentimental value here is a bootleg of Beggars Opera LIVE from the 70′s playing Raymond’s Rd.
29 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in Progressive Rock
2011 Beggars Opera released Promise In Motion RGS 9486 for itunes download:
itunes
Have a listen to track 6/ Bees.
Looking forward to 2012:
Beggars Opera will be uploading Mrs Caligari’s Lighter: a set of 4 EP’s to itunes, new poems and lyrics, photos, and a brand new Beggars Opera website.
Happy Days
Virginia and Ricky
15 Thursday Dec 2011
06 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in Poetry
Iggy Surreal
You look on from the wings
and see a vision
wild and strong
I wonder where the raw power is
immediate reaction to
the vibrations comin`
linkin` roadwaves in the air
catastrophic love lives began here
and they ended in the
archetypes are here
freedom is felt here
feelings spill over here
fox takes a powder
imagine the loneliness
being out there
then suddenly exposed
you swallow you’re pride
you’re out there
Jimmy the raver
Jimmy insane
Jimmy the saviour
Jimmy cocaine
Beautiful smile
lust for life
I wouldn’t change places
come to Marlboro country
Jimmy leavin us now
reasoning has always worried
fragile person
strong projection
image
refractor and
the camera shake
meant that my photos
were a big mistake
N.Y. city
dim white light
shakin
Heidi
Paris
France
luxurious – luxury
opulence – total
you beat you’re head on
a brick wall
for years and
no one sees the tears
hears your fears
it’s just now
and I can see now
why its right
I feel now
I do now
I can do
I can fight
Iggy surreal
you are for real
you are a legend
Back stage fright
change in the light
thin white duke
in a changing day
in a changing way
the joker laughs
the hang man smiles
time is here
to stay
feel the trick
liftin surreal imagine
three cars at the
station waiting
for who knows how long
but go now
go now
leave now
speed
grows now
fox lookin on
iggy surreal
a danger to mankind
but a kind man
a reversal of the natural
order enclosed
comin out
of a chrysalis
to free captivity
a slave
queens
kings
archetypes
images
strong
felt
meant
here
now
Don’t let go
Can’t let go
its now
or never
Vision of tomorrow
it began today
it is the hour of
Japan’s weird sensual
trap of slaves
of powdered joy
ephemeral
instructed lady
In it
without it
it happened today
that’s where it started
observers
lookin on
I didn’t know you were here
impassioned stare
we’ll build tomorrow’s empires
we’ll make tomorrow’s world
its all so easy within
our grasp
clock ticks time away
its happening now
one
vision of pure
exhibiting
contact the senses
release
impact
stunning fright
600 m.p.h
2 Jumbos collide
350 people die
spit on floors
hotels and bars
climb up stairs
corners
people wanting
needing
s + m
imagine
imagine who’s left
quiet
smothered
apartment
enclosed
oil tragedy on the wall
steak tartare
Irish coffee in a bar
black and strong
human
love is now
I want more
6 imbiss
sauerkraut
kurfurtendam
flughaven
down town Detroit
the next one on the show
iggy surreal
I see what you feel
maybe the only one
who’s is free to reveal
your not known to people
who need to know
what
I keep imagining all the things
to do but
I need to go anyway
I had to move on
that last gig
and the changes in my head
have made the past
the colours of the day
flickered away
insertion right
baby you’ve been a long time coming
nobody can
diana demon and crazy games
Poem by Virginia A Scott
Written in the USA and Berlin during the Iggy Pop Idiot Tour of 1977
The Vibrators
supported Iggy Pop on the UK leg of the tour.
Above photo Virginia Scott Cleveland Ohio 1977 by Ricky Gardiner
06 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in Interviews, The Passenger
The Passenger Story
Photo Ricky Toronto 1977: Virginia Scott
Interview questions by Robert Webb 2005.
The Independent on Sunday
1/ I’ve read a quote from you in the book Gimme Danger about how you were walking around your garden and your ear was caught by the chord sequence you were playing. Was it an unconscious thing; a little like McCartney waking up with “Yesterday” going through his head?
RG/ It may have been partially hypno-pompic. It was certainly a case of the chord sequence ‘slipping through’ while I was ‘lost in the glory’ of a beautiful spring morning’. I heard myself playing in the distance.
The strength, inherent in a round, arrested my attention and I registered the sequence for future use.
2/ What are the actual chords?
RG/ The chords are simple enough. It is a mystery to me why they had not previously appeared in that order. They are – Am, F, C, G- Am, F ,C, E/E7.
3 / Did you have other ideas for the riff, before you played it to Iggy, and what did he say when you played it to him?
RG/ When I was invited to join David and Iggy in Berlin, I did not realise that they needed material, so I was unprepared when they asked me if I had ‘anything’. My surprise was effectively covered when I recalled the aforementioned chord sequence and promptly played it to them on my unplugged Strat. David immediately liked it, Iggy was open and receptive at the time but I suspect it did not have quite the same impact as a screaming chain saw which is his natural preference, I think. None the less, he appeared the next morning with the completed lyrics andafter we recorded it, he seemed very pleased. I must also mention the fine contribution that Carlos Alomar made to the recording- a very nice man and a good musician.
Carlos Alomar: Chateau 1976. Photo: Ricky Gardiner
4/ The song doesn’t move on from the circular chord sequence – no middle eight or chorus. Weren’t you tempted to write more?
RG/ I did not develop the riff prior to convening in Berlin and neither David or Iggy suggested any addition.
It lives on unaltered.
5/ What’s your view on Iggy’s lyrics? Are they about Bowie?
RG/ I do not read anything personal in lyrics.
I have no interest at all in the personal dynamics between people.
We all have our personalities to deal with and I expect we all deal with it in our own way.
Therefore, I make no judgement on the people’s personalities or their inter reaction.
The main issue for me is the music-getting the work done – enjoying the recording. In general terms, Iggy displays a spontaneously vivid and fertile imagination which he puts to very productive creative use in the studio.
This made the recording very rewarding.
6/ Tony Visconti has called you an “unsung hero”, and I take it you first met Iggy and Bowie via him. What’s your feeling now about your involvement with Iggy. Are you still in touch?
RG/ Tony is, himself, something of an ‘unsung hero’. He is very patient and yet decisive.
He is always willing to try a new approach yet he doesn’t intrude unnecessarily.
I am grateful that Iggy is still out there ‘treading the boards’ and apparently going from strength to strength.
Tony Visconti 1976 Press cutting.
7/ What do you do now?
RG/ For at least 10 years I have suffered from Electro Magnetic HyperSensitivity (www.feb.se ).
I am allergic to most aspects of modern and not so modern technology. I spend time trying to find ways round my disability. I am aided by my wife composer/artist Virginia Scott.
8/ Also, can you give me release details for your album The Passenger, and a little more info on your own version please (beyond what I have gleaned
from your web site ): which I like very much.
RG/ We have two versions of the Passenger which were recorded prior to EMHS.
Ricky Gardiner 2005
06 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in Interviews, The Passenger
Photo Virginia Scott 1977
The Passenger -FAQ’s
Interview by Stephen Dalton Uncut Magazine 2001
(1) How were you introduced to Bowie? Was there an audition process or was Tony Visconti’s recommendation enough?
RG/ Beggars Opera was regularly in the German charts during the early 70′s. David had set up camp in Berlin by the middle of the decade, so when Tony suggested me for the Low album, I dare say I was not totally unknown to him.
(2) Is it true you were initially in line to play on The Idiot? If so, why did that not happen in the end ?
RG/ I am not aware of that.
(3) What were your first impressions of Bowie? Did he give you any pointers about what Low would sound like
before the sessions began?
RG/ My first impression of David was that he enjoyed his work. By the time I arrived at the Chateau some of the backtracks had been done.
I presume David and Tony had discussed proposals for the album.
(4) How different were the recording methods between your Beggar’s Opera stuff and Low? Is it true that Brian Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategies’ cards were used during the Low sessions? And that you had to do overdubs without knowing the key or melody of certain tracks?
RG/ Beggars Opera did not go into the studio until we were ready to record. Studio time was expensive. So we prepared our music well.
However apart from that, the recording process was very similar, i.e. get a drum sound, a bass sound, guitar and keyboards and record the backtracks with or without a guide vocal, depending on the piece, then overdub vocals and backing vocals and any extras. With David on ‘Low’ there were no guide vocals that I remember. That was the only difference.
Bear in mind that Low is really two albums. The band did side one.
By the time I had finished adding guitar overdubs and solos etc. the rest of the band had gone home, so I presume that side two was David, Brian and Tony.
I was not introduced to ‘Oblique Strategies’ in the studio at the ‘Low’
sessions. They may have been used on side two and they may have been used at the mixing stage. I do not know.
(5) Carlos Alomar has said in interviews that he clashed with Eno’s ‘non-musician’ methods – did you notice this tension?
RG/ On the ‘Low’ sessions, Brian did not arrive until near the end of the band’s recording phase. There were no noticeable tensions during that time.
(6) Which of your tracks on Low are you most proud of?
Did you have free creative rein, or make suggestions that were incorporated by Bowie, Eno and Visconti?
RG/ People often remark upon the solo in ‘Always crashing in the same car’. I had free creative rein. There were no restrictions at all.
(7) The Chateau was reportedly haunted – did you see or feel any evidence? I read that there was also an undercover French journalist on site, a case of food poisoning, and a stormy visit from David’s wife Angie
- what do you remember of these incidents?
RG/ I can confirm that Brian had a bad cough from time to time. He was staying in the room that Chopin had used. Chopin died of consumption.
You may make what you like of that! I can confirm that Angela paid us a visit, but I do not discuss the personal lives of friends.
Photo:Chateau d’Herouville/ Ricky Gardiner 1976
(8) I believe you first met Iggy during the Low sessions – what were your initial impressions?
RG/ When I first arrived at the Chateau, I was sitting in the long dining room on my own, having a cup of tea, when a man came in and introduced himself. He put out his hand and said
’Hi, I’m Jim’. He was American.
We shook hands. He seemed to know who I was. I had no idea who he was. He then produced a small cassette machine and switched it on.
After about ten seconds he told me it was his new album and asked me if I liked it. I said it sounded very interesting. I could not deliver a dissertation on a ten second hearing. I think it was several days before I realised he was Iggy Pop. My impression was of a very sincere man who said what he thought.
(9) When the Low sessions moved to Hansa in Berlin, were you still involved? What are your memories of Berlin – and that legendary studio? Did you go night clubbing or visit the transvestite cabaret bars?
RG/ I have many memories of Berlin, both with Beggars Opera and with David and Iggy. I suppose I first visited Berlin in 1971. In those days we travelled there by road, a very different matter to flying. West Berlin was an island in the middle of East Germany, which was behind the Iron Curtain. At the West German Border Post, prior to entering East Germany, we ( Beggars Opera) were told to report to the British Army post. There, we were emphatically told that once we crossed the border we were on our own; that there was no diplomatic representation for British subjects in East Germany and that if we fell foul of the law we would have to rely on our own resources. Since I was the leader of the band, that was directed at me. I thanked the officer for his advice and we crossed ‘no man’s land ‘to meet the German Border Post guards. One was immediately aware that a completely different culture prevailed on
this side of the border,
The sense of discretionary power that emanated from these men was palpable. The concept of freedom took on an entirely new reality-all at once. As I gave my passport to the guard, I was tempted to inquire if he thought that the steam roller of time would render the jackboot of tyranny into the moccasin of return. But I did not.
His ears were not programmed to accept this type of utterance.
So we set off up this 100 KM corridor towards the island of West Berlin.
The Autobahn was just as Hitler had built it i.e. it had not had any repairs
carried out. The broken concrete slabs had taken on a tectonic plate-like life of their own and we bounced from slab to slab.
The Autobahn was occasionally crossed by overhead walkways. Here, small numbers of people would gather to watch the affluent West
exercising freedom they could only dream about. Their dress was drab and colourless. They had the demeanour of inmates of some restrictive institution. I felt sorry for them and powerless myself.
Hansa was a spacious studio run by good people.
Large heavy curtains could be positioned to provide differing sound scapes.
Berlin was strange in those days and yes, there were bars as you describe which we did visit on occasion. Berlin itself was a curiosity.
Photo Ricky Gardiner UFA Berlin: Andy Kent 1977
(10) Is it true that tour rehearsals took place in the old UFA film studios with canisters full of rotting celluloid all around? And who called the shots
musically – Bowie, Iggy, Carlos Alomar?
RG/ Indeed, it is true that we rehearsed for Iggy’s 1977 tour at the UFA film studio where Jospeh Geobels produced so effectively the nazi propaganda films.
There may have been rotting film. I cannot say.
Firstly, there were no shots to call because we were just rehearsing
previously recorded music.
We learned the parts and progressively tightened them up.
Secondly, Carlos was not present at these rehearsals since he was not on the tour.
We were to reunite after the tour for what was to become the’ Lust for Life’album.
(11) What was the atmosphere like on the Iggy tour?
Bowie insisted in the press that he was just one of
the band, but was he like that backstage too? He also
later said “the drug use on that tour was
unbelievable” – is that how you remember it?
RG/ The atmosphere on the tour was excellent. Hunt and Tony Sales were always good fun, as were David and Iggy. Virginia and myself had a most enjoyable time and took the opportunity to have a morning walk in whatever city we happened to be in. Virginia had given up some of her musical work in order to join us on the tour. David dubbed her the ‘tour astrologer’. David was indeed one of the band and was good company.
As to the drugs. I do not use drugs at all. If others used them, they must have been discrete. I enjoy the occasional drink but I would be quite happy if alcohol was returned to it’s rightful place in the laboratory.
(12) The British Iggy shows were reportedly full of gobbing punks – is this true? And did it have an effect on your performance?
RG/ This is an exaggeration. Certainly on the opening night, because the gig was a small club, allowing a close proximity with the audience, there were young males behaving as you describe.
I must congratulate Iggy for being a true professional and smiling his way
through that gig.
(13) Recording the Lust For Life album – how different was this in approach to Low? Some biographies suggest Iggy was competing with Bowie to control these sessions, even staying in the studio all night to keep one jump ahead. Was this your impression?
RG/ Preparing and recording the material for the ‘Lust for Life’ album was a joy and I think this comes through. I joined David and Iggy in David’s flat in Berlin and we worked on some songs. I did not notice any competition.
There was lots of co-operation and everything went smoothly. All the people involved were capable of working hard.
(14) How did The Passenger evolve? Did you take the tune to Iggy unsolicited or did he ask for contributions? What, to you, is that song about? Did you know when you wrote it that it would become a rock standard, and inspire so many cover versions? What’s
your favourite version?
RG/ One idyllic spring morning I was strolling among the flowers, beside the radiant apple blossoms with my guitar. I was thinking of nothing in particular, just enjoying the scents, the sunshine and the guitar.
As I wandered, my ear caught a chord sequence which I was playing absent mindedly. I filed the sequence in the back of my mind and carried on with my walk. Later that summer David, Iggy and myself convened at David’s flat in Berlin to pool ideas for Iggy’s next album. David asked me if I had anything. I did not realise they wanted material so I had nothing prepared. However, I remembered the chord sequence. I played it into Iggy’s little cassette machine on my unplugged Strat. He returned the next day with the lyrics complete. That became ‘the Passenger’
To me this song is about the junction of classical harmonic structure with
20th Century urban imagery, therefore it forms a bridge between Europe and America. I did not know it would become, as you say, a rock standard, but my wife Virginia did and said so.
Naturally, I am fond of the original. I am equally fond of the versions that Virginia and I have done. The song seems to translate easily into many styles.
We have another version in the pipeline.
(15) You also overdubbed guitar on Heroes for Top Of The Pops in late 1977 – the first time most fans will have heard the song. Where did this session happen? Were you playing to tapes or was there a full band?
Were you trying to mimic Fripp’s guitar or aiming for something different?
RG/ We recorded ‘Heroes’ for Top of the Pops at Good Earth Studios.. Tony’s studio in London. There was a full band and it was recorded minus vocals. I was asked to reproduce Robert Fripp’s line. I did not realise at the time that he had used an E Bow. I did my best using feed back alone.
As we went through the song, my amplifier started dying. As the song finished, so did the amp.
(16) Were Lust For Life and the Heroes overdubs your last work with Bowie and Iggy? Was there ever any talk of further collaborations or tours?
RG/ Yes, that was my last work with them. I was asked to do the next Iggy tour but I had been on stage from the age of 14 to the age of 30, so I decided that now was the time to have a family and I regarded it as important for my children to know me and for me to know
them. I can not comment on any subsequent talk.
(17) Tell me about your work from the late 70s until now – The Flood, Precious Life, Kumara etc. Which makes you proudest? Would you say your 80s and 90s recordings are influenced by your work with Bowie, Eno
and Iggy? Where can Uncut readers track them down?
RG/ In the late 70′s I became interested in meditation and was asked to provide music and produce meditation cassettes by two healers. Both of those ladies subsequently became presidents of the ‘World Federation of Healing’ This stimulated my interest in long slow pieces of music, which perhaps had found their seed in ‘Nimbus’ from Beggars Opera ‘Waters of Change’ album, and which were able to sustain a magnetic attractive quality. Then, of course, the early computers arrived and I became very interested in those. I remember punching in Shostakovich String Quartets etc, years of experimentation, years of study, music, meditation, esoteric psychology. Very interesting.
The works you list emerged as experiments progressed. ‘The Flood’ as the title suggests is emotional, intense and oceanic. ‘Precious Life’ is a symphonic work realised on computer, but including the
baritone Delme Bryn Jones and clarinettist Alan Cooper.
Kumara was a collaboration between myself, Virginia Scott and Trevor
Stainsby. By this time the Atari computer and the software for it was quite developed. The work of this period has no connection with the ‘rock world’. It has more to do with reflection. Those who may be interested can contact us through the web site. Kumara Confluence is available from Tower Records, HMV, Amazon and CD Now.
However, I think that the most important work is Auschwitz. It’s birth seemed significant. I had asked Virginia to record some string tracks. Just strings, nothing else.
I would play along to them while experimenting with new tones.
I would play along, make an adjustment, play, make an adjustment in the
endless hunt for rewarding tones.
One day I was doing just this with a fresh piece I had not heard before.
The tape was rolling. I was listening and yet not listening, wondering which chord would be coming next and when.
After some minutes of his I became aware that even although I did not know what was coming next the notes I was playing seemed to be correct and uncannily in the right place.
I realised something unusual was taking place so I ‘stood back’ and
’watched’ as the piece unfolded. Somewhere towards the middle, I had a sense of people gathering together from all over the world.
There was a tremendous sense of tension and sadness, which I felt and had to carefully control. I maintained this position of ‘guardianship’ as best I could while my hands unfolded the story. This lasted about 17 minutes at which time a great sense of peace descended upon me.
Some minutes later, when I went downstairs, I heard on the news that people from all over the world were gathering to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz the following day.
I then realised that the piece of music I had just performed must have the
title ‘Auschwitz’( Divine Love).
(18) Iggy recently said that you are “raising potatoes in Wales”, and that you and your wife send him “giant art projects” when royalty cheques arrive. Is this true?
RG/ It is certainly true that when we first moved to Wales from London, the ground needed clearing and this we did by planting potatoes.
It is also true that I have always taken a great interest in agriculture. I
regard it as a very important human activity.
Virginia is a prolific abstract painter.
So, yes, we do send Iggy ‘giant art projects’.
Beggars Opera: The Passenger 1995/ Images from the Iggy Pop David Bowie Idiot Tour 1977 by Virginia Scott. Edited by BBC Wales.
(19) You recently revisited and re-recorded The Passenger for an album project. Why? And why now?
RG/ After working intensively with computers , samplers, synths and associated processors for 10 years, I developed a sensitivity to the Electro Magnetic Fields emitted by them. However it was not limited just to them. I became hyper sensitive to microwaves, fluorescent lights, CD players, FM radio, power supplies, diesel engines, mobile phones etc.
The last thing the doctor said to me was that I looked very ill but that
there was nothing they could do for me and she wished me luck.
I could not go anywhere or work.
As time passed I gradually eliminated all the digital equipment and power
supplies from the studio and rewired them 2 storeys below. I could still
use my analogue desk for very short periods and special low pressure monitors were built for me. They are powered by battery.
I could no longer deal with long pieces of music at all… but I was not
prepared to do nothing. So as an experiment I decided to see what I could get down on tape in a five minute period.
These five minute adventures started accumulating. Just guitar chords to
start with. Then I added some bass, slowly, slowly. Then Virginia wrote
lyrics and melodies and put vocals down. Eventually we ended up with a pile of songs. As chance would have it we had just completed two versions of the Passenger and two of these other ‘shorts’ before I became electrically sensitive.
So we put them all together on a CD under the banner of the ‘Ricky Gardiner Band’ The CD is called the ‘Passenger’
We are now in the process of completing a second CD. It is ironic that I
can not listen to CD’s. It takes a long time since I still cannot work for long and the methods are very limited. However, I am grateful for the little bit that I can do. The web site gives more details about EMF sensitivity and I would advise anyone working intensively in a High Tech environment to listen to their bodies. The medical profession can do nothing for you.
Music is a magic medium. It is a privilege to be able to contribute to it.
(20) How does suffering from Electro Magnetic Hypersensitivity affect your ability to make and perform music? Can you work around it?
RG/ See answer to no 19.
Ricky Gardiner 2001.
03 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in Experimental, Progressive Rock
THE FLOOD: BEGGARS OPERA alt.
RGS 9479
The Flood was composed in 1985.
Digitally remastered for Beggars Opera Alt.,in 2008.
Spacey and sonic, Ricky Gardiner combines Guitar Yamaha CX5 and Tape.
THE FLOOD (shrt) by Beggars Opera
03 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in Progressive Rock
Cover image by artist Nigel Wood
KUMARA CONFLUENCE: BEGGARS OPERA alt.
KU 9471
01 White Spring
02 Red Spring
03 Influence
04 Confluence
Ricky Gardiner: Guitars
Virginia Scott: Keyboards/Vox
Trevor Stainsby: Programming
‘My idea for Kumara was to bring five different elements together, allow the elements to co-exist simultaneously while not necessarily depending one upon the other. After a reasonable time had elapsed I found one of the elements brought forth nothing and one of the other elements struck me as unsuitable for the project but had a lot to offer for another time and another project. That left three, myself, Virginia Scott and Trevor Stainsby. The process was quite simple.
Virginia recorded seven pads made up mostly of strings. They were very slow moving with no absolute pulse. I selected four of the passages for further work. These four were duplicated and I worked on one lot and Trevor worked on the other. Trevor had the midi information which was driving the original string parts and substituted his own sound as he saw fit. He also added ad lib ‘one of’ sounds. He then added percussion in such as way so as to blend with the synth part. I worked on the original and added guitar.
On White Spring this turned out to be regular electric and I improvised a melody on top of the strings. On the other three pieces I used a sustaining device called an E BOW to elicit the ‘bowed’ effect from the electric guitar After editing the guitars which meant eliminating the redundant sections, Virginia then recorded her voice on top. She paid particular attention to making her voice sound like one of the instruments. Trevor and myself then got together, amalgamated our equipment and started playing back everything together.
By retaining the elements that we agreed worked musically and rejecting everything that did not, we arrived at what became Kumara – Confluence. My choice of the Kumara name comes from Sanat Kumara which translates as the ‘Spirit of the Earth’ or the ‘Inhabitant of the Earth’ Confluence was chosen to reflect the converging of the quite separate streams to form the one entity. Is not all music like this ?’
Ricky Gardiner 2007
“A majestic atmposphere music, wide landscapes drawn by Ricky Gardiner’s guitar. Hardly for those who knows the guitarist by his work with Iggy and Bowie, but those into FLOYD or Ennio Morricone may find this album enjoyable. Thought-provoking it is. Other musicians are Virginia Scott – she played with Gardiner in one of the best early prog bands BEGGARS OPERA – on violin and cello and Trevor Stainsby operating electronics and percussion. One way or another, the primary instrument is the fluid guitar capable of filling the space with divine sound.
There are four pieces, one hour in all, based on the works of Alice Bailey, and they’re enough to turn off you mind and float downstream from the off, “White Spring”. The guitar sound gets as close to cello that the instruments interchange appears seemless, the method Gardiner and Scott later applied to their “Auschwitz” mini-album. And yes, it’s a violin the main inhabitant of the delicate world of “Red Spring”. Once you spot the John Cage concrete drift Virginia lets her crystal voice soar to the sky. Synthesizer paint the ambience picture of the icicles melting, drops and drops around shining in the sun…
If it were an LP, two “Springs” would make Side One lending Side Two to “Influence” and “Confluence”, two sides of another coin. “Influence” is more sparse, anxious and complex with vocals as a guitar stretch continuation and a violin coming from the voice – that’s an influence illustrated the best. Analysis comes naturally followed by synthesis which is “Confluence”. Think of elements here or, better, of people – as we, people, are elements united in the end of the day.”
Dmitry Epstein
02 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Band
Ricky Gardiner was born in Edinburgh in 1948 and is musically self taught.
He used to listen to 78′s of Italian opera and was able to sing famous arias note perfect at the age of 2.
He went to Craigmount School in the Borders and Eastwood School, Glasgow.
Ricky joined his first school band the Vostoks in 1962, where he met Virginia Scott, singer.
Next there was the Kingbees and then the System, where Ricky was to join with Martin Griffiths and Marshall Erskine, later to become members of Beggars Opera.
1969: Ricky formed Beggars Opera, a progressive rock band .
They toured UK and Europe extensively and were signed to Vertigo Records from 1970 to 1974 and recorded 4 albums.
Act One
Waters of Change
Pathfinder
Get Your Dog off Me
1974/1975: A further two Beggars Opera albums for Jupiter Records Germany.
Sagittary
Beggars Can’t be Choosers
Session work on Tony Visconti’s solo album Inventory.
1976: Ricky recorded guitar on the now legendary Low album by David Bowie at the Chateux d’Herouville studio Paris, France.
It was while working on this album that Ricky met Iggy Pop.
1977: Ricky went to Berlin for rehearsals with David Bowie and Iggy Pop. They were joined by Hunt and Tony Sales and they toured the UK and USA to promote Iggy’s Idiot album.
Following this tour the band returned to Berlin and recorded the iconic Lust for Life album.
Ricky wrote the The Passenger with Iggy Pop and Neighborhood Threat and Success with Iggy Pop and David Bowie.
Ricky was once again asked to tour with Iggy Pop on the Lust for Life world tour of 77/78, but fatherhood loomed.
1978: Ricky set up his own recording studio. He started writing music for meditation and exploring the use of computers in music.
1985: The Flood:
Ricky Gardiner: Guitar and Computers.
1987: Precious Life, Symphony for Computer, Clarinet and Voice. Ricky Gardiner, Computers, Alan Cooper, Clarinet and Delme Bryn Jones, Baritone
1994: Kumara Confluence, ambient music developed from keyboard, guitar and vocal improvisations was released.
Ricky Gardiner: Guitar and Computers, Virginia Scott: Keys and Voice, Trevor Stainsby: Programming/Percussion/Synths
1995: Ricky fell ill and developed Electrosensitivity.
Auschwitz: Ricky Gardiner,Guitar and Virginia Scott, Keys and Vox
This piece commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, was to be the last long improvisational piece of music written by Ricky, as, due to Electrosensitivity, he was no longer to be able to spend long periods of time with computing devices.
02 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Band
Tags
Virginia Scott was born in Cardonald, Glasgow in 1948.
1954: Virginia moved to Moss Heights and went to Craigton School and Bellahouston Academy.
1956: ‘My first powerful musical experience was in 1956, when I improvised on a piano alone in a room. I was overwhelmed by the sound and the room seemed to fill with light’.
1957: First piano lessons from Mary McPherson, Cardonald.
1960: Moved to Giffnock and attended Eastwood school.
1962: Joined school band ‘The Vostoks’ as singer and met Ricky Gardiner.
1963/ 68: Studied Piano with Kathleen Belford at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and qualified in 1968.( DRSAM, DRSAM.)
1969: Scholarship to St Cecilia, Rome, Italy and private pianoforte lessons in Milan with Carlo Vidusso.
1970: Returned to UK in February and was asked by Ricky Gardiner and Martin Griffiths to become Beggars Opera’s composer of original material.
1971: Recorded mellotron, cello and backing vocals on Beggars Opera Waters of Change and toured UK/Europe with Beggars Opera as mellotronist.
1974: Keyboards for the Sagittary Jupiter records album for Beggars Opera.
1975: Keyboards for the Beggars Can’t be Choosers Jupiter Records album for Beggars Opera. Sessions with Tony Visconti.
1977: Tour astrologer for the Iggy Pop Idiot tour of UK/ USA.
Wrote the Iggy Surreal poem.
1978: Motherhood.
1986: Boosey and Hawkes prize including publication of children’s piano piece The Fading Sun.
Rediscovered John Cage.
1989: Welcome Rain after Drought: Free improvisations for Piano Duet with Lucy Lucy, pianist improviser and composer, choreographed at Merton Festival for Women.
Travelling Thru Door for Extended Piano: Virginia Scott, Electric guitar and electronics : Ricky Gardiner.
1993: Performance of Terma for 2 pianos by Rainer Burke and Robert Ruhle at Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary music.
1994: Performance of Celtic Dreams for Oboe, Cor Anglais and Bassoon by ensemble Three Reeds:Jennifer Porcas/ Oboe, Gillian Carter/ Cor anglais, Elizabeth Jacobi/ Bassoon)at BMIC , London.
Release of Kumara Confluence.
1995: Sky Dancer for flute and acoustic guitar, commissioned by Lynne Plowman(flute) and Sally Hillier (acoustic guitar) with funds from the Arts Council of Wales, was performed on 13 October at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff.
Celtic Dreams was also performed a second time at Aberystwyth University by ‘Three Reeds’ in November.
Auschwitz with Ricky Gardiner guitarist.
1996: Infinite Spaces free improvisations for 2 pianos with Rainer Burke.
Produced The Passenger CD for RGS.
1998: Eyes Completely Open, Bowie Transcription no 3 for Solo Oboe, part performance at Breton Hall Yorkshire ( COMA) by Katherine Pluygers (oboist).
2000: Recording of Eyes Completely Open by oboist Jennifer Porcas.
2001: How the Song Grows for solo Oboe d’amore, for Jennifer Porcas oboist.
This is the longest piece ever written for Oboe d’amore.
2003: First performance of How the Song Grows at Ucheldre Arts Centre, Holyhead by oboist Jennifer Porcas.
2004: Performance and recording of How the Song Grows by Jennifer Porcas at Bangor Cathedral.
2005: Performance of How the Song Grows at Cumnor House, Sherborne, Dorset in February and Shaftesbury Underhill Music Festival in June.
Recording of How the Song Grows at St John’s Church Maestilo.
All the above by Jennifer Porcas oboist.
2009: Volcano Diaries Experimental Music for 3 Digital Pianos.
An expressionist collage of free improvisation, tone cluster
and thematic loop pulsing indeterminately in a pantonal landscape.
Inspired by postcards sent to composer Virginia Aurora Scott
by geologist Richard Batchelor (M.Sc., F.G.S.) during his
researches into ancient volcanic rocks of the Western
Highlands of Scotland, 2005-2008.
Expressionist collage of free improvisations in a pantonal landscape.
2010: SCHUMANNTRON:Experimental Music for Digital Piano
Inspiration: the Robert Schumann bicentenary, the importance of communication, the inaudiblity of the technological tide and consequent reverberations in the natural world.
