On the road with the Third Ear band. Steve Pank's memories on driving for the band.

After I had published the magazine, Albion, I was running weekly benefits in All Saints Church Hall with the Third Ear Band playing as the resident band, Sam Cutler was the compere and he introduced many guests, including Alexis Korner Arthur Brown, and Davy Graham. Members of the Floyd used to come down, and on one occasion, Syd Barrett did short set, backed by Nick Mason on drums and David Gilmour on bass guitar. Andrew King of Blackhill Enterprises asked if I could put on the Edgar Broughton band which I did, and when Glenn asked me if I could recommend an agent and I suggested Blackhill Enterprises. They signed on the Third Ear Band. and to a recording deal with EMI Harvest records. The first booking they got was some way out of London supporting John Mayalls Bluesbreakers. To get there, Glen booked ‘Motivation transport, very sympathetic to heads.’ Their van broke down on the way home and the group had to hitch home.

Afterwards Glen asked me if I would drive for the band and I agreed to do so, He hired a transit van. I drove for the band for two years for 12,000 miles. Anywhere that was unfamiliar I would always stop and check the signposts, and we never missed a gig.

Blackhill organized free concerts in Kensington Gardens, The first featured with other groups. the Pink Floyd, Pretty Things, the Third Ear Band was the opening band. the second one featured Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. the Third one was in Hyde Park featuring the Rolling Stones, with Alexis Korner, the ‘Third Ear’, and other groups. A rumour went round that the Third Ear Band was booked to open the concerts to ensure that the weather was good.

One booking we had was organised by DJ and broadcaster John Peel, and folk singer Bridget St John. It was at Holloway ladies’ prison. The concert was for the remand prisoners. We met in John Peel’s flat. Also on the booking was a folk duo called Friends of the Poor, consisting of a singer guitarist and a cello player. the singer with Mike Deighan and the cellist was Ursula. At that time the cello player in the ‘Third Ear’ was Paul Buckmaster who had just been involved in an instrumental version of J‘taime by Jane Birkin, which was being played on the BBC. Because of this he had told Glen he could not play on the next booking. I suggested to Glen . ’Why don’t you ask Ursula to play at the next gig?’ and Glen replied ‘I have already asked her to join the band’. One of the first bookings that Ursula played on was at the first Isle of Wight festival that was to be headlined by Bob Dylan.

After driving Down to Portsmouth and crossing on the ferry to the Isle of Wight, we headed to the festival venue at Ryde. The previous night, the Saturday, had been headlined by The Who. The Sunday was more of a folky concert with people like Julie Felix and Richie Havens, and the Third Ear Band who played in the afternoon. There was a big stage and an audience of half a million people. Afterwards, Ursula told me that after she had got up on the stage and drew her bow across the strings, there was a huge roaring sound such as she had never heard before from her instrument.

There was a lot of expectation in the air, that evening was the first time for Bob Dylan to appear live since his motorcycle accident two years before. He was to be backed by The Band. As artists we were allowed into the small enclosure in front of the stage, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were all there. I remember hearing that as Paul Minns was sitting down, someone came up to him and said: ‘You can’t sit there. because that is Ringo Starr seat’.

We waited a long time, maybe an hour for the evening concert to start, then The Band appeared and did a set. When Bob Dylan did come on and started playing, he seemed very nervous and uncomfortable with his guitar. This was his first public performance since he had a motorcycle accident. He then handed the guitar to Jamie Robbie Robertson of The Band to tune it up, and after that, things did improve. At one point he stopped playing and looking around at the crowd. said ‘It’s good to be here’. At the time it was the biggest live crowd he’d ever played to. There was one time we went down to Michael’s Mount at the tip of Cornwall to play a booking, and I remember the promoter telling us that his car had been parked on the beach and as a result had it been washed out to sea.

The band was booked to do a national tour in ten major venues around Britain with Al Stewart. We discussed with Glen what to call the tour. John Michell just published a book about ancient ley lines and geomantic patterns called ‘The View Over Atlantis’ and we suggested the tour could be called ‘Atlantis Rising’. Glen said it sounded good to him but what would Al Stewart think? Ursula and myself agreed to go and see Al Stewart and ask him if he would agree. he reluctantly agreed, and said he would just as soon it was called ‘Ham and Eggs!’ However by the time the tour ended, Al Stewart included a song he had written that was all about the prophecies of Nostradamus. John Michell’s book ‘The view over Atlantis’ was written up in the programme.

The tour covered ten venues. Starting out at Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, then going to Leith town hall in Scotland, Birmingham Town Hall, North Staffs Poly, Colston Hall Bristol, Fairfield Hall in Croydon, Southampton Guildhall, Century Hall Manchester, Crewe Hall Sheffield and ending up at Brighton Dome. After the tour, there was noticeably more interest in the band, and there was better attendance at local bookings.

The Third Ear Band played a booking at the Paradiso, the top club in Amsterdam, I remember during that gig, a lot of the audience were lying flat on the floor! Another important gig was at the Essen pop and blues festival in Germany. This was in a huge sports arena, and along with the Third Ear Band, there were a number of other British bands on the bill. I remember thinking how good the Third Ear Band sounded, a recording of this has been recently released as a LP by German M.I.G. Records.

The band was always popular in Wales. One night, I drove to Aberystwyth and back in one night. On that occasion, I remember Andrew King was there, came into the band room and found me lying on the floor trying to get some rest before driving the band back home to London. On another occasion we went to Glasgow and we had nowhere to stay so we asked a member of the audience if they knew anywhere we could stay. They found some people who were happy to put us up.

There was an occasion when the van’s battery charger was failing, and I had to drive back to London on the A1 using only the sidelights. It was around that time that the driver of the Fairport Convention’s van fell asleep at the wheel. This caused an accident in which two people, Martin Lamble the drummer, and Jeannie Franklin, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend, died in the crash. Jeannie had been a clothes designer and had made outfits for the band the Cream. Jack Bruce‘s first album was dedicated to Jeannie and was called “Songs for a tailor” in her memory. After that happened. I said to Glen that I felt it was getting dangerous and we needed have a second driver especially on the long trips. The first second driver we had was Terry Oldfield, the younger brother of Mike Oldfield, he lasted about two weeks. then Glen got another driver who had previously worked as a professional roadie for some time.

Originally, I had been living in this in a flat off Ladbroke Grove and then I moved into the basement flat of Richard Coff, the violinist with the band. Shortly after that, I moved into a community in Brixton with Ursula. I was then parking the van in Acre Lane Brixton, and the equipment was not secure. Living in this community I got interested in playing the guitar and writing songs myself. That was when I left as driver of the band.

After I left, the band did a live recording of the film Abelard and Heloise, As Ursula described it, there was no preparation, the group just sat down and improvised while watching the film on a screen. After they came off the plane, they were off to Glastonbury to play for a Ceremony with a Druid group, on the top of Glastonbury Tor.

Steve Pank, August 2025

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first).

 

Goldmine's obituary on Simon House.

I want to bring to your attention a very good and touching obituary about Simon House published in the last hours on the Web.

It was written by journalist Dave Thompson for Goldmine and it is available here: 

https://www.goldminemag.com/obituaries-news/simon-house-born-august-29-1948-died-may-25-2025

Thompson writes: "Depending upon which side of the rock spectrum you stand, Simon House's name usually invokes one of two memories — the majesty with which he has graced some of the greatest Hawkwind albums, or the haunting violin which dominated his time with David Bowie.

But House's own career reaches way beyond either of those two highs. As a prodigiously gifted teen, he was a member of High Tide, one of the most creative, if sadly unsung, bands to emerge from the post-psychedelic Sixties."

Hawkwind, May 1974. Left to right: keyboard player Simon House, guitarist Dave Brock, keyboard player Del Dettmar, bassist Lemmy, drummer Simon King and saxophonist Nik Turner. 

Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images

"He was thus present at the birth of Hawkwind — staged on House’s twenty-first birthday, Group X’s All Saints Church Hall show saw them opening for High Tide (The two bands would also share the same management company, Clearwater Productions)."

After summarising House's long, glorious musical career, Thompson concludes the piece by quoting the words of Brian Perera, whose Cleopatra Records released several of House’s later recordings:

"It’s with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our dear friend and brilliant collaborator. Simon wasn’t just a musician — he was a sonic architect who helped shape the sound of a generation.

He shared the stage with legends: David Bowie, Lemmy-era Hawkwind, and Nik Turner, always leaving his unmistakable mark. From the art-rock brilliance of Bowie’s “Boys Keep Swinging” era to the boundary-pushing tours with Nik and Cleopatra in the ’90s, Simon’s electrifying violin and cosmic keyboard work lifted every track, every show, every moment.

His vision brought depth, texture, and soul — he simply made everything better.

We miss you deeply, Simon.

Rest easy, my friend. Your sound lives on."

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first).

Violinist Simon House passed away yesterday at 76.

Bad news for all of us!

Great violin and keyboard player Simon House, a true giant of the underground, old collaborator of the Third Ear Band (1971-1974), passed away yesterday at 76 (the bad news HERE and HERE or HERE).

A founder with guitarist Tony Hill and bass player Peter Pavli of the seminal band High Tide at the end of Sixties, he was a permanent member of the Hawkwind, between 1974 and 1978, playing with David Bowie on his albums "Stage" (1978) and "Lodger" (1979). 

Apart two solo albums (1994 and 2000), one with Rod Goodway (2002), and two with Spiral Realms (2004 and 2005), he worked with a lot of musicians including  Robert Calvert, Japan, David Sylvian, Thomas Dolby, Mike Olfield, Judy Dyble, Nik Turner, Adrian Shaw, Nektar, Spirits Burning, Magic Muscle...

Through Glen Sweeney, I met him two times in London, where he lived, and he seemed to me a shy and reserved person, interested only in playing music and refractory to any self-indulgence and protagonism typical of the rock environment. 

We later did an interview by phone, but he was very tight-lipped and not very willing to recall the past.... You can read it here:

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2010/01/brief-phone-conversation-with-simon.html

 

Other files in this Archive related to Simon House:

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2012/03/italians-like-weird-stuff-old-interview.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2020/09/extraordinarly-amazing-teb-tv.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2024/11/four-rare-1972-photos-of-simon-house-on.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2019/10/peter-pavli-interviewed-on-its.html

 

   Simon House performing live with DanMingo at DAYUM Club, London, December 2005.

 no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

A composition by Dave Tomlin for the London Youth Jazz Orchestra in 1967.

An article by Bob Houston published by the "Melody Maker" on August 5th, 1967 reveals that Dave Tomlin composed at least a score for the London Youth Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble of young people between the ages of 14 and 21 conducted by Bill Ashton, to perform.

The orchestra, dedicated to the performance of contemporary avant-garde jazz music, had in its repertoire compositions by well-known musicians in the London circles of those years: Neil Ardley, John Patrick, Brian Priestly...

 

 

 no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Some memories about Anacondas Skiffle Group by Steve Pank.

Steve Pank, Third Ear Band's former manager and driver, close friend of Glen Sweeney, Carolyn Looker, and Dave Tomlin, Ursula Smith's husband as well, kindly sent me these memories about the Anacondas Skiffle Group era...

 "Putting ‘Anacondas skiffle’  into google, I came across an amazing collection of press cuttings about the Anacondas skiffle group, and about the skiffle craze triggered by Lonnie Donegan. Glen Sweeney was a member of Anacondas and he was seen as the ace washboard player of the Croydon area, his first experience of stardom.  I remember when I took Glen to see his mother,  and he was telling her about the success of the Third Ear Band, and she replied  ‘Is this like when you won the Tommy Steele Cup?' I knew that he had played in a skiffle group,  the name ‘Anacondas’ was chosen to match the ‘Vipers’ group  who had a hit single  with  ‘Freight Train’.     

Skiffle was originally a traditional music that was played in Louisiana and along the Mississippi,  using domestic instruments like washboards and jugs.  When Trumpet player Ken Colyer returned  from New Orleans, and joined the Chris Barber jazz band, he brought the idea of skiffle with him. On Barber’s first LP,  guitar player Lonnie Donegan recorded  the  Leadbelly song ‘Rock Island Line’, backed jazz singer Beryl Bryden playing washboard and Chris Barber on double bass. The washboard was a corrugated plate of metal that was played wearing thimbles on the fingers. When issued as a single, Rock Island Line became big success in Britain and America and it launched the skiffle craze.  Sales of acoustic guitars skyrocketed, and tea chests,  rectangular plywood boxes, that were used for importing tea and were only used once, could be utilised as bass instruments. All of those in the later British Rock movement of the ‘60s had been influenced in some way or another by skiffle.

When Lonnie Donegan played three nights in Liverpool, George Harrison went there every night. Paul MaCartney first met John Lennon at a fete/garden party at Peter’s Church in Woolton Liverpool  where John was playing with his skiffle group, The Quarrymen. Ringo Starr also played in a skiffle group. He said his first experience of playing music on a snare drum was with a friend on a tea chest bass. Newspaper research showed  that at its peak, there were 5000 skiffle groups in Britain. Between 1956 and 1963 Lonnie Donegan had 31 top 30 singles and three were number ones.

On June22nd 1957 in Croydon Civic Hall, in front of 800 fans, and out of  12 contesting groups, The Anacondas won the skiffle contest and were awarded the Tommy Steel Cup.  In order to choose the winner, the organisers use a  ‘clapometer’ to measure the level of applause! The Anacondas also played in jazz clubs alongside bands like Mike Daniels Delta Jazzmen. They were a large group, with eight members.  I remember Glen telling me that he had an influence in the group because he was that bit older than the other members.
I still meet people who tell me that their first experience of playing music was with a skiffle group. The first record I ever bought was ‘The Rock Island line’."

 

Read my researches on the Anacondas here:

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-anacondas-skiffle-group-stone-age.html (part 1) 

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-anacondas-skiffle-group-story-some.html (part 2)

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-anacondas-skiffle-group-story-end.html (part 3)

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Rare photo of the TEB pops ups on the Web!

This rare photo of the band in its brilliant, wonderful line-up with Sweeney, Minns, Buckmaster and Bridges (note his legendary double deck electric guitar!) was taken in November 1971 in one of the last Blackhill promo sessions.

It's on sale now on EBay for about 60 euros here. 

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Italian singer and musician Jenny Sorrenti quotes the Third Ear Band in an interview on Rolling Stones Italian edition.

Jenny Sorrenti, photo by Francesco Desmaele

Titled "Voice is consciousness", in the last issue of Rolling Stone Italian edition, is a long and interesting interview by Fabio Zuffanti with Italian singer and musician JENNY SORRENTI where she quotes the Third Ear Band as one of her first source of inspiration.

"First woman in Italy to do prog at a certain level with Saint Just, the only female voice of Neapolitan Power and yes, also Alan's sister. She was part of the RCA tour, but the discography was too narrow for her. An interview with a cult musician who came to electronic music with the project Néos Saint Just."

You can read the interview here: https://www.rollingstone.it/musica/interviste-musica/jenny-sorrenti-la-voce-e-consapevolezza/967362/

Jenny Sorrenti in this Archive:

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2020/12/il-segreto-cantico-degli-elementi-jenny.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-secret-canticle-of-elements-jenny.html

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Dave Tomlin' son sent to The Guardian an obituary about his great dad.

Tom Hennessey, one of the three children of Dave Tomlin, sent to the Guardian a obituary about his great dad. You can read the original Web page at this link: https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2025/feb/13/dave-tomlin-obituary

Dave Tomlin obituary

"My dad, Dave Tomlin, who has died aged 90, was a musician, writer and figure of the British counterculture underground from the 1960s.

In 1976, he was one of those who took over the unoccupied former Cambodian embassy in London and established a community of artists, musicians, poets, artisans and radical metaphysicians who called themselves the Guild of Transcultural Studies.

Over the years, the guild became established as an opulent venue for musical and cultural events, hosting refugees from as far afield as Chile and China and holding concerts by musicians from Morocco and India, with attenders often having no idea that their elegant surroundings were a squat. A long-running court case finally forced the guild to close its doors after 15 years in 1991, ending Dave’s dream of handing the building back to a new Cambodian government.

Born in Plaistow, east London (then in Essex), to Stan Tomlin, a packing-case maker, and Louisa (nee Goodsell), Dave escaped a future in factory work by joining the King’s Guard, where he learned the bugle to accompany the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. This was the beginning of a life of music. He became a jazz musician in the 1950s, playing clarinet and saxophone in Bob Wallis’s Storyville Jazz Band and touring with Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

In the late 1960s he joined the hippy movement, travelling nomadically around the countryside in a horse and cart, playing in experimental folk groups, including the Third Ear Band, and performing at the UFO Club in London, where he would go on at 4am: “Only when the dancers are completely exhausted will they be in a fit state to hear what we have for them."

He became part of the London Free School in Notting Hill, a centre of radical adult education, where he taught free-form jazz. While there, Dave led annual musical processions down Portobello Road that would develop with other events into the Notting Hill carnival.

Other adventures included becoming stranded, penniless, on the island of Fernando Po (now Bioko) in Equatorial Guinea and gaining passage back by pretending, unconvincingly, to be an experienced cook and deckhand. He supported his frugal lifestyle with gardening and working as a handyman.

In his later years, Dave spent his time writing about his experiences (Tales From the Embassy was published in 2017), practising Chinese brush painting and learning to recite the alphabet backwards.

He is survived by three children from different relationships – Lee, Maya and me – and by his brother, Tony."

Very kindly, Tom wrote me: "I could not hope to do justice to him in the limited space available but I think it gives a good flavour of who he was.
I am very grateful to you for your friendship with Dave, it was greatly appreciated by him. He mentioned you to me a number of times. Also for your tributes to him on your blog (which was helpful to me in writing this obituary!).

We are hoping to have an event in London to remember him and we will let you know in case you are able to make the journey.

Best wishes,

Tom"

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

A memoir book by Don Falcone (Spirits Burning) quoting Third Ear Band and Ursula Smith.

"Don Falcone presents a world where anything can happen and often does…collecting albums and then recording with some of the musicians on those albums…reading paperbacks and then collaborating with one of the authors (Michael Moorcock). Resurrecting a club band into a collective—Spirits Burning—with almost 300 classic and independent rock musicians across 20 albums.

A world where mistakes are made, lessons are learned, and dreams are brought to life. With over 125 of the Spirits Burning crew ready to provide their thoughts."

(from the press release of publisher Starway Press)

Announcing the book, Don wrote me: "I wanted to let you know that I wrote a book (musical memoir). It has input from Pete Pavli, mentions Ghettorage and Third Ear Band, and has entries for all the Spirits Burning collaborators (including Ursula, Simon House, and Pete). I do mention your part in helping me contact Ursula."

Order Information:

· Americas (Book & Free CD): https://stairwaypress.com/product/one-of-the-spirits-burning-a-musical-memoir/

· U.K. & Worldwide (Book & Free CD): Jayde Design: https://jaydedesign.com/product_info.php?products_id=4244&osCsid=mglaiq22dppm42qmjdnds0f7v1

· All other online orders are for the book only. Check to see if your local country Amazon.com is carrying the book and if they offer free shipping. The CD can be purchased separately from Stairway Press using the order form at the back of the book.

· Kindle format available from Amazon.

Don Falcone in 2021.

Don Falcone and Spirits Burning in this Archive:

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2020/11/spirits-burning-asks-ursula-smith-to.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2021/05/spirits-burnings-new-album-with-ursula.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2021/09/its-more-about-wishes-never-about.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2021/09/ursula-smith-played-in-spirits-burnings.html

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

A tribute to Paul Buckmaster on Italian magazine "Musica Jazz" web site.

 

A tribute to our late Paul Buckmaster by Gennaro Fucile is on the web site of Italian magazine "Music Jazz". The journalist, analysing his wonderful solo album "The Chitinous Ensemble", also writes about the close collaboration with the Third Ear Band through the years.

The full article is available HERE.

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

"Druid One" album review by Italian musician and writer Alessandro Monti.

Here's a brilliant review on "Druid One - Live at Essen Pop and Blues Festival 1970" by my friend Italian musician and music writer ALESSANDRO MONTI (https://unfolkam.wordpress.com/) a very big fan and expert of Our Holy Band.

"Where do we come from? 

All we know is that we are born on this planet, we live, we walk, we play, we work and then we leave leaving traces of our passage without knowing what will happen to those traces, and without paying the slightest attention to who will follow or collect them.

I have often asked myself these questions while listening to magnificent recordings like this one, in which half the members of the group are now elsewhere, entities of pure spirit beyond this material world without knowing that their improvised music was so intense as to take root in the planet and be rediscovered at unthinkable moments... or maybe they knew? 

Curious to think that the other half of the group continues to make music: a classical cellist and a violin teacher disinterested in his past: that's life. But to many of us this music still communicates a unique and unrepeatable emotion, a ritual that is renewed with every listen as if it did not belong to any era... perhaps because it belongs to ALL eras? 

The answer blows in the wind with this music taken from a concert in 1970, recorded impeccably by German radio at the time of the second album based on the four elements, it is no coincidence that two of them appear: water at the beginning and at the end, after an alchemical sonic journey, the dance of the earth. 

There was a time when we literally had to work miracles to find live recordings of our favorite bands, then the doors of the cosmic archives opened and we listened to all sorts of things. Today the release of a new TEB album seems almost normal, in reality all this is miraculous, especially if we think about the time spent on the dusty shelves of some archives. The music speaks for itself and no comment (let alone "critical") could add something sensible... just a few technical aspects to note: 

side A of this album starts in fade in, certainly after the performance has already begun, while side B ends with a fade out while the group seems to be able to continue endlessly, this makes me think (like Luca wrote) that perhaps it is not a complete tape, but the unrepeatable magic fully justifies its publication with the rare quote from Abelard & Heloise to seal the set: a surprise too good to be true."

Recording: ️ ️ ️ [5/5]

Vinyl dynamics: ️ [3/5]

Performance: ️ ️ [5/5]

Magic: ️ ️[5/5]

 

no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Third Ear Band music on Italian national radio.

Just yesterday night, on the third channel of Italian national radio RAI (the programme was called "6 Gradi", six grades) Third Ear Band's "Mosaic" was played.

You can listen to the programme here:

https://www.raiplaysound.it/audio/2025/01/Sei-gradi-del-14012025-d96e76c3-7cc7-4888-a679-fcec93ead389.html

 no©2025LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

A book by Steve Pank available in Amazon.

A book written by STEVE PANK titled "Hole in the Moon" is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle Edition formats (go here). Presenting it, Steve wrote: "The United States is planning to land astronauts on the moon again in the next five years. What will happen when they do? Is it possible that they will find something unexpected?
In this book, Hole in the Moon, they do. They find that extraterrestrials are already living there. So were this to happen, how should this be coped with this in real life? This story gives one possible answer.

Anyone who is interested in whether space people exist, and if they do, how the human race could best cope with this; should read this book."

Steve was the former manager and driver man of the Third Ear Band in 1969-1970; a Glen Sweeney, Carolyn Looker, and Dave Tomlin's close friend; an expert of alternative sciences, and a eyewitness to the Sixties underground scene in London.

Steve Pank in this archive (selection):

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-letter-from-steve-pank-original.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-letter-from-steve-pank.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2010/06/steve-pank-about-origins-of-third-ear.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2019/02/steve-pank-about-alchemy-days.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2022/12/steve-pank-tells-glen-sweeneys.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2017/09/steve-panks-electric-universe-theory.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2018/05/ursula-smith-concert-at-bourgh-house.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2024/08/remembering-glen-sweeney-19-years-ago.html

 no©2025 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Glen Sweeney's percussion on "Air"...

January, 30th 1971: on the last issue of "Melody Maker" a fan asked a question about what percussion Glen played on  the second album...

Sweeney in a rare photo taken during the sessions for the second album.

 no©2024 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first

Peter Jenner told the story of Kevin Ayers' Joy of the Toy sessions.

On the glorious "ZIG ZAG" #9 (January 2nd, 1970) PETER JENNER wrote about the story of KEVIN AYERS' "Joy of the Toy" recording sessions, revealing for the first time the involvement of some musicians (not mentioned on the inner sleeve for copyright reasons) as our PAUL MINNS and PAUL BUCKMASTER. Interesting the fact Jenner said Buckmaster had left the Thirds just before... (December 1969?)

 no©2024 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first

Mick Taylor reviewed TEB's Alchemy on Melody Maker.

 

On the monthly "The History Of Rock" ("Uncut" publication) of September 22, 2016 devoted to 1969, retrieving an old issue of MELODY MAKER (July-September 1969) documents a review by Mick Taylor, guitarist for the Stones who had recently replaced Brian Jones, in which he comments on "Alchemy." The column was the well-known “Blind Date” in which musicians were subjected to 'blind' listening...

Needless to say, even in that 1969 the ears of most rock musicians were not ready for the music of the Third Ear Band. What about today?

 no©2024 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

The croaking self-styled great rock magazines and the right to be informed.

Read below about an old issue of ‘UNCUT’ # 181 from June 2012, one of the self-styled ‘best rock magazines’ around.

A long-time reader from Somerset writes to the letters column run for years by ALLAN JONES and asks that the magazine also cover obscure bands, starting with the Third Ear Band. What happened to Sweeney and co.? 

A legitimate question, because the reader, a music lover, is not supposed to know the music scene in depth and asks the expert.

Less legitimate is Jones's (derisive? English humour?) response, which only demonstrates the snootiness, know-nothingness and arrogance of a self-referential world that continues to croak its stale truths unconcerned with what is happening just outside the editorial offices of experts...

 no©2024 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Dave Tomlin funeral.

 Dave from the video interview "Radical Elders" (2019).

Dave Tomlin's brother Tony kindly wrote me today:

"Dave was cremated yesterday, an unattended cremation.

Early yesterday morning, around 7AM,  I lit 3 candles in our garden, my way of a funeral. They burned all day and the last one was still burning, in the dark, at 7 PM last night.

Dave really didn't want to let go."

For all the people interested to get his wonderful books (apart "Tales from the Embassy" all the others are almost impossible to find), Tony will ask Dave's son Tom what he intends to do, and I will inform everyone here.

 no©2024 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Dave Tomlin, a giant of British counterculture.

From the video interview "Radical Elders" (2019).

Multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, writer and poet, David John Tomlin (1934-2024) was a seminal figure of the British underground. A founder of Giant Sun Trolley with Glen Sweeney in 1967, a collaborator with the Third Ear Band on “Alchemy” (1969), he was a cultural and political agitator since the second half of the 1960s, after a militancy in trad jazz from the late 1950s with Bob Wallis' band. From 1976 to 1991 he directed a commune experience in the occupied Cambodian Embassy in London, rejuvenating the countercultural model of the legendary London Free University of the 60s (from where Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, for example, became known). 

Dave Tomlin (right) with Joe Gannon (left) announcing the Notting Hill Carnival, 1966.

From the early 1990s he began a prolific writing activity, mainly in the online pages of the reborn International Times (read here), publishing several books of an autobiographical nature (e.g., on his experiences in India or chronicling his years at the occupied embassy), poetic, non-fiction with strong political and social characterization (such as the essay "Power Lines").

He acquainted me with the dramatic story of Mike Taylor, helping me with research (with his brother Tony) and the writing of his biography, with suggestions and revision of the text. In 2020 he collaborated on the book I wrote about Glen and the Third Ear Band by sending his memories and giving me this unpublished poem of his from 1967, I decided to use as the epigraph of the book:

"The Giant Sun Trolley is coming

League transversing it globally encircuits

Beneath the eversun  

Where lances of pain

Become rays of warmth

Emanating mindwards and on

Till, reaching the epiphany

Of space and time 

Flash in ozonic  splendour

For Cosmic Man."

A true giant of the British counterculture and underground. Intelligent, sharp, witty, always on the right side of those who claim, especially today, the right to a better world.

From the video interview "Radical Elders" (2019).

 

Since very little can be found about him on the internet, I repost here, updated, Dave's bibliography and discography already posted on this archive, willing to supplement or modify it if suggestions are received from you readers.

 

DISCOGRAPHY

. Mike Taylor Quartet – “Pendulum” (LP - Columbia SX6042, UK 1965) Recorded at Lansdowne Studios, London, October 1965. Dave plays soprano saxophone. A 2007 CD reissue by Sunbeam Records also exist, but now very rare.

. Third Ear Band – “Alchemy” (LP/CD – Harvest Records, UK 1969) Recorded at EMI Studios in 1969. Dave plays violin in one track composed by him, “Lark Rise”.

. Hazchem - "Strange Attractor" (CD – Worldwide Records SPM-WWR-CD-0011 7703, 1990) Dave plays violin, keyboards and bass on three tracks, co-composing six tracks of the album and all the lyrics.

. High Tide – “Ancient Gates” (CD - World Wide Records SPM-WWR-CD-0007, Germany 1990) Dave plays violin and keyboard on all the six album tracks.

. Hazchem – “Star Map Excursion” (CD - World Wide Records, Germany 1991) Dave composed two tracks for the album.

. Third Ear Band – “The Magus” (CD – Angel Air Records SJPCD173, UK 2004) Recorded in 1972. Dave plays bass guitar. He writes also the liner notes. A limited edition of 500 copies of 180 gr. vinyl was published in 2019 by Tiger Bay.

 . The Bob Wallis & His New Storyville Jazzmen - (CD – GHB BCD-262, 2006) Dave plays clarinet on three tracks recorded in London, 1959.

 . The Bob Wallis & His New Storyville Jazzmen - "Vintage" (CD – Lake Records LACD280, 2010) Dave plays clarinet on some tracks recorded in London, in the Fifties.

 . Various Artists – “Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers: British Jazz 1960-1975” (CD – Reel Recordings RR026, UK 2012) Dave plays tenor saxophone on one track, “Phrygie”, recorded at Herne Bay Jazz Club in 1961 by the Mike Taylor Quintet.

. Mike Taylor Quartet – “Mandala” (CD/LP – Jazz in Britan, UK 2021) Limited to 500 copies worldwide. Recorded live by Jon Hiseman on 8th January 1965 at the Studio Club, Westcliff-On-Sea, Southend (UK). Dave plays soprano saxophone.

. Mike Taylor Quartet – “Preparation” (CD/LP – Sunbeam Records, UK 2021) Recorded at 19 The Common, Ealing (Mike Taylor’s home) in September 1965. Dave plays soprano saxophone.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Tales from the Embassy" vol. 1 (Iconoclast Press, London 2002)

"Bluebirds" (Iconoclast Press, London 2004)

"Howling at the Moon" (Iconoclast Press, London 2004)

"India Song" (Iconoclast Press, London 2005)

"Tales from the Embassy" vol. 2 (Iconoclast Press, London 2006)

"The Collected Mister" (Iconoclast Press, London 2006)

"Into the Holy Land" (Iconoclast Press, London 2007) with Tony Jackson

"Tales from the Embassy" vol. 3 (Iconoclast Press, London 2008)

"A Hole in the Wind" (Iconoclast Press, London 2008)

"Harry Fainlight. From the notebooks. Posthumous pieces" (Iconoclast Press, London 2008) 

"Harry Fainlight. Fragments of a lost voice" (Iconoclast Press, London 2008) 

"Power Lines" (Iconoclast Press, UK 2012)

Dave in 1967.

no©2024 LucaChinoFerrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)