The Anacondas Skiffle Group story: some prehistoric events before the Third Ear Band (part 2/3).

(For reading the first part of the story click HERE)

Our story about the very first known band involved Glen Sweeney is now focused on the Croydon area, where the young Glen (born Gordon) moved his first steps in the music business. In the absence of direct witnesses, it's the local press to guide us in this account...

The period is first half 1957-beginning 1958, the band The Anacondas Skiffle Group - a non-professional six musicians band who's playing in the Croydon area and becoming soon a sort of local heroes. In their repertoire there are songs as "Frankie and Johnny", "Green Back Dollar" and the teenagers favourite "Puttin' on the Style".

Local news reports inform us that on April 12, 1957 the Anacondas play at the Park Lane Jazz Club of Coydon, located at the Park Lane Ballroom, with on the same bill the Dick Charlesworth Jazzband (Croydon "Times and County Mail", 12 April 1957).

Three days later, on Monday 15 April, for the Bank Holiday Monday they are at the same club playing with two other bands, Seth Marsh Jazzband and Saffron Valley Band.

 

On May 11, the Anacondas play at the Streatham Baths for the Communist Party (!). It is announced by "The News" (the Streatham local newspaper) the day before.

 

 

In June, the Croydon Jazz Club, sponsored by the local Croydon "Times and County Mail" newspaper, launches a competition for young skiffle bands called "The Amateur Skiffle Group Competition" in which eight bands participate. 

The event is featured by the "Times and County Mail" on the 14th in an article entitled "Winning skifflers will receive cup and cash":

 

It's June 22, 1957. That night at the Croydon Civic Hall, in front of about 800 young fans, it's really the Anacondas who win. 

It is reported in the Croydon "Times and County Mail" a week later on June 28 with an extensive report:

 

 

On the same page, an article goes into the facts of the evening:

 

The effect on press and public is immediate, and from then on they will be invited often to play in the surrounding area.

 

A rare photo of the band with Glen Sweeney sitting front center.

 

(to be continued)

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The Anacondas Skiffle Group story: the Stone Age of Glen Sweeney and the Third Ear Band (part 1/3).

Historiographical Background

It is well known that Glen Sweeney's musical beginnings date back to the 1950s and were consummated in the area of Croydon, Surrey, where he was born in 1924.
The percussionist rarely went into the details of that season, preferring by far to gloss over the period when, in the early 1960s, he moved in search of his fortune to London, where he found work as a busker, dishwasher, and clerk in antique stores in Soho (in one of those stores he met, his colleague, Carolyn Looker, a lifelong companion). Turner in modern jazz groups first, free jazz later, without great fortunes, playing in "terrible places" (his words), "strange clubs that I'm sure were run by white slave traders. I used to play with a pianist and bass player. I always had a quartet that was "rehearsing" but they always collapsed before they actually got off the ground." (1)

As for his beginnings, almost nothing. A few vague words even to Carolyn or lifelong friend Steve Pank. I also attempted to elaborate on his early musical experiences with him, but he considered them irrelevant, of little interest. Only a hint of militancy in a Skiffle band, where he played washboard. Aptitude confirmed in interviews with the press, to which he would simply say, “like most people on the scene today, I started with Skiffle in a very suburban basis. I was washboard king of Croydon and that sort of area. But that died one weekend when there were about 5,000 skiffle groups and only eight gigs.” (2)

Or, in what is probably the longest and most in-depth interview, provoked by interviewer Nigel Cross:“(…) I as totally into the scene – jazz drums – when a couple of guys I knew did an interval at a club I was hanging out at and their washboard player cracked up under the strain. I immediately leapt in, sussing I simple it must be and became moderately famous overnight because it was only local talent; it wasn’t difficult to do. (...)”

 

The Anacondas: Glen Sweeney to the far left.

Cross: Tell me more about the Anacondas band?

Sweeney: “It came and went. One of the high spots was residency at the Driftbridge Hotel in Reigate, because it was local. We used to play there every Sunday and pull a decent crowd, because we were ethnic skiffle – we played the actual band’s numbers. This was were I met Ginger Baker – we were doing the interval when Ginger was playing with some trad band – Charlesworth – after we’d done out set, and Ginger came up to me and threatened to do me over for doing all his band’s numbers! After that I really got to know the guy and he was great! What happened with Skiffle was – one Saturday or Sunday it ended! I’ve no idea what happened – I think the scene got so full of Skiffle groups that it just killed itself.” (3) 

 

 

New materials surfaced!

When by now the history of the Anacondas seemed dead and buried, destined for absolute oblivion, in January 2023 thanks to the Facebook pages dedicated to the band by friend Mirco Delfino (https://www.facebook.com/third.ear.band/), Chris Shields, Sweeney's nephew, came forward and posted an old photo of the Anacondas, apparently colorized from the original black-and-white, and a business card of guitarist and leader John Hall on the back of which are listed (with writing that looks like Sweeney's) the names of the musicians: 

 

John Hall - guitar and vocals

Alan Carder - harmonica 

Norman Strong - guitar

Colin Burrons - banjo

Gordon (Glen) - washboard 

Roy Bance - tube bass 

 

Only clue, the nephew's comment: "Old picture of my uncle, on washboard, first band he had. They won the Tommy Steele skiffle group cup."

 

 

Notes: 

(1) "Me and my Music. Glen Sweeney: Third Ear Band", in
"Disc & Music Echo", 11 April 1970.

(2) As above.

(3) N. Cross, "The Return of the Acid Prankster. Glen Sweeney tells the Third Ear Story", in "Unhinged", Summer 1990. 

 

 (to be continued)

Read part two at: 

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

 

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A 1969 letter by Michael Horovitz quoting the Third Ear Band.

In January 1969 International Time published a letter signed by Michael Horovitz, a poet and cultural agitator and editor of the underground magazine New Departures, citing the Third Ear Band and Dave Tomlin as participants in an event held the previous December 15th, 1968.

Just three days before the legendary  "A Hippy Gathering: An Alchemical Wedding" with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Steam Hammer, Christopher Lodge and Rip Torn, in fact, Horovitz organized at All Saint's All in Powis Gardens "Brave New Departures Revisited."

This is the excerpt of the letter, taken from the issue 48 of International Time: 

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"Alchemy" in Padua...

A few weeks ago, while on vacation in some beautiful northern Italian cities, in Padua, I came across the window of a historic record store, GABBIA DISCHI, established in 1920. 

You can imagine my surprise to see that among the records in the window was also displayed prominently the recent vinyl edition of "Alchemy," released by Esoteric Recordings.

This was an unexpected event, also because record stores are becoming increasingly rare, unfortunately...

 

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The music according to Glen Sweeney in an old article from 1970.

 

Dear loyal listeners of the Third Ear Band, for however few of you are left, here is another archival tidbit from the distant past. 

 

From an April 11, 1970, issue of Disc & Music Echo, in a column devoted to musician's ideas of music, Glen Sweeney talks about his idea of music and reveals some unknown biographical anecdotes (e.g., I didn't know he had been a dishwasher for a living either).
It is interesting to note that a magazine as widespread as Disc could give the floor to an obscure protagonist of the underground of those days: in times of boorish homogenization such as the ones we are suffering, it would be as if today Mojo or Uncut gave space to  R. Stevie Moore or Eugene Chadbourne...

 

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Steve Pank tells Glen Sweeney's fascination for the lay lines.

 

TEB first (road) manager Steve Pank writes here  a short piece about Glen Sweeney's fascination for the ley lines...

 

  

"Alfred Watkins (27 January 1855 – 15 April 1935) was an English author, self-taught amateur archaeologist, antiquarian and businessman. While standing on a hillside in Herefordshire, England, in 1921, Watkins experienced a revelation; he became aware that the mounds, marker stones and camps that he had been studying and photographing formed networks of straight lines across the countryside.

He saw on the British landscape arrangement of lines positioned along ancient features, like a very ancient mapping system, looking at maps for further investigation Watkins could see these alignments on maps. Further research showed that stone circles and early churches also formed part of the pattern. The mounds seemed to have been placed so that they could be used as siting beacons. Many of the lines passed through places whose names contained the syllabe ‘ley’. He subsequently coined the term ‘leys’ for them, they are now usually referred to as leylines. In 1925, Watkins published a book on the subject called "The Old Straight Track", and formed a group called The Old Straight Track Club to study them.

Glen Sweeney was fascinated by these patterns, and he saw the music of the Third Ear Band as representing the flow of the spirit over the British countryside. This was reflected in some of his titles of the band pieces, like "Stone Circle" and "Dragon lines." When John Michell published his book that dealt with ley lines and other issues called "The view over Atlantis", Glen asked for the band’s first national tour to be called "Atlantis Rising", and publicised John Michell’s book in the programme notes."

Steve Pank, November 2022

 

 

John Michell (1933-2009) is considered a forerunner of the so-called "Astro-Archeology". During the 1960s and 2000s he wrote many books, some about ley lines and the relationships between megalithic structures (such as Stonehenge) and cosmic energy lines.

An agile guide for newcomers to these topics can be found on "A Little History Of Archeo-Astrology. Stages in the Transformation of an Eresy", printed in England in 1977, here in my Italian edition of 2008. 

 

on John Michell,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michell_(writer)

on Alfred Watkins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Watkins

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Rare TEB recordings at Top Gear on January 1971!

Avant-garde folk musician, TEB expert and friend Sean Breadin points me to this YouTube (audio) post in which the Third Ear Band plays at BBC Radio 1 "Sunday Show" on  January 17th, 1971. 

Only three tracks ("Water", "Eternity In D" and "Druid") but of extraordinary charm and high intensity.  

Enjoy it!

 

 

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Roy Hollingworth's prediction about the great Paul Buckmaster.

"Melody Maker" columnist Roy Hollingworth had already figured it out, and in December 1970 he wrote a brief prediction of the success that the brilliant musician, composer, arranger, and producer PAUL BUCKMASTER would herald. 

By that point in his career, Paul had already worked with Third Ear Band live and in the studio, David Bowie, Elton John and Leonard Cohen, but within a few months he would be a major contributor both to the composition and realization of the TEB's "Macbeth" soundtrack, but also to that misunderstood masterpiece that is Miles Davis' "On the Corner," also released in 1972... Later, History attested that Hollingsworth's prediction was correct and today it continues to be a great regret for many friends and fans to have lost a personality of this stature. The pretext of this little archival find allows us once again to remember and celebrate him as we should.

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New dates discovered of The Giant Sun Trolley live gigs?!?

During my research on the Edgar  Broughton Band for the book I'm writing, as well as some articles on the Third Ear Band I'm posting in this archive, I found references to dates of concerts by The Giant Sun Trolley. 

Dates unknown to this day that seems to suggest that the duo Tomlin-Sweeney (sometimes a trio with Roger Bunn), had played little and almost exclusively in London.
In fact, I have found dates of concerts in the provinces dating back to 1967, all in Coventry, where the band was introduced only as GIANT TROLLEY or GIANT TROLLY.

Asking Carolyn, Glen's missus, she doesn't remember much ("Sorry can't be positive about these memories. The only gig I can remember Dave doing with Glen which was outside London was a jazz and poetry..."); so she asked Steve Pank, former driver and manager of the band, and he replied that "GST didn't play anymore after UFO"... 

So I asked Dave Tomlin, now living in Hamspead Heath London "reasonably well although pretty old now. However, no complaints." Because I sent him a list of dates to check, he wrote quite laconically: "The list of Sun Trolley dates are fake unless some other group took over the name but I never heard of them."

At this point, any fans memory is well-accepted. 

Here is a list of documented appearances, which update the chronology on the band, taken from newspapers of the period (most of all from the Coventry Evening Telegraph):

 

September 23th, 1967 

Coventry, The Newlands (Flamingo Club) 

November 11th, 1967

Coventry, The Walsgrave

November 24th, 1967 

Coventry, The Walsgrave 

"Stars of Radio One!!!" 

December 10th, 1967 - Coventry, Hotel Leofric

with Jimmy Cliffe and The Shakedown Sound

December 16th, 1967 

Coventry, The Red House Hotel, Carnaby Club

December 23th, 1967

Coventry, The Walsgrave (Flamingo Club) 

"A big Christmas rave-up with THE SUN TROLLY" 

February 2nd, 1968

Coventry, The Walsgrave

"Another sensational night with THE SUN TROLLY"

February 11th, 1968 

Coventry, The Red House Hotel, New Carnaby Club

 

This is a rare photo Dave sent me with him (on right) and Joe Gannon (left) playing in London 1966 for  announcing the forthcoming Notting Hill Carvival in 1967. The picture is copyright Adam Ritchie and any use is under permission.

Gannon did the light-shows of the Pink Floyd in 1966 at Roundhouse.

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The Ferlaina Archive and the extraordinary discovery of unrealised TEB photos at Hyde Park! - part fourth.

This is the fourth and last part of the story... 

(first part here, second part here, part three here).

 

4.

What is exceptional is that photographer Pino Callá was in the fateful "right place" at the "right time"; he could not have been aware in those days of the historical importance that event would have in the youth counterculture of the time.

"Surely he was sent by some magazine to do a story. However he was very shrewd," Ferlaina says, "because first of all there are pictures of Mick Jagger in the trailer, so that means he followed it well. He was good because he photographed everything, he photographed the Rolling Stones from every angle, but he didn't limit himself to them, as anyone else would have done. He photographed everybody there, he documented everything. He did a 187-shot shoot."

Having become the rightful owner of these photos, Ferlaina has tried to enhance the heritage by promoting exhibitions and producing a self-published catalog of the Rolling's photos in Hyde Park, but his focus in recent times has turned to selling the archive.

"What I've managed to do," he admits, "is to make a point of attention that has been vented in a few markets ... that's enough for me, I don't want to be a gallerist or a photo agency. Mine is a work of a scholar, researcher, I don't want to organize and take care of logistics.... I would like to sell the whole archive or even a part of it (e.g., the Rolling Stones shots with the Led Zeppelin collection)... I am willing to consider any interest and offers. In the meantime, though, but I would like to make a photo book with these photos, perhaps in collaboration with Ghettoraga!?"

Glen Sweeney in the backstage.

For all fans of the Third Ear Band, however, Ferlaina has already planned an event for the next year: from January 20th to February 23th, 2023 , at the archive in Milan (via Muzio Scevola, 4), there will be a photo exhibition of all the band's shots (and the King Crimson's one) in Hyde Park!

To stay up-to-date on Archivio Ferlaina initiatives, this is the website address: http://www.archivioferraina.com/

Richard Coff and  girlfriend

Paul Minns, his wife Mary Haynes and son.

Paul Minns playing oboe on stage.

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In August 1969 "Beat Instrumental on "Alchemy" with a veiled irony...

In August 1969, clearly out of time, "Beat Instrumental" devoted a blurb to "Alchemy", which had come out two months earlier. It's four shrill words that echo, with veiled irony ("seeking the fifth dimension"...), the notes written by Glen on the inside cover. But at the end they recognized, goodness gracious them, that "they aren't a bad band at all."

 

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The Ferlaina Archive and the extraordinary discovery of unrealised TEB photos at Hyde Park! - part three.

This is the third part of the story... 

(first part here, second part here).

 

3.

"So I engage in the sale of photographs, especially from the 1970s - things like Living Teathre... - and art books and catalogs. At home I have particular books, for example on Conceptual Art.... which I have 'fed' on over the years, but they didn't sell much, it was almost like an exchange of stickers between enthusiasts ... but the photos, those did sell well. I used to buy them on eBay, for example, for 50-60 euros and resell them for 100, you didn't have a huge margin but it worked..."

 

Ferlaina during the interview.

At some point Ferlaina had the intuition to broaden the commercial discourse to music, his great passion, and began to frequent antique markets as a buyer, finding very interesting material without worrying about copyrights and agencies. One day he happened to go there early in the morning, at five o'clock, and came across a stall with boxes...

"I asked the people selling them if they would give me first refusal to see them before the others.... 'How many are you selling them for,' I asked him? 'Five euros each, but if you get some I'll make even less. I selected an initial bundle and went home in seventh heaven. I saw that the name of an agency was printed behind the photos and, not knowing anything about it, I inquired, worried about the possible legal consequences (embezzlement...). I found out that the agency no longer existed--but who was the photographer? I would have liked to involve him in some initiative, like organizing an exhibition. At that time I had organized an exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni of Novegro (Milan), on "Photography and otherness", and I had become interested in the work of an Italian stage photographer, Franco Cattarinich, a great master of technique."

Ferlaina meets the photographer and discovers that the latter, having started his own agency in 1980, has a basement full of old photos purchased from other photographers that he never marketed. Ferlaina asks to see something and makes an offer, but hesitates. He insists, peeks through the envelopes at the words "Rolling Stones London," and decides to offer a cash sum. He ticks it off. It's the beginning of a long negotiation that will lead him to acquire as many as 21 boxes of photos and negatives totaling thousands of pieces (as of today still to be cataloged).

 

Ferlaina Archive in Milan.

As he began to delve into what he had purchased, he came across the nearly 150 shots of the Stones' Hyde Park concert. But who is the photographer? - I asked him. "On the photo envelopes was this name, Callá," he says. "I did some research and found out that he was the director of "Colpo Grosso" ["Big Shot", a trivial broadcast of the 1970s, ed.] and "Disco Ring" [a music broadcast of the same era, ed.] Pino Callà, a RAI director who has been living in New York for years. In the late 1960s he was a freelance in London. Now he lives in Milan." 

In fact a Callà's Wikipedia page does exist here as a Facebook's one here. 

 

(end of part three - to be continued)

A group of Hell's Angels.

 

 

 

 

The audience.

The Third Ear Band playing on stage.

Paul Minns with Paul Buckmaster on stage.

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Glen Sweeney and Richard Coff talk about TEB's music to "Beat Instrumental" in 1969.

Here's another little archive tidbit, this time a short article about the band in which Sweeney and Coff talk about the music. The monthly magazine 'Beat Instrumental' published it in September 1969, a few months after the release of 'Alchemy' and with the four-man line-up with Coff and Ursula Smith. Few words but interesting...

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