Hello and a few questions....

[Johnbarkeriom]

Hi all - I have been a Roy fan since about '78 when I bought Bullinamingvase and Harper 1970 - 1975. I lost my way a bit in then 80's and 90's but got back into him when I started buying his music again on cd from the official website. I particularly love the festival hall live cd. Part of the reason I drifted away was I have always hated the sound of ovation guitars and their buzzing bass and lack of middle. I am glad to see he doesn't seem to use them anymore.
I have all of the albums on vinyl up to and including Jugula but back in the late 70's / early 80's it was hard to get hold of the early ones. I have a reissue of Sophisticated Beggar on Big Ben records which is great, a copy of Genghis which is on CBS and retitled 'The Early Years' with a completely different cover and ads for other records on the back and strangest of all a copy of Folkjokeopus on Awareness on which the running order is:

Side 1: SGT Sunshine, Composer of Life, McGoohan's Blues
Side 2: Exercsing Some Control, McGoohan's Blues, Manana

Does anyone else know of this strange pressing?

I have been catching up with the podcasts which have been fascinating, particularly the three part interview with Roy andnow I regret not seeing him since the early 80's while at university in Hull - I thinkthe Work Of Heart tour with the band was probably the last time. Since 87 I have been living here on the Isle of Man and getting over to see Roy hasn't really been possible. We did have Nick here a few months ago though and that was a great gig, even better was the 'guitar workshop' the night before which was more of a chat and a totally acoustic session - just about 12 of us in the room, spell-binding!

Anyway that's enough for now
John

[aspwatterson]

Originally Posted by Johnbarkeriom

Hi all - I have been a Roy fan since about '78 when I bought Bullinamingvase and Harper 1970 - 1975. I lost my way a bit in then 80's and 90's but got back into him when I started buying his music again on cd from the official website. I particularly love the festival hall live cd. Part of the reason I drifted away was I have always hated the sound of ovation guitars and their buzzing bass and lack of middle. I am glad to see he doesn't seem to use them anymore.
I have all of the albums on vinyl up to and including Jugula but back in the late 70's / early 80's it was hard to get hold of the early ones. I have a reissue of Sophisticated Beggar on Big Ben records which is great, a copy of Genghis which is on CBS and retitled 'The Early Years' with a completely different cover and ads for other records on the back and strangest of all a copy of Folkjokeopus on Awareness on which the running order is:

Side 1: SGT Sunshine, Composer of Life, McGoohan's Blues
Side 2: Exercsing Some Control, McGoohan's Blues, Manana

Does anyone else know of this strange pressing?

I have been catching up with the podcasts which have been fascinating, particularly the three part interview with Roy andnow I regret not seeing him since the early 80's while at university in Hull - I thinkthe Work Of Heart tour with the band was probably the last time. Since 87 I have been living here on the Isle of Man and getting over to see Roy hasn't really been possible. We did have Nick here a few months ago though and that was a great gig, even better was the 'guitar workshop' the night before which was more of a chat and a totally acoustic session - just about 12 of us in the room, spell-binding!

Anyway that's enough for now
John

Had a similar experience with Ovations which always sounded trebly [and slip off your lap when playing!]. No grip, impossible to find a deep sound. Even had a similar model to Roy's Autumn Leaf, and one of my regrets was getting back to Cash Converters a day too late to retrieve it. These days R&N play extremely manufactured / customised guitars which can accommodate extreme low open tunings / resonance, as you know. Would have loved to attend IOM but hopefully he may do the same oneday a bit more local? Nashville tuning is built for trebly tuning and sounds like church bell sorta music. Try Googling it. Cheers

Andi

[Johnbarkeriom]

I play a lowden very similar to Nick's and use a range of open tunings and as you say they cope with low ones very well. Best guitars in the world imho. I got into then via Richard Thompson who now has a signature model.

[aspwatterson]

Originally Posted by Johnbarkeriom

I play a lowden very similar to Nick's and use a range of open tunings and as you say they cope with low ones very well. Best guitars in the world imho. I got into then via Richard Thompson who now has a signature model.

Wow ! Richard Thompson owns a guitar with your signature on it! You must be special!


Can you give us more info on how the IOM workshop was structured etc as am very interested. Can you now change broken strings without stopping the flow, and detune/uptune the guitar as you're playing?

Andi

[Johnbarkeriom]

No to all of that of course - my words nicely twisted there
The workshop was organised by Jonno the promoter of the gig and was held in our local guitar shop, Peter Norrsi Music on the Friday night. Nick was very unsure about the whole thing saying that he had only done this once before. He just asked for questions and answered all with his usual good humour. He sang a couple of songs, no mic or amps etc.... I remember in particlar stunning versions of Evo and the song he wrote when his mother passed away.... sorry can't remember the title here. Very intimate and moving. Much better than the gig the next night which whilst great was spoilt a bit for me by too many people chatting too loudly at the bar at the back of the room. Nick demonstrated his banjo tuning pegs etc, taled about strings and tunings and about songwriting. A good hour and a half, then asked who was coming to the pub. Unfortunately I had to get back so didn't indulge!

[SHAUN I]

I suppose an Ovation would sound trebley compared to Nick's Lowden, with the Piano string as bass, I used to really like the sound of Roy's Ovation live,
I'm not really that clued up on what guitars he played, but I thought Roy used to play the Ovation Adamas which looked similar to the Tanglewood autumn leaf, or did he play both?

[pd]

Welcome John!

Originally Posted by Johnbarkeriom

Does anyone else know of this strange pressing?

I've got one too, bought at the Virgin Megastore signing event for "In Between Every Line". I think Awareness had just taken delivery of them and hadn't checked them yet. Mine is signed, too, and it was the first occasion that I met and spoke to Roy. Andy Ware offered to replace it when I told him about it but I decided to buy another, correct, copy as the original mispressing was a curio. I think, though I can't remember for sure, that only a small number got out into the wild - less than a hundred at any rate.

Cheers

Paul.

[scotpaulabear]

Welcome, John! Thanks for the report on the Isle of Man gig/workshop, sounds like the latter was more fun than the former I think I saw the other workshop he's done, at Clonakilty Guitar Festival... that was a great night and sounds a lot like yours, with him taking questions, telling stories and playing off the cuff. He seemed almost embarrassed that people would want to learn from him, ah bless

[aspwatterson]

If you scroll down this link on the comments, looks like you're right; as per usual Shawn.


http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=OlH_fXI8rSI

And if you scroll right down and follow the flow upwards it's quite fascinating! Could almost write a comic script to it?! Give me time...with Roy's music behind it maybe; but which song?



Andi

[SHAUN I]

A lot of people don't like the Adamas sound, some of the gigs in the 80's when he had all the delays and big volume effects with the Ovations, were some of the best I've been to sound & tone wise. Just a totally pure sound, especially during the finger picking sections. Not quite so heavy in the bass top end, but with Roy's set up it definitely turned into a successful period.
Maybe that'd be an interesting topic for a future podcast Paul, a short interview with Roy or somebody qualified, perhaps to share some detailed info of what guitars he used for different tours and albums throughout his career, what gear, strings and effects he preferred, tunings, tips, etc. Food for thought..