Grannie

 

I remember reading a feature in Record Collector about 15 years ago about the rarest prog rock albums and the self-titled album by Grannie was listed as the number one rarity.  I seem to think there were just 99 copies pressed (to avoid a tax?) and the sleeves handmade?

 

Does anyone own this rarity and what is the music like on it?

 

Is there really a cd re-issue of the album?

 

Many thanks.

 

Donnimo is quite right: Phil Newton was the guitarist, and I am the Hammond organ player in Blues Patrol!

I have Phil's copy of the album, in fact - plus (don't get all excited; they are all self adhesive and stuck together!!!) a roll of the bands original gig posters which are a sepia print of the distinctive album cover. Phil was in the graphics/print trade and always - even to the end - excelled in going the extra mile on posters, gig list sheets etc all professionally done to a good standard (he'd be appalled at the quick knock-offs I churn out on the Mac these days!!!).

It IS a story that could and should be told and a crying shame that my dear pal Phil is no longer with us to see it unfurl; like so many here it was the RC feature on private pressings that alerted me to the existence of the Grannie LP. I was sitting with Phil one Saturday morning having a full English breakfast in Surbiton, Surrey (one of those Friday gigs where we all got drunk, asked the landlord if we could leave the cars and gear), met up for breakfast the following day and got our cars loaded. In fact, I tell a lie - we'd done breakfast/loading the cars and were in the garden of the pub where the gear had been, having a late morning "livener" having loaded up! We talked as friends and musicians often do of ventures we had been involved in, and also of putting out a Blues Patrol CD ourselves. "The last time I did that was 1970" he laughed. "We had a band called Grannie, and got some vinyls pressed at SRT. Thank f**k for CDs!" he added, with a laugh at how much easier it would be now (then!).

Of course, I remembered the RC feature that was but a few months (maybe a couple of years at most) old at the time and I think we'd all agree that the stony faced old lady with the Les Paul Custom guaranteed that Grannie (as well as the £900 price tag!!) would spring readily to mind. I almost dropped my pint.

"You were in Grannie?" I asked. Now, I was in my early twenties at the time and not born until 1974. Phil wasn't an RC reader and knew nothing of the feature, thus reasonably assumed I was taking the piss as if this band he'd mentioned would mean anything.

"Piss off!" he said

"Old lady, Victorian posture, armchair, black Les Paul?" I asked, and it was his turn to drop his pint!

I drove him back home via my Mum and Dad's where some old back issues of RC were kept. Thus, he was brought up to date on the importance of his old act and dug out his LP, at the same time finding the posters. We would often talk of putting it out and, yes, I cited the example of Dark as a reason why. There were other tales as well; he talked of seeing the first East London gig of King Crimson, of how the crowd went deathly quiet at the unexpected ethereal strings coming out of the PA live - and how this prompted Grannie to go into crippling hire purchase on a Mellotron; of a bassist called "Ginger Dixon" who joined the band after the LP, and his own first wife (I assume Donnimo's sister, then) playing keyboards - and the money he borrowed from his beloved Aunty Rose to finance his first Gibson guitar which is the Les Paul on the LP cover, superimposed. I worked in a record shop in those days and knew of labels like Kissing Spell at the time and tried to encourage him to talk to them. But then Phil died...

It was an unexpected end. We saw each other quite a bit gigging as well as going to see other acts that our mates were in. Phil was in a volatile industry and money (which had been quite abundant at one point) was starting be a worry. He and his long term partner had additionally called it a day and he moved into a small cottage that he owned but used to rent out (his partner had bought an identical one in the same street and until their split they lived in hers). I think he was worried about repossesion; he was always talking of his fear of having to leave Surrey and go back to the East End. Then one day he handed me his Grannie album and the posters. "I'd sooner you had it than a f**king bailiff" he said, "they wouldn't know what it was worth anyway!" he added. 

One day his phone stopped working. Then he didn't answer the door when a couple of us went round. I'd got to the point of writing a letter to post through his door, explaining that there were people who would see him okay, not to worry etc - not to mention the need to make arrangements for a gig the following week - but a chill went through me as the phone rang just as I hit the "print" option on the PC. It was another member of the band who had heard what we all dreaded - Phil was gone; died of a cerebral haemorrhage.

So all I have left is some vinyl he gave me - including Grannie. If I can help in facilitating an "official" release of this disc, I certainly will. I have adequate home studio facilities to run decent copies from the vinyl and clean it up and I remain involved in music. We took the decision to continue Blues Patrol after Phil's death and Tony Pow, a guitarist Phil admired and would always enjoy watching, fittingly took his place. Ex Warm Dust bassist (Ace/Frankie Miller is the usual reference but this is a prog forum!) Tex Comer features in the line up as well as Piblokto!/Graham Bond/Babe Ruth drummer Ed Spevock.

Hope this long and rambling tale has set the record straight (if it ever CAN be) and if anybody else wishes to join with me in a "quality" reissue of the album, send me a message.

Rob, Surrey, UK.

PS - Should have joined this forum before considering my unwavering devotion to the Man band,