{"id":2025,"date":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/other\/billy-fay\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","slug":"billy-fay-by-shiloh-noone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/reviews\/billy-fay-by-shiloh-noone\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Fay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Fay<\/strong> a UK based singer, songwriter and pianist, in hindsight an overlooked apocalyptic sage with a vision to the future. Ex-Them <\/strong>drummer Terry Noon<\/strong> helped Bill to sign a recording contract with \u2018Decca\u2019 putting out the oddly \u201cSome Good Advice\u201d\/\u201dScreams In The Ears\u201d backed by Southend band The Fingers<\/strong>. This was followed by the lush orchestrated Bill Fay<\/em> backed by Unit 4 Plus 2<\/strong>,\u00a0 ex Mouse \/ Running Man<\/strong> guitarist Ray Russell<\/strong>, Nucleus <\/strong>drummer John Marshall,<\/strong> Ray Russell Quartet<\/strong> bassist Daryl Runswick<\/strong> & drummer Alan Rushton<\/strong>. The brass input was courtesy of The Mike Gibbs Very Big Band<\/strong> enhancing the anti-war \u201cGentle Willie\u201d, organic \u201cGarden Song\u201d, a story of spiritual quest, \u201cMethane River\u201d and \u201cGoodnight Stan\u201d, all contemplating ballads that will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

Dispelling the string arrangements Bill then put out the raw apocalyptic Time Of The Last Persecution<\/em>, largely an electric album featuring again guitarist Ray Russell<\/strong>\u00a0 expelling nimble fingerwork on (\u201cTil The Christ Come Back\u201d & \u201cCome A Day\u201d) and \u201cLaughing Man\u201d while the pleading \u201cDon\u2019t Let My Marigolds Die\u201d and naked \u201cTell It Like It Is\u201d express an artist free of pseudo trimmings. This album did at least entrap the late John Peel<\/strong> who invited Bill to perform on BBC2 TV show \u2018Disco 2\u2019\u00a0 and radio shows BBC Radio 1 \u2018Night Ride\u2019 and \u2018Sounds Of The Seventies\u2019. Sadly Decca\u2019 ended Bill\u2019s prophetic reign until the late 1970s and third and singularly most underrated Tomorrow Tomorrow & Tomorrow<\/em> emerged, supported by The Acme Quartet<\/strong>. Hard to describe this spacy contribution, namely \u201cThe Strange Stairway\u201d, \u201cSpiritual Mansions\u201d and surreal \u201dCosmic Boxer\u201d, the album highlight being \u201cJericho Road\u201d a fitting epitaph to another call for repentance.<\/p>\n

In 2004 \u2018Wooden Hill\u2019 released From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock<\/em> – a beautiful collection of demos 1966 – 1970 backed by Honeybus<\/strong> who covered \u201cWarwick Town\u201d and \u201cMaxine\u2019s Parlour\u201d during their BBC Radio 1 Sessions. This magical album spills infectiously with \u201cMaudy La Luna\u201d , \u201cDoris Comes Today\u201d, the ethereal \u201cStrangers In The Field\u201d and sublime \u201cBrighton Beach\u201d. Bill\u2019s songs have inspired many, namely Wilco,<\/strong> songwriter\/producer Jim O\u2019Rourke, Ben Chasny<\/strong> of Six Organs Of Admittance<\/strong> and David Michael<\/strong> of Current 93<\/strong>. A cover version of Fay<\/strong>‘s, “Pictures of Adolf Again”, by producer Jim O ‘Rourke and Wilco<\/strong> drummer Glenn Kotche<\/strong>, can be heard in Koji Wakamatsu\u2019s film United Red Army<\/em>. The title track of “Time of the Last Persecution” became a live standard of the Brit Apocalyptic Current 93.<\/strong> Fay is due to release a new album entitled Still Some Light.<\/em><\/p>\n

Added:<\/b> October 19th 2011
\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><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Fay a UK based singer, songwriter and pianist, in hindsight an overlooked apocalyptic sage with a vision to the future. Ex-Them drummer Terry Noon helped Bill to sign a recording contract with \u2018Decca\u2019 putting out the oddly \u201cSome Good Advice\u201d\/\u201dScreams In The Ears\u201d backed by Southend band The Fingers. This was followed by the […]<\/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-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025","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=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}