Denim Bridges talks about the unknown 1971 German TV video...

I've asked Paul Buckmaster and Denim Bridges to help us to rebuild the origin of the video excerpt recently emerged from the Web. If Paul admits: "I have no idea what this session was; don't recognize the studio, and don't remember the piece, and it certainly is not from the Macbeth movie score", Denny's memory is precise and he explains this:

"The video was filmed at Studio 3 at EMI Abbey Road. The date of February 1971 is close if not correct. The session definitely had nothing to do with the Macbeth project.
For future reference it is definite that all the performances (all work on 'composition', and in rehearsal) at the Balham location was never filmed".

"I don't know why the session was held although I do remember it. I was never included in those matters. I hope the purpose will be discovered now the video is on the Internet. Because of the faux wind sound (from Simon's VCS3 I think) and the fact the Paul Minns played something reminiscent of the opening to 'Air' off the 2nd LP I'm assuming the track is supposed to be 'Air'. The performance soon departs from the above mentioned version but with cello being replaced by both bass guitar and guitar that might be expected. That is also (probably) to be expected as TEB was primarily an improvisational band". 

Denim Bridges on stage in 1970.

no©2014 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)  

Winter Solstice with the Third Ear Band.

To all the Third Ear Band fans 
and Ghetto Raga Archive readers

(in spite of Maya calendar and other assorted catastrophic prophesies)

HAVE A GREAT WINTER SOLSTICE!

"Stigma. A XMas ghost story" (BBC, UK 1977)
 

Discovered by our post folk-shaman Sedayne, this old short film (just 31.49) was produced by BBC and broadcasted on December 28th, 1977. With a track by Rolling Stones' "Aftermath" ("Mothers little helper"), on the soundtrack you can listen also to an excerpt of "Air" played by the Third Ear Band!

"Stigma" is one of the Christmas BBC short movies (read at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ghost_Story_for_Christmas) produced in 1971-1978. It was written by Clive Exton and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. 

The DVD edition (UK 2012).

This is the original synopsys: "The pagan stone circles of Avebury are the backdrop for writer Clive Exton's modern-day horror. The attempted removal of an ancient menhir from a family's back garden unleashes a bloody curse on unsuspecting housewife Katharine, whose rising panic is captured brilliantly by Kate Binchy". 

Read a good review of it at http://www.the-medium-is-not-enough.com/2011/12/christmas_lost_gems_stigma_1977.php

no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

A review on "Third Ear Band" by American musician Elliot Knapp

American musician Elliot Knapp, on his personal blog at http://www.elliotknapp.com/2011/02/third-ear-band-third-ear-band.html, has reviewed TEB's second album, the seminal "Third Ear Band". Frequently on the Web fans and journalists use to write on the band, testifing the great interest for the TEB is not expired, and this review is particularly smart...

"Third Ear Band's second album, 1970's self-titled (now sometimes retroactively titled "Elements") builds on the oboe melody-led excursions of "Alchemy" by assigning each of its four songs to an element. While the instrumentation is still basically the same as the debut, the songs are considerably more identifiable from each other.

Every time I listen to this album I'm amazed at how fun a listen it is without being particularly melodic: the opener, "Air" gently coalesces out of the ether based on a repetitive tabla beat and some probing oboe and cello/violin groans and fails to present any melody except for an occasionally repeated violin riff. And yet, its smoky mystery is utterly compelling and lushly gorgeous, especially considering how few instruments produce the music. "Earth" shifts gears completely, with the strings playing pizzicato over a much more minstrel-like beat from the drums. Dual oboes improvise gently, probing Eastern-scales, while the tempo subtly gathers pace. All of a sudden it's an ecstatic frenzy, then just as suddenly the tension disappears, the rhythmic pattern slightly shifts, and the process starts again. Despite the general mood and ever-present tonal center of the music, there's no real melody to speak of - clear and quite listenable evidence that melody needn't reign supreme as the only musical element worthy of close attention.

"Fire" is a brilliant study in high-register drones and another shift in texture, with a relentless wavering feeling not unlike that of a dancing flame. "Water" closes the album with an actual melody (imagine that) over sustained violin with just enough dissonance to remind us that we're not in any territory that had been scouted at the time of the album's release, or really a whole lot more since. As I listen and re-listen in rapture to the strange and evocative sounds these instruments make together, I'm not always sure how the structures pertain to the elements they're named for, but in reality it's immaterial - by consciously giving each suite a distinct mood, the band stretched itself beyond its impressive but sometimes nebulous debut and gave structure to another forty odd minutes of rare beauty with memorable compositional elements".

no©2011 Luca Ferrari