{"id":2009,"date":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/other\/stone-the-crows-banshee-of-the-blues\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","slug":"stone-the-crows-banshee-of-the-blues-by-shiloh-noone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/reviews\/stone-the-crows-banshee-of-the-blues-by-shiloh-noone\/","title":{"rendered":"Stone The Crows -Banshee of the Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The blues came screaming down from the misty highlands in 1969 under the savage execution of Maggie Bell\u2019s Stone the Crows.<\/strong>Finally Janis Joplin<\/strong> had a rival that could whisper, convulse, and climax as she raped the soul guitar of ex Silhouette\u2019s Les Harvey<\/strong>. The high energy of their earthy blues first took root in 1967 when Maggie teamed up with the Kenning Park Ramblers<\/strong> headed by an old friend of hers, Leslie Harvey.<\/strong> Leslie\u2019s older brother, Alex Harvey<\/strong> was doing the \u2018Star Club\u2019 circuit in Hamburg and little brother decided to invade the US bases that he knew had a soft spot for the blues. Les Harvey\u2019s<\/strong> Gibson execution on the lead guitar did not go unnoticed and he was invited to tour America with Cartoone <\/strong>supporting Led Zeppelin<\/strong> whose underrated album boasted Jimmy Page\u2019<\/strong> Telecaster. This quickened appointment was largely due to their original guitarist dropping out at the last minute and a hasty recruitment by manager Mark London<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cartoone comprised Charlie Coffils, Mike Allison, Derick Creigan & Mo Trowers, all ex Chevlons who first hit the charts with the infectious \u201cKnick Knack Man\u201d followed by the nostalgic \u201cA Penny For The Sun\u201d. The Cartoone highlights included the haunting \u201cWithering Wood\u201d, \u201cIce Cream Dreams\u201d with Page\u2019s guitar wailing wonderfully and \u201cDeep In My Heart\u201d.<\/em><\/div>\n
\nAt that stage Les & Maggie were playing in the soul outfit Power<\/strong>. The hasty departure of Les created a void not easily replaceable, but as luck would have it two months later Les returned having paid his dues jamming regularly with the Allman Brothers<\/strong>. Les now sporting a new Stratocaster, had matured and was intent on writing his own songs. It was thanks to Mark London<\/strong> that he invited Zeppelin<\/strong>\u2019s manager Peter Grant to come and check out this fabulous new voice, thus Grant\u2019s comment \u201ccor blimey, stone the crows\u201d, and the name stuck. The eponymous 1970 debut under \u2018Polydor\u2019 comprised ex Gleneagles\/ Lulu & the Luvvers bassist Jimmy Dewar<\/strong> & ex Power<\/strong> keyboardist John Mcginnis<\/strong> who started out in 1967with Sock Em JB<\/strong> headed by Frankie Miller.<\/strong> A fabulous blues drummer, ex Jet Set \/ Big Roll Band Colin Allen<\/strong> reinforced the group with the insatiable Les Harvey<\/strong> on lead guitar. Dewar would often share vocals with Maggie, but the strength of the group lay with the staccato wail of Maggie as she grated through Don Robey\u2019s <\/strong>\u201cBlind Man\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
‘I Saw America Burning in Sin’<\/div>\n
The eponymous album un-earthed an 18-min blues fusion called \u201cI Saw America\u201d. Harvey\u2019s aching guitar weeps like the messiah\u2019s dripping blood. Maggie wails at the Wall of America, carrying the torch of Coltrane\u2019s surrealism, with leaning toward Bach<\/strong> and Robert Johnson<\/strong>. Take time to absorb the liquid riffs of Les Harvey\u2019s<\/strong> Gibson as he laces his axe with fire and mounts the steeds of Hell. Their soul-laced version of the Beatles<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cFool on the Hill\u201d was probably the finest to surface. During the eve of the seventies they caught the wonderment of John Peel<\/strong> of the BBC after doing a spectacular 13-min gallop through Dylan<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cHollis Brown\u201d. The BBC live interpretation of \u201cFriend\u201d\u00a0 is a near perfect recording of the Crows<\/strong> in full flight, squawking and slashing till all land is in sight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The ‘BBC Sessions’ were sizzling as Les Harvey<\/strong> ripped through George Harrison\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cLet It Down\u201d , my God this man could play and even more dazzling his rampant elastic intro to \u201cOn The Highway\u201d. If the tube stations had Clapton<\/strong> \u2018God\u2019 inscribed on their walls then Les Harvey<\/strong> was the \u2018Demi-God\u2019 whose strains were definitively more charismatic and boundless in improvisation. Notably the jazzy \u201cFreedom Road\u201d almost a cycle from Brian Auger\u2019s<\/strong> Express <\/strong>or the insidious leadbreaks that decipher \u201cRaining In Your Heart\u201d with Dewar<\/strong>\u2019s vox taking no prisoners. The follow up Ode To John Law<\/em> gave birth to a Cocker <\/strong>tribute \u201cMad Dogs And Englishmen\u201d while Harvey<\/strong>\u2019s riffs spit defiantly through \u201cFriend\u201d, \u201cThings Are Getting Better\u201d and Curtis Mayfield\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cDanger Zone\u201d. The repetitive \u201cLove 74\u201d would have made a great single. In 1970 Mcginnis & Dewar<\/strong> departed, replaced by ex John Mayall \/ Spooky Tooth<\/strong> bassist Steve Thompson<\/strong> and ex Jasons Flock \/ White Trash<\/strong> keyboardist Ronnie Leahy<\/strong>. Dewar <\/strong>went on to great things with Jude<\/strong> and later Robin Trower.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>The sizzling 1972 Teenage Licks<\/em> heavily laden with the steaming \u201cMr Wizard\u201d and \u201cBig Jim Salter\u201d reach a Prog opus on \u201cSeven Lakes\u201d with Leahy\u2019s<\/strong> almost classical keys. The standout was a riveting version of Dylan\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cDon\u2019t Think Twice , It\u2019s All Right\u201d. Halfway through the recordings Les was electrocuted on stage at Swansea\u2019s \u2018Top Rank Ballroom\u2019 by a live stage mike. Ex Thunderclap Newman Jimmy McCulloch<\/strong> who started with the Jaygars <\/strong>and One in a Million<\/strong> was recruited after a Peter Green\/ Steve Howe<\/strong> interlude. Their final Ontinuous Performance<\/em>, (name taken from a sign where the C dropped off) was aptly set in motion in Sept 1972 with a soulful ode to Harvey through the staggering \u201cSunset Cowboy\u201d featuring McCulloch<\/strong>. (re-echoed in stolen form on the Baghdad Caf\u00e9<\/em> soundtrack) Les Harvey<\/strong> reaches toxic levels on the \u201cKing Tut\u201d instrumental and the 9min unfinished blues cadenza \u201cNiagara\u201d. \u201cKing Tut\u201d was first played by ex Giant Moth Alex Harvey<\/strong> at the \u2018La Cave\u2019 in the early years, inspired by the British museums Tutankhamen exhibition. (lyrics in answer to Peter Green\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cBlack Magic Woman\u201d)<\/p>\n

Ontinuous Performance<\/em> gave Harvey <\/strong>a tour de force on the escalating \u201cOne More Chance\u201d. The album spawned the Rod Stewart<\/strong> styled \u201cGood Time Girl\u201d #12 thanks to appearances on the BBC \u2018Top of the Pops\u2019. A Stone The Crows\u2019<\/strong> rendition of Sonny Terry\u2019s<\/strong> slinky \u201cPenicillin Blues\u201d boasted a young McCulloch<\/strong>. Sadly the Crow <\/strong>was clearly depleted after the loss of Les Harvey<\/strong>. Colin Allen<\/strong> would then join\u00a0Focus <\/strong>while Jimmy featured with Paul McCartney\u2019s<\/strong> Wings<\/strong> making his debut with \u201cJunior\u2019s Farm\u201d and penning the medicinal \u201cMedicine Jar\u201d which became his final undoing. Maggie released Queen Of The Night<\/em> and Suicidal Sal<\/em>, also featuring on albums with ex Rascals Felix Cavaliere<\/strong> and ex Mountain Felix Pappalardi<\/strong>. She now lives in Rotterdam, singing the gospel blues.<\/div>\n

Added:<\/b> December 22nd 2010
\nReviewer:<\/b> Shiloh Noone<\/a> | See all reviews<\/a> by Shiloh Noone
\nCategory:<\/b> Music<\/a>
\nScore:<\/b> \"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"
\nRelated Link:<\/b> Seekers Guide To The Rhythm Of Yesteryear<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The blues came screaming down from the misty highlands in 1969 under the savage execution of Maggie Bell\u2019s Stone the Crows.Finally Janis Joplin had a rival that could whisper, convulse, and climax as she raped the soul guitar of ex Silhouette\u2019s Les Harvey. The high energy of their earthy blues first took root in 1967 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}