2 posts tagged “ade taylor”

Especially for ex Wandering John drummer Jim Pryal - and anyone else.

Ade Taylor was the bassist with Wandering John - a Cov band from around 1970 71 - described by Neil O'Connor as 'A Spaceship of a Band'  in his brilliant Song for Alex Murphy (Wandering John's former Roadie and cool all round guy).

The pic that's on the leading Hobo graphic as you load the site contains a pic of Ade Taylor. This first one is the orginal pic taken from Broadgate Gnome in 1971 (The magazine was produced on a duplicator - no luxury modern PC printers

then or photo shop!0 The rest are version I did of the photo on the computer.

amazing how you can transform things!

One of my favourite Coventry bands around 1970 was Wandering John.

I knew guitarist John Alderson from childhood, our parents were friends but I went to boarding school and on my return discovered that he'd become an excellent blues guitarist, electric and acoustic - on dobro - and still going strong I note with Tim James. John Gravenor was the charismatic lead singer ( he had a distictive voice in my opinion) and Ade Taylor on bass and Alan the drummer. One of my favourites was a cover of Taj Mahal's Statesbro Blues. (Originally done by Blind Willie McTell). I loved it so much that walking home from a Wandering John concert I wrote a lyric called Middlesbro' Blues - an English version I suppose! I had a sticker from the GEC, where I worked at the time that said Middlesbrough on my song book! I had no idea where Middlesbrough was back then but bloody hell, I ended up doing my degree in Middlesbrough! Should have called it California blues - I might have ended up somewhere more exotic! I lost the lyric long before moving and so can't tell if it was a good description! John Alderson taught me the rudiments of Davy Graham's / Bert Jansch's  Anji and contribute some cartoon character sketches for Hobo (which will appear here somewhere). I hung out with Ade Taylor for a while and he taught me to do barre chords - I practised all night and in the morning could play the Band's version of Dylan's I Shall be Released - replete with barre chords. Another favourite Wandering John song was Image of Ezra which Ade had written. He wrote them in my communication book after the group split up. I'd thought there were more lyrics to it than this but they must have been repeated! Pity there are no tapes of Wandering John - as CD or a My Space for them would have been good - although I believe there were some live tapes from the Lanch Polytechnic gig c 1971 - they were to be used for an album before the band split but were considered not clear enough. In this digital age, perhaps they could be enhanced if they still exist!! Coming soon to this blog, an article on Wandering John and a band profile in the band directory section.

IMAGE OF EZRA By Ade Taylor (Bassist of Wandering John / performed by them)

Confusion raised her coloured head

And messed my mind with amber thoughts

I drifted thro’ a purple haze

Where nothing’s found and nothing’s sought.

Chorus

Then I looked into the gilded mirror

Standing there was the Image of Ezra.

John Alderson and John Gravenor had a second band - an acoustic blues outfit called Last Fair Deal ( named after the Robert Johnson song - Last Fair Deal Gone Down). John Alderson played a Dobro, John Gravenor sand and John Westacott of another Coventry group - Whistler - later Zoastra and Urge (late 70's) played harmonica. I'm pleased to see Last Fair Deal is still going in a new form with John Alderson and Tim James (former lead man in the 70's Avant Garde Jazz outfit Ra Ho Tep) - Last Fair Deal

My favourite of theirs was a country blues called -

LOUSIANNA BLUES

(Country Blues song sang by Last Fair Deal C. 1970)

Well I’m goin’ to

Maybe behind the sun.

Well I’m goin’ to

Maybe behind the sun.

I just found out, my trouble just began

Well I’m goin’ to

Give me a mojo hand

Well I’m goin’ to

Give me a mojo hand

I’m gonna teach all dem women

What they don’t understand.

Well if da river was whisky

Da was a divin’ duck

Well if da river was whisky

Da was a divin’ duck

I’d dive to de bottom,

Ah drink my way back up.

That last verse is an example of the The Poetry of the Blues
(Check out this essay by
Francis Newton (AKA Historian Eric Hobsbawm) on my Outlet site.