old band - Automatic fine tuning |
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: December 28 2011 at 15:35 |
I refuse to let this thread (and band) die!
I am still searching for ANY info on Automatic Fine Tuning and also the band Glider who were from the Reading area (UK) in the early/mid 1970's. It was Glider of course who were the band that eventually became AFT. I am still after paper cuttings, pix, recordings (I have the AFT album and also on cd)....ANYTHING on these bands but especially AFT. If you can help, please shoot me a PM on here or email me at: [email protected] Thanks Tony C. Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - December 29 2011 at 15:34 |
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Tony C.
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: September 18 2014 at 15:25 |
It's been quite a while since I posted on this thread (or on Prog Archives for that matter). however I am still searching for info, pictures, in fact ANYTHNG Automatic Fine Tuning related.
Please get in touch if you have anything via a PM. Many thanks Tony C. |
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Tony C.
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 04 2015 at 06:41 |
Greetings all. It's been a while since I posted anything on here.
Just to let you know I am still looking for anything Automatic Fine Tuning related, pic's, posters, recordings etc....Please PM me if you have anything. Many thanks Tony C |
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Tony C.
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 65268 |
Posted: October 04 2015 at 16:53 |
There really isn't much out there. Not sure what you have in mind; live tapes, tour schedules, t-shirts? None of those things ever really existed in public. I'd think your best bet is to try getting in touch with MacDonnell, Cross, Darks, or Ball. Trevor D has posted in this thread. He may be able to point you in the right direction.
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 05 2015 at 05:53 |
I'm actually in touch with Trev, and have been since he first posted on here. I've messaged Paul but i've had no reply yet. I don't know what's happened to Dave Ball, and unfortunately Rob Cross passed away i'm afraid. Trev very kindly sent me lots of info and paper cuttings etc... I've got some info on tour dates as well. I've even got an extremely rare AFT sticker! I used to have a gig poster but that got lost in an house move. I wished I could find another! One guy on this forum very kindly sent me a cd which was of a recording from Reading Festival with the track Racehorses on it., (well most of the track) which was broadcast live on the radio. I sent a copy to Trev of course. Only yesterday I was sent a link to photo's from AFT's Reading Festival gig in 1976, pictures which I didn't have. So there is stuff out there. |
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Tony C.
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 65268 |
Posted: October 05 2015 at 16:01 |
Good detective work.
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 06 2015 at 11:31 |
Thanks! I try hard ya know Anyone would think I like this band or something ha ha |
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Tony C.
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 07 2015 at 13:32 |
Well would you believe it? i've just been messaged by AFT guitarist Paul MacDonnell ! I can't contain myself today i'm chuffed to bit's This has made my year, never mind my day. |
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Tony C.
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 65268 |
Posted: October 07 2015 at 14:26 |
They are without doubt one of the most important and quietly influential bands in heavy rock. I was very pleased to have added them back in '08.
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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Replayer
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 04 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 356 |
Posted: October 08 2015 at 18:53 |
I bought A.F.T. today due to this thread. Fantastic neo-classical heavy rock. I love the twin lead guitar attack and the rhythm section is really tight, as well.
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 65268 |
Posted: October 08 2015 at 20:41 |
^ No one was doing that except maybe Schenker and Roth (Brian May hinted at it), but not like AFT; they were completely new.
Edited by Atavachron - October 08 2015 at 20:45 |
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 12 2015 at 15:45 |
Nice one! They were astonishing live and a lot more powerful than the production on the album might suggest. Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - October 20 2015 at 15:12 |
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Tony C.
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 23 2015 at 10:54 |
Here is a nice pic of Automatic Fine Tuning at the Reading Festival 1976.
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Tony C.
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clarkpegasus4001
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2011 Location: Nottingham Status: Offline Points: 635 |
Posted: October 07 2016 at 07:55 |
Hi folks. it's been a long while since I posted on here. I am still searching for any Automatic Fine Tuning related items. If you have anything of interest please inbox me thank you.
Now for the bad news........ People who know me really well, know that the album Automatic Fine Tuning is my fave album. They were the first band I saw live back in 1976, and are really the reason i'm playing. After that gig, all I wanted to do was learn to play guitar and form a band. About one year ago, and initially through this forum I might add, I finally got in contact with my fave guitarist Paul MacDonnell of AFT. However I am absolutely gutted to have been informed last night by AFT bass player Trev Darks that my 6 string guitar hero Paul MacDonnell has passed away this morning of an alcohol related illness. As I said earlier, I had recently been in contact with Paul after all these years via an email, and I was able to ask him some questions I had harboured for 40 years. To say I am gutted is an understatement. RIP Paul. |
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Tony C.
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Jeffro
Forum Senior Member Joined: March 29 2014 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 2164 |
Posted: October 15 2016 at 20:31 |
I don't have any AFT items however I am just now checking out this band. Amazing stuff.
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 65268 |
Posted: October 15 2016 at 21:48 |
Sad news. May he rest. |
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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tonewheels
Forum Newbie Joined: April 23 2017 Location: Hampton Hill Status: Offline Points: 6 |
Posted: April 23 2017 at 16:14 |
I've only just found this thread and I've registered specially to add my two penneth worth.
Here's a phrase you won't hear often. AFT were massive in Aberavon. A local virtuoso guitarist, Mark Sharp, now sadly deceased, was very much the arbiter of good taste amongst the musicians in Port Talbot around 1976/7. His band The Ray Morgan Quartet were exceptionally proficient and Mark's heroes were Zappa, Akkerman and AFT. As a result of Mark's recommendations we all had to raise our game. Every musician in the area had a copy of Automatic Fine Tuning and we'd sit around listening to it discussing how some of the sounds were made. Great to see that picture at Reading, we always thought the guitars sounded like SG Specials but they look like Les Paul Specials to me. Nearly right! The Ray Morgan Quartet would do Wolverine at every gig they played. Something I also indulged in in several bands through the decades. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your partners for the waltz" was the announcement. Brilliant, a twin guitar frenzy in Waltz time. Working out those harmonies was, errmm, challenging. Finding out from Trevor's post that they had no formal training sort of explains things. Like the Beatles vocal harmonies, it's all done by ear rather than by formula. In subsequent years I'd develop a rudimentary solo piano version of Wolverine and fit it into bits of Hammond solos live too (I play, in order of competence, bass, keys and guitar). It's confirming to hear that the band were pissed off with the Lloyd Grossman production. Even through the Amstrad PoS system I had then I was really frustrated by the sound that been bestowed on such a great record. Actually though, with the high end record player I have these days, I don't notice it. Some of the loveliest things about Automatic Fine Tuning are its imperfections. There are obvious little mistakes which we noticed at the time which make it even more astonishing. I remember being in a room with a Mark as he played it to a few of us for the first time and some minor mistake occurred. We all did a double take and someone voiced what we were all thinking, "sh*t, they're playing this live!". We used to play Galdioli too. Used to call it the mirror song because it's symmetrical in time. Sad to hear about Bob and Paul but, Trevor, please be aware that there are probably still a generation of Welsh evangelicals spreading the word to anyone who will listen. Automatic Fine Tuning will always be one of my desert island discs, in the august company of such as Trout Mask Replica, Lumpy Gravy, Rock Bottom, Pawnhearts and, the nearest thing to AFT, though more improvised, Man's epic Spunk Rock off Greasy Truckers Party. |
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Replayer
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 04 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 356 |
Posted: April 28 2017 at 00:32 |
Thank you for your stories, I enjoyed reading them. This is what I love about this site: finding all these musical gems like AFT that I probably would have never heard otherwise.
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markruthin
Forum Newbie Joined: June 16 2017 Location: Ruthin Status: Offline Points: 1 |
Posted: June 16 2017 at 15:43 |
Hey All, I'm amazed there is stuff on AFT in here. Great band and I saw them in Aberystwyth Uni in 1976, loved the music (great influence on my own playing) and went out and bought the album, on the turntable right now. Quite apart from the tremendous dual harmoni lead playing I remember the fantastic sound (and sight) of the rotary speakers and hearing them on Alan Freeman's show (he really loved them) with a tune called Racehorses, which I'd love to hear again. Anyone out there got a copy?
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MT
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Replayer
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 04 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 356 |
Posted: June 27 2017 at 08:26 |
I have just written my own review of Automatic Fine Tuning's music. Thank you to all who contributed to this thread as it was my main source for information on this innovative and underappreciated band.
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