‘If you want it here it is, come and get it, but you’d better hurry cos it may not last’ is a brilliant lyric written in 1969 by Paul McCartney, and presented to The Beatles for their upcoming album Abbey Road. Sadly, the track never made the final cut and didn't appear on a ‘Fabs’ album until Anthology 3 in 1996.
Disappointed but not surprised, Paul gave the song to a band newly signed to their Apple label, Badfinger, and they promptly took it into the Top Ten in both the UK and the USA. So what’s the significance? Well I started to sing the song to myself, as I looked around the 30 or so audience at this week’s Newport Open Mic held in The Navy Club every Tuesday. Now I know that the weather isn’t good and that lots of people would prefer to watch Liverpool throw in the towel against Real Madrid on TV, but come on…this is live music we are talking about!!!
Whatever the weather; we can always count on Eddie Maiden to start
the evening off enthusiastically. He just comes up with songs off the
top of his head, which keeps anyone accompanying him on their toes, but
he always sounds as if he has been rehearsing for ages. A new one this
week was Wooden Heart, first featured in Elvis’s film G.I. Blues, and
yes….he did sing the second verse in its original German!Laurence Gale, one of our resident photographers, brought his guitar instead of his camera this week and after a little bit of arm twisting enticed musical collaborator, Rob Bryon to the stage for a lovely acoustic set. One thing I have noticed about their playing over the last few years is that they are taking on more ambitious, ie difficult, numbers and doing a fine job. Songs from Squeeze, Ronnie Lane and Paulo Nutini stretched their concentration at times, but were very well performed.
Drummer Steve ‘Blackie’ Black brought his new band Khamouflage to The
Navy for the first time and they were rewarded with an extended set. An
eclectic mix included material from Be Bop Deluxe, 4 non Blondes and
even Kiki Dee, but it was the AC/DC classic ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ that had
the crowd demanding an encore. Hopefully they enjoyed it, they
certainly seemed to, and I will get more information from them next
time….they had left before I had time to find out their names.Scratch Bands as you are probably aware, are, for me, one of the best parts of the evening and this week we were fortunate enough to have two. Drummer Baz Webster has recently moved out of the area, so we don’t see him so often these days, but he was back behind the kit to provide a great rhythm section with bassman Al Middleton from Shrewsbury, just needing a couple more to finish the line- up. Local legend Roger Clark on lead guitar and yours truly on vocal duties rattled through a great soft rock set of covers from Steve Miller, REM before a heavier finale with Thin Lizzy.
Sitting impatiently in the wings was another cracking guitarist, Steve Hammond and you could see he was itching to get involved. Move over Roger, who showed what a trouper he is with a faultless performance on bass, so that Steve could continue with his terrific lead guitar as they busked through a very lively and entertaining set.
Night shift this week was Olly Flavell. On his way home from playing a gig in Stafford, he heard the band still rocking and couldn’t resist the urge to get his guitar out again and bring the evening to a close. A new song from him, ’How Deep is Your Love’ he insists is a work in progress, but it certainly sounded much more than that to me.
So another truly superb night of live music, and a bit sad that it was only witnessed by quite a small audience…….. certainly compared to our usual attendance. Never mind, same time next week, our talented bunch of musicians, some local, some not so local, will try to lure you away from the telly and turn you on to something much, much better……live music!
Before we leave, just a note to say: .......
Don’t forget this next Friday, 14th Nov, the brilliant Bluezbox will be playing live at the Navy. Doors will be open at 8pm and entry is £3 ……please come along and show your support.
Until then
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