Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity
This Wheel’s on Fire
1968
Julie Driscoll was a singer and actress, later married to Keith Tippett, he of King Crimson fame. Brian Auger was a keyboard player.
The song is best remembered for its heavy use of Mellotron, progressing chords and being a theme tune to a tv show. Oh, some guy called Bob Dylan wrote it…
Larry Fast should be remembered as a pioneer of the synthesiser. Along with Tomita and Wendy Carlos, he used his Synergy platform to produce a number of albums that were grand in scale and orchestrally majestic.
His first album is Electronic Realisations For Rock Orchestra.
This is a great album. As well as original compositions, there’s a re-imagining of Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. After its release, the album was revised to add a stunning version of Mason Williams’ Classical Gas, which also appears on the second album, Sequencer.
There’s lots of analogue synthesiser, of course, plus Mellotron and, rather sneakily, no guitars (this is a nod to early Queen LPs).
Of all the Synergy albums, we love Cords, on clear white vinyl, from 1978:
and Games, from 1979. Many of the tracks are pretty heavy, with crazy tricks played with the beat and the key signatures:
It is not impossible to find these on physical media. There are also some compilation albums, and a ‘new’ (well, 2002) re-recording of some tracks on digital equipment.
All are enjoyable.
The first piercing I ever had done was my septum. If you don’t know, it’s the bit of skin at the bottom of the nose, between the nostrils.
I had it done at a place on Holloway Road, this being the nearest place to my home at the time, now long gone, and, i suppose, the least intimidating looking of places.
And it hurt. And it makes your eyes water. In fact, many nose piercings do.
The first jewellery was very thin and small, small enough to flip it up into your nose to hide it. I know some people do stretch their piercings, but I didn’t. The natural weight of the jewellery made it stretch and now it’s 5mm, and that is where it likes to be.
Having never had a piercing before, I was very self-conscious about it. The healing seemed to take a long time, and often I thought I had made mistake. It wasn’t how I wanted it. But getting a piercing teaches you patience, and it is definitely something you get used to.
Many piercings hurt, of course they do, someone is sticking a needle into your flesh. But it’s only for a second or two. Some piercings heal quickly, others take months.
And apparently, the septum piercing is the second sexiest piercing.
