Another year, another birthday, if a somewhat
'absent' one
in this case sadly. So Koss would have been 71 today. Wow, time really does fly
doesn't it, and it only seems like a couple of years ago I was writing about
Paul being 60! So this evening I'll be playing
'Kossoff Kirke Tetsu
Rabbit' from end to end. I might even play the vinyl instead of the CD,
just for a change. Probably one of the worst album covers in the history of
Island Records, and a complete waste of a gatefold sleeve, but at least the
music is wholly worthwhile and it features some of my favourite Kossoff playing
anywhere. Really tasteful stuff.
There is something different about playing an LP, and while
I'm not going into the
'vinyl sounds better debate', I think it's the
playing length that really makes the difference, and the fact there is a gap
between the audio of the two sides while you turn the record over. It's very
different, rather than the more
'linear' CD run through of what would
have been a much wrestled with running order for two sides of an LP at the
time. Making two sides of a record work was as important as the music that had
been recorded. It was a measured decision by band and producer, what went
exactly where. I always thought KKTR was set out very well. With writing and
working on all the FREE anniversary issues I've not actually played this all
the way through for a while, and I am genuinely looking forward to sitting down
and listening from one side to the other again. An old friend really. Likely
with a large Cointreau
'Noir' in hand, a new favourite.
In the meantime while I'm here, a quick update to let you
know the next batch of FAS issues are coming, slowly but surely. Working
through the first half of 1971 really has taken a long time, and I've been
checking diary dates and updating things significantly. There are a lot of new
details on the group history coming. It was obvious after the Covid printing
delays last year that the 'lockdowns' would push everything back this
year, which it has. That and a bit of writing / researching 'burn out' on
my part. We did already have four issues earlier in the year, so we've not done
that badly, and that's a lot of work. I only used to produce two magazines,and
with a much smaller page count!
Presently it looks like we will get the first issue, dealing
with this 1971/2021 anniversary period, out before Christmas. I currently have
the first draft of the next two issues printed actually, along with some other
bits and pieces in contention, and yesterday I was working through them,
correcting spellings (endlessly tiresome job) and some other errors. The first
fix one might say. A third issue is in a much more
'disjointed' form at
the moment, but really just needs compiling. So don't think for one minute I've
been sitting in the sun with my feet up drinking fancy cocktails over the
summer. It's been a long slow marathon (
slog, I might say!), certainly
not a sprint at any point, but work continues, and these issues are looking
pretty good. The impending batch will handle things up to the release of
'Free
Live!'. How I deal with the split and splinter bands is yet to be decided.
Maybe playing KKTR tonight will provide some inspiration for that upcoming
endeavour!
In the meantime, spare Koss a thought today, and if you have
time play a little of his music. I'll begin my own listening pleasure at 7pm
BST exactly if anyone cares to join in. There is no better plan, and lets face
it - there's nowt on the tele!
