Heart Full Of Soul

I was intrigued to learn that the 1965 single "Heart Full of Soul" by  The Yardbirds was written by Graham Gouldman of 10cc fame (popular belief is that they adopted the name 10cc because the average male ejaculation is 9cc and the band was above average with 1cc more than that. So 1 more just like 11). Gouldman was a prolific songwriter who also came up with songs for The Hollies, Cher, The Shadows, and Herman's Hermits.

The song features Jeff Beck playing his Telecaster employing early use of a fuzz box (a Tonebender MK I designed by Gary Hurst) on his lead part. The original arrangement called for a sitar playing the lead guitar part, but they instead opted for Beck's sitar-sounding guitar.(An authentic Indian sitar player was brought into the studio, as well as a tabla player who could not get the 4/4 time signatures right)

                                                           Tone Bender Mk1

Engineered by Brian Auger this was one of the first songs to use the "Eastern-exotic"influences that became so popular with George Harrison at the forefront.

Although it is Beck that plays on the song, the U.S. single was released with a picture sleeve showing the Eric Clapton lineup. A March 1968 appearance on the music show "Upbeat" features the final lineup with Jimmy Page guitar-synching to the record (Jimmy Page miming to Jeff Beck!).

It charted in the United States at number nine and at number two in the United Kingdom. 

Heart Full of Soul - The Yardbirds

Sick at heart and lonely, deep in dark despair.
When you want her only, tell me where is she where?
And if she says to you, that she don't love me.
Just give her my message, tell her of my plea.
And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad.
I got a heart full of soul. I got a heart full of soul.
She's been gone such a long time, longer than I can bear.
But if she says she wants me, tell her I'll be there.

And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad.
I got a heart full of soul. I got a heart full of soul.
Sick at heart and lonely, deep in dark despair.
When you want her only, tell me where is she where?
And if she says to you, that she don't love me.
Just give her my message, tell her of my plea.
And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad.
I got a heart full of soul. I got a heart full of soul.
I got a heart full of soul!

Writer/s: GOULDMAN, GRAHAM
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Electro Harmonix Micro Pog

My of my favourite pedals on my pedalboard at the moment is the Electro Harmonix Micro Pog, this little blighter is a fantastic sonic addition to any set-up.

Basically it's polyphonic, got 3 very user-friendly knobs, dry signal (input signal) volume, sub octave volume (-1 octave), octave up volume (+1 octave) the octave sound it creates reacts fast and sticks closely along side your original guitar signal and you can play more than one note through this unit at a time tracing your notes and chords almost seamlessly.  It's great for electric organ sounds, or can make a 6 string guitar sound like a bass or 12 string, you can get great Jack White tones when distortion, overdrive and basically anything over 11 is applied.

Time to fire up my amp methinks.

                                                  image Sound Unlimited

Bill Nelson

I am often asked who my favourite guitarist is, bit like asking what is your favourite food really (curry). There are so many to choose from and so many influences, but the first guitarist to really grab, inspire and shape my sound (his use of echo especially) was Bill Nelson.  Be Bop Deluxe was one of the first live bands I saw, it was the most amazing show I had ever seen. Sister Seagull, Ships In The Night, Maid in Heaven (don't worry I'm not going to go through the whole set list, but I could) these great songs took me to new musical landscapes and were very inspirational for a young player like me. Brandishing his Gibson 335 Bills playing was breathtaking and his 15 minute solo spot remains with me to this day. 

Be Bop Deluxe were a great band and Bills vision was very forward thinking, and the cover for Axe Victim is a classic. 

After Be Bop Deluxe he had a short stint with the band Red Noise and I absolutely loved the single Revolt Into Style.

The 80's saw his music became ever more experimental and influenced David Sylvian (who collaborated with Bill) the album "Do You Dream In Colour?" was hardly ever off my turntable, (turntable? this is an old term referring to how music used to be listened to, I mention this as recently my partners 16 year old twin daughters had never seen a record before, and were fascinated by the fact that it could be played on both sides!! anyway back to Bill) recorded in his home studio in Yorkshire it inspired me to get a Tascam 4-track porta-studio and explore my own musical visions. Through him and his music I also discovered the films of Jean Cocteau.

Though not a very public figure today, Bill Nelson has a devoted core audience who admire his perseverance, his integrity to his art in the face of commercial rejection, and his versatile musicianship. In recent years Bill has begun to perform live again.

I have included this live clip of Be Bop Deluxe from 1978 as this was when I first saw and heard him and it shows off a lot of his styles, i particularly love the little riff he plays near the beginning.

 

Bills website "Welcome To Dreamsville" is here

A Guitar for a Gent in a Tuxedo

The Les Paul Custom debuted in 1954 in an attempt to broaden the solid body product line after the initial success of the Les Paul Model gold top. Les Paul claimed that he suggested black as the color for the guitar because it looked classy and went well with a black Tuxedo on stage. (he also felt that his hands and super-fast fingers would stick out more clearly against the black background)

The Les Paul Custom differed greatly from the Les Paul Model in several ways. It had a solid Honduras mahogany body, which gave it a mellower tone than the maple capped Les Paul Model. It came with a dark ebony fret board with rectangular pearloid inlays, a wider, bound headstock with the Super 400’s style split diamond inlay, gold plated hardware, seven-ply top binding on top of body, five-ply binding on back of body and around the headstock, and three ply pick-guard. The Custom was the first Les Paul model to receive the Tune-o-Matic bridge.

The Custom was issued with the unique Alnico V pickup in the neck position that was designed by Seth Lover during 1952/53 and installed in Super 400s and L-5s. It was designed by Seth to be louder than the P-90 in the bridge position. Lover said that he designed the pole pieces in the alnico pickup to be rectangular so that it looked different from other pickups this new Alnico V pickup (also called the “staple” pickup by some), gave added note definition in the neck position, while a traditional P-90 in the bridge position provided its beloved bite and growl, there is simply no other Les Paul that sounds like this one, and it is a wondrous instrument to hear.

 

Microphone plug-in fit for a King (or a Queen)

I was fascinated to learn from last months "Sound On Sound" that the microphones used for the wonderful film "The Kings Speech" were in fact original microphones made for King George restored for the film. I now learn that having captured the sounds of these historic mikes used during the 1920s and 1930s Waves Audio has worked with Abbey Road Studios to develop The King’s Microphones plug-in.

The Waves/Abbey Road plug-in is a digital audio processor, created in concept by Abbey Road Studios and engineered by Waves, and marks the first and very interesting collaboration between Waves and Abbey Road.

The plug-in recreates these rare microphones, giving studio/live mix engineers a quick and easy distinctive vintage/’lo-fi’ sound for vocals, drums; giving post re-mixers a dialogue processor to ‘achieve authentic period-appropriate sounds; and giving sound designers the chance to recreate the sounds of the era and perhaps we may even see Cher overusing the effect very soon.

                                            image Waves