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2020 he collaborated on the book I wrote about Glen and the Third Ear Band by sending his memories and giving me this unpublished poem of his from 1967, I decided to use as the epigraph of the book: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.

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Dave Tomlin passed away on 2 November 2024. R.I.P. dear friend!

 

Dave Tomlin (left) and Steve Pank in London, Summer 2010 (photo: Luca Chino Ferrari)

 

 

 

This is a very sad news for all of us!

Sadly Dave passed away today, age 90.
One of a kind will be missed by all who knew him.

With these few words, Dave's brother Tony gave us the sad news in a page of IT-International Times.

I got to know Dave years ago through Steve Pank (cellist Ursula Smith's husband)  and I met him in London for some interviews published in this archive. He was a cultured, clever, funny, brilliant person, an inexhaustible source about a lot of countercultural events in the 60's and 70's. His books are unique, fundamental documents for any researchers and lovers of the British underground scene. 

"Tales from the Embassy," published from 2002 in three different volumes, was probably his greatest effort to tell the story of his life in the Cambodian embassy occupied by him and a group of friends to create a kind of free university on the legendary model of the London Free School. Thanks to Dave, in 1987 at the Cambodian Embassy Glen Sweeney brought together for rehearsals the first nucleus of the reborn Third Ear Band with Dave's protégé Allen Samuel on violin.

 

Author of countless articles, mainly on the IT web site,  he wrote many books. Among them, I love particularly that one he edited on his friend Harry Fainlight, an underrated poet (1935-1982): this book ("Fragments of a Lost Voice," Iconoclast Press, London 2010) is a genial philological-creative reconstruction of two lost fragments of poetry found by chance. Also his autobiographical novel "India Song", published by Iconoclast press in 2005, is a masterpiece of sensitivity and intelligence.

It was Dave who introduced me to the controversial story of piano player Mike Taylor, prompting me to write what to date is the only existing biography ("Out of Nowhere," published by Gonzo Multimedia in 2015). It was only thanks to him and his brother Tony that I succeeded, and I will be forever grateful to them  for this extraordinary opportunity. 

I will miss him a lot!

Here below the main pages of this archive where Dave is mentioned: 

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-edition-of-book-on-poet-harry.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2012/01/dave-tomlins-lark-rise-origins-cultural.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2012/07/dave-tomlins-pendulum-real-cameo-in-his.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2012/02/dave-tomlins-new-book-out.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2013/03/dave-tomlin-analyzes-for-us-two-his.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2019/04/radical-elders-dave-tomlin.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2010/02/thanks-to-journalist-andy-roberts-i.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2017/05/dave-tomlins-forthcoming-new-book.html

https://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2012/06/ive-left-my-heart-in-new-orleans-dawn.html

Me and Dave in London, 2010 (photo: Steve Pank).

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Four rare 1972 photos of Simon House on eBay.

Four b/w photos of Simon House playing violin with the Third Ear Band at the Clitheroe Pop Festival on June 3rd, 1972 are on eBay for £20. You can buy them HERE.

In front of about 3.000 fans, as Glen's close friend and DJ compere Pete Drummond recalled, "Coming on at the freaky hour of twilight, the Third Ear Band bewitched everybody with music from Polanski's MacBeth. With swallows swooping above them they produced a more melodic sound than of yore." The Third Ear Band line-up consisted of Sweeney (drums),  Minns (oboe), House (violin), Pauli (bass), and Merchant  (guitar and vocals). 

Other bands involved that night were MC5, Trees, Bridget St John, UFO and Brinsley Schwarz.

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

My new book on SYD BARRETT out now.

 

 

A new book of mine on Syd Barrett has been in the shops for a few months now. It is called "Scritto sui Rovi" (Written on the Brambles).
After Syd's death on 7 July 2006 and all that followed (estate auction, sale of the house, an attempt to normalise his figure by means of the website run by his nephew Ian, Rob Chapman's biography/textbook and the recent TV movie ‘Have you got it yet?‘, a book on the alleged Asperger's syndrome...) I felt it my moral duty to take up my long-standing thesis on the fate of the English musician: Syd consciously withdrew from the rock scene because he was uninterested in becoming yet another music biz star and ‘society of the spectacle’ (see Guy Debord).

If you are interested in this alternative interpretative trajectory, you can buy the book (this time written only in Italian) either directly from my publisher Zona (at: https://editricezona.it/), in bookshops or on online sales portals.

 

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

"Not tied into a more coherent narrative history": a 2021 specious review about TEB book/CD by Richie Unterberger.

 

A December 2021 review by Richie Unterberger found by chance on the web at the page
http://www.richieunterberger.com/wordpress/2021/12/
offers me an opportunity to reflect on my idea of musical biography.

Unterberger writes: 

 

"Third Ear Band, The Dragon Wakes (ReR/NOVEMBeR Books). Subtitled “the legendary unreleased album” and lasting a little less than half an hour, this was issued only as a CD bound into the book Glen Sweeney’s Book of Alchemies: The Life and Times of the Third Ear Band, 1967-1973. The Third Ear Band had a sizable underground following in the UK during that time, though they weren’t exactly rock, and more like an instrumental trance music group blending elements of classical and world music, with some jazz-influenced improvisation. Their instrumentation was rather far afield from rock as well, with hand percussion, cello, violin, and oboe. Their recordings will never get more than a niche audience, involving as they do a lot of repetition than many will find wearying.

This disc’s subtitle is a little misleading: a third album titled The Dragon Wakes was announced in Melody Maker in August 1970, but the band did a number of unreleased recordings in late 1970 and early 1971 that might have been considered for such an LP, not just the six previously unissued ones that are on this CD. Other unreleased studio recordings from the era are on the three-CD expanded edition of their second album, 1970’s Third Ear Band, if you’re keeping track.

Small-print details aside, I find this more accessible than most of the Third Ear Band material I’ve heard. It’s still entirely instrumental and based around repetitive riffs likely meant to induce trance-like states, but the riffs are a bit catchier, though not as memorably digestible as those of actual early space rock outfits like Pink Floyd. The use of electric guitar on some tracks, though seen by some fans and critics as a dilution of their purer original sound, adds some welcome texture. For these reasons, overall it’s more likely to be appreciated by lovers of psychedelic/early progressive rock than much of their official output from the time.

The book it accompanies, however, isn’t so hot. It’s a kind of disjointed collection of interviews with and memories by band members and associates that doesn’t coalesce into a coherent history, or an especially interesting one if you’re not familiar with much of their background. A detailed timeline and discography at the end help put the pieces together, but it’s unfortunate the ingredients weren’t tied into a more standard, coherent narrative history."

 

The controversial elements of this review, which could be taken as paradigmatic of the subculture with which rock journalism has always operated, are more than one, which I summarize below:

1- from a strictly journalistic point of view, it is really amateurish to review a CD attached to a book without mentioning the author of the book, especially if, as Unterberger does, he is given detailed criticism. In Western countries it has to do with the classic rule of the five Ws (where/when/who/what/why). An article, whatever it may be, cannot be said to be correct if it is not based on all the five Ws. It also attends, as is evident, to the ethics of the journalist;

2- the reviewer disputes the subtitle of the CD, claiming it is misleading because it would not be the band's “legendary third record,” but as I explained in detail in the accompanying booklet, also based on the testimony of Danny Bridges who donated the original recordings to me, that is exactly what it is. Unterberger, who seems not to have read the booklet, speciously disputes the assertion, maliciously suggesting that the publisher wanted to play on a title to lure the reader. Not only that, by never citing me as the author/editor of the book and CD booklet delegitimizes my credibility as a researcher...;

3- as for the comment on the book, in the final paragraph of the review, apart from the omission of me as an author I find laughable and simplistic the criticism that the book is a disunited collection of interviews and materials. I can understand the frustration of not being faced with a classic biography, to which rock readers and journalism are accustomed, but for my part I believe more in the value of documentation than in the questionable, subjective opinions of an author. History is built first and foremost from sources, from documentary materials, and there is no such thing as a definitive biography, as authors and editors have always been going on about.

 

Do you want recent proof? 

 

When Patrick Humphries' biography of Nick Drake, launched precisely as the “definitive” one, was released by Bloomsbury in 1997, it was rightly thought to be so, so thorough and documented did it appear. A few years later (2014) an extraordinary volume entitled “Remembered for a While,” subtitled “The Authorized Companion To The Music Of Nick Drake,” was published by Little, Brown & Company. It had been edited directly by Drake's sister, Gabrielle, and collected documents, photographs, and letters from her brother's family archive.

This year, when it was legitimate to think that everything possible had been written about Drake, Richard Morton Jack published for John Murray Press his biography on him "The Life," however once again cast as "definitive."

 
What need was there, one might think?

This example among many demonstrates in my opinion one thing Unterberger has not yet realized: that there is an abysmal difference between documents and the interpretation of them. Which makes legitimate all biographies written and to be written about Drake (or the Third Ear Band...), based on in-depth study of existing sources.

My book on the Third Ear Band collects all the interviews published on this Archive (which Unterberger is careful not to cite...) over the years; programmatic manifestos; poems; Sweeney's writings; detailed discography; chronology... a jumble of objective and non-objective sources that can serve anyone to construct their own biography of the band.

This structure of the book, which I wanted and which the publisher has intelligently supported, is also a reaction to the deterrent logic of the author's authority dispensing his knowledge to the reader, offering arbitrary, subjective reconstructions, logical and temporal connections as if they were objective. Hence the desire, even at the cost of being pedantic, to report different recollections of the same historical event (e.g., that of the theft of the instruments).

This also has to do with the chronic passivity of the reader who expects a definitive biography that cannot exist, because every existence, no matter how thoroughly reconstructed, is fatally elusive, impregnable.

With all due respect to music journalists like Unterberger.

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

A TEB press release distributed by Dutch EMI-Harvest in 1969.

Here's the press release circulating in the first half of  1969 for promoting TEB's music, just before Paul Buckmaster left and Ursula Smith joined the band.

Quite interestingly, the text is based on Glen Sweeney's manifesto written in 1968.

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The Al Stewart and Third Ear Band's 1970 tour programme.

 

 

Among the Third Ear Band memorabilia in my archive, this tour program has a special place because it was given to me years ago by Steve Pank, the band's first manager (and driver). As 'lived-in' as it is, when I leaf through it for me it is always a pleasure to look at.

It is interesting to note the band's introductory note with the famous motto “art form or con?” devised by Blackhill and the comments to the individual tracks in the set. These include the apparently unreleased Druid 11(almost ironic, since we know Druid and Druid One exist in the repertoire) and Labyrinth, with that laconic “Find the end.”
 

Truly jarring the iconography and writing of the Band and the following promos for Al Stewart, 'authentic star' of the tour. Can you imagine what Paul Minns might have thought of this unlikely encounter?

 

The tour, almost certainly the longest ever undertaken by the Third Ear Band, began on January 3, 1970, at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and touched 16 English cities from the south to the north of England, ending on February 27 with an appearance at the Dome in Brighton.

 

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Remembering Glen Sweeney: 19 years ago, the farewell ceremony.

Glen in Greece in the '70's. (photo: C. Looker)

 

19 years ago today, on August 17, 2005, after five years in the Royal Star & Garter Home in Richmond (London), GLEN SWEENEY went into the Duat.

As Carolyn kindly wrote me on a postcard two weeks later, on 3 September, "(...) It was a beautiful ceremony rather than a conventional funeral, Steve Pank read from the "Egyptian Book of the Dead" and tracks from "Alchemy" were played, incense was burning, Glen was in a raffia coffin with sunflowers on top. Everyone said what a wonderful experience it was and some were reminded of being at an early Third Ear Band concert. I'm sure Glen would have approved."

Glen smoking pipe at the Isle Of Wight festival, August 26, 1990.  (photo: C. Looker) 

Months later Steve sent me the full text he read at the ceremony, which I recently found in my archive. In agreement with Carolyn, I like now to share it in memory of Glen (to commemorate him as you read, light an incense and put on your favorite track of "Alchemy"):

The names of the Gods of the Great Company:

1. Ra Harmakhis, the Great God in his boat.
2. Temu.
3. Shu.
4. Tefnut.
5. Keb.
6. Nut, the Lady of Heaven.
7. Isis.
8. Nephthys.
9. Horus, the Great God.
10. Hathor, Lady of Amentet.
11. Hu.
12. Sa.

The Prayer of the Osiris Spirit Soul Glen Sweeney.

My heart, my mother; my heart, my mother! My heart Whereby l came into being! May naught stand up to oppose me at my judgment, may there be no opposition to me in the presence of the Tchatchau Chiefs. May there be no parting of thee from me in the presence of him that keepeth the Balance. The God Khnemu who knitteth together and strengtheneth my limbs. Thou art my KA, which dwelleth in my body.

Mayest thou come forth into the place of happiness whither we go and may no lies be spoken against me in the presence of the God. Let the Listener god be favourable unto us, and let there be joy of heart at the weighing of Words.

Let not that which is false be uttered against me before the Great God, the Lord of Amentet. Verily, how great shalt thou be when thou risest up in Triumph.

The speech of Thoth, The judge of right and truth, of the great company of the Gods who are in the presence of Osiris saith:
Hear ye this judgment. The heart of the osiris Glen Sweeney has been in very truth been weighed, and his Heart-soul hath borne testimony on his behalf. His heart hath been found right by the trial in the Great Balance. There hath not been found any wickedness in him; he has not wasted (or stolen) the offerings which have been made in the temples; he hath not committed any evil act; and he hath not set his mouth in motion with words of evil whilst he was upon earth.

The speech of the Dweller in the Embalment Chamber (Anubis).

Pay good heed, O righteous Judge to the balance, and support the testimony thereof. Turn thy face to the weighing in the balance the heart of the osiris Glen Sweeney, whose word is truth, his heart in the seat of truth in the presence of the Great God.

The speech of the Gods.
 

The Great Company of the Gods say to Thoth who dwelleth in Khemenu,That which cometh forth from thy mouth shall be declared true.

The Osiris the spirit soul Glen Sweeney whose word is true is holy and righteous. He has not committed any sin and he has done no evil against us. The devourer Ammit shall not be permitted to prevail over him.

Meat offerings and admittance into the presence of the god Osiris shall be granted unto him, together with an abiding habitation in the Field of Offerings (Sekhet-hetepet), as unto the Followers of Horus.

The speech of Horus to Osiris in introducing the spirit of Glen Sweeney to him.

Horus, the son of Isis, saith: I have come to thee, O Un-Nefer, and I have brought unto thee the osiris Glen Sweeney. His heart is righteous, and it hath come forth from the Balance.

It hath not sinned against any god or any goddess. Thoth hath Weighed it according to the decree pronounced unto him by the Company of the Gods, and it is most true and righteous. Grant thou that cakes and ale may be offered unto him, and let him appear in the presence of the god Osiris, and let him be liken to the Followers of Horus for ever and ever.

The speech of spirit soul Glen Sweeney, who saith:

Behold. I am in thy presence, O Lord of Amentet. There is no sin in my body. I have not spoken that which is not true knowingly, nor have I done anything with as false heart.

Grant thou that l may be like unto those favoured ones who are in thy following, and that I may be an Osiris, greatly favoured of the Beautiful God, and beloved of the Lord of the Two Lands (Pharaoh of Egypt), I who am a veritable royal scribe who loveth thee, the osiris Glen Sweeney whose word is true before the God Osiris.
 

Amen. 

 

Glen playing at the Cambodian Embassy, London August 1987. (photo: C. Looker)

After the ceremony, Glen was cremated and Carolyn took the ashes to her flat. When I told her this year I intended to celebrate Glen, in June 2024 she wrote me: "He always believed (I think I do too) that the body is just a shell and when we die its our spirit/soul that is important. So over the years I've thought of many places for them but somehow couldn't do it. Now I think maybe the right time though so l'm thinking of discreetly setting them free in the streets of Soho near Ronnie Scotts and Soho Square. Alternative would be a druid monument on the south downs but far more complicated to get to... and very isolated lonely. I will let you know the day. Linda Kattan will share the experience with me..."

 

On August 13th, Carolyn made her choice...

 

"Dear Luca, today I scattered Glens ashes in the wild flower gardens at Poets Corner in Richmond park. Its a beautiful place encouraging nature, butterflies, bees etc... I hope the photos can be of interest. The ashes were so heavy l had to put them in a shopping trolley! No way l could have discreetly distributed them in Soho! Anyway this place is far more suitable."

 

So she sent me the following photos, which I now like to share with you.  

Ciao Glen!  

I love you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The bench "Reasons to be cheerful" you may recognise... it was a memory for Ian Dury. Actually, he and Glen knew each other..." (Carolyn Looker)

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

A good review on the Third Ear Band record released by M.I.G. Music.

 

 

A very good review about the record is on the  Web at the link https://rythmes-croises.org/third-ear-band-back-to-1970/                                                                    

Rythmes Croises is a French webzine devoted to alternative and avant-garde music,  often interested to the Third Ear Band.

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The last years of Glen Sweeney's life.

Before he "pacefully died" (Carolyn Looker's words) on 17 August, 2005, Glen Sweeney lived his last years at the Royal Star & Garter Home in Richmond (London), a place founded in 1916 "devoted to the care of disabled sailors and soldiers". As we know, Glen was an airman of the RAF and he was involved in WWII as a fighter in Egypt, where it seems he had been fascinated by the view of pyramids.(1)

After two heart attacks and a stroke, in Spring 1999 Carolyn admitted Glen to the very expensive Garter Home where he lived until his death and where I got to visit him in 2004. In his single room, in bed, he listened mainly to Indian music, as one would expect. 

What follows is the House's official flyer outlining the services and activities also followed by Glen.

 

Notes

(1) Manager Andrew King's amusing recollection, published by "Uncut" magazine in 2019 (#261, February 2019), concerning the possibility that Glen defected after parachuting into the swimming pool of an Egyptian bourgeois home, where he was to be host until the end of the war, has never been confirmed by Carolyn or others, and appears to be one of Glen's many mythomaniacal tales.

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