Parlophone EP 8765 - Logue and Kinsey - Red Bird (side one)

[thesignifyer]

Thank you for posting both sides! This is a collector's item. Logue just passed on a few months ago, which brought me here. These poems are not by Christopher Logue though, but they are his translations of Pablo Neruda. This recording is a jem.

[nubient]

RIP Christopher Logue

[julesthemadman]

Always wanted to hear this. Interesting

[33penge]

I was 14, it was a Saturday, and I stood in Storey's Record Shop's listening booth when I first heard this: my copy now is warped, and I have no record-player anyway. Sigh. How Like Life, I muse.... And yet it is stitched into the inner seams of my heart, and I cannot thank EagerBoy49 enough for giving it back to me again across the years. Yeah: and also, for letting me irritate my husband and my grandchildren by playing it really, really loud (both sides, to boot) whenever I feel like it.

[chimoio100]

wonderful! i hope to pass on in as poetic and relaxed manner.....i was about 17 when i first heard this, about 40 years later i met bill lesage the vibes player in a pub in putney he went all wistful when i asked him about red bird.a tour de force! so rich a melange..........

[RichBerr44]

This recording (published 1959) still stands out head and shoulders among other jazz and poetry recordings. Logue's voice is not put on for the recording - it is a true record of his voice at that time. The Tony Kinsey Quintet sound as wonderful now as they did then. Logue went on to write 'War Music' for the theatre - a tremendous version of Homer. I agree with TimJakeGl - they are certainly not 'daft' poems... just relax and let them flow.

[meherbaba01]

The verse is as good as most beat poetry, but Logue's cocktail -sparkling, tounge-in-cheek word joinery makes excellent fun especially because it does not take itself seriously. Logue is the Lewis Carroll of beat verse. But what is really surprising is the elegance and art of the backup group, lit candle-like by the vibes player. Excellent post.

[DrPaulGEllis]

Part I: Does anyone remember a version of "Cocaine" on vinyl from the same era - or possibly much earlier. Not the totally unrelated modern one by Cale/Clapton (1976). It might have been Josh White, though it's not listed in any of his discographies I can find (Part II to follow below).

[DrPaulGEllis]

@DrPaulGEllis PART II: I recall the line "Cocaine, all around my brain... " I came across it on a disc that was rigid vinyl, of a size between a 45 rpm and an LP, with a red label. I'd dearly like to find a copy, or even just identify it.

[EagerBoy49]

@DrPaulGEllis Is it reggae? If so it is probably Dillinger.

[DrPaulGEllis]

@EagerBoy49 I wondered about that one, but it's not reggae and Dillinger is too recent. Maybe it's a remake? Does anyone have a copy to sell?

[crwbano]

@DrPaulGEllis Davy Graham did a song called Cocaine and various others have done versions including Kieth Richards-sometimes called Cocaine Blues not sure who wrote the original

[Lintonhh]

I believe these poems were Translated from the Spanish Of Pablo Neruda by Christopher Logue. wonderful to hear it again after 47 years I think.

[TimJakeGl]

Just a note on C.Logue.'s exaggerated received prnunication i.e. upper-class accent. When this EP was recorded (1958), one could not work at the BBC without such an accent.

Of course, all that (re accents) changed in the 1960s as regionalism (with accents) started its unstoppable march..

[TimJakeGl]

I don't agree with your assesment as "daft poems'. Just give your brain a rest and let the music and words work on you. i find it magical.

And yes I studied lit crit.

[MrKeithwatkin]

i lost my copy twenty years ago thank god ive found it again

[janandpeter]

Thank you eage boy and youtube, got side two too !

[davehonky]

This is brilliant - where's the other side?

oh! almost forgot - Thankyou.